39,327
edits
Dynasties From Shang to Qing: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
prefix>Import Bot (Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.DynastiesFromShangToQing 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.DynastiesFromShangToQing, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 98:
At the same time, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nien_Rebellion Nien Rebellion] up north put additional pressure on the Qing regime and even threatened the capital. The two rebel leaders failed to cooperate, leading to their eventual defeat.
The Qing government attempted a program of reform to make China more Western and hopefully save it from further humiliation. [[Status Quo Is God|It failed]], partly because the reformers [[We ARE Struggling Together|actively squabbled with each other instead of the foreigners]], partly because even the reformers thought all China needed was a better military and [[Anachronism Stew|the rest could stay the same]], and partly because the Empress [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|was rumored to have taken the program's funds to build herself a boat made out of marble]].
That Empress' name was Cixi (pronounced 'Tsih-shee'), and if there was ever a real life [[Dragon Lady]], Cixi was it. Originally a concubine to the late emperor Xianfeng, [[The Man Behind the Man|Cixi stayed in power as regent]] [[Long Runners|for 48 years]], originally [[Has Two Mommies|in non-romantic union with fellow empress C'ian]]. This regency covered the 'rule' of multiple emperors. One was her son, who resisted her iron grasp by [[Book Dumb|refusing to study]], sneaking out to brothels, and finally dying of smallpox without having had the courtesy to sire a son. Lacking a traditional heir, the two empresses named Cixi's young nephew as the new Emperor. While all this was distracting everyone, however, modernisation was definitely not happening.
Finally the new Guangxu Emperor reached his majority and started trying to get things moving on his own. With the assistance of a man named Kang Youwei, they came up with a plan to massively shake up the social structure of China. This is known as the Hundred Days Reform. However, a lot of people currently in power didn't particularly appreciate having their jobs cut out from under them. Also, there was a plot underfoot to trick the Emperor into [[Read the Fine Print|signing away control of China to Japan]]. Kang Youwei, hoping to get more people on his side, appointed a man named [[The Starscream|Yuan Shikai]] as leader of his forces. Yuan Shikai proceeded to tell Cixi exactly what was going on. Kang Youwei [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|ran to Hong Kong]] to escape Cixi, and Guangxu abdicated and was put under house arrest for the remainder of his (and her) life - when she apparently had him ''poisoned'' as she was dying to ensure he wouldn't outlive her. ''Harsh'', Cixi. Harsh.
Second, the lower classes of China were very annoyed at the Western incursions, and one group of peasants got it into their heads that it was their destiny to save China by getting rid of all the Westerners. They also believed that they were [[Made of Iron|immune to bullets]]. Despite [[Too Dumb to Live|this]], this group, known fully as the Harmonious Society of Righteous fists but more commonly as the 'Boxers', travelled across China attacking the foreign powers until they reached Beijing. There they besieged foreign buildings (primarily the embassies), opposed by the foreign-power armies called the League of 8. Cixi ''supported'' the Boxers; she even demanded that the Chinese armies come to Beijing to help them fight the foreigners. By this point, the armies were all 'suuure, right' and did virtually nothing to help out.
Line 108:
In 1901, the Boxer Protocol was signed, and Cixi finally started an actual reform program. Unfortunately, while the reforms were in more sweeping than the failed Hundred Days Reform had been, they still weren't enough to make much visible difference.
Thirdly, a man named Sun Yixian ([[Spell My Name With an "S"|you may know him as Sun Yat-sen]] or [[I Have Many Names|Sun Zhongshan]]) realised that China was ''still'' way behind, and that Cixi was taking China down a highway to [[Pardon My Klingon|Diyu]] and no mistake. He summarily started to support revolutionary ideas to turn China into a parliamentary democracy. Many of these ideas grew in popularity, particularly amongst China's armies.
To make a now extremely long summary short, Cixi's program failed and Sun Yixian's revolution got underway just as the Qing were setting up a provisional parliament. The rebels were powerful; in the intervening years China's armies had been filled with Sun Yixian's ideas. Whatever the army wanted was going to stick, and the Qing knew it. Realising that Yuan Shikai had the support of at least some of the army, Prince Chun, father of the last emperor of China, asked him to lead the fight against the rebels. Yuan Shikai happily did so, [[Manipulative Bastard|on the proviso]] that he got to be the undisputed leader of the armed forces. Yuan then went to negotiations with the rebels and was persuaded to support the newly formed republic...so long as he got to be the undisputed leader of the country.
| |||