On the Self-Strengthening Movement of the Imperial China

Running Head : SELF-STRENGTHENING MOVEMENT OF THE IMPERIAL CHINA

Self-Strengthening Movement Of The Imperial China

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Introduction

The self-strengthening movement of Imperial China was a movement that lasted for the time ranging from 1861-1895 , and it accounted for some of the institutional reforms that were intiated at the end of the Qing Dynasty (Spence , 1999 . The movement was formed after the defeat of China by the Great Britain in the Opium war , among other series of military defeats of the time . The Chinese government also faced internal rebellion

, more especially from the Manchu authority and also the uprising farmers of the time . This situation called for the need of improving the Chinese military on restoring the gone sovereignty . As a step towards enticing peace between China and the Western powers , Prince was appointed the grand councilor and the head of the foreign affairs Zongli Yamen

Following the defeats that China experienced , the defeats were associated to the military technology superiority of the western powers which made them shine over China . Therefore , as a step on strengthening the Chinese military operations , China had no otherwise than just learning from the western powers . The main techniques that China expected to learn from the western powers included the manufacturing of guns and ships among other scientific knowledge that were behind military technology . This was to be attained through establishing arsenals , shipyard and also hiring personnel that were to provide training services . The essence of doing these was to improve the Chinese military might . China expected to champion the western powers in the future following the Chinese intelligence and wisdom that was believed to be better than that of the westerners , which was to position China at a better position of superseding them (Spence , 1999

The movement 's operations can be perceived to have taken three phases The first phase lasted at a time range of 1861-1872 . It was characterized by emphasis on the adoption of the western origin firearms , military machines , and the scientific knowledge about military operations . Training was also among the agendas , and it was to be enhanced through the establishing of a diplomatic office and a college As an initial requirement , China signed treaties with the western powers , where two ports were made accessible for western trade , that is Tianjin and Shanghai ( Shambaugh , Sandschneider , and Zhou , 2008 Therefore , the main goal of establishing the Self-Strengthening Movement was to develop the military industry of China . The targeted development areas included the constructing of military arsenals and also the ship manufacturing dockyard which was aimed at empowering the Chinese navy

The establishment and the steering of the program , self-strengthening movement was spearheaded by a number of leaders that included Zuo Zong who established Fuzhou Dockyard , Zeng Guo Fan who constructed the Shanghai Arsenal , and Li Hong Zhang who constructed the Nanking and Tientsin Arsenal . Despite their individual initiated projects , Zeng and Li also collaborated on establishing the Kiangnan Arsenal (Shambaugh Sandschneider , and Zhou , 2008 . Training was undertaken in these sites however...