Defeat at the hands of Japan spurred another bout of self-strengthening in China. A new generation of reformers, led by Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai, began to replace Li at the head of the ziqiang movement. Zhang coined what became the most famous phrase of the movement: “zhongxue weiti, xixue weiyong (中学为体， 西学为用) Chinese learning should remain the… Read more »
After China’s defeat in Korea, Li Hongzhang traveled to Japan in disgrace to sign another unequal treaty, the Treaty of Shimonoseki, adding to the humiliation China felt after the Treaty of Nanjing and the Treaty of Tianjin. Japan forced China to cede control of the Korean peninsula and also claimed possession of Taiwan. China agreed… Read more »
Li’s words about the Japanese threat turned out to be prophetic. In 1894, Japan went to war with China over control of Korea in the First Sino-Japanese War. By the late 1880s, the Empress Dowager had returned to her goal of rebuilding the Summer Palace, and had diverted important government revenues into the project. The… Read more »