China and the Hundred Days of Reform essays

China and the Hundred Days of Reform essays 1.) There have been numerous attempts to reform China in the late 19th century to build up China's strength and make it a world power once again. There have been many prestigious intellectuals and organizations that have attempted to do this. One of these intellectuals who had a great influence on other reformers was Yan Fu. Yan presented his ideas many people throughout China through his series of reform essays. Yan spoke of the foreign powers that invaded China and were controlling and changing the traditional Chinese way of life. Yan said that these changes to China were quite unfortunate but to cope with them and possibly overcome them, China must reform and modernize. This meant that China must learn from the westerners and borrow their ideas. Unfortunately, Yan was not much of an activist but Kang Youwei was. Kang and his colleagues, Tan Sitong and Liang Qichao spread their ideas of reform through study groups and journalism. These reformers wanted to make China modern without losing Chinese traditional culture. This meant as Yan said borrowing from abroad not only technology but from institutions and ideas as well. They wanted to change China from a monarchy to a republic. During the "Hundred Days of Reform," Kang and his followers, with the support of Emperor Guangxu, preached their ideas of reforming the examination system, remodeling the bureaucracy, and the modernization of China. Many of these reforms were implemented throughout Hunan. Just as Kang's efforts were beginning to pay off, reports of Kang influencing the emperor in an extremist manner were presented to the people of China. This only fueled the fire for the already present opposition to the emperor. This also paved the way for Empress Dowager to take over the throne. The emperor was put on house arrest for the remainder of his reign for conspiring with extremists. Empress Dowager sent all of the reform intellectuals into exile and Kang fled to Japan where he c...