The present confrontation of Communist China and the United States, on which the future of peace in Asia hinges, is merely the latest phase in a continuing historical process-the remaking of China's ancient society under the stimulus of Western contact. How does it happen that a century of foreign trade and missionary evangelism, of modern education and the training of Chinese students in Western ways, has now resulted in a seeming rejection of the West? What has been the real nature of "China's response to the West" during the past century of our contact? This volume gives the first inside account, on so broad a scale, of how China's leaders reacted to the invasion of Western arms and goods, persons and ideas, during the three generations from the Opium War to the rise of the Kuomintang. In 28 chapters, with translations of 65 key documents, the authors trace the stages by which the scholar-officials of the Middle Kingdom were brought to recognize successively the need for Western arms to defend their country, Western technology for making arms, modern science to support technology, its application in modern industry to strengthen the nation, and all the attendant new ideas which led them eventually into great movements for institutional reform, political revolution, and ideological reconstruction. From the famous Commissioner un's first study of Western geography during his anti. opium crusade, through the efforts of Li Hungchang and others at "self-strengthening" by industrialization, down to the critical thought of Dr. Hu Shih and the eclecticism of Sun Yat-sen in the early 20th century, the writings of China's leaders ring the changes on a central theme how to remaketheir heritage and create a modern nation capable of meeting the West on equal terms. The provincial viceroys, the Reformers of 1898, the Boxers in 1900, the old Empress Dowager, and the eager students studying abroad, each in their own way, all grapple with this absorbing probl

Contenu
Reigns of the Ch'ing (Manchu) Dynasty PART 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND 1. Introduction 2. Some Elements in the Chinese Intellectual Tradition Some Early Ch'ing "Nationalist" Thinkers The Early Jesuit Influence in China The Attitude of the Ch'ing Court toward the Westerners PART 2: RECOGNITION OF CHINA'S NEED TO KNOW THE WEST, 1839-1860 3. Commissioner Lin's Program for Meeting British Aggression Doc. 1. Lin Tse-hsu's Moral Advice to Queen Victoria, 1839 Doc. 2. A Letter of Lin Tse-hsu Recognizing Western Military Superiority, 1842 Doc. 3. Wei Yuan's Statement of a Policy for Maritime Defense, 1842 Doc. 4. Cantonese Denunciation of the British, 1841 4. The Policy of Conciliation Doc. 5. Ch'i-ying's Method for Handling the Barbarians, 1844 Doc. 6. Hsu Chi-yu's Acceptance of Western Geography, 1848 5. The Emergence of the Theory of Self-Strengthening Prince Kung and the Tsungli Yamen Doc. 7. The New Foreign Policy of January 1861 Feng Kuei-fen and his Essays Doc. 8. On the Adoption of Western Knowledge Doc. 9. On the Manufacture of Foreign Weapons Doc. 10. On the Better Control of the Barbarians The Taiping Rebels' Interest in Modernization Doc. 11. Hung Jen-kan's Proposals, 1859 PART 3: THE DESIRE FOR WESTERN TECHNOLOGY, 1861-1870 6. Tseng Kuo-fan's Attitude toward Westerners and their Machinery Doc. 12. Excerpts from Tseng's Letters, 1862 Doc. 13. Founding the Shanghai Arsenal Doc. 14. Tseng's Views on Treaty Revision, 1867 7. Li Hung-chang and the Use of Western Arms Doc. 15. Li's Letter to Tseng Kuo-fan on the Ever-Victorious Army, February 1863 Doc. 16. Li's Recommendation of Western Military Methods, June 1863 , Doc. 17. The Tsungli Yamen Memorial of June 1863 on China's Defensive Strategy 8. Institutions for Linguistic and Scientific Studies (The T'ung-wen Kuan) Doc. 18. Li i-Hung-chang's Support of Western Studies, 1863 Doc. 19. Wo-jen's Objection to Western Learning, 1867 Doc. 20. The Tsungli Yamen's Rebuttal, 1867 9. Tso Tsung-t'ang and the Faochow Shipyard Doc. 21. Tso's Plans of 1866 PART 4: EFFORTS AT SELF-STRENGTHENING, 1871-1896 10. The Problem of Leadership: Personalities and Institutions Li Hung-chang and his Subordinates The Empress Dowager's Influence , Doc. 22. Wen-hsiang's Warning of Disaster, 1874 11. Training Students Abroad The Educational Mission to the United States Doc. 23. The Proposal of Tseng and Li in 1871 Doc. 24. Letters of Li Hung-chang concerning the End of the Mission, 1880-1881 Students in Europe Doc. 25. Ma Chien-chung's Report on his Studies in France, 1877 12. Diplomatic Missions Abroad Doc. 26. Prince Kong's Discovery of International Law, 1864 Doc. 27. A Letter of Kuo Sung-tao from London, 1877 Doc. 28. Tseng Chi-tse's Account of his Audience with the Empress Dowager, 1878 13. Problems of the Industrialization Effort Doe. 29. Li Hung-chang's Defense of Building Steamships, 1872 The Principle of "Government-supervision and Merchant-operation" Doc. 30. The Criticisms of Cheng Kuan-ying, c. 1892 The Debate over Railroads Doc. 31. Shen Pao-chen's Purchase of the Shanghai-Wusung Railway, 1876 Doc. 32. Hsueh Fu-ch'eng's Support of Railroad Building, 1878 14. The Attempt at a Positive Foreign Policy Doc. 33. Kuo Sung-tao on the Futility of a War Policy, 1884 Building a Modern Navy Doc. 34. Chang P'ei-lun's Proposal of 1884 The Failure at Self-Strengthening Doc. 35. Li Hung-chang's Conversation with ItO Hirobumi, 1895 The Alliance with Russia Doc. 36. Liu K'un-i's Secret Proposal, July 1895 Doc. 37. Chang Chih-tung's Memorial of August 1895 Doc. 38. Text of the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty of 1896 PART 5: THE REFORM MOVEMENT THROUGH 1900 15. Promoters of Institutional Change The Missionary Influence Early Chinese Advocates of Reform Doc. 39. Writings of Wang T'ao Doc. 40. Essays of Hsueh Fu-ch'eng 16. K'ang Yu-wei and Some of his Associates Doc. 41. K'ang Yu-wei's Statement for the "Society for the Study of Self-strengthening," 1895 Doc. 42. Liang Ch'i-ch'ao on Reform, 1896 Doc. 43. T'an Ssu-t'ung on the Need for Complete Westernization Doc. 44. Wang K'ang-nien on Democr