T HE GENERATION IN CHINA FROM 1864
to 1894 lived uneasily despite domestic peace. For the first several years of
this period there were still disturbances by remnants of the Taipings in the
South, by the Nien-fei in the North, and by the Mohammedans in the
Northwest; but the important events in these thirty years mainly concerned
diplomatic relations, particularly the loss of China's vassal states to foreign
powers. During this difficult era some relatively farsighted Chinese states-
men realized that threats of foreign aggression had become very serious.
They therefore pursued with all their energy these "foreign matters"
[yang-wu ] by following a vigorous policy of westernization.

"Western methods imitation" became the crucial problem. This new
focus of attention began with the establishment of the Kiangnan Arsenal in
Shanghai ( 1867). It ended with the destruction of the Peiyang fleet by
Japan ( 1894). To this inglorious end, thirty years of "imitation" seemed to
have profited China only slightly. A few leaders then took steps to promote
a more extensive reform movement.

The period of imitation of Western methods covered the two reigns of
T'ung-chih [ 1862-1874 ] and Kuang-hsü [ 1875-1908 ]. In the last section
of the preceding chapter, the shifts in political power have been briefly
explained. In the following sections, court conditions and the central
political figures during these two reigns will be briefly treated.

After the execution of Su-shun, the political power of the central govern-
ment was nominally shouldered by the two dowager empresses and by Prince
Kung (I-hsin). Actually Empress Tz'u-hsi held the power and merely used
the other empress and Prince Kung as her tools. One year after the sup-

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