Gongche Shangshu movement
The Gongche Shangshu movement (simplified Chinese: 公车上书; traditional Chinese: 公車上書; pinyin: Gōngchē Shàngshū), or Petition of the Examination Candidates,[1] also known as the Scholar's Petition to the Throne,[2] was a political movement in China during the late Qing dynasty, seeking reforms and expressing opposition to the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. It is considered the first modern political movement in China. Leaders of the movement later became leaders of the Hundred Days' Reform.
Events
In 1895, China was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War and was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ceded Taiwan and Liaodong to Japan in perpetuity, and imposed reparation obligations of 200 million taels of silver on China. At the time, the imperial civil service examination was in progress in Beijing. When news reached the candidates, they became agitated, especially candidates from Taiwan whose province was about to become Japanese.
Five days after the signature of the treaty, on April 22, civil examination candidates led by Kang Youwei signed a ten-thousand-word petition to the Emperor, against the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The petition had 5 main points:
- Cancellation of the Treaty of Shimonoseki
- Refusal of peace talks with Japan
- Movement of the capital to Xi'an
- Modernization of Qing Imperial Army
- Implementation of Reforms
After the Qing Government refused, on May 2, thousands of Beijing scholars and citizens protested against the Treaty of Shimonoseki in front of the Ducha Yuan.
Name
The name of this incident, Gongche Shangshu, literally means "Public Vehicle Petition". Gongche, or "Public Vehicle", was a poetic name for civil service candidates from various provinces, and is an allusion to the practice in the Han dynasty where candidates would be transported to the capital by publicly funded transport.
Legacy
Although the movement was unsuccessful in asking the Qing Government to start reforms, many people in the traditional Chinese community began to realise the importance of reforms. Leaders of the movement such as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Tan Sitong and Yan Fu started publishing newspapers in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities, thus raising the attention of the emperor, who later invited them to enter the government to implement reforms. Although both the movement and later the reforms in 1898 failed, many scholars in big cities turned from supporting the traditional thinking to support reforms or revolution.
References
- ^ Sebastian Riebold (May 2020). Revisiting the Sick Man of Asia": Discourses of Weakness in Late 19th and Early 20th Century China. Campus Verlag. pp. 102–. ISBN 978-3-593-50902-0.
- ^ Kun Qian (4 December 2015). Imperial-Time-Order: Literature, Intellectual History, and China’s Road to Empire. Brill Publishers. pp. 57–. ISBN 978-90-04-30930-2.
Further reading
- Kang Youwei and Gongche Shangshu Movement
External links
- Original text of the Gongche Shangshu at the Chinese WikiSource
- v
- t
- e
- Emperor
- List
- Family tree
- Advisory Council
- Amban
- Consultative Bureau
- Cup of Solid Gold
- Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations
- Da-Qing Bank
- Deliberative Council
- Diplomatic missions
- Flag of the Qing dynasty
- Grand Council
- Great Qing Legal Code
- Imperial Clan Court
- Imperial Commissioner
- Imperial Household Department
- Lifan Yuan
- Ministry of Posts and Communications
- Nine Gates Infantry Commander
- Provincial governor
- Provincial military commander
- Principles of the Constitution (1908)
- Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty
- Viceroys
- Zongli Yamen
mausoleums
culture
- Booi Aha
- Changzhou School of Thought
- Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China
- Dibao
- Economy
- Four Wangs
- History of Ming
- Kangxi Dictionary
- Kaozheng
- Literary inquisition
- Manchu Han Imperial Feast
- Peiwen Yunfu
- Pentaglot Dictionary
- Qing official headwear
- Qing poetry
- Complete Tang Poems
- Queue
- Researches on Manchu Origins
- Sacred Edict of the Kangxi Emperor
- Shamanism during the Qing dynasty
- Islam during the Qing dynasty
- Complete Library of the Four Treasuries
- Treaty of Kyakhta (1727)
- Treaty of Nerchinsk
- Unequal treaty
- Boxer Protocol
- Burlingame Treaty
- Chefoo Convention
- Convention Between Great Britain and China Respecting Tibet
- Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory
- Convention of Peking
- Convention of Tientsin
- Li–Lobanov Treaty
- Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking
- Treaty of Aigun
- Treaty of the Bogue
- Treaty of Canton
- Treaty of Kulja
- Treaty of Nanking
- Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)
- Treaty of Shimonoseki
- Treaty of Tarbagatai
- Treaty of Tientsin
- Treaty of Wanghia
- Treaty of Whampoa
Coinage | |
---|---|
Paper money |
- Aisin Gioro
- Anti-Qing sentiment
- Canton System
- Chuang Guandong
- Draft History of Qing
- History of Qing (People's Republic)
- Imperial hunt of the Qing dynasty
- Legacy of the Qing dynasty
- Manchu people
- Names of the Qing dynasty
- New Qing History
- Timeline of late anti-Qing rebellions
- Treaty ports
- Willow Palisade