Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/42

Rh unsuccessful, and late in 1896 the right to construct the railway with foreign capital was granted to a corporation headed by Shêng Hsüan-huai. In 1898 the section of the railway from Lu-kou-ch'iao to Paoting was completed, and in 1900 it was extended to Peking. In 1906 the entire line to Hankow was completed.

China's defeat at the hands of Japan (1894–95) aroused among the younger literati a strong interest in reform, and Chang Chih-tung was one of the older officials who were in a sense patrons of this movement. By 1898 the scramble of foreign powers for concessions thoroughly alarmed many scholars, and Emperor Tê-tsung, relying on the advice of K'ang Yu-wei (see under ), entered on the "Hundred Days Reform". At the outset Chang's attitude was sympathetic, and he recommended to the throne many young liberals, including Liang Ch'i-ch'ao (see under ). In the midst of the reforms Chang issued the celebrated 勸學篇 Ch'üan-hsüeh p'ien, or "Exhortation to Study", 2 chüan, printed in 1898. The reformers immediately seized on it as a sort of party platform and the emperor ordered its distribution to all officials and students. However, the real purpose of the essay was to advocate a program of gradual modification based on education rather than the rapid change which the emperor and K'ang Yu-wei were attempting. Its purport was that the road to the salvation of China lay through the revival of Confucianism and the adoption of Occidental mechanical methods and devices, but not its philosophy. The work is full of expressions of loyalty to the dynasty and condemnation of a corrupt officialdom as the curse of China. On September 21, 1898 came the famous coup d'état which brought the Empress Dowager back to power. Chang telegraphed the Empress urging the punishment of the reformers, despite the fact that he had associated personally with many of them. He refused, moreover, to join Liu K'un-i in memorializing against the threatened deposition of the emperor. After 1898 Chang was suspected by the Court and hated by the reformers who thought him timid and treacherous. His final break with the latter came in August 1900. A number of the reformers gathered in Hankow and, under cover of the Boxer disturbance, secretly made preparations for an armed revolt to overthrow the Empress Dowager and to restore the Emperor to power. However, the plot was discovered by Chang Chih-tung who captured and executed the leader, T'ang Ts'ai-ch'ang 唐才常, and nineteen of his accomplices.

The Boxer Uprising of 1900 was thus for Chang an acid test of his loyalty and political acumen. He was faithful to the Empress Dowager, and his position as viceroy called for obedience to the imperial commands, but he was also fully aware of the dangers of an anti-foreign crusade. Fortunately he and Liu K'un-i found a formula which brought them through the Boxer days with credit both in the eyes of the foreigners and of the Empress Dowager. Chang safe-guarded himself by sending troops north in response to orders from Peking, but these forces were untrained levies and his best troops he kept at home. He acted on the principle that the Boxer Uprising was a "rebellion" against the legitimate authority of the Empress Dowager, and that any edict from Peking ordering support of Boxerism or extermination of foreigners was the work of Prince Tuan (Tsai-i, see under ) and his associates who had virtually usurped the imperial authority. On June 27 the consular body at Shanghai was informed that Chang and Liu undertook to hold themselves responsible for the safety of foreign lives and property in the Yangtze region as long as the powers did not land troops there. This proposal, accepted in substance by the powers and adopted by other viceroys and governors, spelled safety for foreigners in the central and southern regions. It also served the Empress Dowager well, for the theory of "rebellion" which enabled the viceroys to keep peace in the Yangtze region and still consider themselves loyal also put them in a position to ask that the Empress Dowager not be held personally responsible for the Boxer episode.

After the Boxer Uprising Chang Chih-tung was in high favor at Court and was raised to the dignity of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In reply to an imperial edict of January 1901 calling for suggestions as to the most needed reforms, he and Liu K'un-i submitted three joint memorials. The first dealt with the establishment of modern schools, the modification of the civil service examination system, and the encouragement of students to study abroad. The second and third advocated civil and military reforms based on the pattern of Western countries. In October 1902, owing to the death of Liu K'un-i, Chang Chih-tung was again made acting governor-general at Nanking where he stayed for five months, devoting most of his time to educational matters. After an audience in 30