In November 1895, in the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing government was defeated, the Beiyang Marine Division was completely destroyed, and when the Japanese army launched an attack on Weihaiwei, the Qing government sent envoys to Japan to beg for peace.
The plenipotentiary sent by the Qing government was rejected three times by the Japanese side on the grounds that they were not high-ranking.
In the end, the Qing government had no choice but to accede to the Japanese request and instead sent Li Hongzhang to Maguan, Japan, to negotiate with Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi.
Turning to the record of the negotiations that year, this was a treaty that made all Chinese feel so humiliated.
In this negotiation, the Qing government was humiliated and incompetent, which was outrageous.
Itō Hirobumi took out the terms prepared in advance and said to Li Hongzhang with great arrogance: "Zhongtang saw my abridgement this time, but there were only two sentences: 'allowed' and 'not allowed'. ”
Li Hongzhang said, "Isn't it forbidden to distinguish?" ”
Ito Hirobumi said: "Just debate, but not reduce." ”
Li Hongzhang said: "Our two countries are close to each other, there is no need to break up like this, we must always reconcile." ”
Ito Hirobumi said: "The indemnity gives up the land, and the debt is also paid; the debt is paid off, and the two countries are naturally reconciled." ”
At the last meeting, Ito Hirobumi proposed that taiwan's delivery must be completed one month after the change of contract.
Li Hongzhang said: "With complicated worries, two months wide, and relatively proper handling, why should your country be in a hurry?" Taiwan is already in the mouth. ”
Ito Hirobumi said, "I haven't swallowed yet, I'm hungry!" ”
Despite the strong and outrageous opposition to the signing of the contract at home, the Qing government was determined to give in.
In April, Li Hongzhang signed the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty, commonly known as the Treaty of Maguan, on behalf of the Qing government.
The main contents of the Maguan Treaty were: China ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, the entire island of Taiwan, and the affiliated islands to Japan; paid Compensation to Japan for 20,000 taels of Kuping Silver; opened Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou as commercial ports, and Japanese ships could sail along the inland rivers into the above ports and take passengers and goods, and so on.
Soon, due to the interference of Russia, Germany and France, Japan had to cancel the cession of the Liaodong Peninsula, but increased china's reparations to Kuping Silver by 30 million taels.
Wu Yuzhang, who personally experienced the incident, wrote bitterly in his memoirs:
"This is truly an unprecedented treaty of national subjugation!" It shook all of China. In the past, our country was only defeated by the great powers of the West, but now it has been defeated by the small countries in the East, and it has failed so badly, and the treaties have been so harsh. ...... I still remember when the news of the defeat of Jia Wu reached my hometown, my second brother and I cried bitterly... The depth of our grief at that time was beyond words. ”
After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, the national and social crisis faced by China was unprecedented and comprehensive.
Politically, the Sino-Japanese War subverted the chinese people's recognition of the legitimacy of the Qing government's rule, and China under the Qing government quickly fell into a situation of being divided up by the great powers, and the foundation of its rule was further shaken.
Yan Fu wrote in a letter to a friend: "The changes in the East are not in the past few years. "The enemy cannot be killed without a day, and the country cannot die without a day" has become the consensus of more and more people.
In the year of the signing of the Maguan Treaty, Yan Fu published the "Decisive Theory on Salvation" in Tianjin's "Zhi Bao", and for the first time shouted the slogan of "salvation" loudly. In the nearly half century since then, "salvation" has become the most urgent and central issue in the minds of all patriots, and everything must be reconsidered around this central issue.
Economically, before the Sino-Japanese War, although the Qing government's finances had become increasingly embarrassing, it could barely maintain its balance of payments after many searches, and it was roughly around 80 million taels of silver every year. The Maguan Treaty stipulated that China would pay 200 million taels of indemnity to Japan, and later add 30 million taels to redeem the Liaodong Peninsula, plus the interest required for installment payment, which was equivalent to the national fiscal revenue for three whole years. As a result, the Qing Dynasty's already stretched finances could no longer be cleaned up.
It had two consequences: one was that it greatly deepened the Qing government's dependence on the imperialist powers, and could only borrow a lot of foreign debt to pay reparations. This became the beginning of the great powers' struggle and division of spheres of influence in China. The other was to make the Qing government step up its looting of the people in the country and carry out plundering with all its might. Officials at all levels must also be filled in layers.
People are increasingly unable to survive, and there is disappointment, dissatisfaction and anger everywhere. Domestic social contradictions have intensified rapidly.
Militarily, the main forces used to support Qing rule and defend the country in the 30 years before the Sino-Japanese War were the Huai Army and the Beiyang Navy, which were trained by Li Hongzhang. In the Sino-Japanese War, a small number of patriotic generals and officers and men put up heroic resistance, but the entire war was defeated and the Beiyang Navy was completely destroyed. After the war, the Qing government sent Yuan Shikai to train troops at the small station, but it was difficult to achieve immediate results. This created a power vacuum in the Military Rule of the Qing Dynasty that could not be filled in the short term. The reason why the Boxer Rebellion was able to rise rapidly in North China, and the Qing government was helpless and in a dilemma, was directly related to this specific historical background.
If viewed in the short term, the Sino-Japanese War was a humiliating tragedy for China; but in the longer term, it was a new starting point.
Humiliation forces people to rethink, and humiliation urges people to wake up and be angry and strong, thus opening a new page in China's modern history.
Don't forget the national shame.