In fact, the Qing dynasty royal family had realized that if its regime did not carry out reforms, it would definitely be overthrown, and Cixi had already begun to begin during her reign. After the deaths of Guangxu and Cixi, Puyi inherited the throne, with real power in the hands of his father Zaifeng. How they fight to maintain their rule, I will tell you from the following aspects.
The outline of the Constitution was approved
Political aspects:
On August 27, 1908, the 34th year of Guangxu promulgated the Outline of the Constitution of king," which consisted of 23 articles, including 14 articles of "sovereign power" and 9 articles of "rights and obligations of subjects", which not only covered the product of the compromise of various forces such as "the house is not allowed to interfere with the monarch", but also possessed the concept of constitutional monarchy such as "subjects need to exercise their rights within the scope of the law". Subsequently, bills such as the "Great Qing Newspaper Law" were introduced successively, and the purpose of the constitution was more clear.
After Emperor Xuantong succeeded to the throne, his father, the regent Zaifeng, accelerated the process of leaving the constitution. In the first year of Xuan reunification (1909), the provincial consultative bureaus were elected, of which the constitutionalists had the advantage among these personnel. The Constitutionalists launched many constitutional petitions, all of which were forbidden by the Qing court.
In May of the third year of Xuan reunification (1911), Zaifeng appointed Prince Yili of Qing as the prime minister of the cabinet and formed a new cabinet. There were 13 members of the new cabinet, including 8 Manchus, 4 Han Chinese, and 1 Mongol, and 6 of the 8 Manchus were clan members and 1 was Kyaw Lo, who was sarcastically called the "Imperial Cabinet" by the revolutionary party and constitutionalists at that time. This fully reflects the arrangements made by the royal family in order to protect their own rights and interests. But in this way, the people have seen the true face of the royal family, and they do not want to truly establish a constitution, but to maintain the royal rule.
Puyi father and son
Economic aspects:
In exchange for loans from the imperialist forces, the Qing government announced the "state-owned policy of railway trunk lines" in May 1911, and in the name of "state-owned", forcibly seized the guangdong-Han and Sichuan-Han railways, and sold the interests of these two important trunk lines to the imperialist forces. Therefore, the four provinces of Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong quickly set off a road protection movement with the participation of the broad masses, and Sichuan Province was particularly fierce. In September, Zhao Erfeng, the governor of Sichuan, shot and killed dozens of petitioners, causing a bloody massacre. The local population became even more angry, and the Baolu Movement quickly developed into an armed uprising that threatened Qing rule in Sichuan Province. The storm that overthrew the Qing Dynasty was coming.
Cultural aspects:
The imperial examination system was abolished, and a large number of new schools were established. There is also the dispatch of a large number of students to study abroad, but basically to learn specialized technology, foreign languages, and military content. These students who returned from studying abroad experienced the baptism of advanced social culture and system in the West, and many of them eventually became gravediggers of the Qing Dynasty after returning to China. This is also something that the Qing court never expected. For example, during the Xinhai Revolution, a large part of the new army that launched the uprising was abroad.
Royal Cabinet
In summary, the Qing Dynasty imperial family has been surviving after the deaths of Guangxu and Cixi, and has used many means to protect its own interests, but in the end it has failed.
The rolling torrent of history is unstoppable, and although there is a heart, it is powerless. This is the portrayal of the royal family of the late Qing Dynasty.
What do you think about this?