The Treaty of Maguan was indeed the most greedy unequal treaty since the Qing government signed it. It had the largest reparations — Japan demanded an unprecedented military fee of up to 200 million taels of silver — and Japan exposed its greed for land like Tsarist Russia — demanding the cession of the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and Korea, a vassal state of the qing government. With such harsh conditions, why did the Qing government finally sign it?
Contents of the Maguan Treaty
Although the Qing government suffered heavy losses in the Sino-Japanese War, and the Beiyang Fleet was even completely destroyed, Japan, which was small and tired, had also reached its limit, and if the Qing government gritted its teeth and continued to insist, it was extremely likely that Japan, which had a war potential far less than China, would be dragged down, and the worst result would be nothing more than a lose-lose situation, and it would be impossible to have such an outrageous and harsh unequal treaty as in the "Maguan Treaty."
The Treaty of Maguan was signed
Did the Qing government, as the ruler, not know of such an outcome? Why did you sign such a harsh Treaty of Maguan?
In fact, the Qing government could not have understood it better. We all know that the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty was the Manchu Qing Eight Banners, and the huge central empire ruled by a very small number of nationalities with a population of hundreds of millions of people was itself like walking on thin ice, so the Qing government was always most wary of the huge Han people under their rule.
Eight flags
For the Manchu Qing Eight Banners, no matter how greedy the great powers are, no matter how huge the appetite, for the Qing government, it is just cutting flesh, and the pain is certainly painful, but it will never threaten life. However, if the army and resources were too heavy to consume because of the continued war with Japan, the domestic dominance declined, and the uprisings were everywhere but could not be suppressed, then for the Manchu Qing, it was the real disaster.
Peasant revolt
This is also why there are rumors that Empress Dowager Cixi "prefers to be friends with friends than domestic slaves", Cixi is certainly not stupid, ruling China as a woman for nearly half a century, Empress Dowager Cixi is not only impossible to be stupid, but extremely shrewd, but her position can never stand in the perspective of the Chinese nation. She has already discovered very deeply what is fundamental to maintaining the rule of the Qing Dynasty:
The invasion of the great powers was only a disease of ringworm and scabies for manchu rule, and the Han Chinese with a population of 400 million within the qing court's rule were a problem for their confidants. Therefore, the Qing government's most vigilant thing is always the domestic Han people's wind and grass, strict defense, the first place is always to maintain enough strength, timely extinguish any event that may threaten the qing government's rule, no matter what the cost. In today's parlance, for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, the invasion of the great powers was nothing more than money, while the Han rebellion was fatal.
Empress Dowager Cixi
Once the Han rebellion overthrew the qing dynasty's rule, the Manchu Qing would have no place to stand, and it was difficult to say whether life could be saved, let alone the current wealth and power. The "Qing Emperor has no emperor" on the Internet actually has a certain truth.
However, the position of the Qing emperor who was not a emperor of the Qing Dynasty was never and could not stand in the perspective of the Han People, and the core interests they first considered were always the interests of the Manchu Eight Banners themselves. Therefore, many of the painful and unbelievable traitorous incidents that seem to us are actually very easy to understand if we stand in the perspective of the interests of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. This is also why the Qing government finally accepted such harsh and greedy conditions in Japan.
The Twelve Emperors of the Qing Dynasty