Maritime East Asia (1888–1899 CE): Imperial Expansion, Reform Efforts, and Emerging National Identities

Between 1888 and 1899 CE, Maritime East Asia—including lower Primorsky Krai, the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Archipelago south of northern Hokkaido, Taiwan, and southern, central, and northeastern China—experiences profound imperial expansion, dynamic reform movements, and the crystallization of national identities. The period sees intensified foreign incursions and heightened internal pressures, significantly shaping each region's political landscape.

Korea: Turmoil, Reform Movements, and Foreign Domination

Following Korea's forced opening in the previous decade, the peninsula faces increased international attention and interference. Japan solidifies its influence through the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), triggered by the Donghak Rebellion—an uprising fueled by religious fervor and widespread dissatisfaction with governmental corruption. Korean attempts to suppress the rebellion lead to Chinese intervention, providing Japan a pretext to enter militarily and decisively defeat China. Through the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895), Japan gains hegemony over Korea, imposing sweeping domestic reforms to quell further unrest, including abolishing class distinctions, emancipating slaves, and dismantling the rigid civil service examination system.

Meanwhile, nationalist sentiment and calls for reform flourish, notably through the efforts of So Chae-p'il. Returning from exile in the United States in 1896, So promotes modernization and independence from foreign control. He establishes the influential newspaper Tongnip simmun (The Independent) and organizes the Independence Club, advocating Western-style democratic reforms. Despite initial success and significant popular support, conservative opposition violently suppresses these movements, forcing So back into exile and imprisoning many activists, including future leader Syngman Rhee.

Japan: Constitutional Government and National Strength

Japan's Meiji leaders successfully consolidate their political system with the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution (1889), based largely on the Prussian model. This constitution maintains centralized imperial authority while allowing limited representative governance through an elected Diet. The first national election in 1890 signals the burgeoning strength of political parties, notably the Liberal Party (Jiyuto) and the Constitutional Progressive Party (Rikken Kaishinto), which increasingly challenge governmental policies.

Despite these democratic features, real political power remains concentrated among the influential oligarchy known as the genro (elder statesmen), who continue to govern behind the scenes. Prominent leaders such as Ito Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo shape Japan's domestic and foreign policies, emphasizing rapid industrialization, military modernization, and active diplomacy. Japan's defeat of China in the First Sino-Japanese War cements its emergence as a significant regional power, further expanding its empire by acquiring Taiwan and the Penghu Islands.

China: Intensifying Foreign Influence and Failed Reform

China under the declining Qing dynasty faces escalating foreign encroachment and internal instability. The First Sino-Japanese War exacerbates China's vulnerabilities, forcing substantial territorial concessions, including ceding Taiwan to Japan and granting increased foreign privileges. In response to these mounting crises, Emperor Guangxu initiates the ambitious Hundred Days' Reform (1898), aiming for sweeping institutional and ideological changes inspired by Japan’s successful modernization.

However, conservative opposition led by the powerful Empress Dowager Cixi swiftly reverses these efforts. With military backing, she suppresses reformist leaders and seizes control in a coup, rescinding the progressive edicts and severely punishing reform advocates. This reactionary turn deepens China's internal divisions, accelerating the dynasty’s decline and leaving the country increasingly vulnerable to external manipulation.

Taiwan: Resistance and Integration into Japan

Taiwan, newly acquired by Japan following the Treaty of Shimonoseki, becomes a focal point of resistance against foreign domination. A short-lived attempt to establish the independent Republic of Formosa in 1895 is quickly quelled by Japanese military forces. Persistent guerrilla resistance continues intermittently until around 1902, causing significant casualties and underscoring Taiwanese resentment against foreign rule. Nonetheless, Japan begins comprehensive modernization and infrastructure projects on the island, including the construction of railways, firmly integrating Taiwan into its growing empire.

Legacy of the Era: Emerging Nationalism and Imperial Ambitions

Between 1888 and 1899 CE, Maritime East Asia experiences dramatic imperial expansion, complex internal reforms, and heightened nationalist sentiments. Japan emerges as a dominant regional power, wielding considerable influence over neighboring Korea and Taiwan while shaping modern governmental structures domestically. China’s brief reform efforts highlight ongoing internal struggles and vulnerabilities that hasten the Qing dynasty's downfall. Korea’s independence movements, though suppressed, lay foundations for future resistance and national identity. Collectively, these transformations underscore deepening national consciousness and imperial ambitions, significantly influencing the geopolitical dynamics of East Asia into the twentieth century.

The Qing emperor, Guangxu (1875-1908), orders a series of reforms aimed at making sweeping social and institutional changes in the one hundred and three days from June 11 to September 21, 1898.

This effort reflects the thinking of a group of progressive scholar-reformers who have impressed the court with the urgency of making innovations for the nation's survival.

Influenced by the Japanese success with modernization, the reformers declare that China needs more than "self-strengthening" and that innovation must be accompanied by institutional and ideological change.

Opposition to the reform is intense among the conservative ruling elite, especially the Manchus, who, in condemning the announced reform as too radical, propose instead a more moder-ate and gradualist course of change.

Supported by ultraconservatives and with the tacit support of the political opportunist Yuan Shikai (1859-1916), Empress Dowager Cixi engineers a coup d'etat on September 21, 1898, forcing the young reform-minded Guangxu into seclusion.

Cixi takes over the government as regent.

The Hundred Days' Reform ends with the rescindment of the new edicts and the execution of six of the reform's chief advocates.

The two principal leaders, Kang Youwei (1858-1927) and Liang Qichao (1873-1929), flee abroad to found the Baohuang Hui (Protect the Emperor Society) and to work, unsuccessfully, for a con- stitutional monarchy in China.

The imperial edicts for reform cover a broad range of subjects, including stamping out corruption and remaking, among other things, the academic and civil-service examination systems, legal system, governmental structure, defense establishment, and postal services.

The edicts attempt to modernize agriculture, medicine, and mining and to promote practical studies instead of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy.

The court also plans to send students abroad for firsthand observation and technical studies.

All these changes are to be brought about under a de facto constitutional monarchy.

The Guangxu Emperor had been old enough in 1887 to begin to rule in his own right, but the previous year, several courtiers, including Prince Chun and Weng Tonghe, had petitioned Empress Dowager Cixi to postpone her retirement from the regency.

Despite Cixi's agreement to remain as regent, by 1886 the Guangxu Emperor had begun to write comments on memorials to the throne.

In the spring of 1887, he had taken part in his first field-plowing ceremony, and by the end of the year he had begun to rule under Cixi's supervision.

Eventually, in February 1889, in preparation for Cixi's retirement, the Guangxu Emperor is married.

Much to the emperor's dislike, Cixi selects her niece, Jingfen, to be empress.

She becomes known as Empress Longyu.

She also selects a pair of sisters, who become Consorts Jin and Zhen, to be the emperor's concubines.

The following week, with the Guangxu Emperor married, Cixi retires from the regency.

Empress Dowager Cixi has continued to influence decisions and actions of the Guangxu Emperor, even after had begun formal rule, despite residing several months of the year at the Summer Palace.

Weng Tonghe reportedly observed that while the emperor attended to day-to-day state affairs, in more difficult cases the emperor and the Grand Council sought Cixi's advice.

In fact, the emperor often journeys to the Summer Palace to pay his respects to his aunt and to discuss state affairs with her.

In March 1891, the Guangxu Emperor receives the foreign ministers to China at an audience in the "Pavilion of Purple Light", in what is now part of Zhongnanhai, something that had also been done by the Tongzhi Emperor in 1873.

That summer, under pressure from the foreign legations and in response to revolts in the Yangtze River valley that are targeting Christian missionaries, the emperor issues an edict ordering Christians to be placed under state protection.

The Guangxu Emperor tries to implement a series of draconian measures to reduce expenditures by the Imperial Household Department in 1892, which proves to be one of his few administrative successes—he had apparently had been instilled with the importance of frugality while growing up—but it was only a partial victory, as he has to approve higher expenditures than he would have liked to meet Cixi's needs.

Officials often ignore the Guangxu Emperor upon the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, and instead sent their memorials to Cixi for her approval, even though is he nominally the sovereign ruler of the Qing Empire.

Eventually, two sets of Grand Council memoranda are created, one for the emperor and the other for the empress dowager, a practice that will continue until it is rendered unnecessary by the events in the autumn of 1898.

The Guangxu Emperor reportedly expresses his wish to abdicate following the Qing Empire's defeat and forced agreement to the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

Kang Youwei, a Cantonese scholar, reinterprets Confucian principles to advocate social equality in China.

Kang calls for an end to property and the family in the interest of an idealized future cosmopolitan utopia and cites Confucius as an example of a reformer and not as a reactionary, as many of his contemporaries do.

The latter idea is discussed in great detail in his work Kongzi Gaizhi Kao (孔子改制攷), or Study of the Reforms of Confucius

He argues to bolster his claims that the rediscovered versions of the Confucian classics are forged, as he treats in detail in Xinxue weijing kao (A Study of the 'New Text' Forgeries).

Kang is a strong believer in constitutional monarchy and wants to remodel the country after Meiji Japan.

These ideas anger his colleagues in the scholarly class, who regard him as a heretic.