Читать книгу A Brief Modern Chinese History - Haipeng Zhang - Страница 19

Ancient Japan devoted great attention to learning from China. In the 1860s, Japan started its own self-strengthening movement known as the Meiji Restoration. However, next to Japan’s national endeavor, China’s SSM paled in comparison. Although the two Asian counties stood on the same scratch line, Japan soon left China, its old teacher, far behind. Japan’s Meiji Restoration was based on economic growth, military advancement and cultural reconstruction, whereby Japanese society could be totally overhauled in light of Western modernity. In contrast, after three decades of SSM, China struggled to modernize, particularly where the powerful ultraconservatives were concerned.

Some said that in three decades (1860–1895) China invested, in total, 53,000,000 taels of silver in founding approximately 60 modern corporations. Each year, China set up two factories and invested 1,700,000 in each. Of these, 21 were for the military complex and accounted for almost 70%ercent of the total assets. For the rest, there were 120 capitalist enterprises with total assets of 58,000,000. Every year, four civil corporations were founded and each was worth less than 2,000,000.40 In Japan, it is estimated that more than 5,600 companies were created over more than two decades (1868–1892) and the total investment was 289,000,000 yen. Thus, Japan founded 225 enterprises every year and each was worth 11,000,000 yen or 7,000,000 taels of silver.41

Indeed, Japan developed much more rapidly than China at this time. The Japanese government redeveloped the whole of society on the model of Western capitalism. Japan had transformed itself into a laissez-faire capitalist constitutional state. Japan sold state-owned enterprises cheaply to private owners, revealing that capitalist Japan had already taken shape. Such actions were not possible in nineteenth-century China, which was still steeped in colonialist practices and semi-feudalism.42

As early as the sixteenth century, some Japanese politicians attempted expansion. Japan’s Meiji Emperor attempted to extend his territory to Ryukyu, Korea, and Taiwan. Yoshida Shoin 吉田松阴, who pioneered the Meiji Restoration, recommended that Japan take Manchuria (in northeast China), Taiwan, and Luzon (belonging to the Philippines). Fuzuzawa Yukichi 福泽谕吉, an educator renowned for his radical Datsu-A Ron (an editorial advocating that Japan completely abandon its Asian roots and fully integrate itself into European [Western] civilization), said Japan should treat China in the same manner as the West treated China and Korea.43 These politicians, thinkers, and educators advocated for the preparation for an aggressive war against China. At the same time, Japan did its best to develop a navy and an army, set up a general staff under the direct control of the emperor, as well as send a huge number of spies to China. In 1887, Ogawa Mataji 小川又次, a Japanese general, wrote The General Plan of Conquering China (征讨清国方略), analyzing in detail China’s economy, politics, and defense, recommending that Japan strike preemptively and deploy eight divisions to storm Beijing and capture the Chinese emperor.44

Three years later, Yamagata Aritomo 山县有朋, then Prime Minister of Japan, in the inaugural National Diet (1890) said that Korea was indispensable to Japan’s national interest and that Japan must capture China in order to protect itself. The Japanese Emperor at the fourth Diet (1892–1893) gave voice to Japan’s long-held dream and said, “thereafter the capital may be extended so as to embrace all the six cardinal points, and the eight cords may be covered so as to form a roof” (兼六合以开都掩八纮而为宇).45 Here lay Japan’s wild ambition to create a Pax Nipponica. In other words, the Japanese Emperor had given his approval for war and the invasion of China. In 1893, the Japanese government set up a war materials special committee and formulated the relevant regulations, an important step toward war. Meanwhile, a senior officer led a team of military spies to Korea and China, where they collected as much information as possible and prepared the details of the military operation. Spies concluded that Japan was sure to succeed in the coming war. Japan built a nationwide espionage network within China. By contrast, China was almost completely unaware of what was going on in Japan. When war broke out, Munakata Kotaro (宗方小太郎), a Japanese spy who had direct access to the Gunreibu (the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff) and the Gaimusho (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan), was still spying on the Northern Fleet that was anchored in Weihai, a naval port. Revealed, the spy managed to escape using a false identity and returned to Japan safe and sound.46

In February, 1894, the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out in the south of Korea. The peasant army aspired to annihilate all the Japanese invaders and wipe out the established aristocracy. Three months later, the rebels captured Jeonju. The Korean king begged Qing for help. Qing sent an army of 1,500 men to Korea and informed Japan of this operation. Japan took immediate action and set up the Daihonei (General Headquarters during war) sending 8,000 soldiers to Incheon, Korea. The Japanese troops occupied strategic garrisons and took full control of Seoul, Korea’s capital. It was here that the military confrontation between China and Japan began.47 War was near. However, Qing was looking for a way to achieve peace quickly. Li Hongzhang, the leading official of the imperial court, agreed to work toward seeking peace rather than engaging in war, and even suggested that the Korean government reform itself in exchange for Japan withdrawing its troops. Li decided not to send reinforcements to Korea, and ordered Qing’s army in Korea to stay where it was.

Li suggested China and Japan withdraw their troops simultaneously; however, this did not work. He called upon Russia and Britain to mediate. At that time, Russia was building the Trans-Siberian Railroad and was too busy to interfere. Russia demanded that Japan hold its hand. But Japan ignored it. Britain attempted to turn Japan into a counterweight to Russia. Meanwhile, Japan wanted to win support from Britain. Britain signed a new treaty with Japan and openly recognized Japan’s Korean policy. Qing’s government ordered its troops to march into Pyongyang. In late July, the impatient Japanese army occupied the imperial palace and imprisoned the Korean king. The Japanese then set up a puppet regime and began attacking Qing’s navy. A Chinese warship was sunk and 800 men were killed.

At the same time, the Japanese army was ferociously attacking Qing’s garrison. Terrified, the commanding general of Qing’s army fled shamefully. Japan then declared war on China in August, which resulted in the First Sino-Japanese War breaking out. Japan moved the Daihonei to Hiroshima where the Japanese Emperor visited as the Generalissimo. This revealed that the Japanese command system, wherein the whole nation acted in concert in war, had taken shape. As a consequence, all of Japan was enthusiastic about conquering China.

China was at war. Li Hongzhang had to abandon his pursuit of peace and instead turned to passive defense. He did not follow the Emperor Guangxu’s suggestion that the imperial court should send reinforcements to join Qing’s army in Korea and combine forces to attack Seoul, but instead ordered the Qing troops to defend Pyongyang and fight steadfastly. Li gave priority to protecting the warships rather than attacking the enemy. Li dreamed that his battleships anchored in the Bohai Gulf would prove to be the fiercest fighting ships. However, this involved giving up the command of the Yellow Sea, which would mean Japan could safely transport troops over water.

The land battle was fought in Pyongyang. The Qing army stationed there had 15,000 soldiers, 28 mountain guns, 4 field guns, and 6 machine cannons. The Japanese army had over 17,000 men in possession of 44 mountain artilleries. The Japanese vehemently attacked Pyongyang, resulting in a general from Qing’s army dying in battle and Qing army’s commander fleeing once again. Pyongyang fell into the hands of the enemy.

The Yellow Sea Battle then took place. Japan spent much time planning this battle. For this reason, the Japanese fleet was superior to China’s Northern Fleet (see table below).48

	Chinese Fleet	Japanese Fleet
Number of warships	10	12
Total tonnage	31,366	40,849
Total strength	2,000	3,500
Average speed (nmi)	15.5	16.5
Number of artilleries	173	171
Number of quick-firing guns	0	97

The Northern Fleet’s performance was clumsy in the face of the Japanese navy’s surprise attack49 and it suffered heavy losses. The Northern Fleet lost five battleships and a number of excellent naval officers. Fortunately, most of the capital ships were saved. The Chinese navy inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese, including five battleships being severely damaged and more than 300 soldiers and officers killed or injured. The Northern Fleet lost for a number of reasons. First, Li Hongzhang’s operational plan was too passive. Second, Qing’s navy lagged far behind Japan’s in terms of modernization. The Qing navy desperately lacked money, the leadership was inconsistent, and the navy itself was poorly commanded and poorly trained. The Zhiyuan 致 远, the fastest battleship of the Northern Fleet, vigorously pursued and fiercely mauled the Yoshino吉野, one of the largest Japanese warships. When realizing that it had run out of ammunition, the Zhiyuan decided to ram the Yoshino; however, it was sunk by the enemy.

Frightened by the Yellow Sea Battle, Li Hongzhang prohibited Chinese warships from going to sea, arguing that the Northern Fleet should only be used for defense. Japan had naval supremacy and consequently began landing their army in China, an operation which took place over nine days. The Northern Fleet took no action when the Japanese army attacked bases in Lüshun and captured Jinzhou and Dalian. Li Hongzhang had spent tens of millions of taels of silver building the naval port of Lüshun, which was nicknamed the Iron Garrison. It was stocked with a huge number of powerful, advanced Western weapons and this was the reason why the Japanese troops did not risk a frontal attack. After taking Jinzhou and Dalian, the Japanese decided to launch an assault on Lüshun. Li resolved to defend Lüshun at all costs,50 and sent reinforcements of 20,000 men. At this time, Qing’s army turned and marched toward Jinzhou; however, the Japanese troops were caught in the crossfire between the two Qing armies. In 1894, Lüshun fell. The Japanese army massacred 20,000 civilians,51 which caused outrage throughout the world and condemnation of Japan. Mutsu Munemitsu 陆奥宗光, Japan’s foreign minister, later recalled that after this massacre, Japan was seen as no more than a brutal and cruel monster.52

On the same day the Japanese army landed at Huayuankou, some Japanese troops led by their commander-in-chief crossed the Yalu River and attacked the Chinese garrisons. The Japanese army had slightly more than 10,000 soldiers in contrast to Qing’s defending army of 70 camps and 20,000 soldiers in total. It took the Japanese merely two days to break Qing’s defense. On the first day of December, 1894, the Japanese army occupied the strategic city of Haicheng. Qing’s army of 60,000 men then attacked this city. The battle lasted until February, 1895, when Japan’s reinforcements arrived and helped to secure the city.

Japan’s next target was Weihai, another key naval port belonging to Qing. 20,000 Japanese soldiers arrived in Weihai, which was protected by eight batteries with more than one hundred powerful Western cannons. Weihai was the headquarters of Qing’s navy. After the Yellow Sea Battle, the rest of the Northern Fleet, which included seven battleships, six gunboats, 13 torpedo boats and two training vessels, lay at anchor in Weihai. Li Hongzhang did not allow any ships to leave this naval port, hoping that his fleet would avoid more losses. However, he repeated the same mistake as in Lüshun.

After several days, the Japanese destroyed the batteries and killed more than 1,000 defenders. The Japanese army then blocked all exit points and turned all the Chinese warships into sitting ducks. In spite of resisting fiercely, the entire Northern Army fleet was wiped out. Some foreign employees and Qing’s naval officers orchestrated a mutiny, forcing Ding Ruchang, the highest commander in the Qing navy, to surrender to the Japanese. Ding ordered them to desist; however, they would not listen. Finally, Ding and other senior officers chose to commit suicide rather than surrender. Japan seized the remaining Chinese warships and a large quantity of equipment in the naval base. The Northern Fleet, the symbol of China’s three-decade SSM, was erased from history. Disappointed at Li’s military inability, Qing’s imperial court placed its hopes in the Hunan Army, which played a pivotal role in putting down the Taiping Rebellion. However, the Hunan Army did not have success. The leader, the Governor General of both Jiangnan and Jiangxi, was not able to respond properly. The Japanese troops soon captured western Liaoning and the advancing army posed a great threat to Beijing.

Emperor Guangxu made concessions for peace; the conservatives, such as Cixi, did too. However, after Japan’s capture of Lüshun, the West started to worry that Japan could harm its own interests. Britain warned Japan that if they attacked Beijing and Qing collapsed, Japan would gain nothing. The United States warned Japan that if the war was continued, they would try to end it at the expense of Japan’s stability and prosperity. At this stage, Japan’s troops were almost exhausted. Ito Hirobumi, who was then heading the Japanese government, concluded that toppling Qing would lead to the Western powers’ intervention. Japan forced Qing to sign a peace treaty, which was to its own benefit. Japan however, refused to receive the Chinese delegation headed by several senior ministers, and said that only Li Hongzhang or Yixin (the leading prince) was qualified to negotiate. Thus, Li was sent to Japan.