义和团运动时期慈禧太后心态剖析

戊戌政变后,慈禧心中的“仇洋”情结不断膨胀,终于完全外化为其思想主流,并在一段时间内支配着她的行动。她一手导演的“宣战”闹剧,实质上是“己亥建储”的继续,是她在极度膨胀的权力欲望的驱使下、为实现“废立”而设计的“短、平、快”战术。慈禧于“宣战”五天后表示：由于义和团在京城“蔓延已遍”。“只可因而用之,徐图挽救”,其实清廷利用义和团、对外主战的内外政策并无实质性的改变。北京失陷后、她立即撕下虚伪的面具,把“肇祸”的责任全部推给义和团。同时把“纵容拳匪,启衅友邦”的责任推给了“首祸王大臣”。     

从洋务运动看慈禧太后在中西交流中的作用

发生于清朝晚期的19世纪60年代到90年代的洋务运动,是中国近代史上第一次大规模效仿和实施西方工业化的运动,是一场由封建地主阶级领导的自上而下的维护封建皇权统治的改良运动。慈禧太后作为当时中国的最高统治者,毫无疑问的成为这场运动的最高领导者,这也就使慈禧太后自然而然的或直接或间接的在诸多领域促成了中国与西方的交流。其与中国近代化的历程关系密切,本文试从洋务运动的视角切入,略述慈禧太后在中西交流中的作用。     

Mourning During the Tongzhi Regency

The Tongzhi Regency (1861–1875), historiographically marked as the beginning of the Qing dynasty's (1644–1912) decline, also saw the emergence of a new political alliance between the Han Chinese grand councilors / Hanlin academicians and the Empress Dowagers Ci'an and Cixi, who ruled from behind the curtains with the former's support. The Hanlin academicians gained their high positions partly from their allegiance to the empress dowagers but largely through patron–client networks, which were based on native-place associations and scholarly interests. Using the case of Li Hongzao (1820–1897), the chief tutor of the Tongzhi Emperor, this article argues that, to him, such networks mattered more than the empress dowagers’ favor and recognition, and that his situation reveals the dynamics of late Qing court politics. In particular, the article focuses on how Li was able to use his appointment as Tongzhi's chief tutor to defy the wishes of the court and mourn his adoptive mother, showing the limits of late Qing imperial power in the realm of Confucian discourse.     

Kang Youwei’s propaganda adjustments after the Hundred Days Reform, 1898–1900

ABSTRACT

After the failed Hundred Days Reform, Kang Youwei launched a propaganda campaign in the newspapers under his control. In addition to casting himself in a favorable light, the campaign served two other purposes: to justify his own fleeing from China and to solicit foreign intervention to free Emperor Guangxu from house arrest. Immediately following the bloody coup d’etat in 1898, Kang identified Empress-Dowager Cixi as the chief instigator of the tragedy. By 1899, he turned to blaming some of her “evil ministers” as well. A year later he accused both parties. After the founding of Baohuang hui (Chinese Empire Reform Association) in 1899, Kang’s overseas propaganda began to call for an armed rescue mission and for funds from the overseas Chinese communities for this purpose. The adjustments Kang made to his propaganda campaign were echoed by progressive newspapers published inside China. Together, they created a public opinion that forced the Qing government to proceed with the political reform.