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Why did Self-Strengthening Fail
lack of skilled people working for the government because most of the people who were involved in nepotism probably did not have the right qualifications for the job they were subjected to.
China at this time was not economically endowed. One of the reasons for this was corruption of the Dowager Empress who had misused money that could have been spent on naval funds but instead it was used to “construct the Summer Palace for the amusement of the dowager in retirement” as according to Hsu. Another example of mishandling the Chinese economy was the fact that profits “were distributed to shareholders as dividends rather than reinvested for growth” as stated in Hsu. The Chinese also rejected the opportunity for Western investment. Gray states that the Chinese government rejected the proposal for foreign investment and participation in the building of certain infrastructure. There was also discouragement of private investment. The Chinese also had to pay “vast military expenses and indemnities”: “the Japanese invasion of Formosa in 1874 and annexation of the Liu-ch’iu Islands in 1879; the British attempt to open Yunnan in 1875; the Russian occupation of Ili in Sinkiang, 1871-81; the French seizure of Annam and the war of 1884-85; and the Japanese aggression in Korea and the war of 1894-95” to name a few. There was also no encouragement of private investments: “no legal changes which might protect and encourage enterprise…no encouragement of private enterprise in basic and defence-orientated industries.” Only later did the Chinese realise that there must be “changes in law and in official practice towards merchants before investors would have the necessary confidence.”
There was corruption within the Chinese government which was a factor to the failure of self-strengthening. The Dowager Empress spent 30 million taels of naval funds to construct the Summer Palace for her “amusement in retirement” as Hsu has stated. The 30 million taels were supposed to fund the navy. Hsu also suggest that Li Hongzhang was “not noted for high morals and character”. Apparently, Li left behind and estate of 40 million taels which his followers “squeezed and milked the factories and enterprises under their charge mercilessly.”
Self-strengthening had a very limited scope of activity. According to Hsu, self-strengthening only stretched as far as improving “firearms, ships, machines, communications, mining, and light industry. No attempts were made to assimilate Western institutions, philosophy, arts, and culture.” Basically, Western technology and the Confucian system that Chinese society was based on did not work together. This is due to the fact that Chinese people were unwilling to adapt to Western philosophy, art and culture because of their traditional Confucian ideals.
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