Feng Guifen Readings/Essays PDF

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These are the essays that belong to the packet of readings pertaining to Feng Guifen for Professor Padilla's class....

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History 1090 October 18, 2017

Reading #1- Feng Guifen: On the Manufacture of Foreign Weapons The document written by Feng Guifen was published in a book of essays in 1861. The document focuses on the ideology that the Chinese are inferior to the “barbarians” (Westerners) because the Chinese do not use modern weapons in warfare. He does not blame their “allotment from Heaven,” but the Chinese people themselves. His reasoning is that if it were Heaven’s fault the Chinese people would not be to do anything about it; however, since it is a fault in the people, they are able to do something about it. “We have only one thing to learn from the barbarians, and that is strong ships and effective guns” (Feng Guifen, 236). Guifen feels that using Western weapons would be more effective against the “barbarians” and it would stop them from trying to invade China. He wants to restructure the way the scholars are utilized, and have the scholars teach craftsmen to build ships and weapons. “We should now order one-half of them to apply themselves to the manufacturing of instruments and weapons and to the promotion of physical studies” (Feng Guifen, 236). The scholars would first learn to craft weapons and ships from a select few “barbarians” and in turn the scholars would teach the Chinese craftsmen. All of these men would be rewarded from their work by the government with status and double pay so they do not want to quit their jobs. Feng Guifen’s ideology about the Chinese building these ships and weapons versus buying them is that if they are bought they are still the weapons of Westerners and not the Chineses’. He ends his essay with how he wants China to remain the greatest country on Earth. This document was written during the Taiping Rebellion at the Battle of Shanghai. The

reasoning for the creation of this essay was because Feng Guifen watched foreign men and chinese men fighting against the Taiping with Western weapons and they were succeeding (Gordon’s Ever Victorious Army). He saw that the Chinese people would use these weapons and still maintain their Confucian status.

Reading #2- The Taiping Economic Programs This document was written during the Taiping Rebellion, and was included in a list of official Taiping publication in 1853. There is no evidence that this document was put into effect by the Taiping Rebellion. The document focuses on equality for all. The Taiping determined that families would have land based on the number of people in the family, regardless of sex. “A large family is entitled to more land, a small one to less” (Taiping, 32). The families also gets equal parts fertile and barren lands. The Taiping felt that if drought occurred, they would move those people in the drought to a new location. This would be extraordinarily hard to accomplish and could potentially also be costly to the government. According to the document, the Taiping would have a centralized government that controlled how much food all the families would receive and then the surplus would be used to help those in distress elsewhere. Each person in society would have an active role. One man would serve in the military, women would grow silkworms, and to make clothes; everyone else would farm the land. The government would give each family 1,000 copper and 100 catties of grain for each festival occasion; like a wedding or birth of a child. This would have been the uniform custom throughout the country. Lastly, the Taiping wanted “all the bad customs of the past” to be completely abolished. This document was written during the Taiping rebellion, most likely during the early stages of the rebellion. The reasoning for this document to be written was to outline the way the

Taiping would create their society based on equality. This document was never able to be put into power due to the rebellion being crashed by the Chinese militias.

Reading #3- Ito Hirobumi: Memorial on Constitutional Government This document was written by Ito Hirobumi, a central official and moderate conservative who was tasked with developing a constitution. It was written in December of 1880. Hirobumi wrote this essay to Emperor of the Meiji Empire and asked him to do three things. The first thing was to enlarge the Genroin (senate) and to select the Genroin members from the Kazoku (the nobles). Hirobumi mentions establishing a parliament and establishing a limited monarchy; however, the Emperor’s intention is to gradually advance towards a constitutional government. He wants to expand the powers of the government and he also wants to give the ex-samurai a place in society. Hirobumi mentions that the ex-samurai are “the only ones who can manage national affairs and who are the most enlightened” (Ito Hirobumi, 59). This enlightenment is most likely due to being in a high class of society and having to work so closely with their Daimyo. Hirobumi wants the ex-samurai to have position in the Genroin along side the Kazoku. The Genroin should have 100 members and should convene for a definite length of time during the year. This system the Japanese establish is closely similar to the American Senate. The second thing Hirobumi asks is to establish an extra board of auditors. This extra board of auditors would discuss finances publicly with the people. This prevents the people from growing angry about their “heavy taxation [being] spent wastefully” (Ito Hirobumi, 60). Hirobumi feels that it is also important to allow the people to participate in the management of the national finance. The third thing he asks is for the Emperor to declare the aims of the nation. Hirobumi feels that if an Imperial Edict was issued and it clearly stated the will of the Emperor, no one would be able to stand up in opposition to the government.

This document was written during the Meiji reforms. The Meiji government had already structure a modern army and a rigid centralized government; but they wanted to expand the government power. The reasoning behind this document being written is because Ito Hirobumi wants to enlarge the government, but is fearful of public opinion.

Reading #4- The Imperial Rescript on Education This document was originally written by Zhu Xi and was adopted by the Ming and Qing Chinese Dynasties, and made it’s way over to Japan. The Meiji dynasty did not focus on the local communities, but instead focused on the new Japanese imperial ideology. This version of the document came out on the 30th day of the 10th month of the 23rd year of the Meiji period (1890). The document speaks to the “subjects” or the people of the Japanese empire and calls for the people to: be kind to others, pursue learning and cultivate the arts, advance the public good, promote common interests, always respect the constitution, and obverse the laws. Furthermore, it declares that “should [an] emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the state” (The Imperial, 109). This quote plays into the Japanese’s sense of nationalism and calls for the people to be ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the nation, if the need arises. This document was written in response to Ito Hirobumi’s three requests from the Emperor. The reasoning behind the creation of this document is to appeal to the Japanese people’s nationalism and to stop them from rising up in opposition to the imperial throne.

Reading #5- Conscription System and Regulations This document was most likely written by the Meiji government and was most likely published in the early 1870s when the Daimyo and samurai were removed and a modern army was established. The conscription or the draft required men who have reached the age of twenty

to be drafted to serve in either the navy or the army. The men were required to serve for three years in the standing army. After three years, they would be placed into the reserve troops; this allowed the men to go home and engage in their previous occupations or duties. In addition to having the standing army and reserve troops, all men between the ages of seventeen and forty were placed in a military registry. If there was a large scale war, all of the male on the registry would be called to arms and would be tasked with defending the territories. The Meiji government created twelve exemptions from having to serve in the standing army. The most important exemptions are: “6. [t]hose who are head of the household, 7. [t]hose who are the heir, or the appointed heir of a grandfather, 8. [t]hose who are the only child or the only grandchild, 10. [t]hose who father and elder brother may still be living but are incapacitated, and thus are assuming the responsibility for the household, and 12. [t]hose who have a brother currently serving in the standing army” (Conscription, 320).These exemptions are important because a majority of them have to deal with an heir. If an heir was sent to serve and died, there would be no one to care over for him and women held no power so an heir could not be a female. Another way to be exempt from serve was to pay a sum of two hundred and seventy yen as a substitutionary fee. This money most likely went towards funding the army. The reasoning for this document to be written was to establish the conscription system for the modern Japanese army. Without this document, conscription would not have been enforced as strongly as it was....