In the summer of 1898, the Guangxu Emperor, with the support of Kang Youwei and others, began to change the law. But in just 100 days, this change of law came to an end. The reform led by Guangxu is strictly over before it has begun, a bit like a farce, but it is also an attempt by Guangxu to change the face of the late Qing Dynasty.
Some people say that this is the result of the obstruction of Cixi and other conservative factions, otherwise there is a possibility of success in the Penghu Reform Law, and perhaps the result will be different. However, after only two years, Cixi also began to carry out the New Deal, and even this time it was even deeper than the Penghu Reform Law.
Cixi didn't punch herself in the face, and since she also agreed with the change, why did she obstruct the change of the law? The late Qing Dynasty had come to this point, and there was a possibility of collapse at any time, and the time left for the Manchu Qing government was running out, and it was delayed for more than two years.
Cixi did not oppose the change of law at the beginning, otherwise, the change of law would not have begun at all, this is for sure. In terms of content, the Penghu Reform Law does not involve much, nor does it contain constitutionalism, congress, and other contents that threaten imperial power, and some of them are not even new, which involve the establishment of industry and commerce, the promotion of new studies, and the building of a new army, which have been common as early as the period of the Foreign Affairs Movement.
However, this change of law changed and changed, and Guangxu's main energy was focused on demanding power from Cixi. Of course, this can also be understood, Guangxu is just a puppet, although he later pro-government, but in fact, Cixi is the number one, whether it is a big matter or a small matter or have to let Cixi make up his mind.
Guangxu once mentioned to Prince Yili of Qing about the reform of the law and complained: "If the empress dowager still does not give me the right to do things, I am willing to abdicate this position, and I am not willing to be the king of the country." It can be seen that although the Penghu Reform Law is a reform, it is actually behind the power struggle between Cixi and Guangxu. Guangxu was only using the change of law to argue with Cixi, so Cixi had to stop this time changing the law.
But then the situation deteriorated further in the late Qing Dynasty, and Cixi had to face reality. During the Gengzi period, the Boxer Rebellion helped the Qing Dynasty to destroy the Yangtze, and the Western powers formed a coalition army to enter Beijing, once again allowing Cixi to see the weakness of the Qing Dynasty. She was not stupid, and if she continued like this, the foundation of Manchu rule would be finished.
Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the implementation of the new policy, in addition to some similar contents to the Penghu Reform Law, the most important of which was political reform, especially sending five ministers to investigate abroad to prepare for the constitution; the establishment of the Consultative Yuan, the Consultative Council, and so on.
It can be seen that Cixi did not completely deny the foreigners, but the key was to see whether it threatened the rule of the Manchu Qing. Cixi's insight into the current situation was still good, and she actually saw that daqing had reached a critical juncture and had to change it.
However, the reform was not completed in one document, and judging from the content of the reform, although it involved the issue of constitutionalism, it was only a delaying tactic of the Manchu Qing government, especially the gap between the preparatory constitution and the expectations after that was too large, which also made the constitutionalists very desperate, and the revolutionaries were even more determined to take the pace of the revolution.