Self-Strengthening Movement

The Self-Strengthening Movement, sometimes called the Westernization or Western Affairs Movement, unfolded roughly between 1861 and 1895. It was a reform era launched by the late Qing dynasty after the military humiliations of the Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion. These defeats laid bare the shortcomings of the Qing military and administration, spurring efforts to bolster the state. The reforms touched on diplomacy, the military, the economy, and education.

The phrase "self-strengthening" traces back to the ancient *Yijing*, which stated, "The superior man makes himself strong." It was later used during the Southern Song dynasty to address the Jurchen invasion crisis, and again by the Qianlong Emperor, who wrote that self-strengthening was necessary to fend off foreign ambitions. In the late 1700s, as the Chinese bureaucracy declined, Confucian scholars shifted toward the "School of Practical Learning," which advocated a pragmatic approach to governance and did not hesitate to push for institutional reforms. These scholars also borrowed from ancient Legalist ideas, such as *fujiang*, which focused on the state's wealth and power.

The term gained modern traction in 1861, when scholar-official Feng Guifen presented a series of essays to Zeng Guofan. Feng had commanded a volunteer corps against the Taiping rebels and, after moving to Shanghai in 1860, was deeply impressed by Western military technology. Zeng Guofan himself wrote in his diaries about self-strengthening rhetoric aimed at technological modernization to protect the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Li Hongzhang used the term in an 1864 letter, identifying Western strength as rooted in technology and advocating for learning to build such machines—first for military use, then for civilian purposes in a memorial the following year.

Earlier scholars had already warned of Western threats. Chen Lujiong (1730), Wang Dahai (1791), and Xie Qinggao (1820) called for adopting Western weapon technology. Wei Yuan, writing for Imperial Commissioners Lin Zexu and Qishan after the First Opium War, urged the production of Western arms and warships. By the 1830s and 1840s, proposals emerged for using Western military technology for defense and for reforming traditional institutions like the Imperial Examinations to spread the new technology. During the First Opium War, Lin Zexu purchased a few hundred guns and a ship from Europeans.

The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) was not primitive in weaponry. Western weapons dealers sold modern muskets, rifles, and cannons to the rebels, who also advocated for railways and steamships. To counter them, Zeng Guofan, an official in Hunan, began recruiting a privately funded militia, the Xiang Army, using Western weapons and training. Imperial forces also included the Ever Victorious Army, composed of Chinese soldiers led by European officers like Frederick Townsend Ward and Charles Gordon, backed by British arms companies such as Willoughbe & Ponsonby.

By 1860, most of the Chinese political class recognized the radical changes underway. They declared change irresistible and pushed for deeper study of Western technology. In July 1861, Prince Gong announced imperial approval to purchase foreign weapons for self-strengthening, formally launching the movement.

The movement had three phases. The first lasted from 1861 to 1872. In 1860, China's defeat in the Second Opium War and the Taiping successes forced the imperial court to acknowledge a crisis. In 1861, Prince Gong and Grand Councilor Wen Xiang proposed an office to handle foreign affairs. Prince Gong became regent, Grand Councilor, and head of the new Zongli Yamen, a de facto foreign ministry. Local Han officials like Zeng Guofan raised private Westernized militias to fight the rebels. Zeng and his armies eventually defeated the Taiping and worked to import Western military technology and translate Western scientific knowledge. They set up successful arsenals, schools, and munitions factories.

In the 1870s and 1880s, their successors, now provincial officials, built shipping lines, telegraph lines, and railways. China made substantial progress in modernizing heavy industry and the military. However, most of the ruling elite still held a conservative Confucian worldview, and the self-strengtheners largely avoided social reform beyond economic and military modernization. The movement succeeded in reviving the dynasty from near collapse, sustaining it for another fifty years. Its considerable achievements ended abruptly with China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. A later major modernization effort, the late Qing reforms, began in 1901 after the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform and the invasions of the Eight-Nation Alliance.