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IELTS Reading Passage – One Hundred Days of Reform
One Hundred Days of Reform
The term “one hundred days” has been used in politics to indicate a short period of intense political reform since the early 1800s. This phase typically begins when a new leader obtains power in a country. When Napoleon fled Elba and King Louis XVIII reclaimed his throne, the first Hundred Days happened between March and June 1815. This was one of the outcomes of the Battle of Waterloo. The Hundred Days of Reform of China (also referred to as the Wuxu Reform) was influenced by a similar event. Emperor Guangxu found his nation in a tough situation following the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War. Desperate for change, the emperor recruited help from a young political activist called Kang Yu-Wei. K’ang graduated with the highest qualification (chin-shih), published two books on reform, and started many of his own political reform projects at the age of 27. K’ang impressed the court and persuaded the king that China, similar to Japan, ought to establish a constitutional government and remove the monarchy.
Emperor Guwangu handed the reform work to Kang on June 11, 1898, and placed a progressive scholar-reformer in the control of the government. K’ang started working immediately to transform China into a more modern nation with the help of some other reformers. In a brief amount of time, the imperial court issued several statutes related to the country’s social and political structure. K’ang first intended to reform China’s educational system. Instead of the Neo-Confucian orthodoxy, the edicts proposed a universal educational system that prioritized practical and Western studies. The new government also aimed to modernize the country’s examination methods as well as send more students abroad to learn firsthand how technology was evolving in other countries. Another demand made by K’ang was the establishment of a national parliamentary government with elected officials and ministries. Modernization of agriculture and medicine was also on the agenda, along with military reform and the establishment of a new defense system.
These edicts created a threat to Chinese institutions and ideologies, particularly the army, that at the time had been controlled by a small group of governors-general. At every level of society, there was strong opposition to the reform, and only one out of fifteen provinces attempted to implement the edicts. The Manchus recommended more gradual adjustments since they thought the reform was a radical and unrealistic proposal. Three months into the reform, Yuan Shikai and Empress Dowager Cixi organized a coup d’état to remove Guangxu and the youthful reformers from power and confine them in seclusion. Some of the reformers’ top advocates that refused to quit were executed. The new edicts were abolished after September 21st, and the conservatives reclaimed power.
Many Chinese citizens believed that the consequences of the One Hundred Days of Reform were worse for their country than the reform attempts’ short but failed rule. Anti-foreign, as well as anti-Christian secret societies, ripped through northern China immediately after the conservative takeover, attacking foreign concessions and missionary establishments. The brutality of these “Boxer bands” provoked revenge from the offended nations, compelling the government to declare war on the invaders. By the end of August, a group of Allied forces consisting of armies from nine different European countries, the United States, and Japan had arrived in Peking. North China had been conquered with little effort, and foreign troops had established themselves within the border. Under the Protocol of 1901, the court was ordered to either kill or punish several of its prominent officials. The Allies decided on an “open door” trade plan rather than dividing the conquered area among the countries. Numerous of these original reform plans, such as the modernization of educational and military systems, were ordered by the court within a decade.
Empress Dowager Cixi, who refused to reform despite the reality that change was inevitable was portrayed as the villain in the traditional depiction of the One Hundred Days of Reform, while Emperor Guwangxu and K’ang Yu-wei were portrayed as heroes. However, as the One Hundred Days became a symbol of political failures, historians of the 20th century often symbolizes the Wuxu Reform as an impractical dream. The conservative elites might have been more hostile to the immediacy of the planned edicts than the changes themselves, which can be seen by the fact that the reforms were implemented in the span of decades rather than months.
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One Hundred Days of Reform Reading Questions
Questions 1 – 4
What were some of the reforms planned during the One Hundred Days of Reform in China? Choose four answers from the list below, and write the correct letters, A-G, in boxes 1 – 4 on your Answer Sheet.
- Modernization of the school system
- Establishment of a parliament
- Focus on the study of Confucianism
- Reorganization of the military
- Abolition of elections
- Improvement of farming & initiation of foreign trade
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Questions 5 – 9
Complete the sentences below about the reading passage. Choose your answers from the box below, and write them in boxes 5 – 9 on your Answer Sheet. There are more choices than spaces, so you will not use them all.
- overthrew the government after the reforms were introduced
- in charge of the reform movement
- were voted in
- in prison
- were abolished
- lost a war
- began trade
- foreigners in China
- were executed
- reform supporters
- occupied China
- were initiated
- opposed the reforms
- were re-established
5. China ______ with Japan.
6. After June 11, 1898, the reforms _______.
7. Emperor Guangxu put K’ang Yu-wei _________
.8. Yuan Shikai and Empress Dowager Cixi ___________.
9. Secret societies attacked _________.
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Questions 10 – 13
Do the following statements agree with the information in Reading Passage?
WriteTRUE: if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE: if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN: if there is no information about the statement
10. K’ang published five books at the mere age of 27.
11. Many people were in opposition to the reforms.
12. Britishers formed an alliance with European countries to conquer China.
13. Empress Dowager Cixi is regarded as a villain, in the traditional perspective of the story of ‘One Hundred Days of Reform’.
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One Hundred Days of Reforms Reading Answers
1. A
2. B
3. D
4. F
5. F
6. L
7. B
8. A
9. H
10. False
11. True
12. Not Given
13. True
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