Historical Question:

How did domestic challenges contribute to the decline of the Qing dynasty?
Part 1: Summarize an Historian’s Argument
Document A: Extract from China in Focus, the magazine of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU), 2001 Vol. 10, Page 18. http://
www.sacu.org/cixi.html

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...The empress [Dowager Cixi] usually put her own interests ahead of the nation's. She squandered money on
banquets, jewels, and other luxuries. She liked, for example, to be served 150 different dishes at a single banquet...
She used Navy funds to build herself a lavish summer palace ...She also let financial corruption run rampant in the
Forbidden City. Her son...suddenly died...and left no child to inherit the throne. Determined to maintain her power,
Empress Cixi chose the new emperor - her own nephew - Guangxu, aged three years old, and who was not in direct
line of succession to the throne. Cixi retained power in this way as she continued to rule for the young emperor.
...Empress Dowager Cixi caused the decline of the Qing Dynasty because she was greedy for power and would use
unscrupulous means to seize it. Cixi was conservative and opposed to any reforms. She showed little concern
towards the Self-Strengthening Movement. Her use of Naval funds to build her summer palace affected China's
naval strength and helped to cause her defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). However, Cixi herself declared
reforms after the Boxer Rebellion (1900). But her purpose was to strengthen the Manchu regime in the face of
growing discontent and an approaching revolution rather than from any ideological intentions to modernize China.
Because of her ignorant and blindly anti-foreign persuasions, she believed in the magic power of the Boxers and
encouraged their anti-foreign activities. This led to the Eight Power Expedition (1900) to Beijing and the harsh terms
of the subsequent Boxer Protocol. As a result, many people joined the revolutionary movement themselves and took
part in the republican uprisings.
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squandered: wasted
unscrupulous: not honest or fair
hubris: pride
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Part 1 Question 1: Write a one- to two-sentence summary of the argument the historian makes regarding the
impact of the Empress Dowager Cixi on China.

The Empress Dowager Cixi bears sole responsibility for the Qing Dynasty's downfall, since her lack of exibility and
refusal to see beyond her personal interests prevented her from enac ng changes that would have given the Qing a
chance to adjust to the new circumstances they faced. Cixi's luxury and single-minded emphasis on her personal power
rendered her unable to respond e ec vely to the Qing's internal and foreign issues, leaving the empire exposed to
internal and external pressures.
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