RALPH L. POWELL. The Rise of Chinese Military Power, 1895-1912. Pp. x, 383. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1955. $6.00

• Author: Hilary Conroy
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625630400185
• Subject Matter: Articles

197

of

the

military

governor

and

Attorney

Gen-

eral

Anthony’s

devastatingly

critical

report

to

Governor

Stainback.

Unfortunately,

most

of

these

essential

documents

are

printed

in

very

small

type

and

from

unclear

type.

ALLAN

F.

SAUNDERS

University

of

Hawaii

CHESTER

C.

TAN.

The

Boxer

Catastrophe.

Pp.

ix,

276.

New

York:

Columbia

Uni-

versity

Press,

1955.

$4.50.

Although

a

number

of

Western

books

have

been

written

on

the

subject,

there

is

more

than

justification

for

the

appearance

of

the

volume

under

review.

The

author

has

made

the

best

use

of

both

Western

and

Chinese

source

materials.

The

introductory

chapter

treats

the

un-

happy

relationship

between

China

and

the

West,

the

inevitable

conflicts

and

the

failure

of

the

Hundred

Days

reform

movement.

It

goes

on

to

examine

the

genesis

and

the

development

of

the

Boxer

movement

and

how

the

movement

was

being

harnessed

by

the

reactionary

forces

rallying

around

the

Empress

Dowager.

But

a

greater

part

of

the empire,

under

the

leadership

of

several

able

governors,

refrained

from

plunging

into

the

catastrophe

and

this

resulted in

the

maintenance

of

peace

in

the

southeast.

After

the

fall

of

Peking,

the

court

took

flight

and

there

was

no

hope

for

the

re-

actionary

group.

Li

Hung-chang

carried

the

heavy

burden

of

negotiating

a

peace

under

the

most

disadvantageous

circum-

stances.

Imperial

Russia

pressed

hard

to

get

concessions

in

Manchuria

as

embodied

in

the

Tseng-Alexeieff

agreement,

which,

however,

the

Chinese

court

braced

itself

not

to

sign.

The

story

ends

with

the

in-

ternational

settlement

and

the

return

of

the

court

to

Peking.

The

author has

labored

through

the

Chi-

nese

materials

to

bring

out

a

number

of

valuable

revisions.

Mr.

Tan

refutes

the

theory

of

origins

of

the

Boxers

proposed

by

George

Nye

Steiger

in

his

China

and

the

Occident.

Steiger

asserted

that

the

Boxers

were

volunteer

militia,

recruited

in

response

to

the

express

commands

of

the

throne.

But

according

to

Mr.

Tan,

&dquo;the

Boxers

were

oflicially

reported

to

have

appeared

in

Shantung

as

early

as

May

1898

while

the

first

decree

ordering

the

organization

of

the

militia

was

not

issued

until

November

of

that

year,&dquo;

and

that

the

Boxers

began

as

a

volunteer

association

under

the

influence

of

the

heretical

sects

with

the

declared

aim

of

fighting

the

native

Christians.

Mr.

Tan

also

reexamined

the

parts

played

by

the

leading

statesmen

of

the

time

such

as

Li

Hung-chang,

Jung

Lu,

Liu

Kun-i

and

Chang

Chih-tung.

He

gives

special

credit

to

Sheng

Hsuan-huai,

the

Director

of

Rail-

ways

and

Telegraphs

and

of

the

China

Merchants

Steam

Navigation

Company,

who

had

contributed

a

great

deal

in

influ-

encing

the

measures

taken

by

southern

viceroys

to

maintain

peace

in

the

south-

east.

Another

interesting

point

he

makes

is

that

the

Tseng-Alexeieff

agreement

was

signed

without

the

Imperial

Court’s

knowl-

edge

and

that

the

text

of

the

agreement

printed

in

several

outstanding

document

works

is

incorrect.

The

introductory

chapter

does

not

match

the

quality

of

the

following

chapters

be-

cause

the

author

ventures

with

somewhat

untenable

generalizations.

He

seems

to

make

light

of

the

anti-foreign

feelings

of

the

common

people

as

reflected

in

religious

persecutions

and

the

Boxer

movement.

He

also

fails

to

enlighten

the

reader

as

to

the

policy

of

foreign

trade,

if

any,

of

the

Ming

government.

The

1529

memorial

of

the

Viceroy

of

Kwangtung

and

Kwangsi

(p:

5)

deals

with

the

ban

on

trade

which

resulted

from

the

unhappy

episode

of

the

Folang-chi

(Portuguese)

mission.

But

the

context

conveys

the

idea

that

the

ban

tried

to

rem-

edy

the

situation

caused

by

Japanese

piracy.

As

to

the

central

subject

itself,

it

may

be

more

desirable

to

elaborate

the

thinking

of

the

conservatives

at

court

and

the

actual’

practices

and

ideologies

of

the

Boxers

them-

selves.

All

these,

however,

are

minor

limi-

tations

and

do

not

affect

the

value

of

the

book.

KWAN-WAI

SO

Claflin

College

RALPH

L.

POWELL.

The

Rise

of

Chinese

Military

Power,

1895-1912.

Pp.

x,

383.

Princeton,

N.

J.:

Princeton

University

Press,

1955.

$6.00.

I

like

to

approach

a

book

review with

a

dual

perspective,

on

the

one

hand

asking