New Ch'ing Period Dissertations, February-July 1974

-100NEW CH'ING PERIOD DISSERTATIONS, FEBRUARY-JULY 1974 The following entries have been abstracted and edited by Stanley Spector, Office of International Studies, Washington University. They were deriveo from Volumes 34 and 35 of Dissertation Abstracts International, froin which they may be ordered by title and number. 1 . Confucian Reformers and Local Vesteo Interests: The Su-Sunn-T'ai Tax Reduction of 1 863 and its Aftermath Frank Arno Lojewski, Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1373 In its broadest perspective an investigation of the relationship between the imperial government and tne people it governed in mid-19tn century China. Specifically, explores tiie problems in the grain tribute administration of Su-Sung-T'ai , a circuit in Southern Kiangsu. Presents and analyzes tne proposals of Feng Kuei-fen for various reforms in the löSO's and 1860's, and nis collection of essays, Chiao-pin-lu k'anq-i. These proDosals were too radical, it is claimed, and consequently were ignored by most of Feng's contemporaries. To bring about some reform, he moved Governor Li Hung-chang in 1363 to request the throne to reduce Su-Sung-T'ai 1S exordbitant grain tribute quota. Later, Fenn anu Liu hsiln-kao supervised the implementation of the reduction. .Vhen Ting Jih-ch'ang serveu as governor of Kiangsu from 1363-70, he discovered that the tax reduction naJ failed to bring about tax-relief for the averaqe landholder. Ting's experience proveo that the Ch'ing local government was beyond reform because the central government was unwilling to change the basic structure of district novernment, and the local elite and yamen hirelings could thus obstruct those reforms undertaken by a few governors during the T'ung-chih reign. Order Uo. 74-8522, 453 pages. -1012 .The Mandarin-Capitalists from Nanyang: Overseas Chinese Enterprise and the Modernization of China, 1893-1911 Michael Richard Godley, Ph.D., Brown University, 1973 For China, in the closing decades of the Ch'ing dynasty, the absence of a strong and independent merchant element stood as a formidable obstacle to the development of industry and commerce. In a move to introduce both capital and expertise without completely destroying older values the government turned to the Chinese in Southeast Asia. Recognizing the ties wealthy overseas capitalists had with the mainland, the Ch'ing government took steps to offer limited protection, largely in the form of consulates, and to exploit the growing nationalist spirit. Much of the credit for this policy must go to Chang Pi-shih, an overseas multi-millionaire who was consul general in Singapore and a close adviser to the empress dowager. The contribution of the overseas Chinese to China's early modernization, particularly in the field of railroads, constitutes an important but neglected chapter in Chinese history. The way Southeast Asian capitalists were recruited into the bureaucracy and the conditions under which they were permitted to begin new enterprises casts light upon many problems while revealing much about the acculturation process. Order No. 74-3017. 373 pages. 3.The United States Diplomats' Response to Rising Chinese Nationalism, 1900-1912 Linda Madson Papageorge, Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1973 An examination of the consuls' and diplomats' evaluations of and response to the political situation in China provides answers to the question of the influence they exerted on United States policy during the decade that preceded the nationalist revolution of 1911, and offers additional insights Into the nature of nationalism in this period as well as the nature and effect of the United States response to that nationalism. -102The United States' attitude' toward modern Chinese nationalism was an ambiguous one, favoring the nationalists' objective of a strong, modern China, but opposing any nationalist activities that challenged the privileged position the unequal treaties gave the foreign powers. According to the Consular Despatches, both the Manchu-Chinese dynasty and the United States failed to respond adequately to the new reality posited by emerging Chinese nationalism. Although the diplomatic notes reported the implications of the Throne's inability to identify with modern Chinese nationalism, the diplomats failed to affect appreciably the attitude of the State Department's decision-makers who refused to adjust United States policy to tne new...