Research On The Xiliang River In The Late Qing Dynasty

Sichuan province is located in the southwest of China. This place enjoys the reputation of "the land of abundance" because of its rich products. The traditional China had seen the most rapid transformation of the thirty hundred years. At that time, due to the factors such as closed geographical environment, poor traffic and its inland southwest location, Sichuan enjoyed a lighter external shock and a relatively slow transformation of its old social structure contrasting coastal areas and Yangtze River area, which brought about Sichuan Basin a relatively independent political and economic area. This closure also enabled the development of modern Sichuan a relatively distinct inland feature. Not until late19th century to the early20th century did modern Sichuan society undergo significant changes. Internally, the social contradictions in Sichuan escalated and uprisings continued. Externally, Britain, Russia and other imperialist countries kept evil intentions on the Sichuan-Tibet border, attempting to annex Tibet and bring into Sichuan border areas the aggression force. All these had no doubt caught Sichuan in a beleaguered situation in early20th century.In April1903, facing the ruins of Sichuan unbearable social situation the new governor of Sichuan province,Xi-Liang needed to take immediate actions to stabilize the social order and to take on a new look which became the most important issue for him. To solve the problems like Sichuan official corruption, lack of finance, bad arms and mental stagnation, Xi-Liang made every effort to enforce new policies and finally achieved remarkable results. The governor’s hard work gradually reversed the former unrest situation and made it a thriving scene. At the same time the new policies also promoted the social modernization process in Sichuan. This thesis is mainly analyzing Xi-Liang’s new policies in late Qing-Dynasty in three parts.The first part is the summary of former Sichuan society before Xi-Liang came. Feudal dynasty’s cruel exploitation and continuous floods and droughts led to the languished production and hard livelihood of common people; imperialist invasion step-by-step made the former political and economic social structures in Sichuan suffer from damage; massive uprisings caused Sichuan an unrest society. All these seemed to indicate the rough path of the modern Sichuan development.The second part is mainly discussing about Xi-Liang’s leadership, his new policies in Sichuan, and the bureaucratization of native officers, which are also the main contents of this thesis. In this section, the analysis will focus on Xi-Liang’s series of policies since his arrival such as rectifying the official, constructing "Chuan Han" railway, training a new army, developing the modern education as well as the bureaucratization of native officers, refreshing the ruined society. Thanks to the implementation of these policies, Sichuan had greatly changed the original social situation and gradually made the transition to the modern civilization.The third part is an objective evaluation of Xi-Liang’s governance. In comparing with other provinces of this period, Xi-Liang’s success will be analyzed, concerning the successful factors and its profound impact on modern Sichuan society.