[astralis]

Based off a topic in the China-Defense Forum,

The Guangxu Emperor (emperor from 1875-1908) was living in the middle of China's desperate "Self-Strengthening Movement," its attempt to catch up with the West while being hounded by the West and Japan. It had some notable successes, such as the creation of Asia's most powerful military fleet (yes, stronger than Japan's), creation of some heavy industry, railroads, and a semblance of peace and order after the war-torn T'ai-ping Rebellion.

It is 1875, and the Empress Dowager Cixi has suddenly died after a painful disease. The new emperor is only four years old, and the imperial court has decided to appoint YOU the advisor. You have the power to fulfill THREE of your wishes, before inter-court fighting (unfortunately) finishes you off.

What will you do? Let's see the lists!

My list would be:

- Change the process of becoming an official: Abolish the eight-legged essay and make the entrance exam science/mathematics heavy, with literature at a secondary premium while opening more spots

- Invite even more Western advisors into the Chinese army to train everyone, replacing uniforms with modern ones and arming the army to Western standards

- Creation of an unified railway system that ran throughout all China

Of these three recommendations, only the first one really begins to attack the problem at the heart of the Self-Strengthening Movement- the rest just "cover up" the weaknesses inherent in it. However, because time is no longer plentiful as it was earlier on, immediate concerns must be addressed before the more serious, longer-term problems can.

[General_Zhaoyun]

I would ask Guangxu to abdicate.. and set up a republic immediately..

[snowybeagle]

Lie low, slowly appoint your own confidantes to important positions, make no big waves until the bitch :P kicks the bucket (and give her a little discrete assistance).

[janz]

eight-legged essay? well, it's only a format, and formats have nothing to do with the contents.
i think you have some misunderstanding about it. people don't like those essaies only because the controled contents in tests. not because of the format.

[chuck228]

snowybeagle, on Sep 6 2004, 09:35 PM, said:

Lie low, slowly appoint your own confidantes to important positions, make no big waves until the bitch   kicks the bucket (and give her a little discrete assistance).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes but doesn't work if *the bitch* made sure to give him *a little discrete assistance* to kick the bucket the day before she does...

[yehzhaofeng]

- Make Beijing Mandarin the Official Language
- Ask the Emperor to change the Government into a broader and more appealing system. Constitutional Monarchy.
- Appoint Revolutionaries as Governors
- Reform the Education System
- Allow Western officials to modernize the Qing Army
- Decrease the Value of the Tael

[ignorant_fool]

-taking on the tough job of king of the imperial bevies of concubines and maids.
-stripping of fortunes and beauties to setup kingdom in taiwan.
-be the emperor of taiwan and choose my men as officials.

this way, i will outlive most of the emperor and ministers and have plenty of fun. live among the garden of beauties, how incredible. pardon me, just having a bit fun.

to me, the qing dynasty at that time is like a sinking ship with many holes, its liutenants and sailors only want to fight for the possesion of the ship. i dun know how to save a ship with this kind of staff. even with a few of my men trying our best would not save the ship. so i would take what i can, and with my men, take the lifeboat and move on. and leave the ship for those who are fighting for it. i can also enjoy the view of men strangling each other while the ship is heavily taking in water from the safety of my boat, with a glass of wine in hand.

[Sephodwyrm]

Classical view of Manchu China.

When I played Victoria (1836-1920), what I did was to modernize by trading a few claims on Sakhalin to Tsarist Russia and modernizing the army. I totally disbanded the banners and recruited regular troops armed with flintlocks (for once) and built a little modest fleet with newly acquired guns.

I also set up the first cement, lumber and steel factories in Beijing. Soon I'm building railroads throughout China. In 1839, Great Britain declared war as a result of Lin Zexu banning the Opium Trade. I immediately went for increased mobilization and treated the war very seriously. Yes, thousands died, but GB couldn't make a single successful landing in China due to the preparedness of the new army. However, due to the results of the war I forced China to sue for peace with England by ceding away the territories in British India captured by the western campaign as well as some amount of reparation. China, though a new power, was still defeated. The drive for modernization was increased due to this national shame.

Policing efforts is increased to the max to lower corruption. Tarriffs are increased to the maximum. China is self sufficient, especially with the new and growing industries.
A democratic reform was established in 1849. China became a Constitutional Monarchy.
In 1856, Great Britain declared war again. This time, the New Army, with better guns and artillery, beated off every single British Attack. The New Fleet delivered 100000 men in South Africa and China pushed beyond the Himalayas. Canada was breached by Chinese troops and Great Britain was forced to sue for peace (what happened to France?).

Anyway, Cixi never had a chance to seize power. But this is if I was the chief advisor of Dao Guang...

[astralis]

the problem with sweeping changes is that the larger the immediate change, the larger the cultural backlash. one of the reasons why china was so slow to develop railways was because many chinese believed that railways were gashes in the earth and would upset the qi energy of whatever land the railway passed through

[wlee15]

1. Appoint members of my family into key position within the civil service and military.
2. Use corruption money to cement my power and raise my popular support.
3. Pull of bloody purge to eliminate the "traitors" within the capital and "protect the Emperor".
Remember a good Regent is a ruthless one.