The Self-strengthening Movement (1860-1894) was also named "Yang-Wu Yun-Tung" by the Marxist historians. It is because the movement did not strengthen China and it depended too much on the foreigners. All the reform programmes just imitated the West. In the upcoming paragraphs, we are going to discuss the causes and failure of it, and how its failure affected China up to 1912.
It has been said that the Self-Strengthening Movement was a response to the West. The repeated defeats which China suffered from the 1st and 2nd Anglo Chinese Wars convinced the Qing Court Officials that the western powers were not barbarians. Instead, their weapons were very superior. And the foreign powers have been kept seeking advantages and privileges from China. As a result, China has to strengthen herself in order to resist foreign aggressions. To a large extent, it explains why the Self-strengthening Movement is military oriented.
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