The Gold-Exchange Standard and Imperial Competition in China, 1901–1905

This chapter examines the intellectual and policy debates among Qing officials about the dynasty's place in the world monetary system. It recounts the continued shift to the gold and gold-exchange standard in the late nineteenth century that occurred in the background of changing economic and political conditions. It also discusses the emergence of currency blocs tied to the pound, dollar, and yen, and the falling price of silver after the Boxer Indemnity in 1901. The chapter identifies figures in China that understood the gold-exchange standard's practical, economic, and symbolic meanings in different ways, such as Zhang Zhidong, who believed that adopting the gold-exchange standard would extend foreign control of Chinese finances. It covers the periodic financial panics, falling prices, and a general move to the gold and gold-exchange standards that defined the global political economy of the late nineteenth century.

A Coin for China? The Monetary Standards Debate at the End of the Qing Dynasty, 1900–1912

This article examines debates about monetary standards in the final years of the Qing dynasty. As silver depreciated on the world market, Qing statesmen discussed whether to adopt the gold-exchange standard or to stay on the silver standard. These debates took place on a conceptual and practical level: Should and could the Qing dynasty adopt the gold-exchange standard and what were the economic, political, and symbolic implications of doing so? The article contributes to the history of the late Qing dynasty by focusing on the monetary thought of figures more famous for their other roles: Zhang Zhidong, Liang Qichao, and Kang Youwei. It shows how the monetary standards debate had complex links to international finance, conceptions of sovereignty, central-provincial relations, and public finance. The article concludes by demonstrating how these debates continued in the next decades, becoming a central issue in modern Chinese history.

Reappraising Zhang Zhidong: Forgotten Continuities During China’s Self-Strengthening, 1884-1901

The recent historiography of China’s late nineteenth-century Self-Strengthening movement emphasizes the successes in Chinese state building. My research expands upon this trend through the perspective of the prominent governor-general Zhang Zhidong 張之洞 (1837-1909) and his military reforms. From 1884 to 1901, Zhang consistently pursued the creation of new military academies and western-style armies with the aim of providing an army capable of defending China. At the turn of the century, Zhang’s military apparatus was arguably one of the best in China. However, his role as a military pioneer of this era was often obscured by the wider narratives of Chinese reforms or subsumed under the reforms of more notorious officials such as Li Hongzhang or Yuan Shikai. Ultimately, the study of Zhang Zhidong’s reforms reveals an often-missed continuity in successful military reform starting in the 1880s and contributes to the developing historical narratives of successful late Qing state building.