Here on AH.com, we often talk about Meiji in the context of a non-western country rapidly industrializing overnight. But how about in the sense of reshuffling social structures? The restoration ended the power of many samurai clans, and began the road to weakening the bushi in general.
So how could a similar event happen to China? First off, we need to determine who would be the replaced ones. I would assume it would be mostly the traditionalist Manchu family members surrounding the emperor. In fact, a nice Meiji analogue would be replacing Dowager Empress Cixi and other advisors to reassert the power of the Guangxu Emperor. So it would be old-style Manchu aristocrats having their power weakened. Second, we need to determine who would do the replacing. I assume it would be reformers such as Kang Youwei and co.
Actually when I set out making this thread I was wondering if what happened to the samurai could similarly happen to the Confucian scholar-gentry, but in retrospect the scholar-gentry were just like a job, like military generals; they had power, but if they were to be replaced, other types of administrator paper-pusher types would just replace them. They weren't the ones calling shots like the people who actually presided at the Qing court.
So how could a similar event happen to China? First off, we need to determine who would be the replaced ones. I would assume it would be mostly the traditionalist Manchu family members surrounding the emperor. In fact, a nice Meiji analogue would be replacing Dowager Empress Cixi and other advisors to reassert the power of the Guangxu Emperor. So it would be old-style Manchu aristocrats having their power weakened. Second, we need to determine who would do the replacing. I assume it would be reformers such as Kang Youwei and co.
Actually when I set out making this thread I was wondering if what happened to the samurai could similarly happen to the Confucian scholar-gentry, but in retrospect the scholar-gentry were just like a job, like military generals; they had power, but if they were to be replaced, other types of administrator paper-pusher types would just replace them. They weren't the ones calling shots like the people who actually presided at the Qing court.