What if Guangxu emperor continued his reforms?

We all know how Guangxu emperor tried to reform the Qing dynasty and made the hundred days reforms, and how Dowager Cixi betrayed him with the support of Yuan Shikai (the same bastard who tried to create his own dynasty later) and how this led to the collapse of the Qing dynasty

So what if the Guangxu emperor continued in power, being more especific, what if Yuan Shikai didn't betrayed him or what if he placed his cards in another officer who helped him to overcome Dowager Cixi coup, would the Qings be able to finally modernize china and save the dynasty, or it was already "too late"?
 
Too late to hold onto absolute power. Best case scenario is try to go for a situation like in Great Britain, emperor/king/queen/etc are heads of state who can select/influence the selection of a prime minister who presides over an elected parliament with reps from all the provinces and stuff.

The emprah wins by keeping his neck and living large while letting other peeps run day to day ops.

High power courtiers and generals are happy to jockey for position as PM or other choice positions that may become available in the govt.

The middle class have chances to have their voices heard or even go for minor elected office to forward their local interests. Suffrage will likely be limited to this class for now, which will hopefully decrease their militarism.

The poor just keep doing their thing hoping their masters just get things fixed up enough so there's enough food and safety to go around. Doubt they give two craps about voting as long as their bellies are full and there's a roof over their heads.

Just need to figure a way to centralize authority of the military to prevent Yuan Shikai and his merry warlords to shatter things and royally fuck things up in time for the Imperial Japanese to shank them.
 

LordKalvert

Banned
For a radically different interpretation of the Empress Dowager's role in the Hundred Days Reform see Sterling Seagrave's Dragon Lady

As to the question you pose- the Hundred Days reform are ill conceived and do not address the major problems of China. They are also likely to have encouraged civil war as they threatened many of the very foundations of the Chinese Imperial order

We must always remember that the Regime was Manchu and not Chinese and the Manchus controlled all the major levers of power. Manchu, not Chinese interests, had to take precedence or the regime would collapse

In any event, the Empire's position is fatally weakened by the Sino-Japanese War. In attempt to reform the system and reestablish the Chinese as the center of Asian power is doomed because of the destruction of the regime's financial and military power
 
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