TENSIONS

SOON AFTER HIS appointment as Britain's Minister in Peking in 1906, Sir John Jordan wrote to the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, Sir Francis Campbel:

Embodied in the Rights Recovery Movement, this enthusiasm would gather pace over the next five years but, whilst it may have indicated that China was recovering from the Uprising and that its international relations were back on an even keel, there were tensions beneath the surface. Still harbouring memories of those days, many foreigners remained sceptical, with ‘Sino-phobic feeling’ breaking out across the English-speaking world. And this sentiment was strongly reciprocated by the Chinese – as Hart observed to his London manager:

Whilst officials like Jordan endorsed the movement for reform, it should take place, so they believed, within the framework of British control and influence. But, as the spirit of nationalism gained momentum, so there was a growing resentment at the subservience of the Qing to the western powers. The ability and willingness to summon a gun-boat at a moment's notice was all too evident in the brooding presence of the British fleet, comprising up to thirty-three warships at any one time in Chinese waters. And, although the successful completion of the Huguang loan, described in an earlier chapter, appeared ‘to herald a brighter future both for the Bank and for China's economy’, it also served to fuel that resentment, leading to the outbreak of the Revolution in October 1911 and the rapid downfall of the Qing. But, with the first republican government requiring urgent financial support, the Re-organisation Loan, concluded in 1913, would tighten Western control over the economy.