‘’Cixi, the empress-dowager, a staunch conservative of no uncertain views argued that adopting the ways of westㅡeven in self defenseㅡwould mean surrendering the culture that constituted the very meaning and essence of China. And that result would be certain disaster.’’ (westad,59)
Even with this early idea, the dark huge cloud of imperialism couldn’t be resisted and this time the cloud was not to pass easily. It seems very controversial to call this cloud a fortune or a misfortune to China. Analyzing a little further, China lacked stability by the time Western imperialism began taking shape. They could not respond effectively to the Opium wars, instead of taking precautionary measures like modernizing; exactly