Some essential preconditions of reform were: modernizing the traditional exam system, elimination of sinecures, creation of a modern education system (studying math and science instead of focusing mainly on Confucian texts, etc.), changing the government from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy with democracy, applying principles of capitalism to strengthen the economy, reorganizing the military, and industrializing all of China through manufacturing, commerce, and capitalism. Some of Kang's students were also given minor but strategic posts in the capital to assist with the reforms. With the help of certain senior officials of the Qing court, who were supporters of reform, Kang Youwei was permitted to speak with the Emperor, and his suggestions were enacted. Under the influence of reformers Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, Guangxu believed that by learning from constitutional monarchies like Japan and Germany, China would become more powerful politically and economically, and would be able to resist European imperialists. Before the First Sino-Japanese War, China engaged in technological modernization only, buying modern weapons, ships, artillery, and building modern arsenals to produce these weapons, without making any institutional reforms, and refusing to reform according to western standards, as Japan had done. Moreover, the defeat of China by Japan led to a scramble for 'privileges' in China by other foreign powers, notably the German Empire and Russia, further awakening the stubborn conservatives. Guangxu ordered a series of reforms aimed at making sweeping social and institutional changes in response to weaknesses exposed by China's defeat by Japan, which had been regarded as a tributary state. The movement proved to be short-lived, ending in a coup d'état led by Empress Dowager Cixi. was a failed 104-day cultural, political and educational reform movement in 1898, undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters.
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