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Hong Kong to Beijing. Speculation arose over whether Li would really depart from Canton. The Governor was informed by the Chinese Legislative Councillors that while Li did not dare to disregard the imperial edict, he would welcome an excuse for refusing.
In the meantime, the Governor of Hong Kong sent an urgent telegram to London asking for permission to detain Li by military force. London called upon the British Consul in Beijing for advice. This Consul, always on good terms with Beijing, advised that Britain should remain neutral. On the day when the Governor met Li, he recorded something very interesting:
The Viceroy then asked... whom the Powers wanted to see to be Emperor. Who would England like to see Emperor?... I answered that in such an event the Powers would probably ask the advice of the strongest man in China that they could find as to what was best to be done.
Ending his record, the Governor predicted that Li would remain in Shanghai until "the tide turn[ed]”. His prediction proved to be correct. Through Hong Kong, Li travelled northward, and stayed in Shanghai for three months, before he departed for Beijing probably after the "tide really turn[ed]".
The Late Qing Reforms
To curb this rising provincialism, the Manchu government put forward a constitutional reform in 1904. Part of its aim was to institutionalize and to centralize the practice of networking. The Manchu government introduced reform to re-define élite status in China - the imperial examination was abolished, a merchant charter was introduced, China's first legislation on chambers of commerce came about, and the first company laws were implemented. Accordingly, all commercial associations were to be reorganized as chambers of commerce. Through the medium of these chambers, merchants and companies were required to register with the Beijing government. These policies intended to organize a national system of chambers of commerce which corresponded to a hierarchy of regional assemblies leading all the way up to the Senate in Beijing. In economic terms, several Commissioners of Business Promotion were appointed by Beijing to supervise the