Modern China

“It was sometimes hard to believe that the Chinese has much commitment to Western progress… Once the novelty had worn off, few were interested in learning how the [telegraph] instruments actually work.” Why were the reformers facing difficulties and what were the repercussions for China? The reforms refer to the self-strengthening period in late Qing China. You can kind of ignore the quote and just focus on writing about the failure of the self-strengthening period, and the repercussions for China.