Young Manchus of noble family were to be sent abroad for an education on wider lines than it was possible to obtain at home.

This last was in every way a desirable measure.

No Manchu had ever visited the West; all the officials previously sent to foreign countries had been Chinese.

But other proposed changes were not of equal value.
At the back of this reform movement was a small band of earnest men who suffered from too much zeal, which led to premature action.

A plot was conceived, under which the Empress Dowager was to be arrested and imprisoned; but this was betrayed by Yuean Shih-k`ai, and she turned the tables by suddenly arresting and imprisoning the Emperor, and promptly decapitating all the conspirators, with the exception of K`ang Yu-wei, who succeeded in escaping.