The strength of the bourgeois reformists is too weak, which is the weakness of the bourgeoisie; The die-hards represented by Cixi have real power and strength.

Direct cause

1, Lao Wei is awesome. At that time, the supreme leadership of the country was not in the hands of Emperor Guangxu, but in the hands of princes and ministers headed by the Western Empress Dowager. There are only a few reformers who have no real power. At first, the Western Empress Dowager instructed that "it is advisable to focus on western learning now", but when she felt that the reform touched her power and the interests of the nobles in the Qing Dynasty, she began to contain and suppress it.

2. The reformists lack correct theoretical guidance. Kang Youwei's Textual Research on New Classics accuses Liu Xin of forging all the ancient China classics in the Western Han Dynasty, while the Textual Research on Confucius' Reform dressed Confucius as the ancestor of "reform and legislation". Neither of these two books has sufficient and convincing evidence. Needless to say, the old school opposed them, and some enlightened people at that time did not approve of them. In addition, some radical propaganda of reformists has also increased social resistance.

3. Reformists lack strong organizational leadership and are divorced from the broad masses of the people. They only hope for the emperor and a few bureaucrats who have no real power, and even have unrealistic illusions about imperialism.

4. Some radical measures taken by the reformists and Emperor Guangxu in carrying out the reform. At the beginning of the Reform Movement of 1898, Emperor Guangxu was dissatisfied with the self-restraint and contradiction of his teacher and military attache Weng Tonghe, so he returned to his hometown. A large number of redundant staff were laid off, only in Beijing, involving more than ten idle yamen, and nearly 10 thousand people were unemployed, but no way out was arranged. Because Wang Zhao was blocked from writing letters, it was too hasty and heavy to recall six ministers at once.

5. The means of political reform is single: a simple top-down "peaceful" and "legal" way is adopted.