The Gongche Shangshu movement (traditional Chinese: 公車上書; simplified Chinese: 公车上书; pinyin: Gōngchē Shàngshū), or Petition of the Examination Candidates,[1] also known as the Scholar's Petition to the Throne,[2] was a political movement in China during the late Qing dynasty, seeking reforms and expressing opposition to the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.
In 1895, China was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War and was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ceded Taiwan and Liaodong to Japan in perpetuity, and imposed reparation obligations of 200 million taels of silver on China.
The petition had 5 main points: After the Qing Government refused, on May 2, thousands of Beijing scholars and citizens protested against the Treaty of Shimonoseki in front of the Ducha Yuan.
The name of this incident, Gongche Shangshu, literally means "Public Vehicle Petition".
Leaders of the movement such as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Tan Sitong and Yan Fu started publishing newspapers in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities, thus raising the attention of the emperor, who later invited them to enter the government to implement reforms.