Imperialism in China
The Chinese have always referred to themselves as the “Middle Kingdom”. The Chinese viewed outsiders as barbarians & saw little value in trade with foreign merchants. The Great Wall was built to protect China from barbarian attacks. But, outsiders came across the Silk Road for China’s exotic goods…As a result, China became the dominant empire in Asia (& the world). China eventually did trade which helped spread Chinese culture throughout Asia. But, outside merchants always had to obey Chinese rules & show respect. By 1600, the Ming had ruled for more than 200 years, and the dynasty was weakening. Its problems grew—ineffective rulers, corrupt officials, and a government that was out of money. Higher taxes and bad harvests pushed millions of peasants toward starvation and civil strife and rebellion followed. Northeast of the Great Wall lay Manchuria. In 1644, the Manchus (MAN•chooz), the people of that region, invaded China and the Ming dynasty collapsed. The Manchus seized Beijing, and their leader became China’s new emperor. As the Mongols had done in the 1300s, the Manchus took a Chinese name for their dynasty, the Qing (chihng) dynasty. They would rule for more than 260 years and expand China’s borders to include Taiwan, Chinese Central Asia, Mongolia, and Tibet. The Qing Dynasty faced two challenges that would threaten China’s future strength: Population & Christian missionaries. A population boom led to a rise in the number of Chinese peasants & competition for land. The Chinese had little interest in trading with the West & were able to reject trade offers. China had a healthy agricultural economy, large deposits of natural resources & manufactured products like silk, cotton clothes, porcelain. For decades, China exported goods to European merchants but refused to BUY European products. In the 1800s, the British smuggled opium from India into China. Although opium was used in China for centuries, it was not until the opening of the tea trade with British merchants that China was able to import large quantities of the drug. By the early 1800s opium was the major product that the British East India Company traded in China and opium addiction was becoming a widespread social problem. When the emperor's own son died of an overdose, he decided to put an end to the trade. Commissioner Lin Tse-Hsü was sent to Canton, the chief trading port of the East India Company, with instructions to negotiate an end to the importation of opium into China. The English merchants were uncooperative, so he seized their stores of opium. This led to immediate military action known as the Opium Wars (1839-1842). Britain used its modern navy to easily win the Opium Wars (1839-1842) and had to cede to a humiliating treaty that legalized the opium trade. As a result Commissioner Lin was dismissed from office and sent into exile. By 1835, 12 million Chinese citizens were addicted to opium. The Treaty of Nanjing ended the Opium Wars: Britain received Hong Kong & extraterritorial rights in China ( foreigners were not subject to Chinese laws). In addition to its foreign problems, China also faced major problems with its own people. By 1850, China’s population grew so rapidly that agriculture could not keep up. In 1853, Hong Xiuquan led the Taiping Rebellion in an attempt end poverty among peasants. The Qing defeated the rebels in 1864 but the rebellion killed 20 million people & weakened China. Britain & other industrial powers took advantage of China’s weakness to force China to sign unequal trade treaties in particular ports. By 1900, China was carved into a series of spheres of influences: areas where a foreign nation had exclusive trade rights. The division of China worried the USA that it would be shut out of Chinese trade. In 1899, the USA proposed an Open Door Policy in China so merchants from all nations can trade freely. The growth of foreign influence, poverty among peasants, & Christianity upset many Chinese. In 1900, frustrated Chinese led the Boxer Rebellion to expel foreigners from China. An army of 19,000 British, French, American soldiers finally ended the Boxer Rebellion. The power of foreign imperialists & the violence of the Boxer Rebellion led to calls to reform China. Reformers looked to the West for ways to fix China. In 1911, Sun Yat-sen led an overthrow of the Qing Dynasty & created a democracy with a written constitution. Sun became president of the new Republic of China. Sun hoped to establish a modern government based on the “Three Principles of the People”: (1) nationalism—an end to foreign control, (2) people’s rights—democracy, and (3) people's livelihood—economic security for all Chinese. Sun Yat-sen considered nationalism vital. He said, “The Chinese people . . . do not have national spirit. Therefore even though we have four hundred million people gathered together in one China, in reality, they are just a heap of loose sand.” Despite his lasting influence as a revolutionary leader, Sun lacked the authority and military support to secure national unity. Sun turned over the presidency to a powerful general, Yuan Shikai, who quickly betrayed the democratic ideals of the revolution. His actions sparked local revolts. After the general died in 1916, civil war broke out. Real authority fell into the hands of provincial warlords or powerful military leaders. They ruled territories as large as their armies could conquer. Over 3,000 years of dynastic rule came to an end… and China began to modernize.