China and Japan in the Imperial
Period
China and the West: Tea-Opium
Connection
• Largely self-sufficient
– Agriculture
• Quick growing rice
• Spanish and Portuguese traders brought maize, sweet
potatoes, and peanuts from the Americas
– Extensive mining and manufacturing industries
• Salt, tin, silver, and iron
– Trading goods
• Silk, cottons, porcelain
– Not much interest in Western goods
• Only allowed to trade at the port of Guangzhou
Opium Wars
• Found one good the Chinese would trade for –
opium
– By 1835, 12 million people were addicted
– British refused to stop trading it
• Lead to Opium Wars
– Mostly fought at sea
– Chinese lost because of outdated ships
– Forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing
» Gave the British Hong Kong
» Foreigners were not subject to Chinese law at Guangzhou and
other Chinese ports
Taiping Rebellion
• Under the Qing Dynasty, population doubled in 60 years
but the food production did not
– Lead to widespread hunger and anger
– Chinese people began to rebel
• Taiping Rebellion
– Led by Hong Xiuquan
– Wanted to build “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace”
• All would share China’s wealth and no one would live in poverty
– 1850s, Hong had a peasant army of almost 1,000,000 people
• Took control of S. China
• 1835 – captured Nanjing and made it his capital
– Problems: constant feuding among leaders
• British and French also attacked the army
• 20,000,000 people (or more) died in the fighting
Foreign Influence Grows
• Dowager Empress Cixi
– Supported the start to reforms
• Updated education system, diplomatic service, and military
• Sphere of Influence
– Japan used the apparent weakness of China to gain a
foothold
• They needed this in order to gain extra land that wasn’t
available in Japan
– Open Door Policy
• Championed by the US, it said that the “doors” should be
open to merchants of all nations
• Kept China from being controlled by any one nation
Chinese Nationalism
• Boxer Rebellion
– Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists
– Campaigning against the Dowager Empress’s rule and
the foreign privilege seen in the country
– Attacked Beijing shouting “Death to the Foreign
Devils”
• Multinational army marched on Beijing and defeated the
Boxers
– Consequence: Growth of nationalism
• Needed to be more resistant to foreign intervention
• Government must respond to the needs of the people
End of the Tokugawa
Shogun
• 1600-1853 Japan was isolated
• 1853 – Perry and the US
– Angry over shipwrecked sailors
• TREATY OF KANAGAWA – treaty
signed on 31 March 1854, allowing
US ships into the ports of
Hakodate and Shimoda, where a
US consul would also be accepted
– First treaty Japan signed with a
Western country
Japan in the Imperial Period
Samurai Rebellion against
Western Influence
• Sat-Cho (Satsuma – Choshu)
Alliance
– Defeated by the US
– Japan need to militarize to
survive
• Sat – Cho coup over Tokugawa
Shogunate
Meiji
Restoration
• Sat-Cho emperor replaced shogun
• Modernize and Westernize
– Politics – prefects replace daimyos
• Prime Minister and Parliament govern w/ Emperor
– Military – based on the Prussian model
• Iwakara Mission: Took ideas from other countries:
–
–
–
–
France – Law
Prussia (soon to be Germany) – Military, steel, medicine
Britain – navy
US – mechanized agriculture
Imperial Japan
• In short amount of time, Japan modernized and
became the greatest military power in Asia
– As Japanese power grew, they became more imperialistic
– Wanted to show the world they were a powerful nation
• Sino-Japanese War
– China and Japan saw Korea as an important trading power
and military post
• Both countries signed a hands-off agreement, saying neither
would send armies into Korea
– China lied
• To help with rebellions, China sent troops into Korea
• Japan protested and send its troops in to fight China
• Japan easily defeated the Chinese, drove them out of Korea, and
gained a foothold in Manchuria
• Peace treaty gave Japan Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands
Russo-Japanese War
• Russia and Japan ended up as major powers after
China was defeated
– Went to war over Manchuria
• Japan launched a surprise attack on Russian ships off the
coast of Manchuria
• Drove the Russians out of Korea and captured the Russian
fleet
• 1905 Russia and Japan started peace negotiations
– Signed the Treaty of Portsmouth
» Gave Japan the captured territories
» Forced Russia to withdraw from Manchuria and stay out of
Korea