21
Shadows over the Pacific: East
Asia Under Challenge
The Qing Empire
Decline of the Manchus

Opium and Rebellion
 British problems with China
• The opium trade
• Reactions by China


Lin Zexu (Lin Tse-hsu; 1785-1850), 1839
The Opium Wars (1839-1842)
• Concessions to Britain

Taiping (T’ai p’ing) Rebellion, 1853-1864)
• Hong Xiuquan (Hung Hsiu-ch’uan)
• Causes of the rebellion
Efforts at Reform
 Self-strengthening
Adoption of Western technology combined with
the retention of Confucian principles and
institutions
 Proponents of more radical reform
 Wang Tao (Wang T’ao) (1828 – 1897)

Foreign Possessions and Spheres of
Influence About 1900
The Climax of Imperialism



Russia, France, and Britain penetrate China
Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895
 Emperor Guangxu (Kuang Hsu)
 Kang Youwei (K’ang Yu-wei)
 Empress Dowager Cixi (Tz’u Hsi)
Opening the Door to China
 United States’ “Open Door” policy
 Boxer Rebellion, 1900
Collapse of the Old Order




Commission formed to study constitutional changes, 1905
Election for a national assembly, 1910
New provincial elite
Rising rural unrest


Reforms do little for the peasants, artisans, miners, transportation
workers
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925)
• Revive China Society
• Revolutionary Alliance
• Three People’s Principles of nationalism, democracy, and people’s
livelihood

Revolt of October, 1911
• General Yaun Shikai (Yaun Shih-k’ai)

Revolution or collapse of the old order?
Chinese Society in Transition







Obstacles to industrialization
Traditional methods of production
Little use of Western technology
Rapid increase in the population led to smaller plots of land and tenant
farmers
Impact of imperialism on the economy
Western presence accelerated Chinese development
Daily life
 Changes in coastal cities
 Increased Western cultural presence
 Education
 Women
 Impact of missionaries
A Rich Country and a Strong
State: The Rise of Modern Japan




Isolation
Emergent commercial and manufacturing center
Tokugawa feudalistic system falling apart
 Factionalism and corruption plaguing the central
bureaucracy
An End to Isolation
 Commodore Matthew C. Perry, 1853
• Treaty of Kanagawa
 Townsend Harris, 1858
 Sat-Cho alliance, 1863
 Rebel armies attacked shogun’s palace at Kyoto in 1868 and
proclaimed the authority of the emperor who had agreed to
end cooperation with the West
Meiji Restoration

Transformation of Japanese Politics





Meiji Economics




Abolish remnants of the old order and strengthen the executive
Charter Oath, 1868
Political parties develop
Meiji Constitution of 1890
Land reform
Japan’s industrial revolution
Impact of changes on the rural population
Building a Modern Social structure





Military structure
Education
Changing culture
Civil Code, 1898
Women
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Japanese Overseas Expansion
During the Meiji Era
Joining the Imperialist Club
 Conflict
with China
 Ryukyu Islands
 Korea opens ports to Japan
 Sino-Japanese rivalry over Korea
 Treaty of Shimonoseki
 Russo-Japanese War, 1904
 Korea annexed in 1908
Japanese Culture in Transition
 Japan
invited technicians, engineers, architects,
and artists from Europe and United States
 Tokyo School of Fine Arts
The Meiji Restoration: A
Revolution from Above
 Some
historians argue it was an incomplete
revolution because it did not end economic and
social inequalities
 Others argue it did put Japan on a path of
economic and political development
 A “conservative revolution”
 Combination of kokutai and capitalism
Discussion Questions
 How
did opium help the British force concessions
from the Chinese?
 What steps did the Chinese take to block European
domination of China? Why did these measures
fail?
 How did the presence of European powers in
China shape Chinese cultural development?
 Was the Meiji Restoration a “revolution”?