Asia in the 19th Century
Intro
• In the 19th century, three
factors changed the Asian
system forever: the
globalization of trade,
colonization, and in lation.
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• The growth of international
trade in the 19th century led to
increasing contact—much of it
violent—between cultures.
Intro
• The con licts in the 19th
century led to the colonization
of Asia by European forces.
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• The older and typically
wealthier societies of Asia were
no match for and quickly
became dominated by the
more technologically
advanced Europeans
Intro
• In China the 19th century is known as the
"hundred years of national humiliation”
• During this century China suffered major internal
fragmentation
• -It lost almost all of the wars that it fought, and
was often forced to give major concessions to
the great powers in unequal treaties.
• -China was forced to pay large amounts
of reparations, open up ports for trade, lease or
cede territories (such as Outer Manchuria, parts
of Northwest China and Sakhalin to the Russian
Empire, Jiaozhou Bay to the German Empire, Hong
Kong to the British Empire, Macau to
the Portuguese Empire, Zhanjiang to France,
and Taiwan and Dalian to the Empire of Japan)
China
The Qing Dynasty
• In 1636 the Qing came to
power in China and would rule
until its overthrow in 1926, it
was the last Imperial dynasty in
China.
• The Qing were not ethnically
Chinese but instead came from
Manchuria and northern asia,
they were viewed as
conquerors.
China
The Qing Dynasty
• Many of the Han Chinese (the
ethnic majority of China) faced
discrimination.
• Han men were required to cut
their hair in Mongolian fashion
or face execution.
• Intellectuals who criticized the
rulers through literature; many
were rounded up and beheaded.
China
The Qing Dynasty
• American produce, potatoes
and corn primarily, were
introduced as crops during the
Qing dynasty and food was
considered plentiful during that
time.
• There was also an explosion in
exports, particularly that of
cotton, silk, tea and ceramics, all
luxury goods prized in the west.
China
The Opium Wars
• The 19th century featured
several military confrontations
between China and the
western world, the Opium War
of 1840 being the irst.
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• A two-year con lict, it pitted
China against Great Britain.
China
The Opium Wars
• The problem began over trade,
the Chinese would not buy British
products and would only sell
products in exchange for silver
• The East India Company and
other British merchants began to
smuggle Indian opium into China
illegally, for which they
demanded payment in silver.
China
The Opium Wars
• The silver from illicit opium sales
were then used to buy tea and
other goods.
• By 1839, opium sales to China
paid for the entire tea trade.
• Over 12 million Chinese became
addicted to the drug leading
towards an opium epidemic.
China
The Opium Wars
• China attempted to force a ban on
opium with severe penalties
imposed including beheading, but
the British traders worked with
smugglers and pirates to bypass
laws.
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• In spring 1839 the Chinese
government con iscated and
destroyed more than 1,400 tons of
the drug warehoused at Canton
by British merchants.
China
The Opium Wars
• The antagonism between the
two sides increased in July
when drunken British sailors
killed a Chinese villager.
• The British government, which
did not wish its subjects to be
tried in the Chinese legal
system, refused to turn the
accused men over to the
Chinese courts.
China
The Opium Wars
• The ighting began in November
1839.
• Two British warships defeated 29
Chinese vessels while evacuating
British refugees
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• The British government decided to
send a military force to China,
which arrived at Hong Kong in
June.
China
The Opium Wars
• The British leet proceeded up
the Pearl River estuary to Canton,
and, after months of negotiations
there, attacked and occupied the
city.
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• More British campaigns over the
next year were also successful
against the technologically inferior
Qing forces, despite a determined
counterattack by Chinese troops in
the spring of 1842.
China
The Opium Wars
• Peace negotiations began quickly,
resulting in the Treaty of Nanjing,
signed on August 29.
• By its provisions, China was required to
pay Britain a large penalty, give control
over Hong Kong Island to the British,
and increase the number of treaty
ports where the British could trade and
reside.
• Among many concessions during
negotiations, China was forced to give
up Hong Kong to the British.
China
The Uneven Treaties
• Other defeats followed as more
powers got involved in China
(major aspects of the so-called
"unequal treaties" were not formally
voided until 1943).
• In 1843, France and the United
States, and Russia in 1858,
negotiated treaties similar to
England's, including a provision
making foreign people in China
immune from Chinese law.
China
The Uneven Treaties
• Ports were opened to foreign
residence and trade, and
foreigners (especially
missionaries) were allowed free
movement and business
anywhere in the country.
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• Con licts for the rest of the
century wrung more
humiliating concessions from
China…
China
The Opium Wars
• Russia claimed China's far west and
northeast in 1850 and 1860,
• England took over the upper Yangtze
River in 1876
• France took over northern Vietnam in
1884,
• Japan took over to Korea and
northeast China in 1895 (leads to war
with Russia)
• Many foreign powers after 1897
demanded "spheres of in luence,"
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(especially for constructing railroads and
mines for their own use and exploitation
not for China).
China
The Boxer Rebellion
• By the end of the 19th century,
Western nations and Japan had
forced China’s ruling Qing dynasty to
accept wide foreign control over the
country’s economic affairs.
• Throughout the Opium Wars, popular
rebellions and the Sino-Japanese
War, China had fought to resist the
foreigners, but lacked a modernized
military and suffered millions of
casualties.
China
The Boxer Rebellion
• John Hay, U.S. Secretary of State
from 1898 to 1905, began to
implement an “Open Door Policy”
to promote American and
European in luence over China.
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• By the 1890s, a secret Chinese
group, the Society of Righteous
and Harmonious Fists began
carrying out regular attacks on
foreigners and Chinese Christians
China
The Boxer Rebellion
• The rebels performed
calisthenics rituals and martial
arts that they believed would
give them the ability to
withstand bullets and other
forms of attack.
• Westerners referred to these
rituals as shadow boxing,
leading to the Boxers nickname
China
The Boxer Rebellion
• In 1900, the Boxer movement
spread to Beijing, where the
Boxers killed
Chinese Christians and Christian
missionaries and destroyed
churches, railroad stations and
other property.
• As the Western powers and
Japan organized a multinational
force to crush the rebellion.
China
The Boxer Rebellion
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• On August 14, after ighting its
way through northern China, an
international force of
approximately 20,000 troops
from eight nations (AustriaHungary, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia, the United
Kingdom and the United States)
arrived to take Beijing and rescue
the foreigners and Chinese
Christians.
Focus Questions
1. What 3 factors changed the asian system forever?
2. What did China call the 19th century
3. What was the last Imperial Dynasty in China?
4. What were the goods China sold prized by Europe?
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5. What was the con lict between China and Great Britain about?
China
The Boxer Rebellion
China
The Boxer Rebellion
China
The Boxer Rebellion