Imperialism in China
Silver Serves Chinese
Ascendancy
• China rejects goods from others
and expects payment in silver
• Originally most silver entering
China came from Japan
• Mines in the Americas, in
particular Potosi, allowed the
Spanish to acquire Chinese
goods by way of Manila
Self Sufficiency??
• Strong agricultural economy
– Quick growing rice from Southeast
Asia
• Maize, sweet potatoes, and
peanuts from the Americas
• Extensive mining and
manufacturing industries
– Provides jobs
• Silk, high quality cotton, porcelain
Why China?
• Large population
– Market for manufactured goods
– Cheap labor for foreign enterprises
• Mineral resources
• Tea and silk
• Manchu [Qing] government weak
and lacked military resources
Guanzhou
Only port foreigners could trade in
British Trade with China
• Qing emperor rejects British
attempt to trade
• China doesn’t want European
goods
• What about OPIUM?
– Used medicinally for centuries
– By 1835, 12 million Chinese are
addicted
80,000,000
70,000,000
60,000,000
50,000,000
Approx. num be r
of che s ts pe r
ye ar
40,000,000
30,000,000
20,000,000
10,000,000
0
1700
1800
1840
Opium was shipped from Bombay and Calcutta to Guangzhou
Chinese Official
Requires End to
Opium Trade
• Commissioner Lin’s letter to Queen of
England— “…by means of introducing opium
by stealth, have seduced our Chinese
people, and caused every province of the
land to overflow with that poison.”
• While the letter was in transit Commissioner
Lin ordered several thousand boxes of opium
destroyed.
– What did the British do?
Destruction of Opium on right
by burning it, sometimes it was
sunk into the sea or mixed with
lime.
1839-1842
The
Opium
War
Chinese confiscate and burn opium in Canton harbor—
destroyed the stockpile—Britain declares war
Fought over....
• China - STOP OPIUM TRADE!
• Treaty of Nanking -considered
to be an unequal treaty —
WHY?
– “…subjects who shall enjoy full security and
protection for their persons and property…”
extraterritoriality rights
– “…shall be allowed to reside, for the
purpose of carrying on their pursuits…”
Open ports
– “… necessary and desirable, that British
Subjects should have some Port whereat
they may careen and refit their ships,
when required, …China cedes to …
Great Britain…” Hong Kong
– “… China agrees to pay … as the value
of Opium which was delivered up at
Canton…” Indemnity [money]
Qing Dynasty
1850
• Corrupt Government almost
bankrupt
• Increased population
• Decreased food supply
– Hunger widespread
– Opium addiction increases
– Yellow River floods
Regions in
which the
economic
interests of a
foreign nation
came before
those of China
Taiping
Rebellion
1853-1863
Provincial revolt to overthrow
Qing government...
• Hong Xiuquan
– Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace
– 1 million followers
• Put down by Chinese Imperial
Army with British and French help
– 10 year war- 20 million lives
– Need for modernization met with resistance
– China continued to weaken
• Britain demands another “unequal
treaty” because they aided in
ending the rebellion
– Gained embassy in Peking
• Russia gained territory including
part of Turkistan and Port Arthur
• France gained Indochina
• Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895
– Japan gained
•
•
•
•
Taiwan
Treaty ports
Indemnity
Korea
• Russia needs to keep
Japan out of Manchuria
because a Manchurian
Railroad shortens the
distance to Port Arthur by
350 miles
1860’s - 1900
Foreign countries
gain more rights
Spheres of Influence
Which countries?
• Japan
– Korea, Taiwan, southern Manchuria
• France
– Vietnam, railroad to Indochina
• Germany
– Mining rights, railroad
• Britain
– Trade routes in Yangtze valley, naval
base
• Russia
– Indemnity, tax free route for railroad
Spheres of Influence
1899
Open Door
Policy
China
U. S. feared..
• American trade ...shut out of
China
• Proposed an “open door” for
merchants of all nations
• Protected American trade
rights in China
• China protected from
colonization
Modernization measures meet resistance
Empress Dowager [aunt of reigning
emperor] returns
Late 1800’s - 1900’s
Chinese
Nationalist
Societies
Secret Societies pledge to get
rid of the “foreign devils”
Imperialism
1900
The
Boxer
Rebellion
Society of Righteous &
Harmonious Fists
a.k.a. “Boxers”
Encouraged by
government officials to
drive out ALL foreigners
• Besiege European compound in
Peking
• Rescued by an 8-nation army
– British, French, Germany, Austria, Italy,
Russia, Japan, United States
Empress Tz’hsi (Su-Shi)
What caused the Boxer Rebellion
and to what extent was it an
International war?
What result did this have on China?
Results... new nationalist
movement with goals of:
• Nationalism
• Republicanism—
constitutional government
promised by 1917
• Land reform
The decline of the Qing dynasty
Russo-Japanese War 1904
• Japanese advantages
–
–
–
–
Industrialized
British neutrality
Closer to fighting and re-supply lines
Mismanagement of Czar
• Treaty of Portsmouth
– Teddy Roosevelt wins Nobel Peace Prize
– Japan gained Port Arthur, part of Sakhalin
Island, and Russian troops out of
Manchuria
• Secret Agreement later gave Russia
northern half of Manchuria and Japan
the Southern half