Imperialism in 19th-c. China
HI 168: Lecture 2
Dr. Howard Chiang
Partitioning of China
- Queen Victoria
- William II (Germany)
- Nicholas II (Russia)
- French Marianne
- Meiji Emperor
The Grand Canal
The Opium Problem
• Opium had been used since the Tang
• Renders its users inert and dormant
• Most serious implications: affected the
military and government offices
• 1800-1813: opium importation became
opium smuggling
• 4-5,000 in 1820 to 40,000 in 1839
• EIC abolished in 1834
• Destablized China’s bimetallic
economic system; taxes skyrocketed
Lin Zexu
(1785-1850)
The 1st Opium War
• Two Stages (1839-1842):
1. June 1840 – Jan 1841: Qishan (琦善)
succeeded Lin Zexu; Convention of
Chuenpi on January 20, 1841
2. Sir Henry Pottinger’s Yangtze
campaign (May 7 to Aug 20, 1842):
Qiying (耆英) signed the Treaty of
Nanking on August 29, 1842 –
indemnity of $21 million; 5 ports;
cession of HK; abolition of Cohong
Qiying
(1787-1858)
Unequal Treaty System
• Approved the permanent residence of
foreign consuls and their families
• Foreign concessions – preferential tax
treatments
• Extraterritoriality
• Imperial Maritime Customs –
established in Shanghai in 1853
• Periodization: 1840s-1850s; 1860s1890s; 1890s-1920s; 1920s-1950s
The 2nd Opium War
• Also known as the Arrow War
• Treaty of Tianjin (1858) and
Convention of Beijing (1860): 10 more
treaty ports; freedom of movement for
missionaries; treaty powers establish
embassies in Beijing
• Main Outcomes:
- opium trade expansion; new military
technologies; translation projects;
European notion of soverignty
Prince Gong
(1833-1898)
Cultural Imperialism
• As opposed to ‘hard’ imperialism
• Christianity could be openly taught
and practiced after the 2nd Opium War
• But Christianity was very unpopular
• Anti-Catholic rioting in Tianjin in 1870
• Boxer Uprising circa 1900
• ‘knowledge production’ – Sir Thomas F.
Wade: Wade-Giles Chinese
transliteration system