The Central Kingdom
At the end of the 1800s China's four million square miles held 450 million
people, up from 200 million a century earlier. The ruling dynasty was the Ching,
established by Manchus from Manchuria, who in 1644 had superseded the Ming.
The Manchu emperors were remarkably successful. The Manchus gained
Turkestan, Burma, and Tibet. By the end of the eighteenth century Manchu
power extended even into Nepal, and the territory under the Ching control was as
extensive as under any previous dynasty.
The Western Response
The foreigners were especially irritated by the high customs duties the Chinese
forced them to pay and by the attempts of Chinese authorities to stop the
growing import trade in opium. The drug had long been used to stop diarrhea, but
in the seventeenth and eighteenth century people in all classes began to use it
recreationally. Most opium came from Turkey or India, and in 1800 its import was
forbidden by the imperial government. Despite this restriction, the opium trade
continued to flourish. Privately owned vessels of many countries, including the
United States, made huge profits from the growing number of Chinese addicts.
The government in Peking noted that the foreigners seemed intent on dragging
down the Chinese through the encouragement of opium addiction. Opium
smuggling upset the balance of trade and destroyed China's economy.
In the meantime, the empire faced other problems. The army became
corrupt and the tax farmers defrauded the people. The central bureaucracy
declined in efficiency, and the generally weak emperors were unable to meet the
challenges of the time. The balance of trade turned against the Chinese in the
1830s, and the British decided to force the issue of increased trade rights. The
point of conflict was the opium trade. By the late 1830s more than 30,000 chests,
each of which held about 150 pounds of the extract, were being brought in
annually by the various foreign powers. Some authorities assert that the trade in
opium alone reversed China's formerly favorable balance of trade. In the spring
of 1839 Chinese authorities at Canton confiscated and burned the opium. In
response, the British occupied positions around Canton.
In the war that followed, the Chinese could not match the technological and
tactical superiority of the British forces. In 1842 China agreed to the provisions of
the Treaty of Nanking. Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain, and other ports,
including Canton, were opened to British residence and trade. It would be a
mistake to view the conflict between the two countries simply as a matter of drug
control; it was instead the acting out of deep cultural conflicts between east and
west.
The French and Americans approached the Chinese after the Nanking
Treaty's provisions became known, and in 1844 gained the same trading rights
as the British. The advantages granted the three nations by the Chinese set a
precedent that would dominate China's relations with the world for the next
century. The "most favored nation" treatment came to be extended so far that
China's right to rule in its own territory was limited. This began the period referred
to by the Chinese as the time of unequal treaties - a time of unprecedented
degradation for China. The humiliation the Central Kingdom suffered is still
remembered and strongly affects important aspects of its foreign policy.
Meanwhile, the opium trade continued to thrive.
The British and French again defeated China in a second opium war in
1856. By the terms of the Treaty of Tientsin (1858) the Chinese opened new
ports to trading and allowed foreigners with passports to travel in the interior.
Christians gained the right to spread their faith and hold property, thus opening
up another means of western penetration. The United States and Russia gained
the same privileges in separate treaties.
History of the Opiates
Records indicate that opium was used by
the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and
Romans. The poppy even appears on
Egyptian art dating back 6,000 years.
Opium was imported to China around 800
A.D. By the 1600s, opium smoking was
widespread throughout China. In 1680, a
famous English physician named Thomas
Syndenham introduced opium to the
medical field.
In the 17th century, many people in
Europe were treated for a variety of
health problems with opium. In 1729,
opium smoking was made illegal in
China and soon the importation of
opium was banned. This ban upset the
British who were in charge of trading
this valuable product. Opium was still
smuggled into China and this caused
the "Opium Wars" (1839-1842 and
1856-1860) between the British and
the Chinese.
In the US, opium was used to treat soldiers
during the Civil War (1861-1865). During
the late 1800s, doctors prescribed "tonics"
containing opiates for many conditions.
Rarely did these medicines list opiates as
one of the ingredients. In fact, heroin was
marketed as a cough medicine and a cure
for morphine addiction. However, many
physicians had concerns about possible
addiction to these medicines.
Important Dates in the History of Opiates
1803 - morphine was isolated from opium by Frederick Serturner.
1832 - codeine was extracted from opium.
1853 - the hypodermic needle was invented.
1874 - heroin was first produced from morphine.
1898 - The Bayer Company introduced heroin as a substitute for morphine.
1906 - Pure Food and Drugs Act - required medicines to be labeled with the materials
that they contained.
1914 - Harrison Narcotic Act - added a tax on opiate distribution.
1922 - Narcotic Import and Export Act - restricted the importation of crude opium except
for medical use.
1924 - Heroin Act - made manufacture and possession of heroin illegal.
1930 - Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created.
1970 - Controlled Substances Act was passed - divided drugs into categories, set
regulations and penalties for narcotics
Emergence Of Modern China: II
The Taiping Rebellion, 1851-64
During the mid-nineteenth century, China's problems were compounded
by natural calamities of unprecedented proportions, including droughts, famines,
and floods. Government neglect of public works was in part responsible for this
and other disasters, and the Qing administration did little to relieve the
widespread misery caused by them. Economic tensions, military defeats at
Western hands, and anti-Manchu sentiments all combined to produce
widespread unrest, especially in the south. South China had been the last area to
yield to the Qing conquerors and the first to be exposed to Western influence. It
provided a likely setting for the largest uprising in modern Chinese history--the
Taiping Rebellion.
The Taiping rebels were led by Hong Xiuquan (1814-64), a village teacher
and unsuccessful imperial examination candidate. Hong formulated an eclectic
ideology combining the ideals of pre-Confucian utopianism with Protestant
beliefs. He soon had a following in the thousands who were heavily anti-Manchu
and anti-establishment. Hong's followers formed a military organization to protect
against bandits and recruited troops not only among believers but also from
among other armed peasant groups and secret societies. In 1851 Hong Xiuquan
and others launched an uprising in Guizhou Province. Hong proclaimed the
Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace with himself as king. The new order was to
reconstitute a legendary ancient state in which the peasantry owned and tilled
the land in common; slavery, concubinage, arranged marriage, opium smoking,
footbinding, judicial torture, and the worship of idols were all to be eliminated.
The Taiping tolerance of the esoteric rituals and quasi-religious societies of south
China--themselves a threat to Qing stability--and their relentless attacks on
Confucianism--still widely accepted as the moral foundation of Chinese behavior-contributed to the ultimate defeat of the rebellion. Its advocacy of radical social
reforms alienated the Han Chinese scholar-gentry class. The Taiping army,
although it had captured Nanjing and driven as far north as Tianjin (
), failed
to establish stable base areas. The movement's leaders found themselves in a
net of internal feuds, defections, and corruption. Additionally, British and French
forces, being more willing to deal with the weak Qing administration than contend
with the uncertainties of a Taiping regime, came to the assistance of the imperial
army. Before the Chinese army succeeded in crushing the revolt, however, 14
years had passed, and well over 30 million people were reported killed.
To defeat the rebellion, the Qing court needed, besides Western help, an army
stronger and more popular than the demoralized imperial forces. In 1860,
scholar-official Zeng Guofan (1811-72), from Hunan Province, was appointed
imperial commissioner and governor-general of the Taiping-controlled territories
and placed in command of the war against the rebels. Zeng's Hunan army,
created and paid for by local taxes, became a powerful new fighting force under
the command of eminent scholar-generals. Zeng's success gave new power to
an emerging Han Chinese elite and eroded Qing authority. Simultaneous
uprisings in north China (the Nian Rebellion) and southwest China (the Muslim
Rebellion) further demonstrated Qing weakness.
The Self-Strengthening Movement
The rude realities of the Opium War, the unequal treaties, and the midcentury mass uprisings caused Qing courtiers and officials to recognize the need
to strengthen China. Chinese scholars and officials had been examining and
translating "Western learning" since the 1840s. Under the direction of modernthinking Han officials, Western science and languages were studied, special
schools were opened in the larger cities, and arsenals, factories, and shipyards
were established according to Western models. Western diplomatic practices
were adopted by the Qing, and students were sent abroad by the government
and on individual or community initiative in the hope that national regeneration
could be achieved through the application of Western practical methods.
Amid these activities came an attempt to arrest the dynastic decline by restoring
the traditional order. The effort was known as the Tongzhi Restoration, named for
the Tongzhi Emperor (1862-74), and was engineered by the young emperor's
mother, the Empress Dowager Ci Xi (1835-1908). The restoration, however,
which applied "practical knowledge" while reaffirming the old mentality, was not a
genuine program of modernization.
The effort to graft Western technology onto Chinese institutions became
known as the Self-Strengthening Movement. The movement was championed by
scholar-generals like Li Hongzhang (1823-1901) and Zuo Zongtang (1812-85),
who had fought with the government forces in the Taiping Rebellion. From 1861
to 1894, leaders such as these, now turned scholar-administrators, were
responsible for establishing modern institutions, developing basic industries,
communications, and transportation, and modernizing the military. But despite its
leaders' accomplishments, the Self-Strengthening Movement did not recognize
the significance of the political institutions and social theories that had fostered
Western advances and innovations. This weakness led to the movement's
failure. Modernization during this period would have been difficult under the best
of circumstances. The bureaucracy was still deeply influenced by Neo-Confucian
orthodoxy. Chinese society was still reeling from the ravages of the Taiping and
other rebellions, and foreign encroachments continued to threaten the integrity of
China.
The first step in the foreign powers' effort to carve up the empire was
taken by Russia, which had been expanding into Central Asia. By the 1850s,
tsarist troops also had invaded the Heilong Jiang watershed of Manchuria, from
which their countrymen had been ejected under the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The
Russians used the superior knowledge of China they had acquired through their
century-long residence in Beijing to further their aggrandizement. In 1860
Russian diplomats secured the secession of all of Manchuria north of the Heilong
Jiang and east of the Wusuli Jiang (Ussuri River). Foreign encroachments
increased after 1860 by means of a series of treaties imposed on China on one
pretext or another. The foreign stranglehold on the vital sectors of the Chinese
economy was reinforced through a lengthening list of concessions. Foreign
settlements in the treaty ports became extraterritorial--sovereign pockets of
territories over which China had no jurisdiction. The safety of these foreign
settlements was ensured by the menacing presence of warships and gunboats.
At this time the foreign powers also took over the peripheral states that had
acknowledged Chinese suzerainty and given tribute to the emperor. France
colonized Cochin China, as southern Vietnam was then called, and by 1864
established a protectorate over Cambodia. Following a victorious war against
China in 1884-85, France also took Annam. Britain gained control over Burma.
Russia penetrated into Chinese Turkestan (the modern-day Xinjiang-Uyghur
Autonomous Region). Japan, having emerged from its century-and-a-half-long
seclusion and having gone through its own modernization movement, defeated
China in the war of 1894-95. The Treaty of Shimonoseki forced China to cede
Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan, pay a huge indemnity, permit the
establishment of Japanese industries in four treaty ports, and recognize
Japanese hegemony over Korea. In 1898 the British acquired a ninety-nine-year
lease over the so-called New Territories of Kowloon (or Jiulong in pinyin), which
increased the size of their Hong Kong colony. Britain, Japan, Russia, Germany,
France, and Belgium each gained spheres of influence in China. The United
States, which had not acquired any territorial cessions, proposed in 1899 that
there be an "open door" policy in China, whereby all foreign countries would have
equal duties and privileges in all treaty ports within and outside the various
spheres of influence. All but Russia agreed to the United States overture.
Canton,
China:
seawall and
harbor
crowded
with
sampans, c.
1895
Spheres of Influence
Background of Ch'ing (Qing)
Throughout the nineteenth century, China's
emperors had watched as foreigners encroached
Dynasty
further and further upon their land. Time and again,
Maps of China:
foreigners forced China to make humiliating
Very large one (may take a while concessions. Foreign regiments, armed with modern
weapons, consistently defeated entire imperial
to download)
armies. Now, as a new century was about to begin,
Smaller maps of China
Tsu Hsi, empress dowager of the Ch'ing Dynasty,
Another small map
searched for a way to rid her empire of foreign
parasites.
John Hay
Text of John Hay's First Open
Door Note (If you can't connect
for some reason, try this other
site.)
Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,
Japan, and Russia all claimed exclusive trading
rights to certain parts of China. They were dividing
China into "spheres of influence." Some even
claimed to own the territory within their spheres. By
acquiring the Philippines, the United States became
an Asian power too. Now, with a strong base of
operations just 400 miles from China, American
businesses hoped to take advantage of China's vast
resources. The foreign spheres of influence,
however, threatened their ambitions.
So while the empress was hoping to close China to
foreigners, Americans were looking for a way in.
John Hay, now Secretary of State, had an idea.
Since public opinion, strained by the Philippines
war, would never support the use of force, he
decided to negotiate. He sent letters to all the
foreign powers and suggested an "Open Door"
policy in China. This policy would guarantee equal
trading rights for all and prevent one nation from
discriminating against another within its sphere.
The nations replied that they liked the concept of
the Open Door, but that they could not support or
enforce it. Hay's plan had been politely rejected.
Nevertheless Hay announced that since all of the
powers had accepted the Open Door in principle,
the United States considered their agreement "final
and definitive."
Fists of Righteous Harmony
While the outside powers bickered over who would
control China, Tsu Hsi issued an imperial message
to all the Chinese provinces.
Empress Dowager Tsu Hsi
The present situation is becoming
daily more difficult. The various
Powers cast upon us looks of tigerlike voracity, hustling each other to
be first to seize our innermost
territories. . . . Should the strong
enemies become aggressive and
press us to consent to things we can
never accept, we have no alternative
but to rely upon the justice of our
cause. . . . If our . . . hundreds of
millions of inhabitants . . . would
prove their loyalty to their emperor
and love of their country, what is
there to fear from any invader? Let
us not think about making peace.
In northern Shandong province, a devastating
drought was pushing people to the edge of
starvation. Few people there were thinking about
making peace. A secret society, known as the Fists
of Righteous Harmony, attracted thousands of
followers. Foreigners called members of this society
"Boxers" because they practiced martial arts. The
Boxers also believed that they had a magical power,
and that foreign bullets could not harm them.
Millions of "spirit soldiers," they said, would soon
rise from the dead and join their cause.
Their cause, at first, was to overthrow the imperial
Ch'ing government and expel all "foreign devils"
from China. The crafty empress, however, saw a
way to use the Boxers. Through her ministers, she
began to encourage the Boxers. Soon a new slogan - "Support the Ch'ing; destroy the foreigner!" -appeared upon the Boxers' banner.
A "Boxer" in 1900
In the early months of 1900, thousands of Boxers
roamed the countryside. They attacked Christian
missions, slaughtering foreign missionaries and
Chinese converts. Then they moved toward the
cities, attracting more and more followers as they
came. Nervous foreign ministers insisted that the
Chinese government stop the Boxers. From inside
the Forbidden City, the empress told the diplomats
that her troops would soon crush the "rebellion."
Meanwhile, she did nothing as the Boxers entered
the capital.
Foreign diplomats, their families, and staff lived in
a compound just outside the Forbidden City's walls
in the heart of Beijing. Working together, they
threw up hasty defenses, and with a small force of
military personnel, they faced the Boxer onslaught.
One American described the scene as 20,000
Boxers
advanced in a solid mass and carried
standards of red and white cloth.
Their yells were deafening, while the
roar of gongs, drums and horns
sounded like thunder. . . . They
waved their swords and stamped on
the ground with their feet. They wore
red turbans, sashes, and garters over
blue cloth. [When] they were only
twenty yards from our gate, . . . three
volleys from the rifles of our sailors
left more than fifty dead upon the
ground.
The Boxers fell back but soon returned.
Surrounded, the foreigners could neither
escape nor send for help. For almost two
months, they withstood fierce attacks and
bombardment. Things began to look hopeless.
Seventy-six defenders lay dead, and many
more were wounded. Ammunition, food, and
medical supplies were almost gone. Then,
shortly before dawn, loud explosions rocked
the city. Weary defenders staggered to the
barricades, expecting a final, overpowering
Boxer attack. But as a column of armed men
approached them, they began to cheer. Help
had arrived at last.
Artillery of International
Relief Force to Beijing,
1900
After a month of no news from their diplomats, the
foreign powers had grown worried. They assembled
an international relief force of soldiers and sailors
from eight countries. The United States, eager to
rescue its ministers and to assert its presence in
China, sent a contingent of 2,500 sailors and
marines. After rescuing another besieged delegation
in Tientsin, the international force marched to
Beijing, fighting Boxers and imperial soldiers along
the way.
Concise Political History of China,
including more about the Empress
Dowager and the Boxer Rebellion
(Scroll about halfway down the page
to get to the section about Tsu Hsi.)
China History
(another brief history)
The international troops looted the capital and even
ransacked the Forbidden City. Disguised as a
peasant, the empress dowager escaped the city in a
cart. She returned to the Forbidden City a year later,
but the power of the Ch'ing dynasty was destroyed
forever.
Because it had participated in the campaign, the
United States participated in the settlement that
followed. Hay called for an expanded "Open Door,"
not only within the spheres of influence, but in all
parts of China. He also recommended that the
powers preserve China's territory and its
government. Other powers agreed, and the Open
Door policy allowed foreign access to China's
market until World War II closed it once again
Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901
There was a Chinese nationalist uprising in 1899-1900
against foreigners, the representatives of alien powers,
and Chinese Christians. Expulsion of all foreigners from
China was the ultimate objective of the uprising. The name
Boxers (Yi He Quan) refers to "The Society of the
Righteous and Harmonious Fist," a loose English
translation of a Chinese term also meaning "righteous
harmony band." In 1899 the Boxers, a secret society of
Chinese, began a campaign of terror against Christian
missionaries in the northeastern provinces. Although the
Boxers were officially denounced, they were secretly
supported by many of the royal court, including the
dowager empress Cixi (Tz'u Hsi). Economic and political
exploitation of China by various Western powers and
Japan and humiliating military defeats inflicted by Great
Britain in the Opium War (1840-1842) and by Japan in the
Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) were the main causes of
Chinese resentment.
(Left) A company of the Bengal Lancers escorts Count
Alfred von Waldersee, supreme commander of the Allied
forces that helped suppress the Boxer Rebellion, to the
Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City.
The terrorist activities of the Boxer society culminated on
June 17, 1900, in a general uprising in Peking, capital of
China. Many foreigners and others took refuge in the part
of the city where the foreign legations were located; the
The rebels placed the area under siege. In June 1900
Britain, Russia, Japan, the United States, Germany,
France, Italy, and Austria combined forces, and suffered
initial defeats. A relief expedition consisting of British,
French, Japanese, Russian, German, and American troops
relieved the besieged quarter and occupied Beijing
(Peking) on Aug. 14, 1900. The US suffered 53 dead and
253 wounded in the rebellion.The relief forces retained
possession of the city until a peace treaty was signed on
September 7, 1901. By the terms of the treaty the Chinese
were required to pay, over a period of 40 years, an
indemnity of $333 million. Other treaty provisions included
commercial concessions and the right to station foreign
troops to guard the legations in Peking and to maintain a
clear corridor from Beijing to the coast. The Middle
Kingdom was not under de facto colonial rule. Despite
U.S. efforts to stop further territorial encroachment,
Russia extended its sphere of influence in Manchuria
during the rebellion.
In 1908, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution remitting to
China much of the U.S. share of the Boxer indemnity in
the form of scholarships for Chinese students; in 1924,
the Senate remitted all further payments.
They made a movie of the event, called "55 Days in
Peking," starring Charleton Heston.