2014 China and European
Imperialism Powerpoint
Imperialism in China: Carving
the Dragon
1750-1914
Main Ideas:
• China’s isolationist policies led to their
decline in the face of European
domination
• The opium trade reversed China’s
domination of trade with the West
• The Opium Wars led to an eventual
“carving up” of Chinese territory and
the breakdown of the imperial system
Weaknesses of the Qing Dynasty
Qing China
• The Manchus &
comparison to Mongols
• Qing society &
economy
– Neo-Confucianism
– Bureaucracy
– Tax reorganization
• Problems of decline
– population crisis
– bureaucratic corruption
– crop failure
Weakness of the Qing Dynasty
(1644 to 1911)
• Sino-centric philosophy, inability
of ruling class to modernize to
keep up with rival powers
• No access to outside world,
population felt no nationalism
• Isolationist policy/lack of trade
increased poverty and hurt foreign
relations
• Population explosion brought
need for recourses, reforms, and
modernization, Qing refused to
address the needs of the people
http://www.history-ofchina.com/qing-dynasty/
Qing Foreign Relations
• Qianlong continued Ming policy of isolation, restricting foreign trade
• Like Chinese, Manchu saw Chinese civilization, products, as
superior, expected foreigners to trade on China’s terms
• Accepting terms, Dutch began thriving trade in Chinese goods
• Obtained Chinese porcelain, silk, along with tea—which soon
became main Chinese export to Europe
Trade Restrictions
• Other Europeans tried to change
China’s trade restrictions
• 1793, British Lord George
Macartney came to China to
discuss expanding trade
• Chinese found goods he brought
inferior to their own products
Isolation Held China Back
• Chinese demanded Macartney
kowtow to Qianlong; he refused to
kneel to emperor, was sent away
• China was one of most advanced
civilizations, but isolation prevented
Chinese from keeping up with
European advances
The Macartney Mission, 1792
• Lord Macartney
– procure trade rights
– dispute over the
kowtow
• Qianlong’s response
– Chinese perception of
British
– compare to Japan
Reviewing the Canton System
• Western trade
at Canton
– primarily
inter-Asian
trade
–exchange
items
• tea for silver
– tribute
• $$ &
diplomatic
submission
Qing China Confronted the West
• Western powers
proved to be a
formidable threat
to Qing
government
– China began to
suffer from another
wave of foreign
invasion, this time
from Europe
Allies soldiers slaughtered Boxers
Importance of Opium
•British trade with China centered around opium.
•The British imported opium from India to China in exchange
for silk.
• Chinese silver was used to buy opium, and the Chinese
government was fearful of a trade imbalance.
•China demanded that opium sales stop, but the British did not
comply. This led to the Opium Wars.
Opium dens, 1850
Chinese receiving opium from
Patna, British India
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12
Opium
• Opium was seen by the East India Company as the
answer to the trade imbalance.
• It was a high value item which the company could grow
in India.
• Opium had been traded in small quantities since 900.
• In the 16th Century, trade became significant and by
1782, it was a major import item.
• The Chinese prohibited the importation of opium in
1729, but enforcement was lax.
• Smuggling was facilitated by bribery.
• By 1805, opium had reversed the trade imbalance.
• The surplus was 4 ½ million taels of Silver.
Background to the Opium War
• China utilized isolationist
policy prior to 1830
• British companies bought
huge amounts of opium to
smuggle into China
• 90% of male population
under 40 along the coast
was addicted
• 3,540,450 pounds of opium
imported to China in 1832
English East India Company and
Opium
• Held monopoly on production and export of
opium in India
• Peasant cultivators often coerced and paid in
advance for cultivation of poppies
• Sold in Calcutta for a profit of 400%
East India Company and Opium
• Buy tea on credit in Canton
• Sell opium at auctions in Calcutta, India
• Then it was smuggled into China through India
and Bengal
• 1797 began direct trade of opium into China
• Chinese government had hard time controlling
trade in South
The Tea-Opium Connection
• Foreigners were only allowed
to trade at the southern port
of Guangzhou.
• Trade balance was in China’s
favor.
• European merchants decide to
sell the habit-forming drug
opium (a narcotic derived
from the opium poppy plant)
in China to obtain a favorable
trade balance.
• By 1835, as many as 12million
Chinese were addicted
History of Opium
Arab traders took to India &
China
Western Europe learned about
it from Arabs during crusades
1680 Laudanum – Opium
tincture (alcohol)
Next 200 years, primary
consumption of opium is as
drink
18th century - development of
opium smoking in China
China - first laws against Opium
use in 1729
 Dependence problem recognized
Opium & the West
Western societies
• Used opium as aspirin
• Cheaper than liquor
• No negative public
opinion
• No real problem with cops
• Used to soothe infants &
children
– Teething, colic, or to keep
them quiet
• Females used it more than
males
– Greater # addicted
Difference in Opium Use
• Major difference between opium use in China &
West was method of consumption
– Laudanum
• Identified with Victorian Era
• Opening of “respectable parlors”
– Chinese smoked it
• Identified with Opium Dens
• Ideal of “lazy” Chinese
• Seen as degrading & dirty vice
Opium Den
Aim: What were the implications of the
Opium Wars?
Aim: What were the implications of the
Opium Wars?
Opium Dens were found all over China
Aim: What were the implications of the
Opium Wars?
“By what right do they [British merchants] use the
poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? I have
heard that the smoking of opium is very strictly
forbidden by your country; that is because the harm
caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not
permitted to do harm to your own country, then even
less should you let it be passed on to the harm of other
countries.” – Lin Zexu
What is the argument of Lin Zexu to the British?
Aim: What were the implications of the
Opium Wars?
Commissioner Lin
The Lin Zexu Memorial Museum,
Macao, China.
• Imperial Commissioner
Lin Zexu was appointed in
March 1839 to end the
opium trade. He did this
by terminating all trade
until the British
surrendered their opium
and signed pledges to
stop further smuggling.
• The Superintendent of
Trade, Capt Elliott,
ordered 21,306 chests to
be delivered to Lin.
Lin’s Destruction of the Opium
Chests
• All told, Elliot delivered 21,306 chests of the drug to the Chinese.
• This was an enormous amount: at roughly 140 pounds per chest,
• Lin suddenly found himself with three-million pounds of opium on his
hands.
• This was destroyed over a period of 23 days in June 1839, at Chuanbi by
the bay at Canton.
• The process required the labor of around 500 workers and involved three
huge trenches (150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 7 feet deep) lined with
stone and timber and filled with approximately two feet of water from a
nearby creek.
• The opium balls were broken into pieces, dumped into the trenches, and
stirred until dissolved, after which salt and lime were added, creating
noxious clouds of smoke.
• The “foreign mud” was then diverted to the creek and washed out to sea
Lin’s Destruction of the Opium
Chests
• Lin and around 60 Chinese officials, together with
foreign spectators, observed the destruction from an
elaborately decorated pavilion erected nearby.
• In a little known coda to this famous event, Lin also
offered prayers to the spirit of the Southern Sea,
apologizing for poisoning its domain with these I
mpurities and advising the deity (as the historian
Jonathan Spence has recorded) “to tell the creatures
of the water to move away for a time, to avoid being
contaminated.”
• The illegal opium trade was “a mere incident to the
dispute; no more the cause of war than the throwing
overboard of the tea in the Boston Harbor was the
cause of the North American Revolution.
• The cause of the war is the kow-tow!—the arrogant
and insupportable pretensions of China, that she will
hold commercial intercourse with mankind not upon
terms of equal reciprocity, but upon insulting and
degrading forms of relation between lord and vassal.”
• -- John Quincy Adams, 1841.
First Opium War
Pretext for War
• Capt Elliott objected to individual traders signing
pledges to stop the sale of opium as it
undermined British jurisdiction over its subjects.
• In November 1839, a clash occurred between 21
war junks and several British warship over the
defection of a ship whose captain had signed a
bond and was proceeding to Canton under
Chinese protection.
• The British stopped all trade and the Governor
General of India declared war on January 31,
1840.
Empress Dowager Ci Xi
Empress Dowager Ci Xi
worked with her
government officials to
fight against the British
in the First Opium War,
from 1839-1842.
3/21/2016
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36
The Opium War 1840-1842
1839: the areas of Canton where
British and American merchants were
permitted to operate were blockaded
20,000 chests of opium seized and
publicly destroyed on the Canton
beaches.
Britain declared war
First Opium War
• 1838 Chinese instituted death penalty for
native traffickers of opium
• March 1839 – new commissioner to control
opium trade – Lin Zexu
• Lin imposed embargo on Britain unless they
permanently ended the trade trade
First Opium War
• March 27, 1839 – British Superintendent of
Trade – Charles Elliot demanded all British
subjects turn over opium to him
• Opium amounting to a year’s worth of trade
was given to Commissioner Lin
• Trade resumed with Britain and no drugs were
smuggled
First Opium War
• Lin demanded British merchants to sign a
bond promising not to deal opium under
penalty of death
• Lin disposed of the opium – dissolving it in the
ocean
• Did not realize the impact of this action!
First Opium War
• British merchants and government regarded
this as destruction of private property
• Responded by sending warships, soldiers, and
the British India Army into China June 1840
• Had superior military force – attacked coastal
cities, defeated Qing forces easily
Britain declared war. Chinese arms were
no match for European technology.
War Breaks Out
• The Qing emperor was angry about the drug
trade coming from the British.
• In 1839 the Emperor’s advisor writes a letter to
Queen Victoria demanding the drug trade stop.
• The Opium War breaks out between Britain and
China in 1839, but is fought mainly at sea.
• The Chinese are no match for Britain’s steampowered gun boats.
• The Treaty of Nanjing is signed in 1842.
Effects/Impact of First Opium
War
End of the War
• British took Canton and sailed up the Yangtze
River
• Took Tax Barges, cut revenue of imperial court
of Beijing
• 1842 Qing sued for peace
• Ended with Treaty of Nanjing
The Treaty of Nanjing
The First Opium War ended in a
decisive defeat for China.
The humiliating Treaty of Nanjing
resulted.
Five ports were opened to foreign
trade.
Treaty of Nanjing
• Referred to as the Unequal Treaties –
accepted 1843
• China
– Ceded Hong Kong to the British
– Opened ports to British – Canton, Amoy, Fuzhou,
Ningbo, Shanghai
The Treaty of Nanjing
Hong Kong island was ceded to the
British.
The status of “extraterritoriality”
given to her merchants (they were
not subject to Chinese laws).
Huge reparations were imposed for
the destroyed opium.
Treaty of Nanjing
• Great Britain received
– 21 million ounces of silver
– Fixed tariffs
– Extraterritoriality for British citizens on Chinese
soil
– Most favored nation status
– Allowed missionaries into interior of China
– Allowed British merchants sphere of influence in
and around British ports
Treaty of Nanjing
• Unresolved Issues
– Status of opium trade with China
– Equivalent American treaty forbade opium trade
with China
– However, both Americans and British were subject
only to the legal trade of their consuls
The Treaty of Nanjing
The U.S. and France extracted similar
concessions two years later
1856: The Second Opium War
Renewal of war with Great Britain
(later joined by France).
China again defeated.
Results of Treaty of Nanjing
• British get Hong Kong
Effects of the First
Opium War
Britain received large spoils (indemnity)
Britain gains control of Hong Kong
China opened 5 ports to foreign trade
British citizens in China received
extraterritoriality meaning they lived under
British Laws and could be tried in British courts
• Allowed Christian missionaries to preach in
China
•
•
•
•
First Opium War
(1840-1842)
 British brought opium from India to Canton
› Many Chinese became addicts
 Chinese emperor forbade opium imports
› War between British and Chinese
 Treaty of Nanking (1842)
› Four additional British ports in China
 Amoy, Ningpo, Foochow, Shanghai
› British control over Hong Kong
› China had to pay an indemnity
› China limited to 5% tariff
Europeans Encroaching More
and More on China
Asia was carved up after the Opium Wars
England annexed Hong Kong and Kowloon
France took over Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, and
Laos)
Russia moved into Chinese Turkistan and Manchuria
Japan grabbed Taiwan and won dominance over Korea
This cartoon depicts England, Germany, Russia, France, and
Japan at the table, ready to cut up China after the Opium
Wars.
3/21/2016
56
The Opium Wars brought an end to the
isolation of the ancient Chinese civilization
and introduced far-reaching social, economic
and cultural ideas to the Chinese.
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57
Other Westerners in China
• Belgium, France, Holland (Netherlands),
Portugal, Prussia (Germany), United States
• Spheres of influence
– Exclusive trading areas
• Extraterritoriality
– Tried in their own courts and under their own laws
Extraterritorial Rights
• The British enjoyed extraterritorial rights, which
meant that British citizens were not subject to
Chinese laws, but, if accused of a crime in
Chinese trading ports, but would only be tried by
British courts.
• In 1844 the U.S. signed a the Treaty of Wanghia
in which American citizens were given
extraterritorial rights as well.
• This arrangement protected Europeans and
Americans from prosecution for drug smuggling.
More Western Presence
• Many Chinese began to realize that
British army and navy are superior to
China’s
• More foreign presence/aggression in
China coincided with waves of
domestic turbulence, such as the
Taiping and Nian
Growing Internal Problems
• Population grew to 430 million by 1850, a 30
percent increase in 60 years.
• Food production did not keep up with this
increase.
• Discouragement increased opium addiction
• Chinese began to rebel against the Qing
Dynasty
Second Opium War or Arrow War
Second Opium War 1856 - 1860
• Also known as Arrow War
• Followed incident when Chinese bordered
British registered, Chinese owned ship – the
Arrow
• Crew was accused of piracy and smuggling
– Were arrested
Arrow War
• The Arrow War or Second Opium War (1856-60) was
prompted by the seizure of the lorcha Arrow.
• The Arrow was flying a British flag used for safe
conduct between Canton and Hong Kong. Although
released by the Chinese, an appropriate apology was
not given.
• The incident, together with the “judicial murder” of a
priest, was considered a convenient opportunity for
treaty revision.
Second Opium War
• “Second Opium War,” or “Arrow War”
(1856-1860)
– British moved jointly with the Americans
and French to press for treaty revision
– Qing search of British ship, “Arrow,” a
smuggler’s ship furnished British pretext
for a new series of military action
Second Opium War
• British claimed ship was flying British flag and
was protected under the Treaty of Nanjing
• War delayed by Taiping Rebellion and Indian
Mutiny
• British attacked Guangzhou one year later
• Aided by allies of United States, Russia, and
France
Second Opium War
• Treaty of Tientsin was created in July 1858 –
was not ratified by China until 2 years later
• Hostilities broke out in 1859 when China
refused the establishment of British Embassy
in Beijing
• Fighting erupted in Hong Kong and Beijing
– British burned the Summer and Old Summer
Palace and looted the city
Effects/Impact of Second Opium
War
Results of the Violent War
• Violent war took place
in 1859 before the forts
of Dagu, where Qing
army was defeated
• Twenty thousand British
and French troops
entered into Bejing,
sacked and burnt the
Summer Palace, the
famous Yuan-ming-yuan,
to the ground
Yuanming yuan ruins
Treaty of Tienjin
• The treaty powers were granted the following
rights plus a 6 million tael indemnity.
– To maintain resident legations in Beijing.
– To travel in all parts of the interior with passport.
– To trade in ten additional ports, four of which were on
the Yangtze River..
– For missionaries to travel and anywhere in China.
• Additional negotiations in Shanghai legalized the
opium trade and revised the tariff schedule.
• To become effective, ratified copies of the treaty
were required to be exchanged in Beijing.
Treaty of Tientsin 1858
Legalized the opium trade
Allowed freedom for Christian
missionaries
Increased ports and trading privileges to
Western merchants
Imposed further war reparations
Treaty of Tientsin
• 1860 ratified the treaty at the Convention of Peking
– Britain, France, Russia and the United States
would have the right to station legations in
Beijing (a closed city at the time)
– Ten more Chinese ports would be opened for
foreign trade, including Niuzhuang, Danshui,
Hankou and Nanjing
– The right of foreign vessels including warships
to navigate freely on the Yangtze River
Treaty of Tientsin
– The right of foreigners to travel in the internal
regions of China for the purpose of travel, trade
or missionary activities
– China was to pay an indemnity to Britain and
France in 2 million taels of silver respectively,
and compensation to British merchants in 2
million taels of silver.
– The Chinese are to be banned from referring to
Westerners by the character "yi" (barbarian).
– Legalized the import of Opium
Second Opium War
(1856-1860)
Also known as the Arrow War
Results
›
›
›
›
›
More Chinese ports opened up to European trade
Opium traffic legalized
Protection of Christian missionaries
All foreign vessels could navigate the Yangtze River
U.S. and Russia also participated in peace process
 Russia’s border extended to Amur River
 Maritime Provinces – Pacific area without permafrost
 Founded Vladivostok in 1860
China Encircled By Imperialist
Powers
More Foreign Control of
China
 Annam, etc.
› Merged into French Indo-China (1883)
 Burma (Myanmar)
› Annexed by British (1886)
 Formosa
› Attacked and taken by Japanese (1895)
 Korea
› Annexed by Japanese (1910)
 Liaotung Peninsula (Manchuria)
› Concessions to Japanese (1910)
Manchuria
• Imperial powers (particularly Japan and
Russia) vied for control of the Manchurian
Railway
• France, Germany, and Russia coerced Japan to
return the Liaotung Peninsula to China
• In the end of 1850’s,
Qing China was encircled
by foreign powers
China Encircled
– Russia in the northwest—
invaded Xinjiang
– Japan in the east—
occupied the Ryukyu
Islands
– France in the southeast
Asia and southeast
China—took Vietnam, laid
seige to Ningpo, occupied
the Penghu Islands
(Pescadores)
British soldiers slaughtered boxers
Foreign Influence Grows
• Chinese government has both internal and
external pressures.
– Internal
• Taiping Rebellion
• Other rebellions
– External
• Pressure from foreign powers was increasing
• Debates emerged in the Qing court
– Some leaders wanted to reform and modernize
according to Western ways.
– Some clung to traditional Chinese ways
French cartoon, late 1890s
While a Mandarin official
helplessly looks on, "China" as a
pie is about to be "carved up"
by:
- Queen Victoria (GB)
- Wilhelm II (Germany)
- Nicholas II (Russia)
- Marieanne (France)
- Meiji Emperor (Japan)
Taiping Rebellion
Taiping Rebellion
• A peasant revolt in China
• Lead by school teacher Hong Xiuquan –
called for the end to the Qing dynasty
• Rebellion last from 1850-1864 before
Chinese government defeated the
rebellion
Causes of the
Taiping Rebellion
Population Explosion
Irrigation systems and canals poorly maintained –
caused massive flooding
Extravagant courts
Rich evading taxes
Widespread political corruption
The Founder of the Taiping
• The founder: Hong
Xiuquan
• Originally a school
teacher who passed the
local preliminary
examination but failed
provincial examination
four times
• Inspired by Good
Words to Exhort the
Age, he claimed that
during his illness after
the failure of the
third examination, he
was adopted by the
Heavenly father as
the younger brother
of Jesus Christ and
was given a divine
mission
Jintian where Hong started his “uprising”
Identify the devils of China and cast
them out.
The devils are idols of China’s
temples (including ancestral
temples), the Manchu rulers, opium
and alcohol, foot-binding and
prostitution
Leader: Hong Xiuquan
• A middle class Hakka
Chinese
• Failed competitive
test to enter the civil
service for a 3rd time
in 1836
• Had a nervous
breakdown
accompanied by
visions
God’s Chinese Son
• After failing the civil service exam for a third time in
1837, Hong Xiuquan became ill and delirious for 40
days. He saw visions to which he later applied a
Christian interpretation.
• Hong believed that he had seen God, met Jesus and
been given divine mission to save mankind and
exterminate demons.
• Hong also believed that he was the source of new
revelation.
• Hong’s beliefs emphasized the Old Testament and
the 10 Commandments.
God’s Chinese Son (cont’d)
• Hong became an itinerant preacher among the
Hakka charcoal burners of Guangxi.
• The ranks of his followers quickly grew. He
preached strict morality, including monogamy and
the prohibition of foot binding.
• His social message included equality of men and
women, communalism and the redistribution of
land according to the Rites of Zhou.
• His military organization included both male and
female units.
The God Worshippers
• Converts many of the poor Hakka charcoal
burners in Guangxi
• He and his growing cult engage in iconoclasm
throughout the region
• He translates the Bible and gains more
followers
• By 1850 he has over 30,000 followers and war
begins.
Goal of Taiping Rebellion
• Its goal was to overturn the Manchu regime,
which was regarded as alien, repressive, and
corrupt
• The founder and his cohort began their
movement by organizing religion called the
God-Worshippers (Bai Shangdi jiao)
– Based on their understanding of the Catholicism
derived from a pamphlet written by a Christian
convert, Liang Afa, entitled Good Words to Exhort
the Age (World)
Reforms of the “Heavenly Kingdom”
• Women equal to men (no foot binding;
women can serve in govt & army)
• Property held in common
• No opium, tobacco, alcohol, polygamy,
gambling, prostitution
• The God-Worshippers grew rapidly
and its members rose from 10,000 to
30,000
• Local and central governments
found the growing God-Worshippers
threatening and began to suppress
them
• This resulted in mass killing and
wars between them, which
anticipated a large-scale rebellion
Taiping Rebellion
• By 1850s, Hong organized a massive peasant army
and took control over large areas of southeastern
China.
• 1853 Hong captured Nanjing and made it his
capital.
• Qing imperial troops and British and French forces
all launched attacks against the Taiping
government.
• By 1864 the rebellion was put down, but at least 20
million people died in the rebellion.
• Some historians say it is more like 50 to 70 million.
Taiping’s Quick Success
• After several major battles with government
troops, the Taipings took control of the ancient
capital, Nanjing, which became its capital
• They also took control of important cities in
Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, and Anhui and with this
areas as their military bases, continued to launch
military and cultural campaigns against the
Manchu rulers
• The expansion of the Taiping and its forceful
implementation of the Christian faith resulted in
the Taipings’ conflict with the people
• At their height Taipings control ¼ China, 600 major
cities
• Huge armies threaten to end the Qing Dynasty
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
• After succeeding in taking control of Nanjing
(Nanking), Hong built Taiping’s capital there
– Killing all Qing bureaucrats and Confucian scholars
and burnt all Confucian texts, which Hong regarded
as “evil”
• He proclaimed himself Heavenly King and five
of his closest comrades Eastern, Western,
Southern, Northern, and Wing Kings
Fall of the Taipings
• The fratricide among the Taipings resulted in
the gradual collapse of the kingdom, even
though it might have promise to overthrow
the Qing regime
• A 100,000 Taipings died in Nanjing rather than
surrender to the Qing.
• Death of Population during the rebellion: 5070 million
Destruction of Nanjing
Other Ways Chinese Resisted
Change
Resistance to Change
• Dowager Empress Cixi held
power in China from 18621908.
• She was committed to
Chinese traditional values.
• She backed some attempts at
reform like the “SelfStrengthening Movement”
which wanted to update
China’s educational system,
diplomatic service, and
military.
• The movement had mixed
results.
Other Nations Step In
• Foreign nations attack China and
through treaties gain more control over
China’s economy.
• Many of Europe’s major powers and
Japan gain spheres of influence—areas
in which the foreign nation controlled
trade and investment.
• The U.S., having no sphere of influence,
declared its Open Door Policy
demanding free trade for all nations in
China.
• Britain and other European nations
agree to this demand.
Self-Strengthening Movement
Self Strengthening Movement
Dowager Empress Cixi resisted reforms
but did support “self strengthening”.
Sought to update political, educational
and military institutions.
Arsenals to
manufacture
modern weapons
set up.
The Self-Strengthening Movement
• Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and
Zuo Zongtang were all actively
involved in the Self-Strengthening
Movement.
• The goal was to deal with China’s
deficiencies by:
Prince Gong (1833-1898)
– Studying science, international law
and foreign languages.
– Establishing arsenals and shipyards
in Shanghai, Canton and Fuchou.
– Conducting relief projects in the
Yangtze River basin.
– Reforming the civil service exam
system and local government.
Self-Strengthening Philosophy
• Many in Qing government and Chinese society
were concerned over the subversive impact of
Western science and technology.
• The principal argument for learning from the west
was that “barbarian techniques” were
appropriate against “barbarians.” Western
techniques would be used to protect Chinese
civilization.
• The ability to separate “function” from
“substance” was understandably doubted by
many.
Self Strengthening Movement
Mixed results since arsenals still run by
mostly foreigners.
Imbalance of trade from import of
machinery, raw materials.
Self-Strengthening Movement
EFFECTS
 Produced warships & ammunitions
Boosted Chinese morale
Created large military arsenals run by
foreigners that led to a trade imbalance and a
lack of quality control because foreigners did
not like working with Chinese resources.
China Losing More To Imperialist
Powers
War with Japan
• Japan’s sweeping
economic and
institutional
reforms of the
Meiji Restoration,
which began in
1868, made Japan
a strong power
Captivated Boxers
In 1894, Japan
went to war
with China
and defeated
China.
Japan
annexed Korea
and created its
own sphere of
influence in China.
Japan’s Military Expansion
• Resulted in:
– the annexation of Ryukyus
(1879)
– seizing Korean palace during its
domestic rebellion (1894)
– seizing Chinese harbor at
Lüshun
– Defeating Chinese Northern
Fleet (2 battleships, 10 cruisers,
2 torpedo boats (1895)
• Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded
Taiwan to Japan “in
perpetuity”
Allies soldiers whoring
The Sino-Japanese War
By 1895, Japan defeated China and
gained control of Formosa (Taiwan)
and Korea.
This defeat and the failure of the SelfStrengthening Movement
highlighted the need for reform.
Chinese conservatives disagreed.
Open Door Policy and Spheres of
Influence
Spheres of Influence
Spheres of Influence
Foreign nations took advantage of
China’s weakness and established
colonial footholds.
Extraterritoriality applied in these
foreign enclaves.
U.S. favored an “Open Door Policy” to
prevent outright colonization.
Open Door Policy 1899
• CAUSES
– China has a weak military, as well as economic and
political problems.
– China is being divided up into more Western
spheres of influence.
– U.S. fears that China would be divided into formal
colonies and American traders would be shut out.
Open Door Policy
• 1899 & 1900
• All nations allowed equal access
to open trading ports
• Only Chinese government
allowed to collect taxes on trade
• No great power exempt from
paying harbor dues or railroad
charges
• Scramble for spheres of influence
after 1st Sino-Japanese War
(1894-1895)
Open Door Policy
• Proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay
(1899)
• Fear that China would be carved up between
imperialist powers
• Left China’s independence and territory intact
• All nations could trade equally in China
• Endorsed internationally
– But not always strictly followed
New Scramble for China
• France
– Kwangchow – 99-year lease
• Germany
– Shantung Peninsula – sphere of influence
• Great Britain
– Wei-hai-wei – naval base
– Yangtze valley – sphere of influence
• Russia
– Liaotung Peninsula – lease
– Manchuria – economic concessions
Open Door Policy
• American interested in Chinese
market for cheap cotton goods
• U.S. late to imperialistic growth in
China
• All nations except Japan
acknowledged the importance of
keeping China’s territorial and
administrative integrity
• Re-circulated notes again in 1900
• Overall led to Manchurian crisis of
1931 and war between China and
Japan in 1937
Open Door Policy 1899
• EFFECTS
– This policy would protect American trading rights
in China.
– Keep China free from colonization
– But China was still at the mercy of economic
imperialism by foreign powers.
Many Chinese
resented
the growing
foreign
influence in
their
homeland.
Chinese Resistance to Imperialist
Threat
Empress Dowager Cixi
• Cixi’s rule as regent from “behind
the curtain” was symbolic of the
problems faced by China.
• She was committed to maintaining
power.
– She manipulated the succession of
three child emperors.
– She and those around her were totally
corrupt,e.g., building the marble
pavilion with funds intended for the
navy.
Cixi (1835-1908)
• Nevertheless, provincial governors
such as Li Hongzhang remained
loyal to the dynasty.
An Upsurge in Chinese Nationalism
• 1898, Emperor Guangxu
introduced measures to
modernize China’s educational
system, economy, military, and
government
• Qing officials saw these
innovations as a threat and called
on the Dowager Empress to act.
• She has Guangxu arrested and
reverses his reforms.
Emperor Guangxu (center)
The Hundred Days Reforms
The Hundred Days Reforms
June 11 to September 21, 1898:
Emperor Guangxu ordered a series of
reforms aimed at making sweeping
social and institutional changes.
The edicts attempted to modernize
China and promote practical studies
instead of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy.
The Hundred Days Reforms
Conservative ruling elites opposed the
reforms. Proposed moderate change.
Empress Dowager Cixi engineered a
coup d'etat on September 21, 1898,
forcing Guangxu into seclusion.
Cixi took over the government as
regent.
The Hundred Days Reforms
The Hundred Days' Reform ended
with the rescindment of the new
edicts and execution of six reformist
leaders.
Boxer Rebellion
Before the Boxers: China Crucified
• During 1898 and 1899, foreign powers
intensified their pressures and outrages on
China
– The Germans occupied Qingdao
– The British took over Weihaiwei
• Also forced the Qing to lease a large area of fertile
farmland on the Kowloon peninsula north of Hong
Kong for 99 years, which the British called “The
New Territories”
– The Russians occupied Lüshun
www.facebo
“I'll Try, Sir!” http://www.history.army.mil/images/artphoto/pripos/usaia/Sir.jpg
The Boxer Rebellion
• On which group did the Boxers
focus their attention?
Causes of Boxer Rebellion
Foreign influence – including architecture,
industrial machines, technology and
religion
Religion – Christian Missionaries
threatened Chinese Confucianism
Foreign Troops – foreigners lived under
extraterritoriality, did not follow Chinese
laws, lived in own communities
Who were the Boxers?
• Also known as “Righteous fists of fury”
• Formed in the Shandong province
• Spiritual & ritualistic
Esherick, J. The Origins of the Boxer Uprising p292
Boxers in Tianjin
What The Boxers Stood For
• Wanted westerners and Christians out
• They were not permitted to kill non-foreigners
• Followed these rules:
 Do not covet wealth
 Do not lust after women
 Do not disobey your parents
 Do not violate Imperial laws
 Eradicate the foreigners
 Kill corrupt officials
 When you walk on the streets, keep your head lowered,
looking neither left nor right
 When you meet a fellow member, greet him with hands
clasped together
• Early phase of the
Boxers—Restore the
Han and Destroy
the Manchus
The Boxer Uprising (1898-1901)
• “The Boxers
United in
Righteousness”
(Yihequan)
appeared as an
expression of
nationalism
– Emerged in northwest
Shandong in 1898
Yellow Dragon Triangular Banner
• A collective force
of a variety of secretsociety and selfdefense units that
had spread in
southern Shandong
previously in
response to the
provocations of
Western
missionaries and
their Chinese
converts
• Desperate local farmers and
workers plagued by flood and
drought joined the force to call
for the ending of special
privileges enjoyed by Christian
converts and Christian
missionaries
• By 1898, they had
destroyed/stolen a good deal
of property from Chinese
Christians and had killed
several converts in the
Shandong-Hebei border area
• Foreigners,
alarmed by the
Boxers killing,
demanded that
the Qing suppress
the Boxers and
their supporters
Boxers’ Banner
•The Boxers responded with a
slogan, “Revive the Qing,
destroy the foreign”
•Many Boxers believed they
were invulnerable to swords
and bullets in combat
• “when at last the Foreign
Devils/Are expelled to the
very last man/The Great Qing,
united, together/Will bring
peace to this our land” –one
catchy jingle
The Expansion of the Boxers
• The Boxers expanded
dramatically
– 70 percent were poor peasants,
male and young
– The rest were mixture of
itinerants and artisans
– Peddlers, rickshaw men, sedanchair carriers, canal boatmen,
leather workers, knife sharpeners,
barbers, dismissed soldiers, salt
smugglers
– Joined by female Boxer groups,
such as the Red Lanterns Shining
(Hongdeng zhao)
– They harassed or killed
foreigners and Chinese converts,
and sometimes even those
possessed foreign objects
In 1900, the Boxer Uprising broke out
in northern China.
The Boxers believed that they could
perform extraordinary flight and
become immune to swords and
bullets through training, diet, martial
arts and prayer.
They also claimed that millions of
spirit soldiers would descend from the
heavens and assist them in purifying
China from foreign influences.
Boxers recruited local farmers and
other workers made desperate by
disastrous floods, and focused blame
on both Christian missionaries and
Chinese Christians.
They wanted to expel all foreigners
from China.
The Chinese government secretly
supported the Boxers.
E. Napp
The Qing court
wavered between
punishing the
Boxers who killed
foreigners and
condoning their
show of anti-foreign
“loyalty”
Qing Declaration of War
• Western forces seized the forts at Dagu to provide
cover for a troop landing, should full-scale war
broke out
• News of battle at the Dagu ports arrived Beijing,
which agitated Qing court and Beijing citizens
– German minister was shot dead in the street as he went to
an interview with the Zhongli Yamen, which was in
charge of foreign affairs
– The Boxers force laid siege to the foreign-legation areas
• Praising the Boxers as a loyal militia, the empress
dowager Cixi issued a “declaration of war” against
the foreign powers
Boxer War:



Confrontation b/w 'Eight Nation Alliance' (Russia, Japan,
USA, Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy) and
the Boxers.
21st of June 1900 - The Qing government declared war on all
Christians and allied foreigners
The 'Siege of Peking'
Img source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/china-postcard/4510532354/sizes/o/in/photostream/
Boxers’
Propaganda
Full-Scale War
• With the government behind them, the Boxers launched a
series attacks on mission compounds and on foreigners
• In August 1900, the colonial troops of the Allied nations,
about 20,000, fought they way through Beijing
– Soldiers of eight nations sacked the city and burnt imperial palace,
the Forbidden City, and used it as the headquarters for the foreign
expeditionary force
– Boxer resistance quickly crumbled, hundreds of thousand were
killed
– More than two hundred foreigners were killed
– Empress Dowager and Emperor Guangxu fled to the West,
establishing a temporary capital in the city of Xi’an
Allies Army entered the Gate of
the Qing
The Boxer Rebellion
• Resentful of the privileges of foreigners, a
secret organization called the Society of
Righteous and Harmonious Fists is formed.
• They are called the “Boxers” for short.
• The carry out a campaign against
foreigners known as the Boxer Rebellion.
• 1900—the Boxers descend on Beijing and
surround the European section of the city.
• The Dowager Empress expressed support
for the Boxers, but did not back them
militarily.
• The Boxers murder Europeans, missionary,
and diplomats, as well as many Chinese
Christians, both Protestant and Catholic.
The Boxers, by Johannes
Koekkoek, circa 1900
Effects/Impact of Boxer Rebellion
Results of the Boxer Rebellion
• August 1900—a
multinational force of
19,000 troops marches on
Beijing and defeats the
Boxers.
• Though the Boxer
Rebellion failed to expel
foreign influence, the
Chinese have a renewed
sense of nationalism and
realization they must
resist foreign influence.
A Boxer during the revolt.
Effects of Boxer Rebellion
China had to make concessions to foreigners
Chinese conservatives supported Westernization
Admitted women to schools
Stressed science and math instead of Confucian
thought
Economic expansion – growth of exports
Chinese industry developed – emergence of
urban working class
Spread Chinese Nationalism
Boxer Rebellion (1900)
 Chinese people resented foreign influence and
power
 Order of the Patriotic Harmonious Fists
› Called “Boxers” by Westerners
› Demanded that foreigners leave China
› Killed circa 300 and vandalized foreign property
 European imperialists, Americans, and Japanese
put down the rebellion
 China paid $333,000,000 in damages and had to
permit military forces in Peking (Beijing) and
Tientsin
The China Martyrs of 1900
•
•
James Hudson
Taylor-Founder
of China Inland
Mission
This is the name given to the 182
Protestant Missionaries (of several
denominations) and 500 Chinese
Protestants who were murdered
during the Boxer Rebellion.
In 1901, allied nations who helped put
down the rebellion demanded
compensation for loss of life and
property, but China Inland Mission
founder James Hudson Taylor refused
to accept any such payment for the
loss of his missionaries or mission
property “in order to show the
meekness of Christ to the Chinese.”
Missionaries killed in the Boxer
Rebellion who worked for China Inland
Mission.
Chinese Martyrs
• Both the Roman Catholic
and Eastern Orthodox
Churches recognize
Chinese citizens killed in
the 19th and 20th
centuries, most of whom
were killed in the Boxer
Rebellion.
• These martyrs are
formally venerated by
those churches.
Aim: How did the Chinese attempt to end
foreign imperialism in their country?
• Do Now: Write a paragraph in your notes explaining the story of the
three cartoons below in regards to imperialism in China?
Revolution Begins
Fall of the Qing (Manchu)
Dynasty
• Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908)
– De facto Chinese monarch (1861-1908)
– “Make me unhappy for a day and I will
make you unhappy for a lifetime.”
– Conservative and anti-foreign
– Blamed by many Chinese for foreign
imperialist power in China
Fall of the Qing (Manchu)
Dynasty
 Emperor Puyi – the “Last Emperor”
› Lived 1906-1967
› Ruled China 1908-1912, and as a
puppet for 12 days in 1917
› Puppet emperor of Manchukuo
(Japanese-ruled Manchuria), 19321945
› Spent ten years in a Soviet prison after
WWII
› Lived a quiet life as a regular citizen in
communist China
› Died of disease during the Cultural
Revolution (1967)
Beginnings of Reform
• 1905 Dowager Empress sends out a delegation to study the
operation of different governments.
• 1906 officials recommend China’s government be
restructured.
• A constitutional monarchy was suggested.
• A national assembly was convened within a year, but change
was slow.
• In 1908 the court promised a constitutional government by
1917.
• China would continue to have unrest for the next four
decades.
Revolution
• Qing’s being “carved up like a melon” was a
national disgrace, which Han Chinese could not
tolerate
• Revolutionaries wanted to overthrow the
Manchu state “to avenge the national disgrace”,
and “to restore the Chinese”
Republican Revolution
• Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian)
– Founded Kuomintang
(Nationalist party)
• Overthrew Manchu (Qing)
dynasty
• Established a republic
• President of Chinese Republic
who succeeded him – Yuan Shihk’ai
Kuomintang symbol
Three Principles of the
People
• Book published by Sun Yat-sen before his
death in 1925
1. Principle of Mínquán
•
Democracy – the people are sovereign
2. Principle of Mínzú
•
Nationalism – an end to foreign imperialism
3. Principle of Mínshēng
•
Livelihood – economic development, industrialization,
land reform, and social welfare – elements of
progressivism and socialism
Sun Yat Sen’s Nationalist Movement
• Main goals:
– To make China a modern state.
– Create national unity in China
– Create a more democratic
China
– Get foreign powers out of
China