China #2 1900-1927 Setting the Stage

Long term weaknesses Opium Wars - Treaty of Nanking 1842 Role of foreigners Taiping Rebellion 1860 Boxer Rebellion 1900 Dynastic weaknesses Economic and Technological weaknesses

Collapse of Manchu Dynasty Lost war with Japan in 1895 Emperor Guangxi and Empress Dowager Cixi in power Boxer Rebellion 1900 Rebellion crushed by foreigners (provincial governments did support them militarily) Emperor and Empress Dowager embarrassed and lose even more power to foreigners...Reforms follow, but too little too late for any real change or support

Sun Yatsen & Republicans Sun Yatsen had been exiled because of his anti- imperial views from 1895-1911. Much of this time he had lived in Japan, planning his revolution to change China from an empire to a republic.

The Regency Nov. 1908 saw the death of both the Emperor Guangxu and Empress Cixi within 24 hours 2 year old Pu Yi is now emperor, with his Uncle Chun acting as Regent One of his first acts was to dismiss General Yuan Shikai, commander of the Beijing army...he vowed retribution for this In 1911 he nationalized the railroads in China, but had to take out a foreign loan to pay the railroad owners for it (at less than they were worth)...this further hurt the Regency

1911 Revolution Oct. 10 military in Wuhan (Hubei Province) refused to obey an order to suppress a group of dissidents. This led to other such revolts throughout the country, leading provincial governments to call for independence from the national gov’t. By the end of November, all but three of China’s provinces south of Beijing had declared themselves independent. Delegates from the rebellious provinces gathered in Nanjing to declare the establishment of a Chinese republic and named Sun Yatsen (who was in the USA and hadn’t done anything in the revolution) to be its first president

Revolution Continued Yuan Shikai was recalled to help. He agreed (on his own terms) and marched south, easily taking over the rebellious provinces. He stopped at Wuhan though, and made a deal with the Republicans so that he would become president (instead of Sun) and force the abdication of the monarchy. The Regent agreed to step down to stop further bloodshed. The official statement said that the mandate of heaven had passed from the Manchus to the new Republic and the imperial family was granted a subsidy and allowed to remain living in the Forbidden City.

Early Republic (1912-1916) Sun Yatsen’s Alliance League changed its name to Guomindang (GMD) and expected Yuan to move the capital to Nanjing. His power was in the north though, so he refused. A 2nd revolution against him was launched by the GMD in 1913, but it failed and Sun fled to Japan. Because he could never hold the power he truly wanted as president, Yuan declared himself emperor on New Year’s Day 1916. This led to further revolts (including in the Beijing Army itself) so he renounced the throne in March 1916 and died 3 months later.

Warlord Era: 1916-1927 With Yuan’s death, there was no individual or party that was strong enough to hold China together. This led to the era of warlords controlling their own little kingdoms in China. See page 28 for a map. Each warlord controlled an army and a region of China and wasn’t willing to work together with anyone else for the greater good of China. They were all quite different from each other though (see pg. 29-30) The goal of the two leading revolutionary parties, the GMD and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which was created in 1921) was to fill the political vacuum.

GMD & CCP Appealed to Chinese population because they both had the same major goals. Removal of the two evils: Warlordism itself and the continued subjection of China to foreign imperialists. Even though both said they were anti- foreigner, they both took handouts from foreign powers

4 May Movement: 1919-1925 Refers to the sustained feeling of resentment against Japan in particular and the imperialists occupiers in general Named after the first day of violent demonstrations in Beijing, following the news of China’s humiliation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The Allies had informed the Chinese delegation that Germany’s concessionary rights in Shandong province were not to be returned to China but were to be transferred instead to Japan. This was a direct reneging on the earlier promise made to China by the Allies (which had finally persuaded China to enter WWI on the side of the Allies in 1917). Led by Chinese students and intellectuals...Marxist rejoice