China From empire to republic

Qing Dynasty ( )  Manchu nomadic invaders  Originally stabilized China  Ruled for 300 years  Ended with the Chinese Revolution of 1911

Qing Dynasty  Retained: –Scholar gentry –Ethnic Chinese admitted to imperial gov’t –Civil service exams –Confucian social hierarchy –Patriarchal authority (though widows could remarry)

Qing Dynasty  Tried to help peasants, but dramatic increase in population led to all sorts of problems –Famine –Civil unrest –banditry

Opium War ( )  Tension between China and the West –Emperor Qianlong called the King George III a barbarian; rejected trade goods –English refused to honor the emperor  Economic interest for English involvement –Tea –East India Company

Opium War  Tea –English wanted it; had nothing that China needed  Woolens, clocks, music boxes, curios  They had a colony in India!  East India Company: traded goods from India to China  cotton didn’t reach high enough sales; opium was the answer

Opium War England India China Manufactured goods Cotton & opium Silver Tea

Opium War  Effects of opium trade in China: –Health problem –1820s and 30s, silver leaving China destabilized the currency  fiscal problem –1834 abolishment of the EIC’s monopoly increased the opium trade (hooray for Smithians!) –British antagonism

Opium War  Effects in China –British antagonism:  Official British representative in China (not EIC)  Took a hardline w/ China; violated Chinese regulations –China withdrew from British community –1836 emperor suppressed opium, created internal conflict

Opium War  Lin Zexu ( ) –Imperial commissioner –Appealed to Queen Victoria to end trade –Admonished merchants; had force to back him up; forced surrender of opium; made them sign a pledge to never trade opium  21,306 chests delivered; took 23 days to destroy it –Continued to escalate issue –1839, English sailors killed a Chinese villager –11/1839, continued escalation –12/1839, trade ceased –January 31,1840, war was declared

Opium War  Results: –Hong Kong to Britain in 1841 –Disgrace of Lin Zexu and Englishman Elliot

The Treaty of Nanjing and the Treaty System  August 29, 1842, ended the war  5 ports opened to British: Canton, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai  21 million Spanish silver dollars in reparations to England  Chinese relinquished rights to establish own tariffs (hooray for Smithian British!)  Hong Kong ceded to British “in perpetuity”  Extraterritoriality for British

The Treaty of Nanjing and the Treaty System  Most-favored-nation status to British AND to any other nation that gained a concession (US and France later gained it in 1844)  Opium trade expanded  Foreign gunboats allowed to anchor at treaty ports

Internal Crisis  Imperial failure to maintain order w/in the nation: –Grand Canal became impassable by 1849 –Yellow River, 1852, overflowed and diverted –Banditry –Poverty –Series of rebellions: Taipings largest

The Taiping Rebellion ( )  Founder: Hong Xiugan –Synthesized Christianity with Confucian and other Asian beliefs –Emphasized Old Testament—esp. the 10 Commandments  destroy the “idols” –Vision:  Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, egalitarian, God-ordained utopia

Taiping Rebellion  Taiping beliefs: –Banned: opium, tobacco, gambling, alcohol, prostitution, sexual misconduct, footbinding –Women equal to men –Economic egalitarianism –Monogamous marriages  Political structure: units=25 families, leaders combined civil, military, & economic duties  Anti-Manchu (“the devils”)

Taiping Rebellion  By July 1850, over 10,000 adherents; over 1 million by 1853  Organized, armed resistance to Manchus  January 11, 1851, Hong’s followers proclaimed him “Heavenly King”  1851, formally declared “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace”  began march on Nanjing (1853, reached and overtook)  Good, capable leaders; ineffective government forces

Taiping Rebellion  No foreign support due to condescending language and failure to appease foreign powers  Leadership crisis in 1856

Taiping Rebellion  Beginning of the end: –Leadership failure –Inadequate implementation of stated policies –Leadership not following theories (concubinage) –Repelled Chinese: anti-Confucian as well as anti-Manchu

Zeng Guofan ( ) and the Defeat of the Taiping  Dedicated Confucian; product of the system  Regional army leader from Hunan; capable leader  successfully launched counter- attacks  Managed to acquire Western army officers: “Ever Victorious Army” (British officer) and “Ever Triumphant Army” (French officers)  Well-funded  July 19, 1864 took Nanjing, followed by a blood-bath

Effects of the Taiping Rebellion  Estimated death toll of more than 20 million  Taipings inspired future revolutionaries  Conservatives admired Zeng Guofan  People struggled with choices Ren Xiong, served in military, but struggled w/ decision. Self-portrait.

China and the World  Treaty ports  British demand for new ports in China –Belief in free trade as stimulus –Treaties of Tianjin and Conventions of Beijing (total of 21 new ports)  Chinese migration to US (1852=25000 Chinese in US; 2xs that by 1887 in California alone)  Loss of land to Russia  Most-favored nation status by 1860: France, Britain, US, Russia

China at the beginning of the 20 th C

The final years of the dynasty  New reformers –Yan Fu  influenced by Adam Smith & Social Darwinism, and argued that Western learning was needed to release Chinese energies –Kang Youwei ( )  sought to create a constitutional monarchy like Japan –Dr. Sun Yat Sen

The dynasty’s final years  The Empress Dowager Cixi –Refused to reform (imprisoned revolutionaries)  Not quite completely  Allowed minor reforms such as military modernization, education reform, fiscal system reform –Corrupt –Supported the Boxer Rebellion from as a means of ousting the foreigners

The Revolution of 1911  Led by Sun Yat-Sen (who was technically in the US)  Prelude: –Gov’t desire to centralize –Gov’t desire to nationalize RR lines –Had to take out foreign loans  Revolution broke out  Emperor abdicated February 2, 1912  China became a republic