1. China: A Time of Turmoil

2. Opium Wars
Great Britain wanted tea from China but China didn’t want anything from Britain
Great Britain broke Chinese law and smuggled opium, grown mostly from India, into the country.
1839- Chinese ordered all opium destroyed in Guangzhou- the British fought back
1842- British Naval forced captured Shanghai
Peace Treaty of Nanjing was signed – very unfair
Opened 5 more cities to western trade
Gave extraterritorial rights to British

3. Taiping Rebellion
Qing Dynasty was said to have lost their “mandate to heaven”- this led to a series of rebellions
Taiping Rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan (Shee-oo-choo-ahn)- thought he was “the brother of Jesus.”
He wanted to create a “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace”
Qing and foreign soldiers finally defeated the Rebellion in with a loss of 20 million Chinese lives

4. Attempted Reforms
Foreign Troubles
Qing Dynasty built more coal mines, factories, railroads
Introduced modern military equipment and western knowledge and languages
1898-Empress Dowager Cixi ended it all because she felt too much power was being taken from the Dynasty
Open Door Policy- American idea that would allow European-run port cities to remain open to all trade
Defeat to Japan over Korea in 1894 highlighted serious military weakness in China

5. The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxers were a secret society of Chinese who were trained in martial arts, hated foreigners and wanted to return glory to China
The Rebellion started in 1899 with attacks on missionaries and Chinese Christian converts
June Boxers laid siege to foreign area of Beijing for 55 days
55,000 foreign troops finally brought down the uprising

6. The 1911 Revolution Sun Yixian (Yat-Sen) January 1912- Revolutionaries
Nationalism, democracy and “peoples livelihood”
China should be a democracy but not too quick, a nationalists party should help transition the government
January Revolutionaries
declare China a Republic
The 268 year old Qing
Dynasty is over

7. Impact of WWI on China
China declared war against Germany during WWI in an attempt to gain back German territory if they lost
Instead the Treaty of Versailles gave the land to Japan!
May Fourth Movement:
Thousands of students protested in the streets of Beijing, the movement then spread throughout the country

8. Jiang Jieshi- Nationalist Vs. Moa Zedong- Communists
Both groups worked together to rid China of Japan in the early 1920’s
Jieshi turned against the communists because their ideas were becoming too popular in the country side
The Long March:
100,000 communists fled nationalist troops – they walked 6,000 miles through China, only about 8,000 survived