The Major Asian Powers

Vis-à-vis the West

 CHINA IN DECAY
 Internal Problems
The white lotus uprising in 1796 and the
Taiping Rebellion in 1850 led by Hung Hsiu-
Ch’Uan.
A growing population.
Mounting corruption- Emperor Ch’em
Lung’s rule (1780s) and after the ascent of
Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi until her death
(1908).
Little interest in science and technology.
Over emphasis on Confucianism.
 *Tzu Hsi
 External Problems
The tireless efforts of the Westerners to
win the trust of the Dragon throne or to
obtain trading privileges.
 *Canton
 Opium War 1
1839 - 1842
 A.K.A. First Anglo-Chinese War
 18 March 1839 – 29 August 1842
 fought between the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland and the Qing Dynasty of
China
 British victory; Treaty of Nanking
 British- 69 killed,451 wounded
 China- 18,000–20,000 casualties
 Aim: securing economic benefits from trade in
China
 China was concerned about opium
addiction and economic crisis
 1839- start of Chinese government of a
serious campaign against opium use
 British point of view: The right to trade
freely (MAIN ISSUE)- Trade War
 Chinese point of view: Illegal opium trade-
Opium war
 In the course of the war:
Chinese forces were badly organized.
British troops defeated them in battle.
 After 3 years, Chinese government asked for
peace and gave in to British demands.
  
 Opium War 2
1856 and 1860
 Renegotiation of European and US powers to
China
 Heightened because of a registered ship
Arrow incident
 Alliance of France, Britain, US and Russia
was formed
 Treaties of Tianjin (simplified Chinese term)
was made.
 After the following days, Prince Gong met
with the Western diplomats and accepted the
Convention of Peking
 Terms and Conditions:
○ Cede (surrender) part of Kowloon to Britain
○ open Tianjin as a trade port
○ allow religious freedom
○ legalize the opium trade
○ pay reparations to Britain and France
 Being not contented, Russia took
advantage if China’s weakness and
concluded the Supplementary Treaty
of Peking which ceded approximately
400,000 square miles of territory to
St. Petersburg.
 Opium trade
(Opium) - Used as pain-killing medicinal purposes
Early eighteenth century
1729
○ emperor first places a ban on its importation of opium
○ 200 chests (each of about 130 pounds of the drug)
were coming in annually
Late eighteenth century
○ An illegal trade was taken by the Portuguese, but these
were displaced by British merchants, over 1,000
chests per annum were being smuggled in.

 Many merchant ships increasingly brought in illegal opium to sell to local

intermediaries at Canton.

 By the 1820s, over 10,000 chests per annum were brought in illegally.
Led to the Anglo-Chinese war in 1840.
 OPIUM PLANT
 TOOLS FOR USING OPIUM
Density of opium poppy growing areas
 Britain gained possession of the island of the Hongkong
and a cash settlement for the value of the destroyed
opium.
*French and British
 They take advantage of china’s weakness and internal
problem
* British
minor incident involving “insult” to the British flag
* French
*Britain and France sent an armed expedition in
1856 to invade china.
*1860
*1884
*1894-1895
*Formosa Taiwan
China’s attempt at
Reform
 Defeat in the Sino-Japanese war
(struggle for control of Korea)

 Many Chinese were alarmed and

frightened
 K’ang Yu-Wei (Kang Yoo-Way)

Led a protest movement

1895
K’ang’s ideas involved changes
in basic institutions; law,
government, education and
examination system
 K’uang-hsu (gwahng-shoo)
New emperor
Dowager empress
 June 11, 1898
The emperoe began to issue imperial
orders for changes and reforms (hundred
days’ reform)
Educational reforms
Political reforms
Religious reforms
 September 21, 1898
Reforms were executed
K’ang fled to Japan
K’uang-hsu (young emperor) was
imprisoned for life
  “The FAILURE of the
HUNDRED DAYS’ REFORM
seemed to show that
changes would have to come
from the CHINESE PEOPLE,
not from the RULERS”