II

Modern Chinese
History
Syllubus
Introductory session
• Ancient Chinese History
1. Myths and Oracle: Origin of Chinese Civilization to Zhou;
2. Philosophical Age: Unification of China around Qin;
3. Empire and Division: Han Culture and Three Kingdoms;
4. Mingling of China: Sui, Tang and minorities;
5. Wars and Prosperity from Song to Yuan;
6. Falling of Ancient China from Ming to Qing;

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 Beginned with Three Emperors and Five Lords,
coming after Yao, Shun and Yu.
Xia, Shang and Western Zhou, with a divided Eastern Zhou.
Spring and Autumn, and Warring States Periods,
unifying China was Qin and Two Hans.
Then a seperation among Wei, Shu and Wu,
with One Jin coming after another.
North and South confronting with each other,
and Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties.
Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing were the end,
no more royal stories to be told after that.
Syllubus
Introductory session
• Ancient Chinese History
• Modern Chinese History
7. Opium Wars and the End of Feudalism;
8. Modern Chinese History and Republic of China;
9. Tensions: Sino-Japanese Wars;
10. Tensions: Civil War;

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 VIII.Opium wars
and the end of Feudalism
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1. The Opium Wars • Opium is an addictive drug. In
the 1770s, Britain began to sell
opium to China.

• In order to maintain the

YEAR BOXED
OF
integrity of its sovereign rule,
OPIUM the Qing government decided to
1729 200
ban opium.
1773 1000 In 1839, Emperor Daoguang sent
1800 4570 aminister Lin Zexu to
1822 7773 Guangzhou to ban opium
1831 16500 smoking. His anti-smoking work
was victorious, destroying all the
1838 40200
existing opium in a period of 20
days.
 the First Opium War and the Treaty of
Nanjing

• In June 1840, a
British fleet came to
Guangdong and
started the First 1. cede Hong Kong
Opium War against Island;
China. 2. open Guangzhou,
• The First Opium War
Xiamen, Fuzhou,
was the beginning of
modern Chinese Ningbo and
history, and the Treaty Shanghai as
of Nanjing was the trading ports;
first of many unequal 3. compensate Britain
treaties in modern 21 million silver
China. dollars.
 the Second Opium War

• From 1856 to 1860,

Britain and France jointly
launched the Second
Opium War against
China.

• In 1857, the Anglo-

French allied forces
occupied Guangzhou and
soon hit Tianjin.
 the Treaty of Tianjin

• China’s indemnity to
Britain and France ；
• British and French
envoys to be stationed in
Beijing ；
• the opening of more
trading ports ；
• foreigners such as the The British
The British and
and French
French allied
allied forces
forces
British and French being burned and
burned and killed
killed on
on the
the outskirts
outskirts of
of
Beijing for
Beijing for nearly
nearly 50
50 days
days and
and burned
burned
able to freely conduct down the
down the Yuanmingyuan
Yuanmingyuan Garden,
Garden, then
then
business ； further threatened
further threatened to
to burn
burn the
the Forbidden
Forbidden
City.
City.
• freely do missionary
 The Convention of
Beijing

Through the Second Opium

War, foreign aggressors took
more benefits from China,
and their forces also entered
into mainland China from
the southeastern coastal
areas.
• The Yuanmingyuan Garden
The Yuanmingyuan Garden is a famous imperial garden in
the northwest suburbs of Beijing. During the Second Opium
War, the British and French allied forces stole treasures and
cultural relics from the Yuanmingyuan Garden and set fire to it.
The fire lasted for three days and the Yuanmingyuan Garden
and nearby Imperial Gardens were burnt to ruins
Russia encircled us from the
north; England pretended to
do business but intended to
occupy our land; France took
up Canton area and longed for
Guangxi; Germany aimed at
Jiaozhou and kept an eye on
the east; New Japan took up
Taiwan and expected to occupy
Fujian; America, too, wanted
to divide our homeland. Thus,
what is left for us? Thus, the
government (Qing) was
ceasing to exist.
Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life”, 1889
“We cannot, if we would, play the part of China, and be content to rot
by inches in ignoble ease within our borders, taking no interest in what goes
on beyond them, sunk in a scrambling commercialism; heedless of the
higher life, the life of aspiration, of toil and risk, busying ourselves only with
the wants of our bodies for the day, until suddenly we should find, beyond a
shadow of question, what China has already found, that in this world the
nation that has trained itself to a career of unwarlike and isolated ease is
bound, in the end, to go down before other nations which have not lost the
manly and adventurous qualities. If we are to be a really great people, we
must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid
meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we
shall meet them well or ill. ”
 HOMEWORK

• Do you agree with Roosevelt. If

not, why?

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IX. New Era: Republic of China

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1. The Revolution of 1911

the Xingzhong Society

Sun Yat-sen
(1866-1925)

“The Banner of the

Chinese Revolutionary Chinese Revolutionary
Democrats” Alliance
Three Principles of the People

• nationality

• civil rights

• people’s livelihood
 Xinhai Revolution

By 1911, the revolution happened

at all levels ：
• the Huanghuagang Uprising
• the Road Protection Movement
• Wuchang Uprising
• 14 of the 24 provinces in the
country had declared
Wuchang Uprising,
October 10th, 1911 independence.
2. The Establishment of the Republic of China
On the
On the New
New Year’s
Year’s Day
Day of
of 1912,
1912, Sun
Sun
Yat-sen was
Yat-sen was sworn
sworn inin Nanjing
Nanjing and
and the
the
Provisional Government
Provisional Government of of the
the Republic
Republic
of China
of China was
was established.
established.
Abdication of
Abdication of Puyi
Puyi &
& The
The Last
Last Emperor
Emperor
3. YUAN Shikai and the Warlord Period (1916-1925)

Shortly after the establishment of the

Provisional Government, Yuan Shikai
came to seize the post of Provisional
Yuan Shikai President.
(1859-1916)
1. The Warlord Era was a period of political fragmentation and regional
militarism in China, beginning with the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916 and
ending in 1927.
2. Warlordism was caused in part by growing provincial power in the last half-
century of Qing rule, the emergence of powerful local leaders and the failure
of republican government under Shikai.
3. The warlords and warlord factions used private or provincial armies to
exert and expand their control. Most warlords and warlord soldiers were
motivated by economic greed. A few warlords were progressive minded and
attempted social reforms. In general terms, however, the lives of Chinese
peasants was noticeably worse under warlordism than it had been under the
Qing.
4. A national government operated in Beijing during the Warlord Era and
profited from foreign trade, duties and taxes. This government was controlled
by warlords and was neither truly representative or legitimate.

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By this stage, Sun Yixian’s nationalists and
their new-found allies, the Moscow
Comintern and the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP), were planning the end of
warlordism. From their stronghold in the
southern province of Guangdong, the
Guomindang and its military arm, the
National Revolutionary Army, were
preparing to move against the warlords and
 Q: What would be the fundemental change
happened at this time?

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