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how the Qing dynasty began to decline in the 19th century.
Transcribed Image Text:In many ways, China
was the victim of its
own earlier success.
Its robust (strong)
and
economy
American food crops
had
enabled
substantial population
growth, from about
100 million people in
CHINA
1685 to some 430
million in 1853. Unlike
in Europe, though,
PACIFIC
OCEAN
INDA
where
a
similar
growth occurred, no
Industrial Revolution
accompanied this vast
increase
in
population, nor was
agricultural production able to keep up. Furthermore, China's famed centralized and
bureaucratic state did not enlarge itself to keep pace with the growing population. During
this time, many internal and external problems began to cause the decline of the Qing
Dynasty (see map above).
Internal Pressures: Taiping Rebellion
The conclusion of China's internal crisis lay in the Taiping Uprising, which set much of the
country aflame between 1850 and 1864. Its leaders largely rejected Confucianism,
Daoism, and Buddhism alike, finding their primary ideology in a unique form of
Christianity. Its leading figure, Hong Xiuquan (1814-1864), proclaimed himself the
younger brother of Jesus, sent to cleanse the world of demons and to establish a peaceful
world.
His call for the destruction of the Qing dynasty and his program for the radical|
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license
transformation of Chinese society appealed to millions of men and women. The Qing
dynasty had ruled China since 1644, and Qing elites had adapted to Chinese ways, but
many native Chinese subjects despised the Manchu ruling class as foreigners. Hong
fiercely denounced the Qing dynasty as foreigners who had "poisoned China" and "defiled
the emperor's throne." They called for the abolition of private property, a radical
redistribution of land, the end of prostitution and opium smoking. The Taiping land
reform program promised women and men equal shares of land. Women were now
permitted to sit for civil service examinations and were appointed to supervisory
positions, though usually ones in which they exercised authority over other women rather
than men.
With a rapidly swelling number of followers, Taiping forces swept out of southern China
and established their capital in Nanjing in 1853. However, problems within Taiping
leadership and in allying with other rebel groups enabled the Qing's victory. Qing dynasty
loyalists rallied and by 1864 they crushed this unusual peasant rebellions. Western military
support for pro-Qing forces likewise contributed to their victory.
External Pressures: Opium Wars
In 1759 the Qing emperor restricted the European commercial presence in China to the
coat at Guangzhou, where European merchants could establish warehouses. Foreign
merchants could deal only with specially licensed Chinese firms known as cohongs, which
bought and sold goods at set prices and operated under strict regulations established by
the government. Because there was little demand for European products, Europeans had
to pay in silver.
Oplum imports into China 165e-1880
Opium had long been used in
small doses as a drinkable
medicine. Officials of the British
East India Company gradually
5.000
turned to trade in an addictive
product that was as profitable as
it was criminal-opium - to get
more favorable trade with China.
The East India Company grew
opium in British India and shipped
it to China, where company
officials exchanged it for Chinese
silver coin and Chinese goods.
Tear
1
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Spi s
Trade in opium was illegal, but it continued unstopped for decades because Chinese
authorities made little effort to enforce the law. Indeed, corrupt officials often benefited
personally by allowing the illegal trade to go on. The opium trade drained large quantities
of silver coin from China AND also created serious social problems in southern China,
addiction. When government authorities took steps in 1838 to halt the illicit trade, British
merchants started losing money. In 1839 the Chinese government stepped up its
campaign by charging the incorruptible Lin Zexu with the task of destroying the opium
trade. Commissioner Lin acted quickly, confiscating and destroying some 20,000 chests of
opium.
The British, offended by the seizure of their property in opium and emboldened by their
new military power, sent a large naval expedition to China, determined to end the
restrictive conditions under which they had long traded with that country. Thus began the
Transcribed Image Text:first Opium War, in which Britain's industrialized military easily defeated Qing naval |t
forces. The Treaty of Nanjing, which ended the war in 1842, largely on British terms,
imposed numerous restrictions on Chinese sovereignty and opened five ports to European
traders. Its provisions reflected the changed balance of global power that had emerged
with Britain's Industrial Revolution.
But it was not the last of
Spheres of
Influence
Balkal
Russian
those treaties. Britain's
victory in a second Opium
War (1856–1858)
accompanied by the brutal
vandalizing of the emperor's
Japas exquisite Summer Palace
outside Beijing and resulted
in further humiliations for
the Chinese. Still more ports
Russia
Zone
China, 1910
was
Japanese
Zone
Sea of
Bejing
Korea
Germany Zone
in
British Zone
Yellow
Sea
were opened to foreign s
Now
British Zone
East China
Sea
traders.
those s
Chongang
Japanese
Zone
foreigners were allowed to
travel freely and buy land in
China, to preach Christianity
under the protection of
Chinese authorities, and to
patrol some of China's rivers.
Furthermore, the Chinese were forbidden to use the character for "barbarians" to refer to b
the British in official documents. Following military defeats at the hands of the French
(1885) and Japanese (1895), China lost control of Vietnam, Korea, and Taiwan. By the end
of the century, the Western nations plus Japan and Russia had all carved out spheres of
influence within China, granting themselves special privileges to establish military bases,
French Zone
Taiwan
20 les
2i0 Kometer
France
French
Indochina
1- Hong Kong (Br.)
Macau
(Port.)
Siam
| Germany
| Britain
Japan
|Russia
extract raw materials, and build railroads.
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Introduction
Qing dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China. They ruled China from 1644 to 1911. The Qing dynasty was established by Manchu rulers by defeating the Ming dynasty. Manchus were a minority in China and under their rule the majority, Han Chinese had to face discrimination and suppression.
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