ࡱ > _ P/ bjbjzyzy .6 6b6bP' 2 2 0 L . . . . # % % % % % % $ R I I . . ^ w w w " . . # w # w w w . B} + 6 w t 0 w a w w t $ w I I w 2 B t : FOREIGN IMPERIALISM IN CHINA HYPERLINK "https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/imperialism.jpg" A depiction of Europeans and Japanese strangling Chinese nationalism Foreign imperialism in China was a critical cause of revolutionary sentiment. European interest in dates back to Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer who completed two expeditions to China in the late 1200s and published a widely read account of his voyages. The Age of Exploration in the 16th century produced an increase in Western expeditionsinto Asia. Over the next three centuries Britain, France, Spain, Holland and Portugal all established colonies and trade links in Asia. Of these five imperial powers, the British were comparative latecomers to Asia, conquering India, Penang, Singapore, Burma and other territories by the late 1700s. By the mid-19th century even Japan, previouslyan island closedto foreigners, had succumbed to Western pressure. The outcome of Japan opening its doors was a rapid transformation from feudalism to modern industry. Theencroachment of Western powers into Asia had a profound impact on China. With its manufacturing economy, natural resources and enormous population, the Middle Kingdom was a rich prize for Western capitalists. But the actions of foreign imperialists in China also undermined the weakening Qing regime. Among first foreigners to arrive in China were Christian missionaries. Franciscan monks travelled there in the 13th century, followed by a wave of Jesuits in the 16th century. One of these Jesuit missionaries, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, became an influential advisor to the first Qing emperor. Others travelled around China, preaching and converting Chinese to Christianity, a process that aggravated imperial rulers and occasionally promptedbans on Christian activity. The first steps toward economic imperialism in China date from the mid-1500s, when Portuguese traders paid for access to ports in Macau on Chinas far south-east coast. In1711 the British East India Company also established a trading post there. Over the next few decades, the Qing leadership tried to restrict foreign trade to Macau and the surrounding region, though their efforts were largely in vain. In 1757 the Qing introduced the canton system, requiring foreign companies to trade with a Chinese merchant collective not directly with the Chinese people. These attempts to limit and control foreign trade activity failed and it began to spread beyond the south-east. HYPERLINK "https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/opiumsmokers.png" Chinese men languishing in a Shanghai opium den in the early 1900s The British soon became Chinas largest foreign trading partner. British companies purchased vast amounts of Chinese tea, as well as luxuries like silks, porcelain and other decorative items. Wealthy Chinese were also avid consumersof British-made gold, silver and jewellery. Toward the end of the 18th century, British ships began importing a more controversialitem into China. Opium is an addictive narcotic, extracted from the poppy flower and usually taken through smoking. Opium was used in China as early as the 15th century however opium smoking was largely restricted to the privileged classes. British ships began landing supplies of opium in China in the late 1700s and early 1800s, mainly around the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangdong. Opium became more available and more affordable to all levels of Chinese society, even the working classes. Once the hobbyof emperors and rich men, opium smoking soon flourished. Chinese towns and cities had numerous opium dens, where thousands of menlingered and spent their days in a drug-induced stupor. The Qing government understood the social and economic dangers posed by opium. Beijing attempted to ban its use and importation several times, but these restrictions were difficult to enforce and the British generally ignored them. HYPERLINK "https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/opiumwar.jpg" A French depiction of fighting in the Second Opium War, 1880 In 1838 a Qing commissioner seized and destroyed 20,000 cases of British-imported opium, a move that triggered the First Opium War (1839-1842). Though Qing forces heavily outnumbered the British, they lacked Britains naval strength and artillery firepower, so were comprehensively defeated. This defeat resulted in a humiliating treaty. The Qing regime was forced to grant Britain most favoured nation status, giving it precedence over other foreign powers. The region around the Pearl River delta, now the location ofHong Kong, was ceded to British control. A Second Opium War began in 1856 after Britain tried leveringthe Qing into even more concessions, including the legalisation of opium. Again the Qing military suffered a humiliating defeat and the emperor was forced into a one-sided treaty. The Treaty of Tientsin (1860) removed the last significant barriers to foreign imperialism in China. The nations ports were thrown open to foreign ships. Opium use and importation were legalised. Restrictions on Christianity were removed and foreigners were permitted to travel freely around China. Foreign governments were permitted to establish legations (diplomatic compounds) in the imperial capital, Beijing legations that were later attacked during the Boxer Rebellion (1900). Americans were false friends. Russians were unpredictable and, what was much worse, inefficient. The Japanese were predators, but that was no surprise. But in Chinese eyes the chief foreign encumbrance was still the presence of Great Britain, its first invader. It was Great Britain, reported the British vice-consul in Canton, with her subject peoples and her history of conquest in India and Egypt, who is constantly denounced in the press and by the student body as an arch-imperialist and the oppressor of China.A. P. Thornton, historian With the doors to China thrown open, foreign diplomats, officials, traders and missionaries poured in through the second half of the 19th century. The more aggressive foreign imperialist powers Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Japan negotiated with regional officials and warlords to construct their own spheres of influence within China. Foreign merchants and agents came to exert strong influence, if not control, over government and commerce in these regions.The growth of these spheres of influence created a patchwork of foreign enclaves that functioned almost as virtual colonies within Chinas borders. The Qing rulers retained their sovereignty and control of the national government, though in reality much of China was under foreign control.Many observers believedChina would eventually disintegrate into several discrete colonies, each controlled by a foreign power. This idea was reflected in Western cartoons that depicted China as a gigantic pie or cake, carved up and devoured by European monarchs. Meanwhile, the Qing regime seemed utterly unable to prevent or resist this process. HYPERLINK "https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/spheresofinfluence.jpg" A map showing foreign spheres of influence in early 20th century China To make matters worse, in 1894 China again found itself at war, this time with Japan. The First Sino-Japanese War, as it became known, began over disputed territorial control of the Korean peninsula. This war was another disaster for China.The Japanese had spent the previous quarter of a century embracing industrialism, modern production methods and Western approaches to military command and organisation. In contrast, the Qing had spent most of this period resisting modernisation. The Sino-Japanese Warwasenormously lopsided, lasting just eight months and ending with anothercrushing defeat. China was forced to cede Korea, the island of Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan. Control of Liaodong gave the Japanese a foothold in Manchuria, where they would stage an invasion of China during the 1930s. In 1899 yet another foreignpower, the United States, entered the fray.Concerned that the European and Japanese carve-up of China threatened American commercial interests, US diplomats negotiated an open door policy for American trade in China. These negotiations, however, were done with the other imperial powers in China not with the Qing government. Beijing was informed rather than consulted, a measure of how impotent and irrelevant the Qing regime had become.As the 19th century came to an end, China found itself drug-addled, divided, exploited by foreign interests and plagued by corrupt officials. The Qing lacked the political will, national authority, popular support and military strength required to respond to these challenges. Many suffering Chinese believed the 350-year-old Qing dynasty had surrendered its power and lost its Mandate of Heaven, and that a change of government was imminent. They would not have long to wait. 1. The first significant contact between China and Europeans began in the 13th century, with visits by Marco Polo then Franciscan missionaries, followed by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century. 2. Foreigners initially arrived in China as traders and missionaries. Foreign merchants operated mainly in the southern port of Macau, while missionaries travelled more broadly throughout China. 3. Qing rulers sought to limitforeign trade and contact through the canton system, which placed restrictions on who foreigners could deal with, however, these restrictions were largely unsuccessful. 4. The British expended their presence and trade operations in China in the 19th century. They initiated the importation of opium and two wars with the Qing, which led to the opening of China to foreign powers. 5. By the end of the 1800s, a number of foreign powers had moved into China and established spheres of influence to further their commercial and economic interests, leaving the Qing weakened and humiliated. ! ; < = > I b # # '$ ($ )$ *$ [+ §埄rjjOj 4j% hf_ hf_ CJ OJ QJ UaJ mH nH tH u j J hf_ U"hf_ hf_ 5CJ OJ QJ \aJ 4j4 hf_ hf_ CJ OJ QJ UaJ mH nH tH u j$K hf_ U4j'3 hf_ hf_ CJ OJ QJ UaJ mH nH tH u j4L hf_ U4j hf_ hf_ CJ OJ QJ UaJ mH nH tH u hf_ jLM hf_ Uhf_ hf_ CJ OJ QJ aJ X 3 > c # s$ ' X+ [+ ]+ ", , - . O/ P/ gdf_ [+ \+ O/ P/ hf_ h}j CJ OJ QJ aJ hf_ hf_ CJ OJ QJ aJ 4j V hf_ hf_ CJ OJ QJ UaJ mH nH tH u, 1h/ =!"#$% '3 D d A ( ? ( f o r e i g n i m p e r i a l i s m P i c t u r e 5 f o r e i g n i m p e r i a l i s m " R 2 Jb*.zYm 1 D F1 Jb*.zYm JFIF H H C C " /3qNGC5[NVG}$!Q[ ꂝ.]Hku _ Qc0nYyI8jdf{vUimt5%obTY-œPuAGuۯţ%x@g[+9.✉ܴ[ߌù ᕟsj>l Nu;: 'cūafX<zc"}6Sn|mC, SQ(2*(piմ?>z})Hë_U(>g_kQRj,V.՝O+\fK\/~2lcn8Ą V-.=C0z$S_IcBLclDS404NPn-* U-u*g#̲X5Zw ytͧWBģyi|Y"ұ),qr%W@Z8oҍźE + !"%2#$&34 |Ut/H;S gn0D͝]vGMC\3=_,Lsן#cdd i@,8;bEQ7JƄKM ƧGcxB77$$e497؈XKڅb]]h3RܔMsV;FAOnͪ&heB1.kP|bMP|a쑄,h0s\ԭpz1hM\k `'Q0]['L2aӹ:h)HӕaYQGpf HN.qȄXy) x46lԬ> ͜'=Kfz#bk-}F=,9K oUYY<x$:JJʩY j;̱%xH㿤}"yQV0*-9}DЍXS!:,!9v:t# Pn RF$9xYUҴ:tcѴ|lV0 e/$:n;@L K;( 4)> gK!bxߥO9o6nR.zg_'`2x^At7uDfUD^0N(Y8 e}9\K}NB1G(9f^<ݍY0TxN[s.[FUVKSAWb8a iNl`^ۃ&;MفZI3R|he؆%)uuzX7Tkv&:6*eۭX*d-Cv?!|;lk_IH̹g*x$`..Z=폔b7Ֆ_3;/gEk:HplPشq_E[{.ǃ!!X([Rxb@uZMQDr0Yjo-4R <`+[,Mrd0b2p d_+Y hcۚ-mŊzŻH<UH.:rڶSqo뼹zre@/;8ZU垦EԍeUVBc 7=u? McjE]LaKv!f'Vw lV,`OT ;T.H2vx;箭;_UgRDfc֫uѲr}Զ0md3;ku˟?s?? 5 1!AQ 2q"#a0BR ?W-{rۍИf5WEC9fnv|xM}#+*)nDn%:oQeNtwLvW]J}B[˪c Lَygl*9t]OcvG(QJ!=VRi%9Ax:y&I,Z/k}pj!m}Qxw,Лi ~_=SjH&߲q`Tģ7A(͟) Uekj04Z/T-QLУE+w)QSOG4|:Sj#yxi%6שB;>-裠Ydᗙ>\-c :wH8tv&<3JlQ'˒0>A>i{(%yߨ7ɦ0_÷ % !1 AQ"#02 ?{(&u