 Traditionally, China was isolationist, traded, but didn’t make exploration a priority  Until 1830s, Europeans could only trade in Canton, with limitations

 1773 British traders introduced opium to Chinese  by 1838 drug habit widespread  Manchu emperor forbid the sale & use, seized British opium in 1839

 Britain & China fought over opium trade from 1839 to 1842  China loses  China forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, the first of the unequal treaties, Britain given rights to expand trade with China  Britain declares Hong Kong a colony in 1843

  Fought due to Britain’s expanding the opium trade further  China loses  Results in opening of all of China to European trade  European imperialism in China was more for trading concessions than for colonization.

 Easy defeat of China by British let the world know that China was an easy target  Chinese themselves knew their government was weak leading to rebellions  White Lotus Rebellions ( ): led by Buddhists upset by taxes & government corruption, stopped by Qing leaders  Taiping Rebellion ( ): led by a zealot claiming to be the brother of Jesus, who created an army of almost 1 million attempting to bring down the Manchu government, stopped by Qing leaders with help of British & French

 Self-strengthening Movement ( )  Manchus (Qing) tried to rebuild China  Adopt Western military technology  “learn from foreigners, equal them, then surpass”  No social reforms  Largely unsuccessful

 1876 Korea declares independence from China  1883 China loses control of Vietnam to France in Sino-French War  Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) China gave control of Taiwan to Japan & gives Japan trading rights  Spheres of Influence: France, Germany, Russia and Britain took parts of China for themselves, not as colonies, but to invest powers (military bases, businesses, communications, etc.)

 US announced equal trading privileges to European countries involving China in the Open Door Policy (1899)

 Nationalist movement growing within China by 20 th century  Boxers: Chinese nationalists  anti-Manchu  anti-European  anti-Christian  Goal: get all foreigners out of China

 Used guerilla tactics  Killed Christian missionaries and got control of embassies  Rebellion put down by foreign reinforcements, embarrassing Manchu government  China forced to sign the Boxer Protocol (1901)

 execution of government officials who supported the Boxers  foreign troops to be stationed in Beijing  reparations paid to 8 nations involved for next 39 years  UK, US, Russia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy & Austria-Hungary  formal apology