East Asia in the Age of Imperialism 1800-1914

China

The Opium Wars By 1820’s, British were trading huge amounts of silver for Chinese tea, porcelain, and silk British introduced opium to China as a silver substitute China cracked down on this trade in 1839 leading to war with Britain Treaty of Nanjing ended the war in 1842 and forced China to open more trade ports, pay for the war, cede Hong Kong to the British, etc.

China protests the carving up of its territory by imperialist powers-French cartoon

Chinese opium den

Chinese junks…no match for British warships

The British return Hong Kong to China in 1997

The Chinese Republic China’s humiliation in the Taiping Rebellion, Sino-Japanese War, and Boxer Rebellion convinced many of the need for reform Qing’s resistance to change caused many young Chinese to support the overthrow of the monarchy Republic of China was established in 1912 ending 2K years of dynastic rule

Sun Yat-Sen- First president of the Republic of China

Japan

The Meiji Restoration Many Japanese were upset with the Shogun’s failure to resist Western pressure Civil war broke out between the supporters of the emperor and supporters of the shogun 700 years of shogun rule came to an end when the Tokugawa were defeated in 1868

Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito)

Modernization Feudal system was abolished Army and navy were modernized Program of industrialization began (zaibatsu) Prime minister and parliament ran the country, emperor was a figurehead

Expansion China ceded Taiwan and Korea to Japan following Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) was 1st time an Asian power defeated a European one

Big China is slain by the little Japanese samurai

Japan “K-O’s” Russia in the Russo-Japanese War