Imperialism in Asia: China Edition

Europeans in China Europeans had a much more difficult time with imperialism in China than in India By the 1700’s, China was already 4500 years old, with a rich history, a strong emperor, and a strong military They had invented gunpowder, paper, the compass, silk, porcelain and tea

Agriculture Was Also Key Unlike other parts of Asia that benefitted from European farming techniques- China was already self-sufficient in agriculture, growing enough to feed its people

China Had Every Advantage For years, China only allowed Europeans to trade at one port, Guangzhou In addition, China made the most money from trade, as Europeans wanted Chinese tea, but had nothing that the Chinese wanted

In Order To Control China’s Market England was determined to find a product that China wanted It took them a while, but eventually they found one: Opium Opium is an addictive narcotic, used as a pain-reliever at the time

What England Did Took Decades They grew poppy plants in India From the poppies, they produced opium They smuggled opium into China, until as many as 12-15 million had an addiction to the drug So England now had a crop that the Chinese wanted, because they were addicted to it

The Opium Wars Lin Zexu, the Emperor of China, became so mad at England that he declared war in 1839 But China’s military technology was behind that of Industrial Europe (especially Britain’s Navy), and China lost England gained Hong Kong, which they held until 1999

After the Opium Wars Europeans increasingly forced their way into Chinese trading ports The French, Dutch, and even the Germans and Americans would eventually come along The areas of trade that each of these countries controlled are called “spheres of influence”

Growing Nationalism In China We see a number of movements to get rid of foreign influence The first of these is the Taiping Rebellion Taiping is a Chinese word meaning “great peace”

What happened? In the 1850’s, a young man named Hong Xiuquan began recruiting followers to create a rival government, claiming the emperor had failed China by allowing the British and others inside China His followers took massive amounts of Chinese territory, and captured the city of Nanjing The Chinese government got so worried about the Taiping Rebellion that it allied with British and French in order to put down the rebellion By 1864, the Taiping Rebellion was over, but over 20 MILLION Chinese died in the fighting

After the Taiping Rebellion The Emperor was in trouble, because he had help from outside forces England, France, and other nations began to demand more trade territory, and the Emperor felt compelled to comply

Chinese Nationalism Poor Chinese peasants and workers resented the power given to foreigners Eventually, that resentment bubbled up into the Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion Was the nickname given to the group that started it, a secret society known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists In the Spring of 1900, about 20,000 of its members lay siege to the capital city of Beijing Lasted several months but was ultimately doomed The Harmonious Fists believed that strong devotion to Chinese gods would make them impervious to European weapons They were wrong, and a multi-national forces wiped them out

However… There was perhaps one positive note, and that is the Chinese government began to recognize that its own people were unhappy They tried reform over the next four decades, with mixed results