History Revision The collapse of Imperial China

What are they doing??

Traditional Values 1 Confucianism Tradition and family values to maintai stability and harmony. Importance of respect and obedience for one’s parents, elders, rulers. Strict moral code of conduct- respect, loyalty, obedience, hard-work, generosity and politeness

Traditional Values 2 Emperor worship The emperor was divine Heaven gave him authority to rule – the mandate He performed religious duties to ensure China’s prosperity Famines and disasters were signs from heaven that the Emperor had lost favour

Conservatism This is a very traditional system governed by customs and religion No experience of adapting to other cultures Belief in the superiority of Chinese civilization Foreigners - barbarians Peasant society

Kow Tow Deep bow, head touching the floor Sign of deep respect

What will we tell the Emperor? Imagine you are eunuch or scholar advisors to the Emperor Your group must deal with one of the following 4 situations

Role Play 1. Arrival of Catholic missionaries 2. Arrival of Vietnamese envoys 3. Arrival of British merchant ships 4. Arrival of Japanese ambassador

The Qing/Manchu Dynasty Manchurian conquest – 1644 Adopted Chinese political system and values Relative tolerance of Christian missionaries, especially Catholic Jesuits

The scholar class Experts in Confucian and Buddhist texts Exam based entry Served as officials/civil servants of the Manchu dynasty Announced government policies Some corruption – money for degrees

Tributary States Neighboring states that paid tribute to the all powerful Middle Kingdom Usually gave gifts to honour the Emperor Like a Confucian younger brother showing respect to the head of the family The leader or ambassador of the must kow tow Korea, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma

Problems The empire was overextended

Arrival of European Powers Viewed European nations as new tributary states Europeans refused to kow tow Failed to see the superiority of European military Cultural misunderstanding

Arrival of the British They want new markets They want Chinese tea and silk and porcelain First trading post – Canton 1699 British confined to an island outside city walls

No interest in British manufacturing goods Trade imbalance British request trade liberalisation (free trade) in 1793 Ships, guns and new products from the West showed the weakness of the Manchu

Western Imperialism Did it bring new ideas to China? Were the Christian missionaries agents of positive change? Was increasing trade with the West inevitable? Did the West impose its ideas on the Chinese? Did Western imperialism merely accelerate modernisation? Contact with the West – boon or bane? See “World of History” pp

Opium War British trade imbalance Solution – Opium from India Manchu prohibition 1839 crackdown on Opium trade British traders forced to handover opium chests British send in the Imperial Navy

British victory – Treaty of Nanjing 1842 Chinese forced to open 5 coastal ports Pay for the war Liberalise trade British subjects outside of Chinese law Cede island of Hong Kong

Second Opium War Continuation of the first British and French demanded legal opium trade More free trade Humiliating defeat of Qing – destruction of the summer palace 10 new ports opened

Qing weakened by civil war 1850s Taiping Rebellion A peasant revolt that nearly destroyed the Manchu Leader of Taiping was Christian convert Causes – corruption, population explosion

Reform or status quo? Some officials wanted mix of East and West Western technology + Confucian values The military was modernised Railroads built

Sino-Japanese War Conflict over Korea Overwhelming Chinese defeat Modernisation was limited Russians and Germans then demanded terroritory

100 days of reform Confucian scholar Kang Youwei – reformist Use Japan as model of modernisation Young Emperor Guangxu agreed

The real power behind the throne! Empress Dowager Cixi Supported by the army Arrested and executed reformers Emperor Guangxu lost power

Boxer Rebellion 1900 Secret society –martial arts Drought and unemployment blamed on foreigners and missionaries Attacked railroads and murdered Christians European expedition rescued besieged foreigners in Beijing 1900

The most dangerous moment for a bad government… Is when it begins to reform Early 20 th century – adopted Western education Regional elected assemblies Empress Dowager died 1908 leaving child Emperor Puyi The old regime collapses in 1911 revolution

Power Vacuum Only the army is strong enough to hold the country together No well developed political parties or institutions Lacked a large merchant/business middle class China enters 40 years of civil war and chaos Breaks up into regions governed by warlords No unity until Communist victory under Mao Zedong 1949

Impact of Western Imperialism Missionary schools New ideas – democracy, rights of women, socialism, nationalism New products Infrastructure – Western engineers built railways, telegraph, bridges

Essay themes Why did reform fail in Qing Dynasty China? What was the impact of contact with the West? For good or for ill? What were the weaknesses of Imperial China? Why did it collapse? What was the path of modernisation in China? Why was it different to Japan’s?

Causes of collapse Bad leadership? Conservative culture? Manchus vs Han chinese? Aggressive Western imperialism? Failure to reform? Geography and population factors?