Understanding China

Chinese Words PinyinWade-Giles PinyinWade-Giles People Groups CixiTz’u-His GuomindangKuomintang GuangxuKuang-hsu QingCh’ing PuyiP’u-i TaipingDaibing Sun YixianSun Yat-sen TongmenghuiT’ungmenghui Yuan ShikaiYuan Shih-k’ai Places Jiang JieshiChiang Kai-shek BeijingPeking; also Beiping Mao ZedongMao Tse-tung GuangzhouCanton Zhou EnlaiChou En-Lai JiangxiKiangsi Zhu DeChu The ShaanxiShensi Lin BiaoLin Piao SichuanSzechuan Deng XiaopingTeng Hsiao-p’ing TianjinTientsin Liu ShaoqiLiu Shao-ch’i Yan’anYenan

Chinese Pronunciation In pinyin, most letters are pronounced as in English, although there are three main exceptions. The letter ‘C’ is pronounced ‘ts’; The letter ‘Q’ is pronounced ‘ch’; and the letter ‘X’ is pronounced ‘sh’. For example, The Qing dynasty is pronounced ‘Ching’; The Emperor Guangxu is pronounced ‘Guang-shoo’; and the Empress Dowager Cixi is pronounced ‘Tsu-shi’

The Mandate of Heaven and Confucianism

What do we know about Confucianism? How did this belief system effect how China was run?

What differences are apparent? How might have geography shaped the development of these two areas? How might have geographic isolation caused the idea of ‘the Middle Kingdom’ to come about?

The Grand Canal: Construction began 486BC 1776km! (similar distance as between Melbourne and Brisbane!) The Great Wall: Construction began: 7 th century BC Large parts constructed by the first Chinese Emperor from BC. Even larger parts constructing by the Ming Dynasty (14 th -17 th century) Approx: 8850km! (similar distance as travelling from Melbourne to Perth, then Perth to Cairns!)

China through time… As you look at the maps in this video, what do you notice? Consider how this contrasts with the ideas of the ‘Middle Kingdom’ and the ‘Mandate of Heaven’.

Other aspects of the Old Regime It was ruled by an ethnic minority (the Manchus) The examination system (although allowing for some level of social mobility), discouraged creativity and innovation The Banner Armies had become corrupt and were ineffective The Chinese government was so assured of their dominant position, they did not feel the need to trade

A nineteenth century interpreter from Britain, who knew China well, wrote in 1847: The apathy with respect to foreign things generally is to a European quite astonishing. Foreign countries have, the Chinese agree, the power to do some great and extraordinary things, but so have the elephants and other wild animals they may come across from time to time...In their eyes we were all barbarians possessing perhaps some good qualities but untutored, coarse and wild. Their exclusion of foreigners and confinement to their own country has, by depriving them of all opportunities of making comparisons, led them to judge everything by rules of purely Chinese convention. Quoted in Franz Schurmann and Orvill Schell, China, pp

How did the following aspects of the old regime, contribute to its collapse? Confucian values Sense of cultural superiority The examination system The banner armies The reluctance to trade

REASONS FOR CHANGE RESISTANCE TO CHANGE ATTEMPTS AT GRADUAL CHANGE REVOLUTIONARY SITUATIONS Long-term Population explosion Confucian valuesSelf Strengthening Movement The Boxer Rebellion Rapid development/ industrialisation of the West and Japan. Sense of cultural superiority Hundred days of reform Formation of the Tongmenghui Opium WarsThe reluctance to trade ‘New Government’ movement Wuchang Uprising Taiping RebellionThe lack of Manchu legitimacy to rule Railway reform movement Foreign encroachment The examination system Unequal treatiesThe banner armies Power struggle: Dowager Empress Cixi and Emperor Guangxu The Board of Punishment KEY LEADERS: Dowager Empress Cixi Sun Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian) Yuan Shikai KEY LEADERS: Dowager Empress Cixi Sun Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian) Yuan Shikai

Your Task As a group, create a visual representation showing the interconnected reasons for the fall of the Qing Dynasty in China. Draw AND annotate your diagrams showing how each of the factors on the previous slide are linked together. There is no one correct way to do this. Don’t be afraid to experiment!