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Class 1: Global and Domestic Challenges to Qing rule, 1798-1864 2
CLASS 2: Restoring Imperial Rule 6
Class 3: From Revolution to Warlordism, 1900-1921 11
CLASS 4: MAY 4TH MOVEMENT 19
CLASS 5: THE NATIONALISTS’ RISE TO POWER 23
CLASS 6: RISE OF MAO IN CCP 30
CLASS 7: COMMUNISTS’ PATH TO BEIJING 36
CLASS 8: CONSTRUCTING A COMMUNIST CHINA 43
CLASS 9: GREAT LEAP FORWARD AND GREAT FAMINE 51
CLASS 10: CULTURAL REVOLUTION 57
CLASS 11: DENG’S CHINA 64
CLASS 12: CHINA AFTER TIANANMEN 71
, Class 1: Global and Domestic Challenges to Qing rule, 1798-1864
● First Opium War
○ What were the causes of the First Opium War?
○ What were its consequences for Qing China?
● Taiping Rebellion
○ What caused the Taiping Rebellion?
○ How did the Taiping Rebellion and other incidents of domestic unrest contribute to the
decline of imperial rule?
● Key terms
○ First Opium War (1839-1842); Treaty of Nanjing (1842); Imperialism; Treaty ports;
Extra-territorial rights; Unequal treaties; Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)
● This course begins with the decline of the late imperial state in the 19th century
China before 1840
● Ruled by the Manchus, a pastoral and semi-nomadic collection of Tungus-speaking peoples
from what is now Northeast China
● Manchu rulers took dynastic name "Qing"
○ When they defeated the Ming rulers and established a rule over the heartland of
China
● Territorial boundary of Qing China included Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Tibet
○ Conquest expanded their empire
● China-centered worldview
○ Qing China was a powerful and prosperous empire with long textual tradition
○ Elites considered it the center of the world
○ China-centered worldview informed how the Qing state interacted with the outside
world
○ To its
● Tributary system regulated interactions with neighboring vassal states
○ Neighboring vassal states interested in protection
○ Qing state relied on a tributary system in which vassal states like Joseon Korea
brought offerings to demonstrate their loyalty and submission
● Canton system regulated trade with Western merchants
○ For Western merchants interested in Chinese goods the Qing state relied on the
Canton system that heavily restricted trading activities
Image 1: Painting of a tribute possession
Challenges to Qing rule
● The China centered worldview and world order came under assault in the 19th century
● 1 - Global: First Opium War (1839-1842)
○ This event forced Qing China into an emerging new world order dominated by
European and American powers
● 2 - Domestic: Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)
○ This event devastated much of the Qing economy and military and challenged the
legitimacy of Qing rule
● Events as a historical category of analysis
○ Events provide a means to make sense of a messy web of occurrences and human
interactions at a given moment in time
○ Steps:
■ Create timelines
■ Identify key actors
■ Look for causation and significance
THE FIRST OPIUM WAR
● Conflict between Britain and China over the illegal trade of opium
● From the British perspective, the ban on opium was part of China's broader closing of its
markets
, ○ British victory in this conflict marked the beginning of the opening of Chinese markets
and therefore the triumph of free trade
● From the Chinese perspective, the ban on opium was part of its attempt to address a
domestic problem
○ Chinese defeat in this conflict marked the start of China's loss of sovereign rights to
Western powers
Trade and consumption of opium
● Britain and China had had a long trading relationship centered on Chinese tea, silks, and
porcelains
● British demand for Chinese tea, silks, and porcelains grew dramatically in the late 18th
century and early 19th century
○ Largely because of the Industrial Revolution
○ Rapid industrialization brought about a rapid increase of working and middle classes
in the cities, who fuelled the demand for these Chinese imports
● The products of industrializing Britain in the period found little demand in China
● Qing state refused to open up more of its markets to British traders, resulting in a trade
imbalance
○ British merchants and state lacked the necessary silver needed to purchase Chinese
goods
○ Opium was the solution out of the financial crisis
● Opium is a highly addictive drug obtained from a strain of the poppy plant
○ Because of its addictive qualities, opium quickly grew itself high demand in the
Chinese market, mainly Southern China
○ British traders, to maximize profits, grew and processed opium in British India and
then sold it to China
○ Within 3 decades, the flow of silver reversed
● Qing China at the end of the 18th century was a silver receiving economy
○ 3 decades later, in the 1830s, Qing China was bleeding silver to foreign opium
merchants
○ The opium trade created problems for the Qing court
■ 1-Outflow of silver created inflation throughout the empire
■ 2-Growing number of opium users threatened social stability
● Qing Emperor Daoguang and his officials debated over the ban of opium
○ Court split between (1) those in favor of a strict ban and (2) those who favored
legalizing and taxing opium
○ Emperor later sided with those in favor of banning the drug
○ Emperor appointed the official Lin Zexu to enforce this ban
Excerpt from Lin Zexu’s Letter to Queen Victoria (1839)
● "We find that your country is distant from us about sixty or seventy thousand miles, that your
foreign ships come hither striving the one with the other for our trade, and for the simple
reason of their strong desire to reap a profit. Now, out of the wealth of our Inner Land, if we
take a part to bestow upon foreigners from afar, it follows, that the immense wealth which the
said foreigners amass, ought properly speaking to be portion of our own native Chinese
people. By what principle of reason then, should these foreigners send in return a
poisonous drug, which involves in destruction those very natives of China? Without
meaning to say that the foreigners harbor such destructive intentions in their hearts, we yet
positively assert that from their inordinate thirst after gain, they are perfectly careless about
the injuries they inflict upon us! And such being the case, we should like to ask what has
become of that conscience which heaven has implanted in the breasts of all men?"
● Lin Zexu was a Qing official who was known for his strict morality, which colored his view of
opium
○ This morality comes through in his letter to Queen Victoria
First Opium War (1839-1842)
, ● Historical actors: (Qing) Daoguang Emperor and Lin Zexu; (British) Lord Palmerston and
Charles Elliot
● Triggers: Qing ban on opium and Lin's strict enforcement
Historical events
● Lin Zexu's strict moral code informed his strategy to enforce the opium ban
○ He decided to confiscate the opium holdings of foreign traders and burn them as a
show of moral resolve
● British official Charles Elliot and his fellow merchants outwitted Lin when they turned the
disaster into an opportunity to mobilize for war
○ Charles Elliot persuaded his fellow merchants to turn over their opium holdings to Lin
in exchange for compensation by the British government
○ By promising to underwrite the merchant's loses, Elliot had made the opium holdings
a property of the British state, thereby providing the British with the rationale for
pursuing war
● British PM Lord Palmerston later sent military forces from India to Canton while also giving
Elliot full command of these forces
○ Fighting broke out in September 1839
○ In the following year, the British sail up to Tianjin and threaten to enter Beijing, the
capital city
○ Later they launch simultaneous attacks on Ningbo, south of Shanghai, and Xiamen,
opposite of Taiwan
○ These British campaigns finally forced the Qing emperor to accept defeat
○
Timeline of the First Opium War
Treaty of Nanjing 1842
● British gains/Qing concessions
○ Canton system replaced by treaty ports where merchants could reside, freely trade,
and enjoy consular representation
○ Hong Kong ceded to British "in perpetuity"
○ Qing payment of 21 million silver dollars in war damages
○ Fixed tariffs for British merchants
● Terms of the treaty considerably favored the British
● Opened the door to other foreign powers demanding more trade and concessions
○ Qing state signed concession treaties with US and France in 1844
Immediate outcomes
● 1844
○ Signed Treaty of Wanghia with US
○ Signed Treaty of Whampoa with France
● 1856-1860
○ Second Opium War aka the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War
● 1858
○ Signed Treaty of Tianjin in 1858 but fighting resumed
● 1860
○ Fighting ended after British forces sacked Beijing
Age of unequal treaties
● Military prowess and international law to integrate Qing China into new global order based on
○ Capitalist economic system;
○ Westphalian inter-state system.
● Long-term outcome of the First Opium War was that the Qing state found itself forcibly
integrated into a new global order
○ Equality and freedom as central pillars of this order
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