Modern Chinese History
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China Encounters the Europeans
Unlike previous visitors to China, the English who came for trade in the 19th century were not in a position to pay tribute to China. Britain was just undergoing an industrial revolution and in great need to open up markets around the world. Its advocacy of free trade clashed with the Chinese imperial system that emphasized self-sufficiency and feared the influence of robust international commerce and trade on the Chinese culture and society. As early as 1600, China limited trade with foreign countries to only the city of Canton, called the Canton System. There developed a class of Chinese merchants that specialized in trade between foreign merchants and Chinese merchants outside of Canton. They were called the compradors.
When Lord McCartney, envoy to King George III of England came to China seeking free trade in 1793, Emperor Qian Long treated him as yet another envoy from a country seeking to be a tributary state to China. Emperor Qian Long’s ignorance of England contrasted with the English familiarity with international navigation. Clashes between the two were almost inevitable. When Emperor Qian Long’s ministers asked Lord McCartney to kowtow to the emperor following the style of Chinese imperial ministers kneeling and touching the ground with one’s forehead), Lord McCartney curtsied, saying that was what he did to his king.
This was just one of the few cultural clashes between the two. Lord McCartney brought many goods to China, mostly industrial machine made products, as a way to befriend the Chinese emperor and to show to the latter England’s recent developments, but Emperor Qian Long took the presents to be tributary goods. Emperor Qian Long turned down McCartney’s request for trade, not knowing that half a century later, China was going to pay heavily for it, with money and territorial concessions.
The First Opium War (1839-42)
In 1839, China and Europe clashed in a war over opium. The Chinese destruction of British opium, grown in India, (c.f. our drug war today) led to British government retaliation and declaration of war on China. Historically, Britain bought Chinese tea, silk, and Chinaware, but China, a self-sufficient economy as Emperor Qian Long (also spelled Chien Lung) alleged in 1793, bought little from Britain. Finally, Britain found a niche in the Chinese market: opium, which caused many Chinese, from the emperor's son to the pauper, to be addicted, leading to the Chinese banning of opium in 1839 and the First Opium War (1839-42).
After China was defeated by Britain in the war, China was required to do many things, including the following:
The Second Opium War (1856-60)
After the First Opium War, despite the Chinese concessions to the British and later to other European countries, the British found insufficient change in China's attitude toward the foreign world, and hoped to expand British forces in northern China (the five treaty ports in the first treaty were all in the south). The murder of a French missionary and the seizure of a British ship were the timely pretexts that saw the launching of a joint Anglo-French military force that attacked and captured the city of Tianjin.
Treaty negotiations followed and resulted in an agreement opening numerous new ports for trade, legalizing the opium trade, and making various other provisions as demanded by the westerners. By the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin (1858) the Chinese opened new ports to trading and allowed foreigners with passports to travel in the interior. Christians gained the right to spread their faith and hold property, thus opening up another means of western penetration. The United States and Russia gained the same privileges in separate treaties.
The treaty was agreed to locally, but the Emperor’s court in Beijing refused to ratify it. This resulted in the British/French joint forces' seizure of Beijing, forcing the emperor Xianfeng (Hsian Feng) to flee the city, together with his queen and favorite concubine, the later empress dowager Cixi (Tzu Hsi). The emperor's summer palace was burnt down by Lord Elgin, commander of the British troops in Beijing. And the Chinese government had to agree to the content of the Treaty of Tianjin.
The Sino-French War (1883-1885)
The Sino-French War (1883-1885) was fought over Vietnam, traditionally a Chinese protectorate. It ended in Chinese failure and recognition of a joint protectorate in Vietnam between China and France.
The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) was fought with Japan over Korea, traditionally a Chinese protectorate. It ended in Chinese failure and Japanese colonization of Korea and the Chinese province of Taiwan. In the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed at the end of the war, China had to pay an indemnity of 200,000,000 taels (about $200 million) to Japan and open the ports of Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Kangzhou to Japanese trade. The Triple Intervention (1895), secured by Russia, France, and Germany, subsequently required Japan to retrocede the Liaotung Peninsula to China in return for an additional indemnity of 30,000,000 taels.
The Boxer Uprising and the Eight Allied Forces Intervention 1900-1901
In 1900, a Chinese peasant movement called the Boxers started to target foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians. They called themselves I-ho ch'uan, or “Righteous and Harmonious Fists.” They practiced boxing skills that they believed made them impervious to bullets. It was a nativist, xenophobic movement tacitly supported by the Chinese government to leverage the foreign presence in China. For a moment, the Boxers besieged the foreign legations in Beijing, leading to the joint intervention of the troops of six European countries, plus Japan and the United States.
The ultimate Boxer Protocol China signed with these foreign countries allowed the latter to station troops in China at key points. The Chinese government was to pay $330 million in gold to the countries involved to cover their war cost, plus many more fees in hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover other expenses incurred by the war.
Remember Pedia Share
China Encounters the Europeans
Unlike previous visitors to China, the English who came for trade in the 19th century were not in a position to pay tribute to China. Britain was just undergoing an industrial revolution and in great need to open up markets around the world. Its advocacy of free trade clashed with the Chinese imperial system that emphasized self-sufficiency and feared the influence of robust international commerce and trade on the Chinese culture and society. As early as 1600, China limited trade with foreign countries to only the city of Canton, called the Canton System. There developed a class of Chinese merchants that specialized in trade between foreign merchants and Chinese merchants outside of Canton. They were called the compradors.
When Lord McCartney, envoy to King George III of England came to China seeking free trade in 1793, Emperor Qian Long treated him as yet another envoy from a country seeking to be a tributary state to China. Emperor Qian Long’s ignorance of England contrasted with the English familiarity with international navigation. Clashes between the two were almost inevitable. When Emperor Qian Long’s ministers asked Lord McCartney to kowtow to the emperor following the style of Chinese imperial ministers kneeling and touching the ground with one’s forehead), Lord McCartney curtsied, saying that was what he did to his king.
This was just one of the few cultural clashes between the two. Lord McCartney brought many goods to China, mostly industrial machine made products, as a way to befriend the Chinese emperor and to show to the latter England’s recent developments, but Emperor Qian Long took the presents to be tributary goods. Emperor Qian Long turned down McCartney’s request for trade, not knowing that half a century later, China was going to pay heavily for it, with money and territorial concessions.
The First Opium War (1839-42)
In 1839, China and Europe clashed in a war over opium. The Chinese destruction of British opium, grown in India, (c.f. our drug war today) led to British government retaliation and declaration of war on China. Historically, Britain bought Chinese tea, silk, and Chinaware, but China, a self-sufficient economy as Emperor Qian Long (also spelled Chien Lung) alleged in 1793, bought little from Britain. Finally, Britain found a niche in the Chinese market: opium, which caused many Chinese, from the emperor's son to the pauper, to be addicted, leading to the Chinese banning of opium in 1839 and the First Opium War (1839-42).
After China was defeated by Britain in the war, China was required to do many things, including the following:
- Pay Britain twenty-one million dollars.
- Open five southern Chinese ports to Britain for trade.
- Allow Britain one-sided most-favored nation status (which meant British goods in China would be subject to low tariffs while Chinese goods would be subject to high tariffs in Britain).
- Allow British subjects extraterritoriality in China (meaning British subjects were not subject to Chinese law in China and could be tried by their British peers or expedited to Britain for trial).
The Second Opium War (1856-60)
After the First Opium War, despite the Chinese concessions to the British and later to other European countries, the British found insufficient change in China's attitude toward the foreign world, and hoped to expand British forces in northern China (the five treaty ports in the first treaty were all in the south). The murder of a French missionary and the seizure of a British ship were the timely pretexts that saw the launching of a joint Anglo-French military force that attacked and captured the city of Tianjin.
Treaty negotiations followed and resulted in an agreement opening numerous new ports for trade, legalizing the opium trade, and making various other provisions as demanded by the westerners. By the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin (1858) the Chinese opened new ports to trading and allowed foreigners with passports to travel in the interior. Christians gained the right to spread their faith and hold property, thus opening up another means of western penetration. The United States and Russia gained the same privileges in separate treaties.
The treaty was agreed to locally, but the Emperor’s court in Beijing refused to ratify it. This resulted in the British/French joint forces' seizure of Beijing, forcing the emperor Xianfeng (Hsian Feng) to flee the city, together with his queen and favorite concubine, the later empress dowager Cixi (Tzu Hsi). The emperor's summer palace was burnt down by Lord Elgin, commander of the British troops in Beijing. And the Chinese government had to agree to the content of the Treaty of Tianjin.
The Sino-French War (1883-1885)
The Sino-French War (1883-1885) was fought over Vietnam, traditionally a Chinese protectorate. It ended in Chinese failure and recognition of a joint protectorate in Vietnam between China and France.
The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)
The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) was fought with Japan over Korea, traditionally a Chinese protectorate. It ended in Chinese failure and Japanese colonization of Korea and the Chinese province of Taiwan. In the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed at the end of the war, China had to pay an indemnity of 200,000,000 taels (about $200 million) to Japan and open the ports of Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Kangzhou to Japanese trade. The Triple Intervention (1895), secured by Russia, France, and Germany, subsequently required Japan to retrocede the Liaotung Peninsula to China in return for an additional indemnity of 30,000,000 taels.
The Boxer Uprising and the Eight Allied Forces Intervention 1900-1901
In 1900, a Chinese peasant movement called the Boxers started to target foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians. They called themselves I-ho ch'uan, or “Righteous and Harmonious Fists.” They practiced boxing skills that they believed made them impervious to bullets. It was a nativist, xenophobic movement tacitly supported by the Chinese government to leverage the foreign presence in China. For a moment, the Boxers besieged the foreign legations in Beijing, leading to the joint intervention of the troops of six European countries, plus Japan and the United States.
The ultimate Boxer Protocol China signed with these foreign countries allowed the latter to station troops in China at key points. The Chinese government was to pay $330 million in gold to the countries involved to cover their war cost, plus many more fees in hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover other expenses incurred by the war.
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