Modern Chinese History
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History and Development of Civilization in China
China is one of the four most ancient civilizations in the world. (The other three are Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Indian.) Historically, China was one of the earliest developed civilizations in Asia. China is also the most continuous civilization in the world. Despite dynastic changes, China has also remained a unified political entity since 200 B.C. Other ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Indians, all stopped using their ancient languages after a period of time, but the Chinese language has enjoyed continuity over at least four thousand years. China’s history of written records dates back to 4,000 years ago (the Chinese talk about a civilization of five thousand years).
Paper was invented in China around 200 A.D., spread to west Asia around 800 A.D., and to Europe around 1,100 A.D. The Chinese also contributed the compass and gunpowder to world civilizations. Starting from around the 2nd century B.C., China had already established extensive trading networks with central, west Asian countries and peoples. The trade route extended as far as Rome. In the 19th century, German geographer Ferdinand Baron von Richthofen named this trade route “The Silk Road,” a name that has carried to this day. According to Kenneth Pomeranz, Chinese science and technology continued to be advanced until around 1800, when Europe started to surpass China in these areas.
A China-Centered World
In contrast to the warring states of central and east/southeast Asia, China seemed to tower above its neighbors and was able assimilate any military conquerors. The early development and dominance of Chinese civilization led to a Sino (China)-centric view of the world. China, or zhong guo in Chinese, literally means the “center of the world”, and this conceited view of the world was predominant among the leading Chinese.
Before 1550, that conceitedness did not block China from extensive communications with the outside world through trade and the foreign students who came to study the Chinese language and culture. The most notable exchange was perhaps a maritime expedition led by Zheng He between 1405-1433, with 317 ships and 27,870 men setting sail with silks, porcelain, and spices for trade, traveling across India, the Arabian Sea, then Aden and then Malindi in East Africa. After 1550, however, the Chinese government gradually shut down its international trade.
Even at the height of its international commerce, China did not often maintain an equal relationship with its trade partners, rendering them into tributary states states that paid tributes and relied on Chinese military protection and political patronage. A tributary state was one that claimed it respected the Chinese civilization and would rely on Chinese military protection. It would send tributes to China annually to reconfirm its tributary status to China. In return, the Chinese emperor would also generously return gifts to the tributary states. Friendly tributary states historically included Annam (Vietnam), Korea, the Ryukyu Islands, and others. By the 1700s, China was very used to treating most states in contact with it (mostly its Asian neighbors) as tributary states.
Even states and peoples who fought China barbaric neighbors that conquered China militarily were often conquered by the Chinese culture to various extents later. They included the Huns, Mongols, Manchus, etc. The Mongols were not able to maintain their rule in China for long because they refused to be much assimilated into the Chinese culture. The Manchus were very successful in assimilating into the Chinese culture, therefore maintaining their rule from 1644 into the 20th century and perhaps could perpetuate their rule longer had the Westerners not come to China.
The Qing Dynasty
Imperial dynasties ruled over a unified China from around 220 B.C. up to 1911. Periodically, the unification would disintegrate for various reasons, but it would invariably be restored. The last dynasty to rule over a unified China was called the Qing (Pure) Dynasty (1644-1911). It was established by the Manchus, a nomadic people who inhabited the northeastern borders of China (called Manchuria) and served as frontier guards in the Chinese army.
The word Qing, meaning pure, sounds eerily Muslim, suggesting their connections with the Central Asian Muslim tribes, but like most previous foreign rulers in China, they quickly Sinicized, converting into Confucianism in China and becoming exemplary Confucian rulers, although succumbing from time to time to Buddhist influences.
The Manchu emperors also inherited the Sino-centric view of the world, perhaps even more so than their Han (the largest ethnic group in China) counterparts because they felt they needed to act truly Chinese in order to consolidate their rule over the Chinese. In the 18th century, Manchu emperors encountered what later would turn out to be a more formidable foe than rebels or the Han (the majority of Chinese whom they ruled over) the Europeans who were beginning to undergo the Industrial Revolution and were looking for overseas markets for their machine manufactured goods. Initially, Manchu emperors tried to ignore these European envoys for trade.
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.
Remember Pedia Share
History and Development of Civilization in China
China is one of the four most ancient civilizations in the world. (The other three are Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Indian.) Historically, China was one of the earliest developed civilizations in Asia. China is also the most continuous civilization in the world. Despite dynastic changes, China has also remained a unified political entity since 200 B.C. Other ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, Mesopotamians and Indians, all stopped using their ancient languages after a period of time, but the Chinese language has enjoyed continuity over at least four thousand years. China’s history of written records dates back to 4,000 years ago (the Chinese talk about a civilization of five thousand years).
Paper was invented in China around 200 A.D., spread to west Asia around 800 A.D., and to Europe around 1,100 A.D. The Chinese also contributed the compass and gunpowder to world civilizations. Starting from around the 2nd century B.C., China had already established extensive trading networks with central, west Asian countries and peoples. The trade route extended as far as Rome. In the 19th century, German geographer Ferdinand Baron von Richthofen named this trade route “The Silk Road,” a name that has carried to this day. According to Kenneth Pomeranz, Chinese science and technology continued to be advanced until around 1800, when Europe started to surpass China in these areas.
A China-Centered World
In contrast to the warring states of central and east/southeast Asia, China seemed to tower above its neighbors and was able assimilate any military conquerors. The early development and dominance of Chinese civilization led to a Sino (China)-centric view of the world. China, or zhong guo in Chinese, literally means the “center of the world”, and this conceited view of the world was predominant among the leading Chinese.
Before 1550, that conceitedness did not block China from extensive communications with the outside world through trade and the foreign students who came to study the Chinese language and culture. The most notable exchange was perhaps a maritime expedition led by Zheng He between 1405-1433, with 317 ships and 27,870 men setting sail with silks, porcelain, and spices for trade, traveling across India, the Arabian Sea, then Aden and then Malindi in East Africa. After 1550, however, the Chinese government gradually shut down its international trade.
Even at the height of its international commerce, China did not often maintain an equal relationship with its trade partners, rendering them into tributary states states that paid tributes and relied on Chinese military protection and political patronage. A tributary state was one that claimed it respected the Chinese civilization and would rely on Chinese military protection. It would send tributes to China annually to reconfirm its tributary status to China. In return, the Chinese emperor would also generously return gifts to the tributary states. Friendly tributary states historically included Annam (Vietnam), Korea, the Ryukyu Islands, and others. By the 1700s, China was very used to treating most states in contact with it (mostly its Asian neighbors) as tributary states.
Even states and peoples who fought China barbaric neighbors that conquered China militarily were often conquered by the Chinese culture to various extents later. They included the Huns, Mongols, Manchus, etc. The Mongols were not able to maintain their rule in China for long because they refused to be much assimilated into the Chinese culture. The Manchus were very successful in assimilating into the Chinese culture, therefore maintaining their rule from 1644 into the 20th century and perhaps could perpetuate their rule longer had the Westerners not come to China.
The Qing Dynasty
Imperial dynasties ruled over a unified China from around 220 B.C. up to 1911. Periodically, the unification would disintegrate for various reasons, but it would invariably be restored. The last dynasty to rule over a unified China was called the Qing (Pure) Dynasty (1644-1911). It was established by the Manchus, a nomadic people who inhabited the northeastern borders of China (called Manchuria) and served as frontier guards in the Chinese army.
The word Qing, meaning pure, sounds eerily Muslim, suggesting their connections with the Central Asian Muslim tribes, but like most previous foreign rulers in China, they quickly Sinicized, converting into Confucianism in China and becoming exemplary Confucian rulers, although succumbing from time to time to Buddhist influences.
The Manchu emperors also inherited the Sino-centric view of the world, perhaps even more so than their Han (the largest ethnic group in China) counterparts because they felt they needed to act truly Chinese in order to consolidate their rule over the Chinese. In the 18th century, Manchu emperors encountered what later would turn out to be a more formidable foe than rebels or the Han (the majority of Chinese whom they ruled over) the Europeans who were beginning to undergo the Industrial Revolution and were looking for overseas markets for their machine manufactured goods. Initially, Manchu emperors tried to ignore these European envoys for trade.
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.
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