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11. Empires in collision: Europe, Middle East, East Asia

China's century of crisis

1793 (decade after losing North America): King George III of Britain received another rebuff

Chinese emperor Qianlong rejected British requests for less restricted trading relationship

continued pattern of previous several centuries: Chinese authorities strictly controlled and limited European missionaries and merchants

by 1912: China’s long-established imperial state had collapsed

country transformed from central presence in global economy to weak and dependent participant in European-dominated world system led by Great Britain

Crisis within

Causes

Victim of earlier success

robust economy, American crops enabled substantial population growth

no Industrial Revolution

agricultural production unable to keep up with population

China’s internal expansion to west and south did not generate anything like Europe’s overseas empires

resulted in:

growing pressure on land

smaller farms for China’s huge peasant population

unemployment

impoverishment

misery

starvation

Lack of government scalability

state increasingly unable to perform its functions

tax collection

flood control

social welfare

public security

central state lost power to provincial officials and local gentry

corruption

harsh treatment of peasants

European military pressure and economic penetration

disrupted trade routes

created substantial unemployment

raised peasant taxes

Taiping Uprising (1850-1864)

peasant rebellions began in late 18th

drew of variety of peasant grievances

found leadership in charismatic figures proclaiming millenarian religious message

expressed opposition to Qing dynasty due to foreign Manchu origins

Leaders and goals

leaders’ primary ideology was unique form of Christianity

rejected Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism

Hong Xiuquan (1814-1864) was leading figure

proclaimed self the younger brother of Jesus

sent to cleanse world of demons, establish “heavenly kingdom of great peace”

denounced Qing as foreigners who “poisoned China” and “defiled the emperor’s throne”

insisted on revolutionary change, not just restoring idealized Chinese society

abolition of private property

redistribution of land

end of prostitution and opium smoking

organization of society into sexually segregated military camps

Hong Rengan (Hong Xiuquan’s cousin) developed plans for transforming China into an industrial nation

railroads

health insurance for all

newspapers

widespread public education

Gender roles

reflected origins among minority Hakka people of southern China: women less restricted than Confucian orthodoxy

Hakka women (feet never bound) fought as soldiers in own regimens

reforms

Taiping officials that feet of other women be unbound

Taiping land reform program promised men and women equal shares

women could sit for civil service exams; appointed to supervisory positions (over other women, not men)

basis for marriage: mutual attraction, not family interests

inconsistently implemented

leadership demonstrated ambivalence about equality for women

Hong reflected more traditional understanding of elite women’s role

sharp challenge towards long-established gender roles

contributed to hostility that movement generated among many other Chinese

Fall

established capital in Nanjing (1853)

reasons

divisions and indecisiveness within leadership

inability to link with several other separately-operating rebel groups

Qing dynasty loyalists rallied and crushed rebellion (1864)

aided by Western military support

not imperial forces but provincial military leaders

Weakened Qing dynasty

provincial gentry consolidated power at expense of central state

intense conservatism of imperial authorities and gentry supporters

postponed resolution of China’s peasant problem

delayed change for China’s women

deferred efforts at modernization until communists in mid-20th

devastation and destruction weakened China’s economy

20-30 million lives lost

took over a decade to recover

Western pressures

opium long used on small scale as drinkable medicine

derived from Arab traders

magical cure for dysentery

did not become serious problem until late 18th when British began to use opium to cover trade imbalance with China

b6 1830s: British, American, other Western merchants found enormous, growing, profitable market

Recognizing issues

opium importation illegal; had to be smuggled

many officials corrupted through bribery

massive outflow of silver to pay for opium reversed China’s ability to attract world’s silver supply → economic problems

millions of addicts

men and women

court officials

students preparing for exams

soldiers going into combat

common laborers seeking to overcome pain and drudgery

emperor decided to suppress opium

Commissioner Lin Zexu led campaign against opium as kind of “drug czar”

First Opium War (1840-1842)

British were offended by seizure of property in opium and emboldened by their new military power

sent large naval expedition to China to end restrictive conditions of trade

taught China about virtues of free trade and “proper” way to conduct relations

Britain’s industrialized military might was decisive

Treaty of Nanjing (1842) ended war largely on British terms

numerous restrictions on Chinese sovereignty

opened five ports to European traders

provisions reflected changed balance of global power that emerged with Britain’s Industrial Revolution

to Chinese: represented first of “unequal treaties” that eroded China’s independence by end of century

Second Opium War (1856-1858)

accompanied by brutal vandalizing of emperor’s Summer Palace outside Beijing, resulting in further humiliations

more ports opened to foreign traders

could travel freely and buy land in China

could preach Christianity under protection of Chinese authorities

could patrol some of China’s rivers

Chinese forbidden to use the character for “barbarians” to refer to the British in official documents

China lsot control of Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan after military defeats to France (1885) and Japan (1895)

by end of century: Western nations plus Japan and Russia gained spheres of influence within China

special privileges to establish military bases, extract raw materials, build railroads

many Chinese believed that their country was being “carved up like a melon”

Informal empire

became area dominated by Western powers but retaining own government and measure of independence

China no longer center of civilization but just another weak and dependent nation

Qing remained in power but in weakened conditions

good for Europeans

bad for Chinese

restrictions imposed by unequal treaties inhibited China’s industrialization

foreign goods and investment flooded country largely unrestricted

Chinese businessmen mostly served foreign firms instead of developing independent capitalist class to lead China’s own industrial Revolution

Lin Zexu: opium trade

Lin Zexu chosen to enforce policy on suppressing opium trade (1838)

early life

born in 1785 to poor but scholarly father who never achieved official position

excelled academically; passed highest-level examinations in 1811 after two failed attempts

rose rapidly in China’s bureaucracy

strict and honest official

immune to bribery

genuinely concerned with welfare of peasantry

unafraid to confront the corruption and decadence of both rich and poor

1838: ended up in Canton

center of opium trade

only Chinese city legally open to foreign merchants

tackled internal task with Confucian ideals

moral appeals, reasoned argument, political pressure, coercion; hoped to avoid armed conflict

focused on both demand and supply

emphasized health hazards

demanded that people turn in supplies and pipes

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