China Flashcards
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Manchu/Qing Dynasty
- Ruled by an emperor
- Mandate of heaven
- Han formed 90% of the population byut the Manchu ruled
- Mandarins
- Arranged marriages
- Emperor began to lose the Mandate of Heaven
- Britian gained great wealth as a reult of the opium trade and victory in the opium wars
- Japan defeated China in war in 1894
- France seized territory in the south
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Internal weaknesses
- Women had the least rights and were considered as property
- Most of population were peasants and had few rights
- Hatred of Manchus
- Undeveloped
- Mandarins did not grow in size
- Tax collection was difficult and corrupt
- Doubled population
- Everyone was addicted to opium
- Sino-centric
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Foreign threats
- Britain had gained great wealth as a result of the opium trade and victory in opium wars
- Japan had defeated China in war in 1894 and took control of Korea
- France had seized territory in the South
- Western demands to open trades
- Britain sold opium because they were spending too much on tea
- America sought to have China s an open marker
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Domestic rebellions
- People chopping off their pig tails
- Taiping Rebellion 1850-64
- Opium wars led to Treaty of Nanjing and Treaty of Tianjin - $21m in compensation - Trade restrictions - Loss of land
- ‘Unequal Treaties’ with Western powers
- 50 ‘Treaty ports’
- ‘Concessions’ in major cities
- THe opium wars shattered China’s sense of its superiority - forced to accept it was militarily weaker than Western
- Many Chinese blamed the Manchu rulers - a foreign dynasty
- Opium wars bring christianity
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Emperor Guangxu
- In 1898 - tried to modernize the government and end the criticisms of the Qing and its policy of making concessions to foreigners
- ‘Hundred Days Reform’ - new policy after the defeat to the Japanese in the First Sino-Japanese War - policy of ‘reform and self-strengthening’
- Over three months, they amde China into a constitutional monarchy - created elected assemblies, modernized the education system
- His aunt, Cixi and her conservative backers thwarted his attempts
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Empress Dowager Cixi
- Cixi and her supporters seized control of the government and ended the Emperor’s attempted reforms
- Put the Emperor under house arrest and executed six of the reformers
- Encouraged attacks on foreigners
- Supported the boxers and declared war on the foreigners
- Disguised themselves as peasants and fled BEijing once the Rebellion had failed
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Boxers
- Martial arts
- Anti christian and anti foreign
- Sereies of humiliations Qing suffered
- Reperations
- Peasants blamed west for famine and flood
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Boxer Rebellion 1900
- Boxers began carrying out attacks on foreigners and Chinese Christians
- Mostly peasants who had suffered from hnatural disasters and believed concessions given to forreigners made their lives even harder
- Boxers attacked missionaries, burned down churches and schools
- Western population retreated into the British legation
- Boxers had support of Cixi
- Many Boxers were executed in the streets by international forces
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Impact of the Boxer Rebellion
- China was forced to pay $330m
- Banned from importing firearms for 2 years
- Fall of Qing Dynasty
- Foreign soldiers placed in and around Beijing
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
Mandate of heaven
- China believed that an emperor had to be an exceptional being
- The emperor was also not invulnerable
- His actions had to be moderated by basic political expectations
- Hecould be overthrown and this would be considered legit
- If such thing occured, the emperor would be understood to have lost the ‘mandate of heaven’
Manchu/Qing Dynasty
1902 - 11 Reforms
- Introduction of provincial assemblies with a limited right to vote
- Establishment of a new army under Manchus
- Establishment of a national consultative council to be a cabinet with responsibility to advise the government
- Abolition of foot binding
- Reform of civil sevice - removal of the traditional examination that led to a Mandarin domination of the civil service
- Nationalisation of the railways
- Educational reforms
1911 Reovlution
Causes of the 1911 Revolution
Short term:
- Weak government - New emperor was just 2 years old
- Failure of the political reforms - reforms introduced were too little and too late
- Consequences of the army reform - was expesive so Chun increaseed taxes on tea, wine, salt, and land - also the taxed that had to be paid for the reparations owed
- Spread of revolutionary ideas - Sun Yat-sen brought ideas of nationalism and republicanism back to China
- Growing resentment over nationalisation of railways - Increased Mnahcu control in the provinces and the owners were angry they did not receive full compensation for giving up ownership
Long term:
- Boxer rebellion - kills economy
- Opium wars - kills economy
- Manchu vs Han
- Sino-centric
1911 Reovlution
1911 Revolution
- A group of young revolutionaries in Hankou exploded a bomb providing a signal for a wider revolt
- Soldiers in Wuhan began a mutiny which spread to other provinces until all but three provinces south of Beijing were in revolt
- Han soldiers revolted against Manchu contreol and massacred Manchu troops
- Found leader in Yuan Shikai - He agreed to put down the rebellion but when he reached Wuhan, he switched sides to support the rebels
1911 Reovlution
Failure and successes of 1911 Revolution
Failure:
- No end to foreign interference
- Yuan Shikai seizes power (emperor dreams)
- Rise of warlords - no strong central government
- Not a democratic republic
- Split China
- Chinese people still suffered
Success:
- Qing removed
- Republic?
China 1912-1916 after revolution
China 1912-1916 after revolution
- Yuan returned to Beijhing to set up a Han government and offered Sun position of president
- Yuan persuaded Sun to step down and alow him to be president
- Yuan ruled China as a dictator, even tried to make himself emperor
- Sun’s new party the GMD didn’t like the rejection of democracy
- Yuan accepted the 21 demands from Japan allowing Japan to control Chinese railways, ports, and factories
- Army revolted against Yuan
- After Yuan’s death, central government collapsed - the Beiyan government continued in Beijing but was not representative and exerted no national control
- Army itself broke apart its regiments or divisions falling under the control of powerful provincial leaders known as warlords
- Hundreds of warlords with different ideas and styles of ruling
- Caused great suffering for many Chinese people - increasing amount of Chinese people turned to revolutionary ideas
Warlord era
Warlord era
- Looted or extorted froim Chinese to pay soldiers
- Most common goal shared by warlords was to make themselves rich
- Warlords printed excesive amounts of paper money to fund their armies leading to inflation
- Many warlords also revived the trade in opium
- Many suffered under the warlords than they had under Qing
- Sun was planning to end warlordism
Changes
China in 1900 under the Qing:
- Emperor
- Authoritarian
- Undemocratic
- Quality of life bad for peasants, goof for Mandarins
- Huge debt
- Money goes to the rich
- Treaty ports
- Concessions
- Failed reforms
China under Yuan in 1912:
- President
- Republic
- Democratic?
- Quality of life bad for peasants and Manchus
- Loan from Japan to army
- Poor revolution
- Japan 21 demands
- Treaty ports
- Concessions
- End of Qing
- No reforms
China under warolords 1926:
- Totalitarian
- Violent
- Non centralised
- Suffering for peasants (looting, banditing)
- Inflation
- Tax
- Theft/looting
- Treaty ports
- Concessions
- Some reforms depending on warlord
Nationalism in China
The New Culture Movement aka ‘New Pride’
- No control/powerful government
- Foreign intervention/influence
- Poverty
- Loss of Chinese power
Message to Chinese:
- Rise up/its time to change
- Revolution
- Look to the future/Don’t look back - Qing dynasty, imperialism, Confuscious
- China needs to adapt
Groups to forget:
- Students and scholars
- Uni students
- Target the youth who they think can change China
Nationalism in China
May the 4th Movement 1919
- Treaty of Versailles
- After WW1 German territories were given to Japanese for fear that they may retaliate
- Protests caused by anger at thew terms
Consequences:
- Huge protests
- Feeling of national humiliation
- Spread of ideas of the New Culture movement beyond just students
- General strikes and a boycott of Japanese goods
- For many, a loss of faith in the West and its institutions
- Split in the New CUlture MOvement: hostility to the WEst and slight power to the west
- Hu Shin believes CHina should modfel itself on the West
- Other side believes China should find a new system of government
Nationalism in China
The New CUlture Movement Split
Russia Pons:
The ideas of the west have let us down, we must look elsewhere
West Pons:
- We must continue a our path to be life to liberal democracies of the west
Nationalism in China
Sun Yatsen’s ‘Three People’s principles’
- National freedom - to remove foreigners and rto restore CHina’s nationalism
- The democracy principle- The CHiense people to contorl their own government through elections
- People’s welfare - to solve the problem of poverty in China by developing government owned industries and protecting native industry from foreign powers
- Both Mao and Chiang followed 3 principles
