China pre-1900 to 1911: Fall of Qing Flashcards
to understand the factors which led up in the short-term to the end of the Qing dynasty.
Historically, which countries were important tributary states to China?
Japan and Burma were both tributary states as well as many others; Vietnam and Korea had historically be seen by the Chinese as more important tributary states.
How and when did China lose its position as Vietnam’s overlord?
In 1884 France destroyed a Chinese fleet in Fuzhou. This strengthened their hold over Vietnam and broke Vietnam’s status as a tributary of China.
How and when did China lose its position as Korea’s overlord?
In 1894, following the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimoneseki dismantled Korea’s tributary status and handed ports on the Chinese mainland to Japan. There were protests in Beijing by students assembled for the civil service examination.
How was China almost on the point of partition by imperialist powers by 1898 and 1899?
Russia occupied much of Manchuria and Lushan, renaming it Port Arthur.
German occupied a port in Shandong peninsula.
British had taken Weihaiwei and extracted a 99-year lease on Kowloon Peninsula to the north of Hong Kong.
French had seized territory in the South of China.
When and why did the Boxer Rising break out?
In 1900, attacks on foreigners and Christians broke out in north-east China. These grew and spread to Tianjin and Beijing. The German ambassador was shot and Europeans retreated into the British legation; Empress Dowager Cixi, in control of the Qing court, threw her support behind the Boxers.
What was behind the Boxer Rising?
Anger over foreign imperialist control of China; tensions over western missionaries and their actions in converting Chinese people to Christianity; fear of technological changes (e.g. that railways, which were spreading in the north, wrere disturbing dragons; that telegraph wires which dripped rusty water were sources of poison; Europeans and even Chinese in possession of things like clocks were killed).
How did the Boxer Rising end?
An international force advanced on Beijing and relieved the legation. The Qing court fled to Xi’an leaving the elderly mandarin Li Hongzhang to negotiate with the international force. Massive damages were extracted which amounted to nearly twice the annual state revenue. Foreign troops were to be stationed permanently in and around Beijing. It was a national and international humiliation for China and saddled them with crippling debts.
How did Japan provide China with a model for improvement?
Like China Japan had been forced to opne her doors to western imperial powers, but from the late 1860s Japan had transfored herself militarily, technologically and politically. She had used German expertise to reform her army and British to radically overhaul their navy.
What had been the consequnces of Japan’s reforms in the latter part of the nineteeth century?
They had been able to defeat China in 1894 and would defeat Russia in 1905.
What measures did Cixi introduce following the Boxer Rising, to try and prop up the dynasty?
She introduced constitutional and administrative reforms including turning the Qing dynasty into a modern constitutional monarchy.
Why did the Qing dynasty’s position get even worse in 1908?
Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi died within 24 hours of each other, leaving the two year old Pu Yi as Emperor.
Who was regent to the boy Emperor Pu Yi?
His uncle Prince Chun
Why did the situation for the Qing dynasty worsen during the regency of Chun?
The government did not deal with the growing opposition; the political and economic reforms begun under Cixi were increasing the tax burden; the reforms did not go far enough; there were increasing numbers of tax revolts throughout China.
Why did the Qing government decide to nationalise the railways?
If provincial companies kept them and their profits, the provinces would become richer and more independent of the central government.
How did the nationalisation of the railways cause popular unrest?
The Qing government had to raise taxes and borrow money from the West in order to pay the provincial companies compensation. Industrialists started to organise opposition to the government, claiming it put their own power ahead of China’s economic and national interests.
