Chinese History Flashcards
Describe the Macartney Mission
- The British wanted more normalised trade arrangements with China
- The mission had 84 members including scientists, musicians artists and technicians
- Timed to coincide with Qianlongs eighty third birthday
- There was initially a small problem, Macartney would not perform the Kowtow.
5 Qianlong declined to enter trade arrangements, because China was self sufficient and it did not want other European countries requesting similar rights. - Macartney did manage to get a lot of information about the structure and power of chinese government.
What happened after the Macartney mission
The British continued to seek greater diplomatic and trade contacts with
the Chinese through further missions but these fared no better than
Macartney’s. Emperor Jiaqing was far less inclined to deal with Europeans.
How did China see itself and how did this lead to tension with the British
The Celestial emperor expected Western nations to relate to China in the
same way smaller neighbouring nations did, such as Korea, Burma and
Annam (Vietnam).
The Chinese expected their new visitors
to work within the tribute system and acknowledge the superiority of the
Middle Kingdom. In what became known as the Canton System, Western
traders were restricted to the southern port city on Guangzhou (then known
in the West as Canton) and could only do business with selected Chinese
merchants, called Cohong.
merchants, called Cohong. The
Cohong made considerable profits
by regulating Western trade and
collecting tariffs on behalf of the
Qing government. Demand for
Chinese goods was so great that
the Canton System was accepted,
though much resented, by
Westerners.
Given that the Chinese did not need anything the British were selling what did the British do shift the balance of trade?
Opium. This highly addictive drug
which users smoked through
a pipe, was now smuggled into
China. Demand grew rapidly and
obliging Chinese merchants and
crime gangs helped distribute
the drug in return for a share of
the profits.
What did Lin Tse-Hsu do
- Any opium smoker who refused treatment had part of his lip cut off so he couldn’t use a pipe
- Took control of 1000 tons of opium and burnt it
- Directly wrote to Queen Victoria asking her to assist.
- When British sailors killed a chinese man demanded that they be handed over and when they refused sent a fleet of War Junks to confront the British Navy. - The first opium war broke out
Why was the first Opium war bad for China?
- The confidence of the Middle Kingdom and the sanctity of its borders
were profoundly shaken. - The Treaty of Nanjing, together with a further supplementary treaty signed in 1843, granted a number of privileges to Britain:
* ‘Extra-territoriality’ for British citizens in China, which meant that those
who committed crimes were not subject to Chinese law but instead tried
by the British consul and punished according to British law;
* The naming of the island port of Hong Kong as a British colonial territory;
* Access to five other port cities for trade: Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou,
Ningbo and Shanghai;
* The abolition of the Cohong with a fixed system of tariffs in their place;
* An indemnity (compensation payment) of twenty-one-million silver
dollars; and
* ‘Most favoured nation’ status, entitling Britain to any privilege or
economic favour granted to any other country.
What was the treaty that ended the second opium war
Treaty of Tianjin
What triggered the second opium war
The arrow incident
What was in the treaty of Tianjin
- Gave Britain and France a large indemnity and
more access to Chinese port cities; - legalised the opium trade and
- gave foreign traders and missionaries the right to travel and reside in China’s inland provinces.
- The ‘most favoured nation’ status was also conferred upon France.
According to a Chinese saying, When there is internal chaos there will be disaster from abroad’. The military defeats suffered by China in the mid-1800s came at a time of great social upheaval. There were several internal rebellions faced by the Qing while they were trying to fend off encroaching foreign powers.
Nien Rebellion (1850 1868)
Muslim Rebellions (1860s and 1870s)
Taiping Rebellion Largest and Most spectacular (1850)
The Taiping movement was founded by
Hong Xiuquan
Five points about Taiping Rebellion
- While Hong was sick he found religion and emerged from illness saying he had been visited by prophets including Jesus
- Founded the association of God Worshippers - The doctrine of the God Worshippers preached equality between men and
women, communal ownership and cultivation of land and equal distribution of food and clothing, it also condemned concubinage, prostitution, foot-binding, opium smoking and arranged marriages. - Movement attracted millions of followers
- The most destructive civil war in modern times, thirty to fifty million dead, Qing won with the help of the western powers, but their own credibility suffered
- Inspired Sun Yat-sen and Mao Tse-tung
What was the main failing of the self strengthening approach
A preoccupation with Western ships and weapons at the expense of appreciating modern political systems and culture. Acccording to the Self-Strengtheners, Chinese systems and culture were superior.
Thus, many of the important underpinnings of the Western
approach were ignored, leading to a lack of quality in some areas military training and operations, for example, remained limited in China, behind those of other nations, and the weapons and ships produced were of a poor quality.
What prevented China from modernising the monarchy in the manner of Japan
According to Australian historian C. P. Fitzgerald
‘The half-century of the rule of an autocratic and reactionary woman Dowager Empress Cixi, largely ignorant of the modern world, was the main reason why no modernisation of the monarchy on Japanese lines could be effected, and a prime cause of the reform movement turning to revolutionary policies.’
What is the contrary opinion about Cixi
The traditional understanding of Dowager Empress Cixi has been
challenged by Sterling Seagrave. In his re-assessment of Cixi, Seagrave reveals how much of historians’ understanding of the apparent Dragon Lady was influenced by the journalists Edmund Backhouse and George Morrison and exiled reformer Kang Youwei (Kang Yu-wei). Forced to flee China following the Hundred Days of Reform (discussed in Chapter 2), it is understandable that Kang expressed a deep hostility to Cixi.
For Seagrave, Cixi was more the victim of escalating problems beyond her control rather than the mastermind of flawed policy and calculating politics. Her resolve and strength of character allowed her to hold her own in the maelstrom of Court intrigue; however, this world of subtle plots, strict Confucian etiquette and dangerous, ever-changing alliances left her unwittingly caught up in events of great confusion and turmoil. She was also easily swayed by flattery - a weakness which ambitious courtiers used to their advantage.
Even if the view that Cixi was a fierce and ruthless tyrant is accepted,
some historians argue that this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for the
dynasty. It was Cixi’s iron will which propped up the ailing Manchu
regime in its final years and kept it in power.
