Imperialism
in China
Certainly it is an interesting thing to
study about imperialism in China. The Chinese regarded themselves as superior,
and the only truly civilized in the world. The other Asian traders adopted the
Chinese culture but not the European traders. Hence the trade with these
foreign powers was restricted to the cities of Canton and Macao from 1757 by
the Chinese Emperor. But the Europeans were irritated by the Chinese behavior.
To
India, the British imported sufficient British goods from England for Indian
goods. It avoided them paying in gold. But the Chinese restricted all trades to the specific ports under the supervision of
government officials. The Chinese sold tea and coffee to the British but always
wanted payment in gold. Over time, the British became worried that huge amounts
of gold were ending up in China. So they found out a short cut.
First Opium War A.D
1839-A.D 1842
The British started
to grow opium in India and sell it in China. They sold opium for Chinese goods,
or even for gold. The Chinese thought that their peace was disturbed by the
Europeans. On the other hand European traders were increasingly irritated by
the high customs duties they had to pay and by the attempts to curb the growing
import trade in opium. By 1800 its importation was forbidden by the imperial
government. However, the opium trade continued to boom. The British, who had
lions share in opium trade resorted to war in 1839. The warwas called First
Opium War.
The Chinese were
defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. According to the
treaty China gave up the island of Hong Kong permanently to England. It also
opened five ports to the British Traders. The English were also given extra
territorial jurisdiction in criminal cases.
Taiping Rebellion -
A.D 1854
The Americans, the
French and other foreign countries signed similar treaties with China. The
Chinese rebelled against the native Manchu kings and the foreigners in 1854.
The rebellion was known as Taiping Rebellion and it was also suppressed.
Second Opium war
A.D 1857- A.D 1860
The foreigners
demanded more ports for trade. The Chinese government rejected the demand. The
British and French bombarded and captured Canton in 1857. It was called as the
Second Opium War. The Chinese were defeated and agreed to signtheTreaty at
Peking in 1860. The Chinese gave up the port of Kowloon to Great Britain and
opened more ports.
Boxer Rebillion
After Second Opium
war, there prevailed peace and tranquility in China for some time. When China
was defeated by Japan in the First Sino - Japanese war in 1894, China had to
give the Island of Formosa to Japan.
The Chinese got angry
with the Manchu ruler. But the Empress Dowager, known as old
Buddha decided to divert the public
anger against her. She made the Chinese youths turn their anger towards the
foreign powers which led to the outbreak of Boxer Rebellion. The Boxers attacked the British,
French, German, Japanese and U.S settlements and all the Christians in 1899.
The End of Imperialism
The combined army of the foreign powers
defeated the Boxers and marched to Peking, the capital of China. Empress
Dowager fled the capital. The U.S.A and England formulated the Open Door Policy
or “Me too policy”. The Chinese territories
were partitioned among the foreign powers for trade rights. Thus China became
an international colony. The lessons learnt in the Boxer rebellion paved the
way for the Revolution of 1911 and the establishment of a Republic of China
under Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
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