Foreign Invasions to China and Internal Revolutions in the 19th Century

China had been in decline since the late 18th century, and this continued into the 1800s, despite the Jiaqing emperor’s best efforts. Corruption was simply rooted too deep in the civil bureaucracy to be cleared out, and China’s military was but a paper tiger, their antiquated guns unable to match the powerful modern weapons of the Europeans. And so the 19th century was a period of slow but sure decline and humiliation for a country that had once been the world’s leader in innovation, technology and economics. An empire that had lasted through over four thousand years of rich history and culture was destined to become a semi-colony, carved up by the Western powers, while corrupt officials gorged themselves on publicfunds and weak emperors sat on the Dragon Throne. There are some of the significant events during this century:

The First Opium War（1839-1842）

China at this point had some contact with outsiders，but Britain’s first attempt to open up trade failed，over a disagreement over protocol when the foreign envoys met the emperor.The general feeling in China was also that they did not really need trade，for China was largely self-sufficient.

However，there was a great demand in the Western countries for Chinese tea and porcelain.The British，frustrated by what they saw as one-way trade and the Qing government’s stoic refusal to open up more ports to them，decided to use opium，produced in India，to barter for tea and porcelain instead.

This was highly profitable for the British，but it soon turned China into a drug-crazed nation:thousands of sleepy addicts roamed its streets，creating great social problems，and the crime rate rose as poor addicts tried to get money by hook or by crook.

In 1839，a talented and righteous official by the name of Lin Zexu took charge as the Imperial Commissioner at Guangdong（Canton），a major trading hub.He was horrified by the extent of opium addiction he discovered，and immediately took steps to stop it.The most dramatic of this was the burning of over 200 cases of opium at Tiger Gate in May 1839.

Naturally，this incident greatly heightened tensions between Britain and China.The British were disgruntled that China had repeatedly refused to discuss treaty relations between the two countries，and the Chinese，for their part，saw the Europeans as uncultured barbarians.These issues，combined with the opium and a disagreement on whether British nationals who committed crime on Chinese soil should be tried by Chinese courts，ignited the Opium War.

The war began in November 1839 and soon proved how backward the Chinese army really was.They were completely no match for the modern British gunboats and weapons，and soon found themselves utterly defeated both at sea and on land.

The Treaty of Nanjing（Nanking），ending the war，was signed in 1842.It was the beginning of what Chinese would call”Unequal Treaties”with the foreign powers，because it was the foreigners who benefited the most from these scraps of paper.

The Treaty of Nanjing is the agreement which marked the end of the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and China.The First Opium War was a tradeinspired war between the United Kingdom and the Qing Empire in China from 1839 to 1842.It was signed on August29，1842 onboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis in Nanjing.

It is the first of the Unequal Treaties signed by China with a foreign power.

Under the treaty，China agreed to cede Hong Kong Island to the British Empire，and open the following treaty ports of China for foreign trade:A treaty is a binding agreement underinternational law concluded by subjects of international law，namely states and international organizations.Hong Kong Island is the island where the colonial settlement of the Hong Kong territory，Victoria City，was founded.The following cities were opened as ports for trade:Guangzhou ，Xiamen ，Fuzhou ，Ningbo ，and Shanghai .

The treaty also ensured the legalization of the opium trade with China，which was profitable for the British and which many historians believe to have been devastating to the Chinese.

The Second Opium War（1856-1860）

Some people believe that the Second Opium War was nothing more than a series of skirmishes between Chinese forces and British and French troops，which is not true.It would break out sooner or later.Since the door was opened，why couldn’t be opened wider？So the war ended in 1860 with China forced to sign even more unequal treaties，with the Western powers dictating the terms and reaping the benefits.

Apparently though，it also showed that the Qing government had learnt nothing from their defeat in the first war. Corruption was still widespread in the armed forces. Despite being blamed and demoted after the first war, Lin Zexu agitated for the adoption of western weapons and military methods, but the highranking mandarins turned a deaf ear to him.

The Second Opium War was in many ways an inevitable sequel to the first. The Chinese were not eager to implement the terms of a treaty that they saw as unfair. Still, skillful Chinese diplomacy and a number of other political distractions kept the conflict from boiling over for a number of years. Onthe British side, merchants were unhappy because they did not see a spectacular rise in profits from the China trade after the First Opium War; they blamed their disappointment on Chinese foot-dragging. In addition, the Treaty of Nanjing did not address the opium issue. Opium smuggling continued, and this only increased Chinese resentment of the foreigners.

The Arrow Incident of 1856 was the spark that ignited the Second Opium War. The Arrow was a ship owned by a Chinese resident of Hong Kong, and it was registered with the British there. On October 8,1856, Chinese officers searching for a notorious pirate boarded the ship-without British permission-while it was docked off Guangzhou, hauling down the British flag as they did so. This minor incident quickly escalated into a shooting war.

The British sent an expedition to seek redress and were joined by a French task force.(A French missionary had been murdered in inland of China in February 1856.) After some delay, the joint force took Guangzhou in December 1857 and then moved north to threaten the capital once again. By June 1858 the superior power of the Europeans and their refusal to compromise culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin, the most important term of which was the right of foreigners to establish permanent diplomatic residence in China’s capital.

The treaty also opened ten new ports to foreign trade.

When the foreigners returned to ratify the treaty the following summer，however，angry Chinese forces opened fire，killing more than 400 British men and sinking four ships.A much larger Anglo-French force returned a year later，in Au-gust 1860，and invaded the Chinese capital，sending the imperial court into flight and burning the Summer Palace，the Old Summer Palace-Yuanmingyuan （see Figure 20）.On October 24，1860，British leaders forced the Convention of Beijing on the defeated Chinese，establishing once and for all the right of foreign diplomatic representation in China’s capital.Many restrictions on foreign travel within China were removed，and missionaries received the right to work and even own property in China.The opium trade，the catalyst for the whole dispute，was legalized.

Figure 20 The Central Island of Yuanmingyuan The Opium Wars are extremely important to China’s modern history.The events contributed to the collapse of the Qing dynasty—the country’s last imperial dynasty—in the early years of the 20th century.Although some historians have argued that the conflicts constituted a painful but much needed jolt to shake China out of time-bound traditions，the Chinese look back on the Opium Wars as a cruel and greedy exercise in”Might is Right.”

The Taiping Uprising

The next calamitous upheaval to occur in China was the Taiping Uprising，which lasted over fifteen years and directly or indirectly caused the lives of an estimated 20 million Chinese.It is still the bloodiest civil war ever to occur in history.

The Taiping Rebellion was started in 1850 by a young scholar called Hong Xiuquan .As a son of a poor farmer who lived near Guangdong Hong Xiuquan was a bright student，but repeatedly failed the civil service examinations.

One day，he was feeling downcast after one of these failureswhen he passed by and heard a Christian missionary giving a sermon.He became very interested in Christianity and brought home several books on the subject.

Later，he went for，and failed，the civil service examinations yet again.This is believed to have caused a nervousbreakdown during which he saw visions.Whatever the cause，he became convinced that he had met God and was in fact Jesus Christ’s younger brother，sent down to earth to eradicate all evil.

Years later，he went to study with a Southern Baptist Minister called Issachar J Roberts，and became even more inspired by Christian ideals.He then proceeded，in his fervor，to found a religious movement，the Taiping Movement or Movement of Great Peace.It is possible that the movementbecame militant because Hong，for some reason or another，regarded the Manchus as foreigners and demons to be exterminated.Only then，he believed，would the great Kingdom of Heavenly Peace descend from heaven to rule the world.

The Qing government was naturally alarmed by the large following the movement gained，and began harassing it.In response，Hong began organizing a military wing and accumulating a cache of arms.The rebellion officially flared up in 1851 when Hong declared that the era of”Great Peace”had started.

The Kingdom of Heavenly Peace was a theocratic state with the Heavenly King as Absolute Ruler.Its objective，as implied by its name，was the achievement of peace and prosperity in China with all people worshipping the one and only one god.It consisted of a single hierarchy which undertook all administrative，religious，and military duties.The movementwas founded on a radical economic reform program in which all wealth was equally distributed to all members of society.

Taiping society itself would be a classless society with no distinctions between people；all members of Taiping society were”brothers”and“sisters”with all the attendant duties and obligations traditionally associated with those relationships in Chinese society.Women were the social and economic equalof men；many administrative posts in the new Kingdom were assigned to women.This social and economic reform，combined with its passionate anti-Manchu nationalism，made the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace a magnet for all the Chinese suffering under the dislocations and disasters of the mid-century.

At first，the rebellion had great success，as the Taiping soldiers proved to be remarkably disciplined.Much of the Yangtze Valley fell in the first few years of the rebellion，and Nanjing in March 1853.Hong renamed the city Tianjing or“Heavenly Capital”and continued his northward march.The rebels assaulted Beijing，the Qing capital，but were defeated.

Meanwhile，the movement was disintegrating from within.Hong decided to withdraw from active participation in the governing of his territories，believing that，as Heavenly King，he should rule by divine virtue.He threw himself into the carnal pleasures of his harem and enjoyment all day long in the palace.

This was accelerated by the arrival，from 1860，of a Western-trained and equipped army called the“Ever-Victorious Army”and led by British General George Gordon.The Taiping Movement lost ground steadily to him and regular Chinese forces with able native generals such as Zeng Guo fan.

In 1865，Qing forces captured Tianjing.Hong committed suicide as the imperial forces entered his capital.He hanged himself.Qing forces went on a rampage，killing a reported 100，000in a savage sack of the city.The Kingdom of Heavenly Peace had come to an end.

For the next thirty years，China meandered along，losing territory to foreign powers，the Qing Dynasty steadily declin-ing in power.Russia gobbled up Siberia and parts of Xinjiang，the British forced more trade concessions upon the Chinese and even the weaker European states like Belgium and Holland muscled in.13.8.4 The Sino-Japanese War（1894-1895）.Since the visit of Commodore Perry，the American marine officer who opened up the isolated island country in the far east，Japan had modernized rapidly，and become an industrialized nation in less than 50 years.China，on the other hand，had missed out on the Industrial Revolution，and was weak，backward and corrupt.Japan’s armed forces were modern and trained using Western methods；the Chinese army and navy had antiquated or worse，defective weapons and outdated tac-tics.So when the two powers went to war in 1894 over a dispute for Korea，the result was easy to predict.

Since 1875 China had allowed Japan to recognize Korea as an independent state.Then，as China tried to reassert influence over its former tributary，this provoked rivalry with Japan and a split in Korean public opinion between modernizing reformists and inward-looking conservatives.In 1894 a proJapanese Korean reformist was assassinated in Shanghai and a Korean religious sect began a rebellion.The Korean govern-ment appealed to China for assistance and the Japanese encouraged Chinese intervention，only to send an expedition ostensibly in support of Korean reformists，reaching Seoul by June 8 and seizing the royal palace a fortnight later.

China suffered heavy losses and a humiliating defeat in the short war.In Korea，the Japanese trounced the Chinese army，capturing Pyongyang by late 1894 and meeting only token resistance from the disorganized and ill-prepared Chinese forces.In November the Japanese took Port Arthur，Lishun .

To sue for peace the Chinese Gorvenment sent Li Hongzhang ，the Prime Minister to Japan and they were forced to sign the one-sided Treaty of Shimonoseki .Formosa（present Taiwan），the Liaodong Peninsula and the Pescadores were ceded to Japan，and Korea became nominally independent，but in reality was a Japanese protectorate.To further humiliate the Chinese，the Japanese insisted that the Qing government pay an indemnity of 200 million taels of silver.However，the Western powers，especially Russia，fearing the rise of Japan，intervened and forced Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula to China.Japanese dissatisfaction at this was the direct cause of the Russo-Japanese War ten years later.

The Sino-Japanese war had several wide-ranging repercussions.In China，students and patriots enraged at the weak-ness of their country began forming revolutionary movements，one of which，founded by Dr Sun Yat Sen ，would eventually bring down the 5000-year-old monarchy.In Japan，the Western intervention began a half-century of unhappiness with the Western powers，which eventually resultedin the Second World War.The Sino-Japanese war also resulted in the formation of a secret society in China-to be known as the Boxers in Europe.