HIS 121

1. HIS 121 Chapter 3 Shadows Over the Pacific: East Asia

3. By 1800, the Manchu people of the Qing Dynasty had ruled successfully for almost 200 years • They had: • secure borders • peace and prosperity • cultural and intellectual achievements

4. But by 1900 the Qing Dynasty was near collapse • Why? • They could not withstand the incursions of Western powers like the British • They were an unchanging society • They believed the Chinese people were superior to all other peoples

5. The Portuguese were the first to reach China in the 16th century • Chinese rulers were afraid of the influence these Europeans would have on there people, so they confined the Portuguese to the port of Canton • For the next 200 years this worked , and China remained a fairly isolated society • In the mid-19th century their isolation was ended by force

6. Why? How? • The Chinese population kept growing; 400 million by 1900 • To supply their needs, farming, manufacturing, and trade increased both internally and externally with foreigners

7. The Chinese first traded with other Asians • By 1800 British merchants began applying pressure on the Qing Dynasty • They wanted access to other Chinese ports • The British were buying more from the Chinese than the Chinese were buying from them – trade imbalance • The British had to find a good that the Chinese would buy and become dependent on

8. They found it - opium from India • The result was drug addiction in China • The trade imbalance was reversed; more money was leaving China and they were taking in • The Chinese ruler tried to prohibit opium • The British responded by talking about free trade and then declared war on the Chinese – the Opium War, 1839 – 1842 • The British won

9. The Treaty of Nanking • opened 5 new ports to the British • limited the tariffs placed on British imports • granted extraterritoriality rights to the British; this unequal treatment system was in effect until 1943 • China paid all costs of the war to Britain; China fell into debt to Britain • China ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British and remained in British hands until 1997

10. By the end of the 19th century, extraterritoriality evolved into spheres of influence, zones where the interests of a particular nation took precedence • Because the Treaty of Nanking was applied to all western nations, foreign powers were now taking chunks of China

11. By the mid-1900s China • couldn’t keep foreigners out • was in debt to foreigners • had pressing internal economic problems • These factors led to a rebellion of the poor in 1850 -- Taiping Rebellion 1850-1864 ; 20 million died

12. The French and the British took advantage of this rebellion by pressing for more concessions in 1856 • This resulted in the Treaty of Tianjin in 1860 • opium was legalized • restrictions on missionaries and on ports were lifted • the British took Kowloon

13. Some Chinese thought China needed to learn from the West in order to survive • Eventually the royal court began to listen and called for self-strengthening in the 1860s • western technology would be adopted • Confucian principles would remain in tact • the military would be modernized, and they would set up new railroads, weapons arsenals, and shipyards

14. Foreign incursions increased from the 1880s onward • Japan took Taiwan • Russia took territories in Siberia • France took Vietnam • Britain took Burma • Germany took the Shandong Peninsula

15. Foreign powers agreed to an Open Door policy in China which calmed the foreigners fears about one another • China had no say in the matter • Resentment towards foreigners in China grew • The Chinese saw foreigners as the cause of their economic woes • This resentment led to the Boxer Rebellion

16. The Boxers • an athletic group • a secret society • resented foreign residents in China and attacked them • Rebellion was put down by an international military force in 1900 • Chinese lost all faith in their government

17. The Qing thought if they made more reforms, they could save themselves and China • But the revolution could not be stopped • It was led by Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) • born to peasants • educated in Hawaii • returned to China to be a doctor

18. 1905 – Sun Yat-sen helped to found the United League • 1911 - revolution broke out when government was going to nationalize the railroads on terms favoring foreigners. The assemblies protested and then declared their independence • 1912 - national military forces helped to overthrow Qing Dynasty; Sun Yat-sen assumed the presidency of the Chinese Republic

19. The United League became the National People’s Party or the Guomindang (GMD) • It found gaining control of all of China to be difficult • SunYat-sen turned over his office to a military man who could gain control, Yuan Shikai • Yuan turned into a dictator but dies before he could declare himself emperor • GMD finally got control in 1928 but were challenged by the communists

20. Japan • Set of small islands • Possessed few natural resources • Borrowed from Chinese culture for centuries • Fairly homogeneous people • Did not wish to have foreigners pollute their society

22. Japanese ruling system: • Emperor at the top • Shogun • Samurai • Daimyos

23. Portuguese reached Japan in 16th century • For the next 200 years Japan was considered a closed country and only allowed the Chinese and the Dutch into one port • That changed in 1853 and again in 1854 when Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States visited Japan to open trade with them • The Japanese lacked the technology to keep him out

24. The Shogun was forced to make treaties with the United States and then with other nations • Foreigners gained extraterritoriality privileges • Economic disruption followed • Samurai discipline collapsed and the Emperor and the Shogun had their authority questioned • The Shogun fell • The Emperor held on but had to make changes

25. The changes were called the Meiji Restoration ( the emperor was called the Meiji) • The true power was in the hands of the rebels who introduced changes that marked the beginning of a modern Japan

26. Changes: • capital was moved to Tokyo • land belonging to the daimyos was returned to the emperor; it was then divided into prefectures • modern army and navy were created • money was kept in Japan; no borrowing from foreigners

27. agricultural growth • improved schooling • central government: Council of State and Ministries • by 1900 industry was diversified and strong • Japan had modernized in a 50 year period • they adopted Western ideas that would help them progress By 1914 Japan had risen from semi-colonialism to virtual equality with the then Great Powers They even had overseas dependencies