But during the 19th century
European powers, the US and Japan forced China to open for trade, and made
violent incursions. The Manchu emperors’ response weakened China seriously, and
more and more Chinese became aware of that the emperors were not divine rulers.
When the Qing dynasty collapsed, a long era was over, and a new China was to be
shaped.
China entered a tumultuous period of
civil war and Japanese invasions. The victorious Mao and Communists rebuilt and
consolidated the country, but were relatively isolated internationally. It was
not until the 1980s under Deng Xiaoping that China opened up again, this time at
its own choice, and part of a grand economic strategy.
 |
| A
three-year-old Puyi (right), standing next to his father Zaifeng, Prince Chun and his younger brother Pujie. |
Background
China was a centralized and highly
developed civilization 2000 years ago, on par or above the Roman Empire. The
emperors saw China as the central state in the world, surrounded by Barbarians.
Trade was seen as a simple profession and left to Arab and Persian merchants who
traded with Asia, Africa and Europe. During the Mongol rule which included
China, the Silk Road was a safe and well developed route, the wealth of the
East became known to Europe. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to try to
establish a direct route to Europe. They wanted to sell the spices they bought
in Indonesia, both to Europe and China. The Chinese Emperor saw China as
self-sufficient and refused even diplomatic relations. The first Portuguese
ambassador to China in 1517 was imprisoned and died in jail. But local
authorities permitted a trade station at Macao in 1557. The Spanish were the
next, and then the Dutch took Formosa (Taiwan) from the Portuguese. The British
East India Company arrived, used violence, but excused themselves, and were
permitted to do limited trade. The Manchu emperors were slightly more open to
trade than the Chinese had been and the British got a trade agreement in 1716
in Canton. All trade went through Chinese middle-men called Co-Hong. Conflicts,
often caused by drunken sailors, motivated the British to establish diplomatic
relations. But Beijing saw the delegation that came in the 1790s as confirming the inferior
status of the British. Negotiations didn’t even start. The same was repeated in
the 1830s; the Chinese were very confident and saw diplomacy as weakness.
 |
|
"The reception of
the Diplomatique (Macartney) and his suite, at the Court of Pekin".
Drawn and engraved by James
Gillray, published in September 1792.
|
The first Opium war
By then the East India Company had
started to sell Opium from India in China. It was paid in silver, which the
Company then bought spices for which they sold in Europe with huge profits. The
Opium brought many Chines into misery and drained the country of silver, so the
Chinese Emperor banned Opium. But smuggling increased (and continued to 1926). In
1833 the British Parliament dissolved the East India Company’s monopoly and
private merchants started to compete, resulting in increased opium-trade. The
favorite son of the Emperor died of opium, and in 1839 he sent an envoy to
Canton who by force threw 20.291 boxes of opium into the ocean. The merchants
signed an agreement to never import opium again. The trade was so important to the British that
they went to war. Their superior arms and technology forced the Chinese to an
agreement giving the British full sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1840, trade
rights and economic compensation for the opium. Other countries, including the US, Sweden and
Norway (1847) followed and got similar concessions as the British. Trade
increased and the Western powers administered an efficient Maritime Customs
Service giving the Emperor stable income.
 |
| French forces during the 1860 Opium war. |
The second Opium war
The Chinese were bitter about the result
of the war as they lacked respect and self-determination. Officials sometimes
sabotaged the agreement, and in 1856 a British ship was boarded. Together with
France they conquered Canton. The Emperor still didn’t recognize the Europeans
power and refused diplomatic relations. The US and Russia joined them and forced
the Tientsin-treaty in 1858 giving them ambassadors in Beijing and increased
trade-rights. Christian missionaries were allowed free travel. Foreigners
accused of crimes, were to be tried in foreign, not Chinese courts. The Chinese
resisted once more, and in 1860 European troops occupied Beijing looting and
destroying the Summer-Palace. The Chinese came to see them as greedy and
violent and hate grew.
 |
|
The UK, Germany, Russia, France,
and Japan dividing China.
|
Tai Ping rebellion
The Chinese gradually lost faith in their
own Emperors. A farmer’s son in Southern China became Christian and founded a
sect Tai Ping. Tens of thousands joined him, and they moved around the
countryside killing those who opposed them with reference to the Law of Moses.
Increasing to a million people, the rebellion became a threat. Tai Ping
occupied Nanking in 1853 killing 20.000, many of them Manchu. The Emperor
appointed Tseng Kuo-fan to stop them, and this honest, skilled Chinese finally
succeeded in 1864. He is still considered a light in the darkness of that
period. Millions were dead, immense destruction devastated regions and the
finances were miserable.
 |
| A scene from the Tai Ping Rebellion 1850-64. |
.JPG) |
| Empress Dowager Cixi. |
Decline and fall of the Dynasty
Emperor Xianfeng died in 1861 and Cixi, the mother of the boy
Emperor Tongzhi took power as Empress Dowager. She ruled China until her death
in 1908. Beautiful, intelligent and a woman of action she ruled with skill the
first years. Cixi wanted China to recover and co-operated with the Western
powers. Tongzhi died in 1875, so did his wife. Cixi put
her nephew the young Guangxu on the throne. She had a preference for eunuchs
and one of them got powerful. More of the state’s income was spent on luxury,
and administration became more and more corrupt and inefficient. In 1894 Japan
invaded Korea and won over China which ceded sovereignty of Korea and Taiwan.
European power followed up and parted Chine in spheres of influence. And got
concessions to build railways. A radical reformer Kang Yu-Wei led 100 days of
reform, but the officials in the administration
and the Manchu were threatened. The reforms were cancelled and a
reactionary response came. Then in 1900 Cixi supported the Boxer rebellion against Europeans and Christians.
The European response was swift and hard, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany gave his
orders to Field Marshall Waldersee “No mercy” No prisoners! ” The Europeans,
including the Russians and the Americans got new concessions and compensations.
Cixi started reforms, but to late, she died in 1908 right after her son the
Emperor. Before she died, she appointed the new Emperor Puyi, only three months
old. But the Chinese formed secret organizations and rebellious groups who
finally formed a national assembly in Nanking in 1911. They declared China a
republic and Sun Yat-sen President. A General in Beijing Yuan Shih-kai got the
job to defend the Dynasty, but he convinced the young Emperor to abdicate on
12. February 1919. Decades of civil war and invasion followed. Puyi continued
to live in the forbidden city until 1924. Then he was expelled, but welcomed by
the Japanese. In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria and set up puppet-state Manchukuo
with Puyi as a ruler in 1932 and as emperor in 1934. The Russians captured him
in 1945 and returned him to Communist China where he was tried as a war criminal.
He was pardoned in 1959 and became a researcher in the institute of literature
and history of Beijing, before he died in 1967.
 |
| Ruins of the the Old Summer Palace, burnt down by Anglo-French forces. |
 |
| Puyi as Emperor of Japanese-ruled Manchukuo. |
 |
| Asia in 1890, showing late-Qing China. |
Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar