GROUP ONE: 9TH GRADE REVIEW

• The Himalayan Mountains to the south, the Gobi Desert to the Northwest and the Pacific Ocean to the East helped give China protection from invasion. No natural barrier to protect them from northern invasion led to

the building of the Great Wall of China as early as 200BC the Silk Road was over 4,000 miles long and connected China to the West. Europeans could not get enough of Chinese jade, silk and spices.

• The Mongols, led by the Great Genghis Khan, invaded China around 1200 AD and brought a period of peace and prosperity to the land in a time known as Pax Mongolia. The foreign Mongols were defeated by native Chinese from the Ming Dynasty in 1368.

• After the Ming sent Zheng He on his explorations, China became very isolated from the west. They were ethnocentric and thought of their land as the Middle Kingdom. The Chinese only allowed Europeans to trade from three coastal cities and the rest of China was off limits for hundreds of years. The Chinese became completely self sufficient and had no need for others.

• By 1600, the 200 year old Ming dynasty was corrupt, broke, ineffective and weakening. In 1644, the Manchu invaded from the North and became the Qing dynasty. By

the 18th Century, Britain was growing stronger and richer. The people’s demand for luxury items from China like tea, jade, silk and spices continued to grow. By this time, almost 80% of the exported goods from China to Europe was tea The British imported millions of pounds of tea from China.

GROUP TWO: BRITIAN DISLIKES TRADE POLICIES

In the early 1800s, China, by its own design, was still largely cut off from trade with the outside world. All trade with Europe was channeled through specially designated Chinese agents known as co-hong.

Several Chinese products, such as silk and porcelain, were in high demand in Europe, but the most popular trade item in the early 1800s was tea.

The British grew tired of Chinese isolationist policies that limited European traders to just three port cities. The Chinese also insisted that

the British pay in silver. It refused to consider any kind of trade in British goods.

In 1793, the British government sent diplomats to China to convince them to increase trade…they went armed with all the Western gadgets…Clocks, globes, musical instruments and even a hot-air balloon. The Chinese refused to trade and continued to demand silver.

By the 18th century, the British desperately wanted Chinese goods and the Chinese refused to trade anything but silver. British merchants began to smuggle a drug called opium into China from their colony in nearby India. Opium is a habit forming narcotic made from the poppy plant. The British East India Company began trading opium for manufactured goods and tea. By 1835, as many was 12 million Chinese were addicted to the drug. It caused great problems in China and the British refused to stop.

The Chinese, who viewed trafficking of opium as a criminal activity, were powerless to stop the British spread of opium. They had never industrialized and few weapons. Since ancient time, the Chinese philosophy of Confucianism didn’t allow for making profits and money. In addition, the Chinese taxed factory produced goods heavily. They felt that agriculture was much more important.

GROUP THREE: THE OPIUM WARS

• In the 19th century, the Chinese refused to buy British goods so the British smuggled opium in to China to use for trade. The Chinese were angered by the British using opium to buy Chinese goods. They prohibited its trade but the British ignored their warnings.

• The key player in the prelude to the Opium Wars was a brilliant and highly moral official named Lin Tse-hsu. His express purpose was to cut off the opium trade at its source by rooting out corrupt officials and cracking down on British trade. He had taken action against Chinese merchants and Western traders and shut down all the trafficking opium. He destroyed all existing stores of opium.

• He composed a letter to Queen Victoria requesting that the British cease all opium trade. His letter included the argument that, since the British had made opium trade and consumption illegal in England because of its harmful effects, it should not export that harm to other countries.

• In 1839, China destroyed a large quantity of opium that they confiscated from British merchants. Great Britain responded by sending gunboats to attack several Chinese coastal cities. The British and Chinese were at open war. These wars became known as the Opium Wars.

• The battles took place mostly at sea…China’s outdated ships were no match for British steam powered gunboats and sophisticated cannons. The Chinese suffered a humiliating defeat. A second Opium War a few years later also ended in Chinese defeat.

• The Treaty of Nanjing, 1842 ended the Opium Wars. • In this treaty, Britain gained the island of Hong Kong• They didn’t give it back to the Chinese until 1997.

Treaty of Nanking Lasting peace between the two nations. The ports of Canton, Amoy, Fuchau, Ningpo, and Shangai to be opened to British trade and residence. The island of Hong Kong to be ceded to her Majesty. Three million dollars to be paid for the debts due to British merchants. Twelve million dollars to be paid for violent and unjust proceedings. The entire amount of $21,000,000 to be paid before December 31, 1845. All prisoners of war to be immediately released by the Chinese. The Emperor to grant full and entire amnesty to those of his subjects who had aided the British. A regular and fair tariff of export and import custom and other dues to be established at the open ports.

GROUP FOUR: CHINA BECOMES A SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

Throughout the 19th century, the Chinese had watched as even more foreigners came into their country. After the Opium Wars, the Chinese lost more control over their land

Because of their loss in the Opium Wars in 1839, China became a sphere of influence. Not a direct colony like India.

A sphere of influence is an area in which a stronger country has significant influence over the culture, military or economic parts of a weaker country. It is a form of imperialism

When China was defeated by Japan in 1895, European powers responded with a policy they called, “carving up the Chinese melon.” Following the partition of Africa among European powers, they turned their sights to what they saw as a terminally weak Chinese government.

This meant that France, Germany, Russia, Japan and Britain all claimed exclusive trading rights over parts of China. The spheres of influence involved holding leases for all railway and commercial privileges in various regions. Nobody else was allowed to trade there. China was divided into six different spheres of influence.

The stronger countries only controlled trade. China still had their own Empress Dowager that controlled local affairs, but other countries controlled trade. The Empress cooperated with the foreigners and kept her throne. The Europeans made many decisions that hurt China and cost them a great deal of money and prestige.

Beginning in 1850, the Chinese led a rebellion against the Qing Dynasty and the foreign controllers. The Taiping Rebellion lasted for over 20 years but the Empress held control and with the help of regional governors and generals, the government crushed the rebellion.

GROUP FIVE: THE OPEN DOOR POLICY

• After the Opium Wars, China was divided into separate spheres of influence. Each of the foreign powers, France, Britain, Japan, Germany and Russia took control of a trade for a certain part of the country.

• The US didn’t have any spheres of influence in China. Fearful that they were getting left out…the United States proposed the Open Door Policy that allowed equal access to Chinese ports and ended the idea of spheres of influence.

• The countries of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia all agreed. China wasn’t asked.

• Japan's violation of the policy in 1937 led the U.S. to impose an oil embargo that eventually led to World War II. The Open Door Policy was discontinued with the communist takeover of China in 1949.

Angry over the Open Door Policy, the Chinese began to try to kick the foreigners out…but they were not strong enough. The Empress continued to take her orders from the stronger countries.

GROUP SIX: THE BOXER REBELLION OF 1900

Throughout the nineteenth century, foreigners took control of China and the Chinese people became increasingly humiliated. The Empress of China, a member of the Qing Dynasty, was thought to be too closely connected to the foreigners.

A secret society called “The Righteous and Harmonious Fists”, in northern China began a campaign of terror against Christian missionaries and Chinese converts. Their goal was to get rid of foreigners and get rid of the Empress. Foreigners called the secret society “Boxers” because they practiced martial arts. The Boxers believed that they had “magical powers” that would protect them from foreign bullets.

• In the early months of 1900, thousands of Boxers roamed the countryside, attacking and killing thousands of Christians. This became known to history as the Boxer Rebellion

• The Boxers were easily defeated by a combined force of over 19,000 European, Japanese and American troops. On August 14, 1900, the foreign troops captured Beijing. Beijing was looted and many Chinese people were tortured, raped and killed. The foreign powers forced China to agree to a treaty that allowed foreign nations to station troops in Beijing and China lost even more power over her own country.

CHINESE IMPERIALISM ONE: 9th Grade REVIEW

What geographical barriers made it easy to isolate China?

THREE: OPIUM WARS

What was smuggled into China by the British?

TWO: ENGLAND OBJECTS

Why did England visit China in 1793?

ONE: 9th Grade REVIEW

What geographical barriers made it easy to isolate China?

FIVE: OPEN DOOR POLICY

Why did the US worry about other countries dividing China into spheres of influence?

What did the US suggest as an alternative to spheres of influence?

How did the Chinese feel about foreigners?

FOUR: SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

What was a sphere of influence?

How was a sphere of influence different from a direct colony like India?

What happened in the Taiping Rebellion?

THREE: OPIUM WARS

What was smuggled into China by the British?

TWO: ENGLAND OBJECTS

Why did England visit China in 1793?

SIX: THE BOXER REBELLION

Who were the Boxers?

What was the goal of the Boxer’s in the rebellion?

What group in particular were targeted during the Boxer Rebellion?

CAUSE: IN 1839 , THE OPIUM WARS STARTED IN CHINA BECAUSE

EFFECT: THE OPIUM WARS CHANGED CHINA…