Treaty

In an effort to protect its opium trade, make itself take the advantage in trade with

China, Britain launched a war against China in 1840, which led to the Qing

government's signing with the British government the Treaty of Nanking, the first

unequal treaty of national betrayal and humiliation of modern China. Following the

Opium War, many western powers, including Britain, the United States, France,

Russia and Japan forced the Qing government to sign various unequal treaties. Under

these unequal treaties, the nation sovereignty and the territory integrity were violated

seriously. China was gradually relegated to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country.

The Treaty of Nanjing

The Treaty of Nanjing is the agreement which marked the end of the First

Opium War between the United Kingdom and China. It was signed on 29 August

1842 aboard the British warship HMS Cornwallis in Nanjing. It is the first of the

Unequal Treaties signed by China with a foreign power. The agreement was

supplemented the following year by the British Supplementary Treaty of the

Bogue (Oct. 8, 1843). Under the treaty and it’s supplementary,

• China was forced to cede Hong Kong Island ,

• open the following treaty ports of China for foreign trade with low tariffs:

• Canton (Guangzhou)

• Amoy (Xiamen)

• Foochow (Fuzhou)
• Ningpo (Ningbo)

• Shanghai

• Great Britain received:

• 21 million ounces silver for compensation

• Fixed tariffs

• Extraterritoriality for British Citizens on Chinese soil

• Most Favored Nation status

The Treaties of Tientsin

• The Treaties of Tientsin were signed in Tianjin in June 1858, ending the

first part of the Second Opium War (1856-1860). France, Great Britain,

Russia, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties

opened ten more Chinese ports to the foreigners, permitted foreign

legations in Beijing, allow Christian missionary activity, and legalized the

import of opium.

• They were ratified by the Emperor of China in the Beijing Convention in

1860, after the end of the war.

• Major Points :

• Britain, France, Russia and the United States would have the right to

station legations in Beijing.

• Ten more Chinese ports would be opened for foreign trade, including

Niuzhuang, Danshui, Hankou and Nanjing.

• The right of foreign vessels including warships to navigate freely on the

Yangtze River.
• The right of foreigners to travel in the internal regions of China

• for the purpose of travel, trade or missionary activities

• China was to pay an indemnity to Britain and France in 2 million tales of

silver respectively, and compensation to British merchants in 2 million

tales of silver.

• The Chinese are to be banned from referring to Westerners by the

character "夷" or "yi" (barbarian).

• The 1858–60 treaties extended the foreign privileges granted after the first

Opium War and confirmed or legalized the developments in the treaty-

port system. It made the characteristic of semi-colony and semi-feudal

more clear.

• In politic, China lost more territories and sovereignty.

• In economic, the influx of western capital spread from the coast areas to

the inner areas of China

• In moral and cultural, The right to propagate Christianity threatened

Confucian values, the backbone of the imperial system.

The Aftermath of the First Opium War

• Great Britain fought for forcing China to import British opium. It is often

seen as the beginning of European imperial hegemony toward China. The

success of the First Opium War allowed the British to resume the opium

trade with China. It also paved the way for the opening of the lucrative

Chinese market and Chinese society to missionary endeavors. Such

teachings remain a major factor in Asian resentment toward Western

 countries today. The conflict began a long history of Chinese suspicion of

Western society, which still lingers today in East Asia.

• The Qing surrender in 1842 marked a decisive, humiliating blow to

China. The ease with which the British East India Company's forces had

defeated the Chinese armies seriously affected the Qing Dynasty's

prestige. The Treaty of Nanking, which demanded reparation payments,

allowed unrestricted European access to Chinese ports, and ceded the

island of Hong Kong to Great Britain. It revealed many inadequacies in

the Qing government and provoked widespread rebellions against the

already hugely unpopular regime.

• The First Opium War revealed the outdated state of the Chinese military.

• The Qing had no effective tactics against the powerful British navy.

• A weakness in Qing society that became apparent during the crisis of the

war.

• SHIMONOSEKI Treaty

• The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on 17April 1895. China recognized the

total independence of Korea, ceded the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan and the

Pescadores Islands to Japan "in perpetuity". Additionally, China was to pay

Japan 200 million Kuping teals as reparation. China also signed a commercial

treaty permitting Japanese ships to operate on the Yangtze River, to operate

manufacturing factories in treaty ports and to open four more ports to foreign

trade. The European powers(Russia especially) while having no objection to

 the other clauses of the treaty, did feel that Japan should not gain Port Arthur,

for they had their own ambitions in that part of the world. Russia persuaded

Germany and France to join her in applying diplomatic pressure on the

Japanese, resulting in the The Triple Intervention, forced Japan to give up the

Liaodong Peninsula in exchange for another 450 million Kuping teals in 23

April 1895.

• The Japanese success of the was the result of the modernization and

industrialization embarked on two decades earlier. The war demonstrated the

superiority of Japanese tactics and training as a result of the adoption of a

western style military. The Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were able to

inflict a string of defeats on the Chinese through foresight, endurance, strategy

and power of organization. Japanese Prestige rose in the eyes of the world.

The victory established Japan as a power(if not a great power) on equal terms

with the west and the dominant power in Asia.

• Boxer Protocol

• The Treaty of 1901, known as the Xinchou Treaty (辛丑条约) in China, and

more commonly known as Boxer Protocol or Peace Agreement between the

Great Powers and China, was a peace treaty signed on September 7,1901

between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance—Austria-

Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US—plus

Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands after China's defeat in the Boxer

Rebellion at the hands of the Eight-Power Expeditionary Force.

• The full name of the protocol is: "Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France,

Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Netherland, Russia, Spain, United States

and China —Final Protocol for the Settlement of the Disturbances of 1900",

reflecting its nature as a diplomatic protocol rather than a peace treaty at the

time of signature.

• Signatories 

• Prince Qing and Li Hongzhang signed the protocol on behalf of the Qing

Empire, while Alfons Mumm (Freiherr von Schwarzenstein), Ernest Satow

and Komura Jutaro signed on behalf of Germany, Britain and Japan

respectively. The Clauses and its Effects

• 450 million taels of silver were to be paid as indemnity over a course of 39

years to the eight nations involved (982,238,150 taels in total with the

interest). At the time, the annual budget for the Qing government was about

100 million taels. 450 million(this equalled 335 million gold dollars US) taels

was based on 450 million population china had at the time. The sum was to be

distributed as follows: Russia 28.97%, German 20.02%, France 15.75%,

United Kingdom 11.25%, Japan 7.73%, United States 7.32%, Italy 7.32%,

Belgium 1.89%, Austria-Hungary 0.89%, Netherlands 0.17%, and Spain,

Portugal, and Sweden and Norway 0.025%。 Also, additional 16,886,708

taels was paid at local level in 17 provinces. Till 1938, 652.37 million taels

was actually paid. The interest (rate of 4% per annum) was to be paid semi-

annually with the first payment being the 1st July 1902.

• Chinese custom income and salt tax were enlisted as guarantee of the
 reparation. Its affects to the economic sovereignty of China. China paid

668,661,220 taels of silver from 1901 to 1939. Some of

• the reparation was later earmarked by both Britain and the U.S. for the

education of Chinese students at overseas institutions, subsequently forming

the basis of Tsinghua University.

• The Qing government was also to allow the foreign countries to base their

troops in Beijing. The destruction of the Forts at Taku.

• To prohibit the importation of arms and ammunitions, as well as materials for

the production of arms or ammunitions for a period of 2 years, this could be

extended to a further terms of 2 years as the Powers saw necessary. - the ban

of imports of weapons till 1903-1905.

War

The First Opium War

• Date: 1839-1842

• Location: China

• Result: Decisive British victory; Treaty of Nanjing

• Cause belli: Various economic and political disputes

• Territorial changes: Hong Kong ceded to United Kingdom

• The First Opium War or the First Anglo-Chinese War was fought between
 Great Britain and the Qing Empire in China from 1839 to 1842 with the

aim of forcing China to import British opium. It is often seen as the

beginning of European imperial hegemony toward China. The conflict

began a long history of Chinese suspicion of Western society, which still

lingers today in East Asia.

• Fighting began on November 3, 1839, when a second British ship, the

Royal Saxon, attempted to sail to Guangzhou. Then the Volage and

Hyacinth fired a warning shot at the Royal Saxon. The official Qing

navy's report claimed that the navy attempted to protect the British

merchant vessel and also reported a great victory for that day.

On January 14, 1840, the Qing Emperor asked all foreigners at China to stop

helping British in China.

In February 1840 the British government decided to launch a military

expedition.

In June 1840, an expeditionary force of 15 barracks ships, 4 steam-powered

gunboats and 25 smaller boats with 4000 marines reached Guangdong from

Singapore. The marines were headed by James Bremer. Bremer demanded the

Qing Government compensate the British for losses suffered from interrupted

trade. The Qing Government refused and the British attacked.

The mouth of the Pearl River was heavily defended under Commissioner Lin so

the British fleet went northward to Xiamen. Then from Fujian to the mouth of

the Bai River to press China with their demands. Challenging by the military

power of Great Britain, the emperor dismissed Lin Zexu.

In June, 16 British warships arrived in Hong Kong Charles Elliot entered into

negotiations with the Chinese, and, although an agreement was reached in

January 1841, it was not acceptable to either government.

In May 1841 the British attacked the walled city of Guangzhou and received a

ransom of $6 million, which provoked a counterattack on the part of the

Cantonese.

This was the beginning of a continuing conflict between the British and the

Cantonese.

The next year, 1841, the British captured the Bogue forts which guarded the

mouth of the Pearl River — the waterway between Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

By January 1841, British forces commanded the high ground around Guangzhou

and defeated the Chinese at Ningbo and at the military post of Chinghai.

By the middle of 1842, Elliot's successor, Henry Pottinger, arrived at Macau

in August and campaigned northward, seizing Xiamen (Amoy), Dinghai, and

Ningbo. Reinforced from India, he resumed action in May 1842 and took

Wusong, Shanghai, and Zhenjiang. Nanjing yielded. The Qing government

proved incapable of dealing with Western Powers on an equal basis, either

politically or militarily. Elliot's successor, Henry Pottinger, arrived at Macau

in August and campaigned northward, seizing Xiamen (Amoy), Dinghai, and

Ningbo. Reinforced from India, he resumed action in May 1842 and took

Wusong, Shanghai, and

Zhenjiang. Nanjing yielded. The Qing government proved incapable of

dealing with Western Powers on an equal basis, either politically or

 militarily.

• The First Opium War signaled the beginning of the end of the Manchu

monopoly on the human resources of China, marking the beginning of

modern Chinese history. The war finally ended in August 1842, with the

signing of China's first Unequal Treaty, the Treaty of Nanjing.

The Second Opium War

• The Second Opium War or Arrow War was a war of the United Kingdom

and France against the Qing Dynasty of China from 1856 to 1860. The

war may be viewed as a continuation of the First Opium War (1839-1842),

thus the title of the Second Opium War.

• Date 1856-1860

• Location China

• Result: Franco-British victory; Treaty of Tientsin

• Casus: belli Chinese boarding of British-registered ship the Arrow

• Combatants: Qing China, United Kingdom, France

• The demands of Great Britain:

legalizing the opium trade,

exempting foreign imports from internal transit duties,

suppression of piracy,

regulation of the coolie trade,

permission for a British ambassador to reside in Beijing and for the

English-language version of all treaties to take precedence over the

Chinese.
• The reject of the Qing Court

• Arrow Incident:

On 1856-10-08, Qing officials boarded the Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship

that had been registered in Hong Kong flying a British flag, and charged

its Chinese crew with piracy and smuggling. Twelve Chinese subjects

were arrested and imprisoned. This has come to be known as the “Arrow

Incident”. The British officials in Guangzhou demanded the release of the

sailors, claiming that because the ship had recently been British-

registered, it was protected under the Treaty of Nanjing.

Only when this was shown to be a weak argument did the British insist

that the Arrow had been flying a British ensign and that the Qing soldiers

had insulted the flag.

Father Chapdelain Incident:

A French missionary was executed by Chinese local authorities in

Guangxi province.

• The British and the French joined forces attacked and occupied

Guangzhou in late 1857. The coalition then cruised north to briefly

capture the Taku Forts near Tianjin in May, 1858. The Qing

representatives had no choice but to comply with the demands of the

British and French; the Russian and U.S. diplomats also gained the

privileges their militant colleagues secured by force. During June four

Tianjin treaties were concluded that provided for, among other measures,

the residence of foreign diplomats in Beijing and the freedom of Christian

 missionaries to evangelize their faith.

• In 1860 an allied force invaded Beijing, the famous summer palace was

destroyed by the British in October.

First Sino-Japanese war

A war fought between Meiji Japan and Qing Dynasty over the control of

Korea and some part of China. The Sino-Japanese War would come to

symbolize the degeneration and enfeeblement of the Qing Dynasty and

demonstrate how successful westernization and modernization had been in

Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with the SSM in China. The

principal results were a shift in regional dominance in Asia from China to

Japan and a fatal blow to the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese classical tradition

 Japan long had a desire to expand its realm to the mainland of east Asia. In the

late 16th century, Japan had invaded Korea.

 In 1854, Japan was forced open to trade by US.

 In 1868, the Meiji Restoration and the fall of the Shogunate had seen Japan

transform itself from a feudal and comparatively backward society to a

modern industrial state.

 As a newly emergent country, Japan turned its attention towards Korea.

 Korea had traditionally been a tributary state and continued to be under the

influence of China After two Opium Wars and the Sino-French War, China had

become weak and was unable to resist western intervention and encroachment.

Japan saw this as an opportunity to replace Chinese influence in Korea with its
 own. The Japanese force subsequently seized the emperor of Korea, occupied

the Royal Palace in Seoul by 8 June 1894, and replaced the existing

government with the members from the pro-Japanese faction.

 The new pro-Japanese Korean government granted Japan the right to expel the

Chinese troops forcefully, while Japan shipped more troops to Korea. The

legitimacy of the new government was rejected by China, and the stage was

thus set for conflict. War between China and Japan was officially declared on

1, August, 1894.

 The Imperial Japanese Army attacked and defeated the poorly-prepared

Chinese Beiyang, at the Battle of Pyongyang on 16 September, and quickly

pushed north into Manchuria.

 The Japanese Navy destroyed 8 out of 10 warships of the Chinese Beiyang

Fleet off the mouth of the Yalu River on 17 Sept. 1894. The Chinese fleet

subsequently retreated behind the Wehaiwei fortifications. However, they were

then surprised by Japanese ground forces, who outflanked the harbor's

defenses. By 21 November 1894, the Japanese had taken the city of Port

Arthur. The Japanese army allegedly massacred thousands of the city's civilian

Chinese inhabitants, in an event that came to be called the Port Arthur

Massacre.

 After Weihaiwei's fall on 2 February 1895 and an easing of harsh winter

conditions, Japanese troops pressed further into southern Manchuria and

northern China. By March 1895 the Japanese had fortified posts that

commanded the sea approaches to Beijing.

  Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

 Few Chinese had any illusions about Japanese designs on China. Hungry for

raw materials and pressed by a growing population, Japan initiated the seizure

of Manchuria in September 1931 and established ex-Qing emperor Puyi as

head of the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932. The loss of Manchuria, and its

vast potential for industrial development and war industries, was a blow to the

Kuomintang economy.

 The League of Nations, established at the end of World War I, was unable to

act in the face of the Japanese defiance. The Japanese began to push from

south of the Great Wall into northern China and into the coastal provinces.

Chinese fury against Japan was predictable, but anger was also directed

against the Republic of China government, which at the time was more

preoccupied with anti-Communist extermination campaigns than with

resisting the Japanese invaders. The importance of "internal unity before

external danger" was forcefully brought home in December 1936, when

Chiang Kai-shek, in an event now known as the Xi'an Incident was kidnapped

by Zhang Xueliang and forced to ally with the Communists against the

Japanese as a condition of his release. The Chinese resistance stiffened after

July 7, 1937, when a clash occurred between Chinese and Japanese troops

outside Beijing (then renamed Beiping) near the Marco Polo Bridge. This

skirmish not only marked the beginning of open, though undeclared, war

between China and Japan but also hastened the formal announcement of the
 Second Kuomintang-CPC United Front against Japan. Shanghai fell after a

three month battle which ended after severe Japanese naval and army

casualties. The capital of Nanjing fell in December 1937. It was followed by a

series of mass killings and rape of civilians in the Nanjing Massacre.

 The collaboration between the Kuomintang and CPC took place with salutary

effects for the beleaguered CPC. The distrust between the two parties,

however, was scarcely veiled. The uneasy alliance began to break down after

late 1938, despite Japan's steady territorial gains in northern China, the coastal

regions, and the rich Yangtze River Valley in central China. After 1940,

conflicts between the Kuomintang and Communists became more frequent in

the areas not under Japanese control. The Communists expanded their

influence wherever opportunities presented themselves through mass

organizations, administrative reforms, and the land- and tax-reform measures

favoring the peasants — while the Kuomintang attempted to neutralize the

spread of Communist influence. In 1945 the Republic of China emerged from

the war nominally a great military power but actually a nation economically

prostrate and on the verge of all-out civil war. The economy deteriorated,

sapped by the military demands of foreign war and internal strife, by spiraling

inflation, and by Nationalist profiteering, speculation, and hoarding. Starvation

came in the wake of the war, and millions were rendered homeless by floods

and the unsettled conditions in many parts of the country.

 The situation was further complicated by an Allied agreement at the Yalta

Conference in February 1945 that brought Soviet troops into Manchuria to
 hasten the termination of war against Japan. Although the Chinese had not

been present at Yalta, they had been consulted; they had agreed to have the

Soviets enter the war in the belief that the Soviet Union would deal only with

the Kuomintang government. After the war, the Soviet Union, as part of the

Yalta agreement's allowing a Soviet sphere of influence in Manchuria,

dismantled and removed more than half the industrial equipment left there by

the Japanese. The Soviet presence in northeast China enabled the Communists

to move in long enough to arm themselves with the equipment surrendered by

the withdrawing Japanese army. The problems of rehabilitating the formerly

Japanese-occupied areas and of reconstructing the nation from the ravages of a

protracted war were staggering.

 Reform

 Hundred days’ reform

Hundred Days' Reform was a failed 103-day reform movement from 11 June to 21

September 1898, undertaken by the young Emperor Guangxu and his reform-

minded supporters. The movement proved to be short-lived, ending in a coup

d'état by powerful conservative opponents.

The Background

It occurred after the Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) and the
ensuing rush for concessions in China on the part of Western. In response to

weaknesses exposed by China's defeat by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War in

1894-5, not long after the Opium Wars; this blow came as a major shock to the

Chinese, because Japan used to be a tributary state, was much smaller than China, and

was regarded as inferior. The conservatives were unable to use old excuses anymore.

The Qing emperor of China, Guangxu (1875–1908), ordered a series of reforms aimed

at making sweeping social and institutional changes. This was inspired by KANG

YOUWEI, and supported by Liang Qichao (1873–1921), it attempted to reform the

Chinese state and social system.

 The Main Contend of the ReformIn 11 June 1898, Guangxu ordered the

reform, and in the following days, the reform included

 In Economic: develop industries, sponsor invention, construct railway and

road,

 In education: Modernizing the traditional exam system, Creation of a modern

education system (studying math and science instead of focusing mainly on

Confucian texts, etc.)

 In institution: Elimination of sinecures (positions that provide little or no work

but give a salary)

 In military: establish new army

 The reformers declared that China needed more than "self-strengthening" and

that innovation must be accompanied by institutional and ideological change.

End

Opposition to the reform was intense among the conservative ruling elite, especially
the Manchus, who, condemning the announced reform as too radical, proposed

instead a more moderate and gradualist course of change. Supported by

ultraconservatives and having the tacit support of the political opportunist Yuan

Shikai, Empress Dowager Cixi engineered a coup d'état on September 21, 1898,

forcing the young, reform-minded Guangxu into seclusion.

The Hundred Days' Reform ended with the rescinding of the new edicts and the

execution of six of the reform's chief advocates, together known as the "Six

Gentlemen" (戊戌六君子): Tan Sitong, Kang Guangren (Kang Youwei's brother), Lin

Xu, Yang Shenxiu, Yang Rui and Liu Guangdi. The two principal leaders, Kang

Youwei and his student Liang Qichao, fled abroad to found the Baohuang Hui

(Protect the Emperor Society) and to work, unsuccessfully, for a constitutional

monarchy in China. Another leader of the reform, Tan Sitong, refused to flee and was

arrested and executed.

Aftermath

 In the decade that followed, the court belatedly put into effect some reform

measures. These included the abolition of the moribund Confucian-base

examination, educational and military modernization patterned after the model

of Japan, and an experiment in constitutional and parliamentary government.

The suddenness and ambitiousness of the reform effort actually hindered its

success.

Self-strengthen reform
 Modernization of diplomatic affairs

Educational Modernization

 Military Modernization

 Arsenals, Shipyards and Modern Armies

 China's attempts to strengthen its economy

 Background: Unequal treaties and the domestic rebellions were important

reasons prompting China to initiate a policy of reform in the beginning of the

1860s. There was a convergence of favorable internal and external

circumstances which provided the impetus to reform efforts. The Taipings,

Niens and Muslims had not been completely suppressed yet, but their threat to

the system had been blunted. The Manchus had resigned themselves to the

necessity of accommodating the Western demands. The emergence of new

political leadership was another important reason which gave impetus to the

desire for reform. The death of the title "Xianfeng Emperor" 1861 resulted in

a palace coup led "Empress Dowager Cixi" who wanted to undermine the

influence of the two regents appointed to assist the young "Tongzhi Emperor"

Kung and Cixi would play dominant roles in Chinese state affairs from then on

as a result of the successful coup.

 The aim of the SSM was to save the Qing Dynasty from being destroyed by

internal rebellions and foreign aggression by rejuvenating the dynasty, by

rehabilitating the devastated economy and by adopting appropriate strategies

which would result in a strengthened China.

 It should not be assumed that the Chinese reformers in the 1860s were
 trailblazers eager to turn the system upside down with their changes. Their

way of thinking was still strongly influenced by conservatism and thus the

solutions they came up with would be conservative (thus the term, restorative)

and not innovative in nature. Unlike their successors of a generation later, they

were still confident of the basic soundness of Chinese state and society based

on title Confucianism.

 It was impossible for them to see that these values and traditions were not

adequate in dealing with 19th century problems. They believed that the

disorder and problems the dynasty was facing was because China had deviated

from basic Confucian principles. Hence, the solution was to reassert

Confucian principles and restore ancient institutions. Whatever reforms would

be sanctioned with the Confucianist doctrine of change within tradition.

 Western practices and learning should be adopted to better defend China

against the West. The motivating force was 'to learn the superior techniques of

the barbarians to control the barbarians'. Chinese (Confucian) learning and

principles should remain the basis of Chinese society while Western practices

should be adopted for practical uses. Chinese society would be strengthened

through a restoration of Confucianism and not through the introduction of new

values and institutions.

 Since Confucian theory was to remain as the basis of Chinese society, the

reform movement did not aim for large scale revamping of the social,

economic and political structure of China. It had only limited aims in limited

areas diplomatic, economic, military and educational. The SSM/CTR was

 thus, a restorative movement aimed at the preservation of the status quo.

 The Tung Chih Restoration formed part of the entire self-strengthening period.

The Tung Chih Restoration technically ended in 1874 with the death of Tung

Chih, but the self-strengthening movement continued.

 The movement can be divided into three phasesFirst Phase (1861-1872)

 The first lasted from 1861 to 1872, emphasized the adoption of Western

firearms, machines, scientific knowledge and training of technical and

diplomatic personnel through the establishment of a diplomatic office and a

college.

"Semi-colony" is a concept on the politics. Through the unequal treaties, the Western

Powers occupied the principal position in China, oppressed the Chinese people, and

China has been changed from an independent country into a semi-colonial one. The

concept has a close relation with the modern sovereignty theory.

“Semi-feudal” is an economic concept. Before the First Opium War, the economic

foundation of China was feudal economy. In another word, that is autarky. Penetration

by foreign capitalism accelerated the commodity economy developing process.

Foreign capitalism played an important part in the disintegration of China's social

economy; on the one hand, it undermined the foundations of her self-sufficient natural

economy and wrecked the handicraft industries both in the cities and in the peasants'

homes, and, it hastened the growth of a commodity economy in town and country.
Secondly, the process to learn from the West should be another clue to understand

modern China history.

to look out of the world, the suggestion of studying the technique of the Western, the

Self-Strengthening Movement, the Hundred Days Reform, the late Qing Reform, the

Chinese Revolution led by Sun Yat-sen, The New Culture Movement, the spread of

Marxism-Leninism

The assault on Chinese sovereignty within the borders would be accompanied by a

loss of Chinese control over border dependencies and the end of the tribute system.

Contiguous territory was ceded-Hong Kong and Kowloon to England and the

Maritime Provinces to Russia. Tributary states were forced into new orbits-Liu-ch'iu

to Japan, Burma to England, Tongking, Annam, and Cambodia to France and Korea to

Japan. Still the Treaty of Shimonoseki that concluded the Sino-Japanese War in 1894

was the first to transfer a major territorial unit inhabited by Chinese (Taiwan) to a

foreign power. The new sequence of concessions and the alarm it aroused help to

account for the reform movement of 1898, which failed, and the Boxer paroxysm of

1900, which threatened to place all of Manchuria in Russian hands. The same set of

events prompted the United States and Great Britain, through the Open door notes, to

place the powers on record as defending Chinese sovereignty. With the suppression of

the Boxer movement and the imposition of even more stringent controls on the

Chinese government thereafter, an era of formal foreign assaults on Chinese

sovereignty came to an end.

 The temporary absence of the Manchu court from Peking during the Boxer

aftermath made clear to all parties that the Manchus had become part of the
 new pattern of privilege and that open competition for division of the "Chinese

melon" would be costly and destructive.

 Within China itself, the aftermath of the Japanese victory and the Boxer

disaster brought realization of the futility of further resistance to change. A

decade of vigorous modernization moves incorporated ideas of constitutional

representation, modern education, abandonment of the traditional examination

system, and construction of a modern military force. Peasant rebellion had

raged and had been crushed in virtually all parts of China during a half-

century; external crisis had found the powers cooperating, then competing, and

now seemingly content to abide by their gains while their mutual jealousies

and rivalries were transferred to other theaters of alliance and, shortly, war.

 Nineteenth-century China's relations with the treaty powers were full of

disaster and humiliation.

 The westernized world of the major treaty ports with its orientation toward

change remained. The Cantonese emerged as modern banking and business

class, served as middlemen between Chinese and western traders, and spread

their contacts overseas through trade and emigration, producing the first

students, converts, reformers, and revolutionaries.

 Domestic insurrection figured far more importantly than foreign aggression in

the priorities of government leaders and the Confucian-minded gentry. It can

be argued that the western presence made the social unrest more destructive by

diverting governmental attention from that first priority, how ever, and that the

social unrest made it more difficult to meet the western threat.