Iker Caperochipi

THE CENTURY OF HUMILIATION AND THE AWAKENING OF A OPRESSED

NATION

INTRODUCTION
History has never been faithfully grounded in facts, rather it is the interpretation of the winners
which only matters, because as Churchill once stated, history is written by the winners. Our Western
stories contemplate the heroic feats of the Greeks and the Romans, the expansion of Christianism
during the colonial era, the French revolution, democracy and its development, and the fights
against evil empires during the last century. During the nineteenth century, we managed to reach
leadership through economic dominance, pushed by the industrialization, which allowed Europeans
to rewrite a misleading historical narrative that claims our eternal superiority. Asians, isolated in
their culture, were not willing to embrace capitalism and modernization, so we were left completely
alone in the train of success and development, which created the conditions of dominance. Our
superior development therefore paved the way to social Darwinist beliefs that lingered for a long
time, and even if we do not firmly assume these ideas at the present, the ethnocentric component
of our tradition has changed for good the historical vision of our past.

One of the main victims of this phenomenon has been the Chinese history and culture. China has
held for centuries the leading position in the study of nature, bringing great inventions like paper,
gunpowder, the clock, the silk, the compass and developing new fields like papermaking and
printing. They performed in philosophy, politics, or engineering, becoming a role model even for
European civilization. Nevertheless, in the last two centuries, their millennial culture and tradition
were erased by blood and suffering. The century of humiliation, which began with the first opium
war in 1839 became the symbolical and infamous point of European dominance, which changed
books of history and was a major blow to the pride of the civilization, causing serious wounds that
would not be healed until the present day. This paper aims to explain how an ancient and rich nation
reached that decadent dynamic, and how decades later, they were able to restore their own identity
and spirit though the impressive struggle of many intellectuals and revolutionaries.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPEAN AND THE ORIGIN OF THE CENTURY OF HUMILIATION
Chinese mentality and world’s conception has always been distinctly different from the traditions
and habits of Europeans. While the white men were driven by curiosity and the ambitions for
discovering and taking benefits from the resources that were found around the glove, Chinese
ignored for centuries everything that was far from them. As Hegel stated, Chinese isolationism and
the lack of interest in sea exploration was one of the main reasons that brought the fatidic fate of
the nation. He also remarked the absence of scientific basis in his vision (Kim, 1978). Surrounded by
large desert, enormous mountains, and a vast ocean, they believed that their civilization was the
only center of the world, while people from the periphery were barbarians, underdeveloped and
irrelevant.

When Europeans arrived in the continent in their modern vessels, the trade of lucrative goods such
as tea, porcelain or silk was set up. However, Chinese had no interest in the foreign goods that
Europeans were offering. Different civilizations like Persians or Indians had arrived at the empire
before, but their self-perception of exceptionalism was too consistent, and they did not give much
importance to it. They had sat in a comfortable position during centuries where tributary conditions
built foreign relations with the neighbors, so the white men were not supposed to be an exception.

British had arrived at Beijing in 1793 with the purpose of establishing diplomatic and commercial
relations through the ambassador lord Macartney. As it happened when Thomas Roe reached India,
the king did not attach importance to the petition and claim to the new visitor to bow in its presence
(Mishra, 2013). He did not consider nor appreciate the modern and innovative objects that the
ambassador offered to him, and he asked him pleasantly to leave the country claiming British
obeyance to Qing dynasty. Rumors were told about the British rule in India, where the modern ships
and weapons of the advanced Europeans seized control of a large territory, but Chinese did not
believe nor care about the alleged threat.

New people who carry silver and gold in their vessels were not unwelcomed as long as they did not
attempt to change the local way of life and that they accepted the established trade conditions. The
ambitions of the new travelers such as Portuguese merchants led to some conflicts, but Chinese
traders also saw the benefits of trading with the rich foreigners. They ignored that Europeans, whose
self-confidence was increasingly high, would present a new threat through their imperialist ultimate
goals. The lucrative deals with Chinese led the Europeans to take a more assertive position to keep
their influence in the vast empire.

Mishra (2013) expounds precisely the events that brought the origin of the tragic “Century of
Humiliation”. Great Britain, which was the main dominating sea power in the 19 th century through
their East India Company and their new form of colonialism, became the biggest threat that Chinese
had ever faced. Chinese products were exchanged by silver, while there was not any interest in
British products. Aimed at balancing the commercial trade, they pushed across the continent the
trade of the opium that was being produced in India. This was seen by many as a medicine that
helped to ease pain and reduce stress, but soon the Qing empire would face a major health issue
when millions of Chinese became addicted to it.

The prohibition of selling opium led to a disastrous war where the British showcased their military
superiority. The negotiation resulted in a very favorable deal for the empire, taking the entire control
of Hong Kong, forcing the Chinese to leave some ports opened for free use, and establishing
diplomatic relations and free trade. The Qing dynasty was also forced to pay reparations. While these
paved the way for the flourishing of British trade and industry, it was a major blow to the Qing
prestige.

Chinese, who formed an extended empire that had never considered the emergence of such threat,
suffered an unprecedented defeat. The dynasty, which was ruled by foreign Manchu leaders, would
never fully heal the moral defeat of the empire. The war became an abrupt way to wake up from a
dream where Chinese saw themselves as the strongest and central civilization of the world. The
condescension consideration of the foreigners quickly changed to fear and to a self-perception of
vulnerability. From being sat around foreign reigns that were committed to pay tributes to the
dynasty, they came into a new situation in European white men, who had never even interacted with
most Chinese, could navigate freely from the Yangtze, and occupy islands and territories such us
Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Manchuria. The attack was launched by the politicians, executed by the
troops, and accompanied by diplomats, entrepreneurs, and Jesuits. A military, economic, political,
and cultural invasion that would stroke severely in the heart of the society.

The social shock would carry social catastrophic consequences. Since the 1850s, The Taiping
Rebellion, leaded by a self-proclaimed prophet, Hong Xiuquan, would bring a new civil war where
more than twenty million people died, becoming one of the deadliest conflicts of all history
(Durham, 2013).
Then, after years of unfair treaties and humiliation, in 1960, during the second Opium wars, French
and British would invade again Chinese territory. In this attack they would burn down the imperial
Summer Palace, a symbolical masterpiece that represented the glorious past of the Qing empire.
Mishra (2013) illustrates how the impunity of foreign forces to burn the imperial gardens and
plunder the precious goods of the palace represented the most symbolical defeat against the
infamous invaders. The citizens of Beijing watch horrendously for two days how the palace burned
and fell into ruins while the dark smoke covered the sky of the capital. At the present day, in the
entrance of the imperial gardens there is a cartel that states: “Do not forget the national shame,
rebuild Chinese nation”.

Humiliation had already reached its maximum point, with the rupture of the tributary relations with
many vasal states, the loss of the sovereignty of key territories within the heart of the empire and
having a large part of the population addicted to opium. Meanwhile the entrance of missionaries
and foreign ideologies altered social stability, and economic issues fueled the spread of protests and
rebellions that broke Chinese unity apart. Few Chinese men had ever seen a white man in their life,
and they knew little about those people who had changed entirely the fate of their nation. The
economic system that the West imposed, caused economic cycles where millions of Chinese lost
their jobs and suffered the cruel consequences of poverty. The ordinary poor could never see and
face the real guilty of their misery.

The next decades would not bring any positive hopes for China’s immediate future. While historically
the country had felt superior to Japan and had been the cultural role model for them, they shockingly
saw how their neighbor became extremely powerful through modernization and industrialization.
Their sovereignty was challenged and territories such as Taiwan, Korea or Manchuria were lost to
the Japanese. Even their “young brother“ found the way to adapt to modernity and challenge the
regional status quo. The unrest of Chinese society found its highest expression in the Boxer
Rebellion, a popular reaction comparable to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which ended up in a
similar fatidic way. European superiority was highlighted once again, and the sense of impotence
spread among the Chinese society. In the next years, the control of some national territories in
Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang was also lost. In this period, eventually the effective control of almost
one third of the country’s territory was lost (Kaufman, 2010).
The reluctance to adapt to modernity limited Chinese possibilities to progress and get rid of Western
repression. European countries found the way to centralize power through the concept of nation-
state. The small size of their territories allowed them to pursue unity along nationalism. Monarchies
competed with their enemies, and tried to strengthen their own state with expansionist means. They
developed their economies through trade, sea exploration and colonization, modernizing their
military forces and gaining massive advantage with their competitors. The Western superiority was
demonstrated with their capacity to organize society in order to take maximum political and
economic advantage.

Industrialization became the opportunity to expand the differences to a point where Asians could
never reach in the short and medium term. The exchange of goods was accompanied by the share
of innovations, and the promotion of cultural public debate spaces in fields like defense, science or
finance that allowed the exchange of valuable information. This exponential development was a
result of decades and centuries of competition and war. The obsession with overcoming their rivals
and expand their influence brought the development of the most sophisticated technology that the
world had ever seen. Asians, nevertheless, avoiding war and living in lasting peace, found no
incentives to change their old system and pursue material development, so they lost the train of
industrialization, and therefore, the position of power that only the West would be able to reach.

THE STRUGGLE OF CHINESE INTELLECTUALS TO UNITE AND MODERNIZE THE NATION

Confucianism was the main barrier that prevented China’s progress. Confucius’s doctrine covered all
fields of society, in which everything was guided and regulated by these spiritual, moral, and ethical
principles. Individuals were saw as part of natural groups such as family and local community, within
a hierarchical power system that was key in order to bring harmony, order and peace. This millennial
doctrine turned into a role model for many Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese, but it also became
obsolete when new challenges arrived at the continent. Mishra (2013) claimed that China needed a
new “Luther“, as the intellectual Liang Quichao had declared, someone who could transform the
unquestionable ideas and change the dogmas that were enchaining the future of the civilization.
This task was especially complicated due to the nature of the society, in which Confucianist ideas
were entrenched and strongly established.

However, a reduced part of the elite would challenge the political immobility questioning the sacred
indisputable principles of Confucianism. Because of the failure of the old model, some intellectuals
would realise that the “state nation system“ was the European recipe for success. Some would find
that “Luther figure“ in Kang Youwei, who became the leader of the reformist space within the
political system at the end of the 90s. The humiliating treaty with Japan in 1894 would strengthen
the claim for change. Kang, who declared himself a “wise man“, would try to reinterpret the
Confucianism narrative in order to make the doctrine adaptable to the natural process of
modernization. He claimed that some of the generally accepted principles were misleading and false,
and proposed new ideas that could be justified by the old texts of Confucius. To convince the society,
he tried to turn political reforms and national unity as a major concern of Confucius itself. Kang
would always defend the compatibility between the old doctrine and the process of modernization,
also claiming that it could work as a useful tool for the process (Santillan, 2019).

In 1898, the new young emperor, Guangxu, entrusted Kang to build the legal framework that would
lead a transition to a constitutional monarchy following the European political model, during the
period of the well-known “Hundred Days of Reform“. This unprecedented political swift would not
take place, as the former empress regained power under the pressure of the conservative sector of
the political sphere and forced Kang to leave for its dissident ideas. He exiled to Japan along many
political partners (Mishra, 2013).

One of them was the famous Liang Qichao, considered “the first Chinese democrat“ by many. He
admired Kang and considered him as the “Chinese Luther” that the nation needed. However, his
vision became much more realist over the years, and he separated himself from the principles of
Confucianism. He insisted on the need for wealth and power to compete with the powerful Western
empires. Through his journeys in the West, he witnessed how West had repressed and dominated
large countries as Egypt, Philippines, or India, using economic and military means. He therefore
feared national extinction, knowing that the Qing empire was weak and backward (Santillan, 2019).
He brought the young concept of democracy to the country, describing it as a source of power that
was key for modernization. Popular participation could guarantee the Confucianist principle of
harmony between rulers and the ruled.

Japanese model, as a country which changed from a feudalist system to an industrialized economy
in few decades, was the main inspiration for Liang and his comrades. Their victory against Russia in
1904 became a turning point for the mentality of the Chinese intellectual elite. It worked as a
symbolical triumph for Asian race, a proof that the supremacist and racist narrative of the West was
wrong. This source of hope inspired the rise of more radical and aggressive characters like Sun Yat-
sen, who was inspired by Liang, the most important nationalist literate, who would eventually
consider too moderate.

During the new century, in his exile, Kang moved slowly to a more conservative position,
emphasizing the importance of Confucianism as a national doctrine and the need for a constitutional
monarchy. Shiqiao (2002) describes how Liang changed his mind after visiting the United States in
1903. Democracy and modernization were key for state nation recipe, but Chinese traditional and
old-fashioned society was still not prepared for this transition. He was negatively impressed by what
he saw in Chinatown in San Francisco, which was dominated by corruption and chaos. He realized
that Chinese society was unfit to emulate Western modern society, and he began to defend that a
transitional liberal monarchy was needed before any republic.

However, Sun Yat-sen, would argue that overthrowing the Manchu rule was a high priority, in order
to build a new Han-centered centralized state. In his ethnic nationalist vision, it was humiliating that
a foreign minority race could subordinate the majority Chinese, so the power needed to go back to
the people, and only violent revolution could accomplish that ultimate goal. While the inconsistency
of Liang’s ideas raised skepticism among his followers, Sun Yat-sen charisma and courage, and his
pragmatic and appealing vision help him to attract many new followers. Finally, revolution would
arrive in 1911 due to the popular unrest during a severe economic crisis, becoming the president of
the Republic he had always dreamed about. His reunification goal was not achieved, and he left the
power to the military leader Yuan Shikai, who would abandon the ideas of Sun Yat-sen and rule with
an iron fist. He would accept the well-known Japanese “Twenty-one demands”, which would bring
the creation of the concept of “the century of humiliation”, popularized after by the next Chinese
leaders and political figures (Jia, 2013).

THE REUNIFICATION OF CHINA AND THE EVENTS DURING INTERWAR PERIOD

After Yuan died, Sun tried to rebuild Chinese political system from the anarchy that the country was
facing, strengthening the political party, Kuomitang, that he had created in his exile in Japan. He
gradually centralized power and trained his successor, Jiang Jieshi, also known as Chiang Kai-shek,
and found an ally in the Soviet Union that would offer financial help. He militarized the Kuomintang
and paved the way for the future reunification, building his figure as the father of modern China
(Best et al., 2015). After his death, Jiang would pursue national regeneration embracing
Confucianism and Chinese traditional culture, along economic and military modernization. Even if
the revolutionist spirit was growing within the young intellectuals, Chinese traditional identity would
never disappear. Confucians as Liang Summing would foster self-sufficient rural communities
inspired in Gandhi’s ideas, which would attract significant sympathy in the rural regions.

However, the world would not be the same. The peace message that Woodrow Wilson had preached
did not bring any advance to the bloody imperialism system. Imperial powers sought to find
convenient alliances and expand its power through their colonies. In 1939, the most bitter conflict
of history would take place, and the colonial countries would suffer the belligerent decision of the
leaders that live far away. The Soviet Union would bring an alternative to fight the colonial system
proposing revolution and class struggle, attractive ideas that would penetrate in the third world. In
China, the government would fight for its reunification, while a civil war was close, but finally the
imperialist goals of another power, Japan, would bring a new bloody war where millions of Chinese
found his death. After the war was finished, the civil war resumed between the nationalist of the
Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party of Mao Zedong. The resolution of the war would
mark the history of the country until the present day. The nation would face poverty and misery
during Mao’s rule in the Cold War, but the economic success that would arrive afterwards, have
converted China in the only power that can challenge American hegemony.

The dominant communist rule during Cold War, despite having brought suffer to the country,
expelled external influence from the country and gave back some grade of pride to the Chinese
identity. The CCP built a new legitimizer narrative during his regime, declaring the end of the
“Century of humiliation“. Their current unquestionable power cannot be understood without the
suffering that paved the way for this narrative. They portray themselves as the only political party
able to stand up to foreign aggression, who restored Chinese glory and unite the country. They
declare proudly not having lost a war against a foreign power, glorifying their fights during the Civil
War, against the imperialist Japanese and their success in Korea (Kaufmann, 2011).
CONCLUSION
The “Century of humiliation“ is one of those generally unknown phenomenon that changed the life
of millions of people across the world. A powerful, glorious and proud state, the most populated
one in the whole world, saw his territory being “carved up like a melon“ in few decades by people
who had never been considered as a threat, coming from small nations whose population were
much smaller. They violated their sovereignty, obliged them to take opium, severely altered the
economy and the way of living of Chinese people, and repressed and slaughtered them in a invasion
that defeated morally their target. From being a role model for all the regional countries, who paid
obeisance and admired the central power, they disgraced themselves even being attacked by their
“younger brother“, Japan.

Apart from China, Western powers managed to conquer and humiliate millennial civilizations like
Egyptians or Indians, along many nations all over Africa, Asia, and America. The invasion was not just
military. It was social, political, economic, cultural, moral, and social. It was slow, gradual, and
precise, which prevented any social reaction that could go against their interests. The first step to
get rid of that ruthless dominance needed to be spiritual. There was no possible way of fighting
physically without any purpose and moral motivation. But few intellectuals and leaders were able to
make that move and trying to wake up their nations of that nightmare. The spiritual awakening of
Asia cannot be understood without the role of Al-Afghani in the Arab and Muslim world,
Rabindranath Tagore in India, or Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao in China, which were inspiring for
the generational leaders that would play the lead in future revolution and independence processes.

Many decades after, the global political situation has completely changed. The liberated nations
went through their own natural process of nationalism, which is built around a historical memory
that does not forget their tragic past. Now that the economic order is changing and pivoting to Asia,
the West cannot expect Asian submission towards our influence. Knowing the horrific stories behind
colonialism helps to understand Chinese hostile look towards the West and to emphasize with them
even though they are globally considered as a threatening dictatorship. Their suspicious and
defensive personality is a creation of our belligerence. Peace must be made through historical
memory, placing Asia in their real position, as a millennial civilization that has play the lead during
many periods, and has been key for our evolution and modernization. We must leave our racist and
ethnocentric vision and share our sympathy and do all in our power to reconstruct and develop the
nations that cannot ease the suffering and struggling of their population. It is our responsibility as
humans and a moral duty in response to our past.
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