World History: China in Chaos: 1839 – 1900

  1. The First Opium War (1839-1842)
  1. Millions of Chinese citizens were using opium; hundreds of thousands were addicted. Habitual drug use robbed people of their work ethic. It had a corrosive effect on families and was damaging China economically and socially.
  2. The trade surplus that China had enjoyed for centuries no longer existed. Vast sums of gold and silver were being used to pay for narcotics.
  3. Men who were addicted fueled their drug habit through criminal enterprises. They dealt opium themselves or turned to theft, violence and other illegal practices to obtain drug money.
  4. Women turned to prostitution. Syphilis, a deadly and incurable venereal disease, claimed many victims.
  5. China’s government asked Britain to voluntarily end the opium trade. Britain ignored the request, far too much money was being made by their merchants.
  6. Chinese forces arrested British merchants, stormed their warehouses and destroyed millions of dollars worth of opium. They felt they had accomplished their mission. They were wrong.
  1. The War Itself
  1. Britain had been industrializing for more than 50 years when the war broke out. James Watt patented his steam engine in 1769, the same year Richard Arkwright devised the water frame opening the age of mass textile production.
  2. Textile factories opened across England, millions of jobs were created and the urbanization of England was begun. Eli Whitney’s principle of interchangeable parts extended mass production to many other items, production times plunged, prices dropped, demand rose and more factories opened. Whitney won a contract to produce 10,000 muskets for the US government in 1798.
  3. The American inventor, Robert Fulton, had put James Watt’s steam engine on a ship, the Clermont in 1807, and steamed upriver – against the current – in 1807.
  4. George Stephenson had created the first locomotive, the Rocket, in 1829. It traveled from Manchester to Liverpool on iron tracks at 29 mph.
  5. The British had muskets, swivel cannon that could be aimed and fired, ironclad ships powered by steam, a large empire from which to draw resources, a professional army and the finest navy in the world.
  6. China was an agricultural nation. They had no factories. They had no small arms manufacturing plants. They had no railroad or steam driven vessels. Their ships were made of wood, unprotected by iron plating.
  7. Chinese cannon were not as powerful as British cannon. They could not fire as far as British cannon. British ships could stand offshore and pound Chinese targets with cannon fire while the Chinese were unable to retaliate against British vessels.
  8. When the wooden Chinese naval ships – Junks – sailed out to meet the iron plated British steamships equipped with powerful, swivel cannon for battle, they were annihilated.
  9. By 1842 the Chinese faced utter disaster. The British controlled the Yangtze River splitting China into two sections. The British navy stood off the city of Nanjing and were prepared to bombard the city.
  10. China surrendered.
  1. The Treaty of Nanjing (1842)
  1. This treaty was the first of dozens of treaties China was forced to accept. The powerful, industrial states of Europe began the division of China into spheres of influence. They enacted laws that enabled them to exploit China.
  2. Nanjing had a few key points. Britain received the island of Hong Kong and retained possession of this island until 1997. The British received the right to travel to many other Chinese cities and soon began selling opium to the populations of these areas.
  3. The British were reimbursed millions of dollars for the costs of the war and the opium the Chinese had destroyed in 1839. The British also claimed an important and humiliating right: Extraterritoriallity.
  4. This right meant that the Chinese could not arrest, judge or imprison/punish any British citizen.
  5. Chinese authorities could report a British subject to the British embassy. British soldiers/police would arrest the individual who could be punished under British law. If the Chinese arrested a British subject they ran the great risk of provoking a British response to this treaty violation.
  6. Other European states began to carve out “spheres of influence” in China. These spheres were geographical areas of China where France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Russia or some other power was dominant.
  7. China was now forced to kow-tow to the Western imperialists. China’s people despaired and their suffering grew.
  1. The Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864)
  1. Hong Xiuchan was a scholar. He studied to pass tests that would have resulted in the earning of a degree. He failed his exams repeatedly. These failures were humiliating to him and he suffered strange dreams and a delirium.
  2. In his dreams he was counseled by a beared, golden-haired man who gave him a sword and a younger man who told him how to slay evil spirits. He addressed the younger man as “Elder Brother”.
  3. When Hong read materials provided to him by Christian missionaries he suddenly realized that the people from his dream were God the Father and Jesus. He understood then that he was the younger brother of Jesus.
  4. Hong preached openly, he planned to create a Christian community and destroy the Manchus who had lost the Mandate of Heaven. Thousands flocked to his banner. Among them was Yang Xiuqing who possessed a brilliant military mind.
  5. The Taiping were seen as a threat and the Manchu/Qing dynasty sent forces to rout them from their base but this army was defeated. Hong went on the offensive. His army condemned foot-binding, men wore their long hair loose, not in a queue as the Manchu had demanded.
  6. Large forces of peasant women who did not bind their feet fought ferociously for the Taiping. In March of 1853, after the capture of several cities, Hong’s army took Nanjing. They would remain in possession of the city until 1864.
  7. The Taiping forbade opium usage or the drinking of alcohol. Men and women were treated equally. Captured land was given to Taiping families on the basis of family size. Every 25 families had an elected sergeant who ran Christian services, settled disputes, kept records of production and indoctrinated the young in Taiping doctrines and Bible study.
  8. Many millions of Chinese were threatened by the moral fervor of the Taiping. Many resented the egalitarian/equal outlook towards men and women. These millions joined the Qing/Manchu.
  9. Many of Hong Xiuchuan’s most able advisers were killed in battle by 1860. Some, like Yang Xiuqing, were killed in power struggles. Hong himself died in July of 1864. He had surrendered himself to a life of luxury and had lost much of his religious standing.
  10. The Westerners supported the Qing militarily. The Taiping hatred of opium would have diminished the European’s opium market. In 1864 the city of Nanjing fell and as many as 100,000 Taiping rebels gathered in buildings and then set the buildings aflame committing mass suicide.
  11. During the 13 years of struggle as many as 20,000,000 Chinese died.

NAME:______PERIOD:_____

World History: China in Chaos: 1839-1900

Answer the following using the Condensed Notes

  1. What problems did opium create in China in the 1800s? List at least 4.
  1. How long had Britain been industrializing when war broke out between China and Britain?
  1. What did Eli Whitney introduce?
  1. What was the name of the first locomotive?
  1. What type of ships did Britain have and how were they powered?
  1. What type of nation was China in themed-1800s?
  1. What advantage did British cannons have over Chinese cannons?
  1. What river did the British gain control of during the Opium War?
  1. What did European power divided China?
  1. What did Great Britain receive from the Treaty of Nanking in 1842? List 4 things.
  1. Who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion?
  1. What happened when the Manchu/Qing first sent forces to address the Taiping?
  1. What did the Taiping condemn?
  1. What city did the Taiping take?
  1. Who did westerners support in the power struggle?