Major Events CHM

Self-strengthening movement

1861-1895. Period following second opium war and taiping rebellion. Primary goal was to maintain the essence of chinese civilization while adding superior knowledge and technology from abroad. School of thought that adopting modern industrial technology was only way to protect china from foreign ambitions. New institutions like Zongli Yamen and language schools. Munitions industry, modernization of armaments. Limited because the primary focus was on technology and institutional and social reforms were neglected, corruption, treaty port system

The Great Famine of the North

1876-1879; By the 1870s, drought and famine were acknowledged by regional governors in China to be major and persisting problems. One of the most disastrous famines in recent Chinese history took place between 1876 and 1879. The “Great Famine in the North,” in the provinces of Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Zhili, and Shaanxi, affected between 160 million and 200 million people and claimed at least 9.5 million lives. The immediate cause was the three-year drought that had withered crops from 1873 to 1876.Refugees from collapsed local ecologies joined refugees from the rebellions and wars, bloating the populations of coastal and riverine cities. The desertion of what had been some of China’s most productive land only contributed to the social disorders of the nineteenth century

Hundred Days of Reform*

1898; Followed program designed by Kang Youwei, approved by Guangxu Emperor. Wanted to reform examination system to make information more current, abolish manchu privileges, modernize army and navy, establish new bureaus for commerce and agriculture. Hundred Days of Reform focused on using existing institutions and system of power to enact change as opposed to overthrowing it. shut down by the empress dowager cixi in a coup d’etat and court officials that were worried reforms would threaten their power. Most of his reforms were revoked. Missed opportunity for the empire according to Mullhaun. Motivated supporters of institutional reforms to keep pushing for China to modernize against conservatism in china and western imperialism. Movement emerged among young elites for nation state, mass citizenship, constitutional monarchy, representative government, commercial development.

White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1804)

1796-1804; first large-scale rebellion for a century. Exposes weakness of the military. Local officials build fortresses and organize militias. Foreshadows localization of military power

First Opium War (1839-42)

Lin Zexu (Lin Tsê-hsü): Sent to Guangzhou to suppress opium trade in 1838-1839. Forces addicts to recover, punishes traders. Confronts British Opium traders forcing them to sign pledges of good conduct agreeing to not sell opium and to be punished if caught. Lin Zexu seizes large amount of opium collected by Charles Elliott for safekeeping and destroys it. Seen as a destruction of British property, so reason for the war is to get compensation for British traders. Seen as an opportunity to open trade in china so this leads to first opium war. Small war for the british. Showed technological superiority of the west. Shows to west that limited war with china can be fought and won for economic and political gain and other countries will follow suit. Treaty of Nanjing first of unequal treaties.

Second Opium War (1856-60)

began after Guangzhou police seized The Arrow, a Chinese-owned but British-registered ship, and charged its crew with piracy, prompting Britain to send troops and France to join in retaliation for a murdered missionary. European forces, equipped with advanced steam-powered ships and superior training, quickly overpowered Qing defenses, seizing Guangzhou in 1857 and advancing toward Tianjin under Lord Elgin. The Treaty of Tianjin (1858) opened ten more ports, allowed foreign envoys in Beijing, legalized missionary travel, and expanded trade rights, but when Qing officials resisted ratification, Britain and France launched a larger invasion, capturing Beijing in 1860 and burning the Yuanmingyuan palace. The Convention of Peking (1860) confirmed these terms, ceded Kowloon to Britain, legalized opium, permitted free missionary activity and movement, and opened eleven more ports. The war deepened China’s subjugation under unequal treaties, exposed the Qing’s military weakness amid major internal rebellions, and led to the creation of the Zongli Yamen, China’s first foreign affairs office, marking a major turning point toward semi-colonial status.

Taiping Rebellion (1851-64)

The Taiping Rebellion, led by Hong Xiuquan, a failed scholar who believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ, was a massive civil war against the Qing dynasty inspired by a blend of Christian millenarianism, anti-Manchu nationalism, and social egalitarianism. Drawing support from marginalized groups like the Hakka, the movement began in Guangxi and proclaimed the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, capturing Nanjing in 1853 as its capital. The Taiping called for radical reforms—land redistribution, gender equality, the abolition of opium, alcohol, and foot binding—and sought to replace Confucian traditions with their own Christian utopia. Despite initial successes, internal divisions, leadership purges, and failed northern campaigns weakened the movement. The Qing, with regional armies like Zeng Guofan’s Hunan Army and limited Western support (e.g., the “Ever-Victorious Army”), retook Nanjing in 1864, ending the rebellion after the deaths of millions—making it one of the deadliest conflicts in world history. Significance - The rebellion devastated southern China, weakened the Qing dynasty, and exposed its reliance on regional armies, marking the rise of provincial military power and new Han Chinese leadership. It also pushed the Qing toward self-strengthening and modernization while inspiring later revolutionary and nationalist movements that sought to overthrow imperial rule.

Panthay Rebellion

1856-1873; a Muslim-led uprising in Yunnan province against Qing rule, sparked by long-standing ethnic and religious discrimination against the Hui (Chinese Muslims) and other minority groups. Tensions between Muslim and Han mining communities escalated into full-scale conflict in 1856 after Qing officials carried out massacres of Muslims. Under the leadership of Du Wenxiu, who styled himself the Sultan of Dali, the rebels established an Islamic state centered in Dali, promoted interethnic cooperation, and sought foreign recognition—particularly from the British in Burma—but received little support. The rebellion lasted nearly two decades, during which the Panthays controlled much of western Yunnan before being brutally suppressed by Qing forces in 1873.

Significance

The Panthay Rebellion reflected deep ethnic and religious fractures within the Qing Empire and the limits of imperial control over China’s frontier regions. Its suppression devastated Yunnan’s population and economy, intensified Qing suspicion toward Muslim communities, and paralleled other mid-19th-century uprisings (like the Taiping and Dungan rebellions) that together revealed the empire’s fragility. The rebellion also highlighted growing connections between China’s southwest and Southeast Asia, setting the stage for later frontier and ethnic policies in the late Qing and Republican eras.

First Sino-Japanese War

(1894-5) Japan forced Korea in 1876 to sign a commercial treaty, which required the Korean court to renounce its status as a Qing tributary state. In 1885, Qing and Japan tried to solve their conflict in Korea with the Convention of Tianjin, in which both sides appeared to promise to pull back their troops from Korea.tonghak rebellion and King Gojong (1852–1919) of Korea petitioned Li Hongzhang to send troops to restore order. When China, in line with treaty stipulations, accepted Korea’s request for military aid, the Japanese press declared that China must be challenged citing the treaty of tianjin. hostilities began because both wanted power in korea. Is mainly fought in korea and japan, but china only sends a regional fleet. Beiyang fleet destoryed

Treaty of Shimonoseki april 1865

korea no longer a tributary state of china, taiwan ceded to japan, new treaty ports, indemnity factories in china. Overall humiliating defeat to china because japan had been seen as a smaller nation but because they had modernized they beat them. Now Qing Empire viewed as “sick man of asia”, political shock. Also rocked world order and france, russia, and germany intervene in treaty and tell japan they cant have the liaodong peninsula.

Boxer Rebellion

1899- 1900; Movement to drive out foreign things from China. Growing anti-missionary sentiment due to influx of missionaries following Opium Wars. Germans occupy Jiao’ao Bay and settle in Shandong after two missionaries are killed 1897. This leads to conflict with local chinese because they wanted to build railroads on their land without permission. Boxers Evolve out of big sword society that have killed the two german missionaries and magic spirit possession rituals practiced by spirit boxers that were believed to give superior fighting power. Most agricultural and canal workers; poor. Boxers attack missionaries, chinese christians, chinese associated with the west; destroy railroad tracks and churches. 1899 expulsion from Shandong, go to Beijing and while there they get a sanction from Cixi to be an official militia. This worries western powers and hey start to send troops and occupy forts. and they soon send a diplomat who is murdered as he is on his way to the foreign ministry in china. Cixi declares war on treaty powers. Boxers started to attack the diplomatic community in Beijing and laid siege to the foreign legations (embassies) in Beijing. Allied troops occupy Beijing 1900 and embark on punitive missions killing chinese poeple and looting July - October 1900. Occupation of beijing and tianjin 1900-1902. This was devastating to beijing Ended with Boxer Protocol September 1901. 450,000,000 silver taels indemnity more than 2x annual budget and big financial blow, disarmament, mission of apology, punishment of officials, stationing foreign troops. Notable because it includes admission of guilt. Lost wars would also be seen as proof of the weakness of the Qing Empire. Foreign occupation, death of people, destruction of cities, humiliation of court. Sentiment that qing empire could no longer defend the country. Led to rise of forces of radical reform

Xinhai revolution

(1911) began with the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911. A bomb explosion exposed a revolutionary plot, forcing members of the New Army in Wuhan to mutiny prematurely. The revolt spread rapidly, with provincial governments across southern and eastern China declaring independence from the Qing. Sun Yat-sen returned to China and was proclaimed provisional president of the new Republic of China in Nanjing. Yuan Shikai, commander of the Qing armies, who was negotiated with and offered the presidency of the new republic. February 1912, the child emperor Puyi abdicated as announced by empress dowager Longyu, ending not only the 268-year Qing dynasty but also over 2,000 years of imperial rule in China.

Northern Expedition (1926-29)

Military expedition launched by Chiang Kai-shek to reunify china by defeating warlords. Initially allied, the KMT and CCP soon split as Chiang feared communist influence. In April 1927, he violently purged communists in Shanghai, killing thousands and ending the alliance. The CCP was driven to the countryside, while Chiang consolidated control. By 1928–29, Chiang’s forces captured Beijing and declared Nanjing the new national capital, creating a “unified” Nationalist government. This marked the Nanjing Decade (1928–37)—a period of limited stability, modernization, and one-party rule under the KMT, though plagued by corruption, factionalism, and ongoing communist resistanc