DRC East Asian Studies Quiz

Qing Dynasty

1644-1911

Why did the ming dynasty end?

• emperors weren’t performing their official duties

• blame eunuchs and women when things go wrong (Wei Zhongxian is the face of eunuch corruption— wealthy through connections w the emperor)

• failed military excursions (Hideyoshis invasion of Korea)

• Monetary problems (foreigners want silk, tea, and silk from china, but china only wants silver = not a lot of trade)

• Government debts

1st rebellion

• led by Li Zheng

• wanted to distribute land equally and abolish taxes on certain grains

• did not have bureaucratic backing, so was not successful

The Manchus

• The non-nomadic manchurians were called jurchens

• they organized while china was weak

• Leader, Nurhachi, united the tribes in early 1600s and divides them into banner system (jurchens, mongols, han chinese)

• Nurhachi’s son renames the jurchens to the manchus and announces the Qing (pure) dynasty in 1639

Mongol Conquest

• need to establish mongol rule

• Peasant rebellions in late ming

• Wu Sangui (chinese general) changes sides and lets the mongols through the Shanhai Pass

• Lengthy resistance in the south

Founding the Qing

• Adopt some chinese political institutions and culture

• Machu culture remains somewhat distinct (wear traditional dress, no chinese/machu marriages, manchu cant bind feet, follow machu diet and rituals, chinese cannot live in Manchuria

Kangxi Emperor

• ruled for 61 years

• completes machu conquest of China

• Creates a treaty with the russia border, expanding country boundaries

• defeats western mongols

• Places pro-Qing Dalia Lama in charge of Tibet

• Sponsored scholars (Kangxi dictionary)

• created the palace memorial system

Qing in the 18th century

• increased agricultural production = population doubles

• growth of textile industries, especially silk and cotton

• Lots of exports, trade surplus, silver entering china

• lots of people are getting rich

• kept the civil service exam, but don’t increase the amount of positions = pass rate is decreasing

Qianlong

• 1736-1795

• China at its greatest extent

• uses buddhism

• sponsors complete library of four treasuries

• builds the summer palace

Opium into China

• British sent embassies to China bc they want greater access to trade for tea and porcelain

• Sent 2 envoys, but both were denied

• There was a disconnect between western and chinese economic interest and worldviews

• The opium solution- Private traders export opium from India to Canton in exchange for a coupon; coupon is then sold to British East India Company

• Chinese soldiers become addicted to opium

Stop Opium (1st try)

• imperial commisioner Lin Zexu is sent to Canton to put an end to opium trade

• Goes after chinese opuim traders (executes them if he has evidence or makes them pledge against trading opium)

• Burns 21,000 packages of opium

• Wants all westerners involved to sign a pledge that they will no longer traffic opium

• Britihs do not want foreign law to dictate their citizens, so they dont encourage signing (some sign, some dont)

• Leads to war, 1839-1841

Treaty of Nanjing

• solution to war has “unequal treaties”

• There are more ports for the british

• chinese give up tax dominance to the british

• british take hong kong

• extraterritoriality (beyond our land, british law applies to british citizens)

• chinese must allow for diplomatic concesions(allow british to propose trade)

• british gunboats patrol rivers

Opuim wars of the 1860s

• treaty didnt really solve anything

• China doesnt want to trade with British, Britihs are still importing opium

• They fight and a new treaty is made (Treaty of Tianjin)

• Like the previous, but the british want more (more ports, more rights for british traders, missionaries are allowed to move around china freely)

• Also indemnity (China has to pay for Britihs expense of war)

• BUT british does not want to colonize china, they just want access

New Ideas cause external pressure

• treaty port culture is made

• different ports are focused around different countries

• Shanghai increases in population

• International settlements allow people to escape chinese authorities bc of extraterritoriality

• America and British send missionaries which are attractive to chinese bc they provide necessities for poor and education, but converts are still pretty low

Internal pressures

• major population growth, 450 MILLION people

• increased life expectancy and living standards

• lack of change in the civil service does not promote creativity

• insufficient productivity abd agricultural spaces, so alot of famine (solution- extreme terracing)

• no gov work projects to keep people employed

• Yellow rivers shifts and kills/ leaves many homeless

• This all leads to alot of rebellions!! (White lotus, Taiping, Nien, Boxer)

Taiping Rebellion

• 20 million died

• led by Hong Xiuquan (wanted to be a scholar but failed the exam many times; believed he was the younger brother to Jesus and wanted to create the heavenly kingdom of great peace)

• This was independent from china, believed in shared property, organized family structures, and egalitarian societies

• issues w leadership, did not follow monogomy

Chinese response to rebellion

• Machu armies are weak and addicted to opium

• chinese organize under confucian values

• leaderss like Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhnag become very influential and have politcal sway w the manchu

• BUT they do not intend on over taking the manchu

Qing response to these pressures

• they defeat the Tiaping rebellion bc of the Chinese troops

• undergo multiple rounds of self strengthening

• adopt western military/technology/industrial practices

• ships, railroads, telegraph, mining, textiles

• still hold on to chinese cultural values

• reorganize bureaucracy to appeal to international law

• introduce western science and languages into the classroom

• focus on getting foreigners to china for learning purposes