Chinese History Notes

Confucianism vs. Daoism

• Confucianism
  • Focuses on relationships.
  • Education is key.
  • Emphasis on social harmony and good government.
  • Superior individuals should be moral, influencing others.
  • Filial piety and acceptance of unequal relationships are important.
  • All about social harmony and good government
  • Non-religious.
• Daoism
  • Focuses on nature.
  • Believes acting naturally is the answer to disorder.
  • Sees effort to improve as useless.
  • $Dao$ equals the way of nature.
  • Became a popular religion.
  • Ideology for peasant uprisings (Yellow Turban).

Period: 600 CE - 1450 CE

The Reunification of China

• China was reunified under the Sui dynasty (589-618 CE).
• The Grand Canal was constructed during this period.
• The Sui dynasty was short-lived due to ruthless emperors, unpopular policies, and a failed attempt to conquer Korea, which wasted resources and upset the people.
• The Sui dynasty was eventually overthrown.
• The Tang (618-907 CE) and Song (960-1279 CE) dynasties followed the Sui.
• Both dynasties maintained a centralized government with six major departments: personnel, finance, rites, army, justice, and public works.
• The Censorate was an agency that supervised the government to ensure smooth operation.
• Government officials were chosen through a revived Confucian-based examination system.

The "Golden Age" of China

• This period emphasized arts and literature.
• There was excellence in poetry, landscape painting, and ceramics.
• Neo-Confucianism emerged, blending Confucianism with Buddhist and Daoist elements.

The "Economic Revolution" of China

• Significant advancements occurred in agriculture.
• The adoption of a fast-ripening and drought-resistant strain of rice from Vietnam was crucial.
• This led to rapid population growth, reaching 120 million by 1200 CE.

The Urbanization of China

• Many people migrated to cities.
• Dozens of Chinese cities had populations exceeding 100,000.
• Hangzhou, the capital of the Song dynasty, had over 1 million residents.

Women and the Economy: Textiles

• China's economy became more commercialized.
• More factories and workshops emerged, reducing home-made products.
• These workshops and factories were primarily run by men.
• Factories began producing silk and other textiles, which took work away from women.

Women and the Economy: Other Jobs

• Women engaged in various occupations instead:
  • Operating restaurants.
  • Selling fish and vegetables.
  • Working as maids, cooks, and dressmakers.
  • Becoming concubines, courtesans, entertainers, and prostitutes.

Positive Trends for Women

• Property rights expanded.
• Women controlled their own dowries.
• They inherited family property.
• There was promotion of further education for women to raise sons effectively and increase family fortune.

The Tribute System in Theory

• Foreigners and non-Chinese authorities acknowledged Chinese superiority.
• Foreigners would go to the Chinese court and:
  • Perform ritual bowings and gestures.
  • Present tribute, which included valuable goods/products from their homeland.
• The Chinese emperor, in return, would:
  • Grant them permission to stay and trade in China.
  • Provide them with gifts or “bestowals.”

The Tribute System in Reality

• China dealt with large nomadic empires (like the Xiongnu) with powerful militaries.
• In reality, the tribute system was often reversed.
• China gave the nomads “gifts” of wine, silk, grains, and other goods.
• In return, the nomads promised not to invade or attack China.

China and Korea

• The initial outlet for Chinese influence was the temporary conquest of Korea by China during the Han dynasty.
• Korean resistance led China to withdraw its military presence in 688 CE.
• The tribute system and trading relationship persisted.
• Koreans adopted Chinese cultural elements:
  • Buddhism.
  • Confucianism.
  • Government set-up.
  • Chinese models of family life and female behavior.

Impact on Korean Women

• Korean women were no longer allowed to live and raise their children in their parents’ home with their husband.
• Practices that diminished:
  • Husband buried with the wife’s family.
  • Remarriage of widowed or divorced women.
  • Female inheritance of property.
  • Plural marriages for men.

China and Vietnam

• Vietnam was part of the Chinese state for over 1000 years (111 BCE to 939 CE).
• Vietnamese adopted Chinese cultural elements:
  • Confucianism.
  • Daoism.
  • Buddhism.
  • Administrative techniques.
  • Examination system.
  • Artistic and literary styles.

China and Vietnam: Forced Chinese Elements

• Chinese elements forced upon the Vietnamese:
  • Confucian-based schools.
  • Chinese as the official language for businesses.
  • Mandatory Chinese clothing and hairstyles.
  • Chinese-style irrigated agriculture.
• This resulted in Vietnamese resistance and rebellion.
  • Several failed rebellions à Ex: the Trung sisters.
• A successful rebellion occurred in the 10th century when the Tang dynasty weakened in China.

Major Chinese Influences on Eurasia

• Two major Chinese innovations that impacted the world:
  • Printing and books.
  • Gunpowder.

Period: 1450-1750

Ming Dynasty (1369-1644 CE)

• Kicked out Mongol Yuan Dynasty.
• Built the Forbidden City.
• Re-established Civil Service exams.
• Repaired damage by Mongols.
• Voyages of Zheng He.

Making China an Empire

• Achieved by the Qing (aka Manchu) Dynasty, which ruled from 1644 to 1912.
• The Qing were foreigners à invaders from Manchuria.
• They expanded China and incorporated non-Chinese peoples to the north and west.

Qing Rulers: Cultural Elements

• Maintained
  • Chinese language.
  • Confucian teachings.
  • Chinese government techniques.
• Adopted
  • Ethnic distinctiveness à forbade intermarriage between themselves and native Chinese.

Making China an Empire: Motivations

• A major motivation was security concerns seeing expansion as a defensive necessity.
• The Qing dynasty undertook an 80-year military effort (1680-1760) to bring surrounding regions under Chinese control.

Life in the Chinese Empire

• Generally, the Qing rulers respected other cultures.
• They did not force people to assimilate to Chinese culture.
• Chinese settlers did not flood the other regions of the empire.

Asian Commerce

• Despite European naval dominance, Asian merchants continued to operate successfully.
• Chinese merchants carried spices from Southeast Asia to China.
• Christian merchants from Armenia were active in overland trade linking Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
• Indian merchants and moneylenders lived throughout Central Asia, Persia, and Russia, connecting these regions to markets in India.

Silver and Global Commerce

• Most of the world’s silver supply ended up in China.
• Foreigners could purchase in-demand Chinese goods with silver.
• Many merchants flocked to Manila (capital of the Philippines) to sell Chinese goods there for silver.
• China issued a new single tax in the 1570s that all people were required to pay in silver.
• This led to more goods being sold, increasing silver in China, allowing taxes to be paid.

Silver and China

• Impact of silver on China’s economy:
  • Led to more commercialization.
  • To pay the silver tax, people had to sell something, leading to economic specialization (e.g., selling just rice or just silk).
• Impact on China’s environment:
  • More land was used to grow cash crops.
  • This resulted in the loss of about 1/2 of China’s forests.

Period: 1750 - 1900

China: The Crisis Within

• From the 1700s to mid-1800s, there was massive population growth.
• Results:
  • Growing pressure on the land.
  • Smaller farms for China’s huge peasant population.
  • Unemployment.
  • Poverty.
  • Starvation and misery.

China: The Crisis Within - Government Inability

• China’s centralized government did not expand to cope with this growing population.
• It became unable to effectively perform many functions:
  • Tax collection.
  • Social welfare.
  • Flood control.
  • Public security.
• The central government lost power to officials in the provinces and local landowners.
• Many were corrupt and treated the peasants harshly.

The Taiping Rebellion

• This led to many peasant rebellions and uprisings.
• 1850 – 1864 = Taiping Rebellion.
• Leaders believed in a unique form of Christianity.
• The leading figure was Hong Xiuquan, who proclaimed to be the younger brother of Jesus and was sent to establish a “heavenly kingdom of great peace” in the world.

Goals of the Taiping Rebellion

• Abolition of private property.
• Radical redistribution of land.
• Equality of men and women.
• End of foot binding, prostitution, and opium smoking.
• Sexually segregated military camps of men and women.
• Expulsion of all Qing dynasty “foreigners.”
• Transformation of China into an industrial nation with railroads, health care for all, universal public education, etc.

The Taiping Rebellion: Eventual Failure

• Taiping forces and followers swept out from southern China and established their capital in Nanjing in 1853.
• The uprising eventually failed due to:
  • Divisions and indecisiveness within Taiping leadership.
  • Inability to link up with other rebel groups throughout China.
  • Western military support for pro-Qing forces.
• Rebel forces were finally crushed in 1864.

The Taiping Rebellion: Effects on China

• Weakening of the Qing centralized government.
• Disruption and weakening of China’s economy.
• Destruction and devastation to the land.
• Estimated 20-30 million lives lost.
• Continued social instability.

China: Western Pressures

• Shifting balance of power between Europe and China evident in the Opium Wars.
• Late 1700s = British began to grow and process opium in India and illegally sell to the Chinese to make up for its trade imbalance.
• By 1830 = very profitable market for British, American, and other Western merchants.

Chinese/British Trade at Canton (1835-1836)

• British Exports to Canton
  • Opium: $17,904,248$ (in Spanish dollars)
  • Cotton: $8,357,394$
  • All other items (ex: iron, tin, etc.): $6,164,981$
  • Total: $32,426,623$
• British Imports from Canton
  • Tea: $13,412,243$
  • Raw silk: $3,764,115$
  • Vermilion: $705,000$
  • All other goods (gold, copper, etc.): $5,971,541$
  • Total: $23,852,899$

The Opium Trade

• China had several problems with the opium trade:
  • Political problem: Opium was illegal, disregarded Chinese law, and led to the corruption of many Chinese officials who were bribed.
  • Economic problem: Massive outflow of silver to pay for opium was causing serious economic decline.
  • Social problem: Millions of men and women became addicted and couldn’t function as productive citizens.

The Opium Trade: Crackdown and War

• 1836 = Chinese emperor decided to crack down on opium use.
• Millions of pounds of opium seized from traders and destroyed
• Western merchants expelled from the country.
• British response = sent naval expedition to China
  • Offended by violation of property rights.
  • Wanted to end the restrictive conditions under which they’d long traded with China.
• Result = 1st Opium War.

The First Opium War

• The British had superior military might and easily won.
• The Treaty of Nanjing ended the war in 1842.
• Imposed restrictions on the power of the Chinese emperor.
• Opened 5 ports to European traders.

The Second Opium War (1856-1858)

• British forces were victorious once again.
• The Treaty of Tientsin ended the war in 1858.
• 10 more ports opened to foreign traders.
• Foreigners allowed to travel freely and buy land in China.
• Foreigners allowed to preach Christianity under the protection of Chinese authorities.
• Foreigners allowed to navigate along and patrol some of China’s major rivers.
• Chinese forbidden from referring to the British as “barbarians” in official documents.

Further Chinese Military Defeats

• 1885 = lost to the French in the Sino-French War
  • Lost territory of Vietnam to the French
• 1895 = lost to Japan in the Sino-Japanese War
  • Lost territories of Korea and Taiwan to the Japanese
• By the end of the 1800s = European powers, Russia, and Japan carved out spheres of influence in China establishing military bases, extracted raw materials, and built railroads.

China: Failed Attempts at Modernization

• 1860s-1870s = “self-strengthening” policies implemented to reinvigorate a traditional China.
  • Overhauled examination system = designed to recruit qualified candidates for official positions.
  • Support for landlords.
  • Repair of irrigation systems.
  • A few industrial factories producing textiles and steel.
  • Coal mines expanded.
  • Telegraph system initiated.
  • Creation of modern arsenals, shipyards, and foreign language schools.

China: Failed Attempts at Modernization (Problems)

• Problems with China’s “self-strengthening” program that eventually led to its failure included:
  • Little support from conservative leaders à feared urban, industrial, and commercial growth would hurt the power and privileges of the landlord class.
  • New industries largely dependent on foreigners for machinery, materials, and expertise.
  • New industries only helped local authorities who controlled them, not the Chinese state.

The Boxer Rebellion (1898 – 1901)

• Clear indication of the failure of the “self-strengthening” program
• Erupted in northern China as an anti-foreign movement.
• Led by militia organizations called the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists.
• “Boxers” killed many Europeans and Chinese Christians and attacked the foreign embassies in Beijing.

The Boxer Rebellion (1898 – 1901): Aftermath

• European and Japanese forces occupied Beijing to crush the rebellion.
• Imposed a huge payment on China as punishment.
• Clear that China was a dependent country under foreign control.