Chapter 24 Notes: Modernity in China, Japan, and India, 1800–1910

China in the 19th Century

• Qing regime faced problems despite their expanding empire.
• Rapidly growing population of 300 million strained resources.
• By mid-nineteenth century, the Chinese could no longer ignore European demands.
• After 1800, the increase in wealth in Europe from industrialization also increased the interest in more trade with China.
• Industrialists wanted to open up Chinese markets to their products.
• The Qing dynasty, however, sought to keep China isolated from Western trade.
• Opium War exposed China's vulnerability in a new era of European ascendency.

The Opium War and the “Opening of China”

• By the late 18th century, opium was being smoked in long-stemmed pipes across all levels of Chinese society.
• English East India Company established a monopoly on export of opium from India to pay for growth in purchasing tea from China.
• Use of opium cut down on the need to pay for Chinese goods with silver.
• Silver began to flow out of China, reversing a long-term trend.
• Long-simmering unrest in the countryside gained momentum.
• Some officials wanted to legalize the opium trade, but the emperor did not.
• In 1839, the Qing declared that drug traders would be beheaded, and opium trade suppressed.
• British resisted emperor’s attempts to crack down on opium, causing war.

Opium War and Consequences

• First Opium War (1839–1842) humiliated China.
• British used iron gunboats – blockaded the Chinese coast; bombarded coastal cities.
• British military technology was superior, and the Qing capitulated.
• Nanjing Treaty of 1842 (first unequal treaty):
  • Qing forced to pay for the war.
  • British given Hong Kong.
  • Trading rights in 5 cities: no restrictions on foreign trade.
  • British citizens were granted extraterritoriality.
• Europe was not satisfied with the treaty ports and wanted more.
• Qing agreed to another treaty, which opened up even more treaty ports.
• Subsequent extraterritorial treaties granted British additional rights, but China did not become a formal colony.

Prophecy and Rebellion in China

• By mid 19th century, China was no longer isolated.
• Rising population put increased pressure on land and resources.
• Overuse and poor soil led to smaller agricultural yields and to widespread hunger.
• Yet taxes increased to pay for the military.
• Rising opium consumption brought social instability and financial crisis.
• Some Chinese questioned whether the Qing had lost the “Mandate of Heaven”.

The Taiping Rebellion, 1850–1864

• Amidst declining authority of Qing dynasty, thousands of peasants joined the Taiping Rebellion.
• The Dream of Hong Xiuquan (1813-1864).
• The rebellion drew on China’s tradition of peasant revolts rooted in religious egalitarianism.
• Manchus "demons" who were obstacles to realizing God's kingdom on earth.
• In 1850, Hong Xiuquan began the Taiping Rebellion in the Guangdong Province.
• Hong promised his followers equality, food, and clothing and attracted thousands of followers.
• Many of those who followed Hong were Hakka people.
• Hakka were only brought under imperial control during Ming times.
• In late 1850, twenty thousand Taiping rebels defeated an imperial army.
• Marched on Nanjing in 1853.
• Taiping Rebellion collapsed after 1853.
• In the 1860s, British and French troops fought the Taiping on behalf of the Qing.
• Left the Qing even more dependent on foreign aid.
• 20M died in the Taiping Rebellion.

China Under Pressure

• Failure to modernize:
• Growing numbers of Chinese were troubled by threat of European superior military arms and technology and sought to adopt Western learning and technological skills.
• Self-Strengthening Movement created to reform China: the intention was to modernize China industrially without sacrificing traditional Chinese culture.
• Built arsenals, shipyards, coal mines, steamships and schools for learning foreign ways and languages.
• Conservatives pushed back.
• Neo-Confucian conservatives objected to the Self-Strengthening Movement.
• Saw it as violating Confucian traditions.
• The first railroad was torn up in 1877 shortly after it was built.
• In 1884, the Qing lost control of Vietnam and Southeast Asia to the French.
• China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) led to serious attempts at reform.
• Hundred Days’ Reform (June-September 1898).
• Advocated development of railroads, state banking, a modern postal system…,Reforms’ leader are executed.
• The Chinese Qing government's refusal of reforms (and ineffective reforms) left the country vulnerable to both internal instability and external aggression.
• European powers demanded Chinese territory as exclusive “spheres of influence”.
• United States proposed an “open door” policy while supporting Christian missionaries.

The Boxer Uprising 1899-1901

• Many Chinese in the late nineteenth century joined secret societies.
• “Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists” were also known as the Boxers (Emphasized martial arts).
• In 1898, the Boxers attacked Christian missionaries; began the Boxer Rebellion.
• Boxers attacked Christian and foreign people and symbols without central leadership or plan.
• The Qing court vacillated over feeling threatened by Boxers and embracing them as check on foreign intrusion.
• Once again, European powers put down a Chinese rebellion.
• Foreign army of 20k defeated Boxers.
• Boxer Protocol required Chinese regime to pay twice the empire’s annual income for damages and authorized Western powers to station troops in Beijing.

Japan in the 19th century

• Tokugawa Japan, 1603-1867.

Tokugawa Japan

• Unification of Japan
• In the sixteenth century, Japan faced civil strife, as no regional ruling family, or daimyo with private armies of warriors (called samurai), could establish preeminence over others.
• In 1603, one of the daimyos, Tokugawa Ieyasu, took over the entire country as shogun (military ruler).
• The Japanese emperor is turned into a figurehead.
• Tokugawa created a hereditary shogunate that lasted until 1867.
• Under Tokugawa, villages paid taxes to daimyos, who transferred resources to the shogun.
• Samurai became administrators, peace brought prosperity, and agriculture thrived.

Tokugawa Japan and Foreigners

• Most pressing concerns were Christian missionaries and European traders.
• The Tokugawa shoguns opposed Christianity and drove missionaries out once they realized that Christians were intolerant of other faiths.
• At first, the Tokugawa restricted European traders, then they expelled all European competitors except for the (non-proselytizing) Dutch merchants, who were allowed to remain near Nagasaki with just one ship per year.
• The Tokugawa did not completely isolate Japan.
• Trade flourished between China and Korea.
• The shoguns limited encounters to Dutch and Chinese technology, shipbuilding and medicine, to ensure Japan’s security.

Commodore Perry’s Arrival in Japan

• This Japanese print shows the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry’s steam- powered “black ships” near Edo (modern Tokyo) in 1853.
• After Perry’s return to Japan in 1854, demanding that Japan be opened to Western trade, Japanese leaders debated how best to respond.

Gunboat Diplomacy & Unequal Treaties

• In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Edo harbor.
• Show of American technological power.
• In 1858, the shogun signed an unequal treaty.
• Opened Japan’s trade to the United States and other Western countries.
• Some daimyo lords objected to this treaty and accused the shogun of humiliating Japan.

Japan: From Isolation to Equality, 1867-1914

• In 1868, reformers toppled the Tokugawa Shogunate
• Goal: adopt and adapt Western methods to strengthen Japan; resist intrusion; engage the world as an equal.
• A regional revolt ended with the confiscation of Shogun’s land
• Reformers decided to remove the Shogun because he stood in way of modernization
• Replaced Emperor Komei with his son, Emperor Mutsuhito (1867-1912).
• Mutsuhito came to known as as Meiji the Great (“Meiji”=enlightened rule).
• Restored direct imperial rule.
• Recast Japan as a modern nation-state.

Meiji Restoration

• Educational reforms
  • Founded schools: centralized, compulsory education
  • Ninety percent of boys and girls attend school by 1905
  • Students sent abroad with two-year tour
  • Promoted political community with linguistic and ethnic homogeneity
• Military Reforms
  • Revamped army to create single national fighting force
  • Imported military advisors
  • Created western style army using German model
• Political Reforms
  • German-style constitution; Imperial Diet (Parliament; limited franchise)
  • Abolished feudalism:
    • Peasants became small landowners
    • End of daimyo-ruled domains; loyal daimyo become governors
    • Prefectures under a centralized government
    • Tax collections were centralized
    • National, conscript army created; commoners allowed to carry guns
    • All class distinctions between the samurai and other classes abolished
    • Advanced civil service system
    • 130 foreigners in government by 1879

Meiji Restoration

• Economic Initiatives
  • Revitalized agriculture yields
  • Financed early industrial ventures
  • Imported Western advisors
  • Controlled tariffs (mercantilism)
  • Created uniform currency, postal system, tax reforms
  • Meiji reforms granted the government a direct role in industrial development
  • State constructed railroads, rebuilt harbors, strung telegraph lines, and directly invested money in new industries
  • In the 1880s, the government sold most industrial assets to private investors
  • Japan developed large-scale managerial corporations (zaibatsu) based on family dynasties (Mitsubishi)

Japanese Expansion, 1870–1910

• Expansion offered more markets, raw materials, and a chance to assert the country’s superiority and greatness
• Like Europeans, Japanese viewed colonial subjects as racially inferior and not worth of citizenship
• Expected colonies to serve the economic interests of the metropolitan center
• 1872: Japanese conquered the Ryūkyūs (Okinawans)
  • Viewed them as inferior and refused to integrate them
• Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895
  • Chinese suffered humiliating defeat and ceded the province of Taiwan
  • Manchuria under Japanese sphere of influence
• Annex Korea, 1910
• Victory over Russia in 1905 underscores possession of “great power” military
• Diplomatic equality with Europe

India in the 19th century

• The British in India, 1767-1857

Company India, 1818–1905

• India was deindustrialized
• The company's control over India's imports and exports (tariff manipulation) contradicted British claims of “free trade”(mercantilism)
• Captive Market for British products
  • Low taxes on British imports into India
  • High taxes on Indian exports to Britain (favored British textiles)
  • Taxes pay for railway-related machinery and components (= subsidies for English industrialists)
• English encouraged the building of railroads
  • This provided a market for British manufacturers
  • Indian taxpayers paid for the new railroads
  • Led to increased unemployment

The Indian Revolt of 1857

• Indian Revolt of 1857 began among the sepoys
  • Indian Mutiny
  • India’s First War of Independence
• Rumors spread among Hindu and Muslim soldiers that they were required to bite cartridges greased in animal fat from cow and pig fat, violating their religious traditions.
• Wave of rebellion spread through the 270k Indian soldiers (vs 40k British soldiers)
• Destroyed anything that represented Company authority
• Revolts through which local people attempted to settle local and regional grievances; no national vision existed
• By 1858, the British brutally and violently crushed the rebellion
• 100,000 casualties

British Raj 1858-1947

• With the end of the revolt in 1858, British Crown seized direct control of India
• British East India Company was disbanded
• In 1876, Queen Victoria called herself “Empress of India”
• Queen Victoria issued proclamation guaranteeing religious toleration, promising improvements, and allowing Indians to serve in the government
• Also promised to honor treaties and agreements and refrain from interfering in religious matters
• While the British had crushed the rebellion, they were shocked by insurgent determination to form a new order
• The British resumed the work of transforming India into a modern colonial state and economy but the desire for radical alternatives did not vanish

The Origins of Indian Nationalism, 1885–1906

• In 1885, Indian National Congress created to promote Indian nationalism
• Indian nationalism was encouraged by a growing middle class
• First leaders of the Indian National Congress were wealthy men who promoted interests of their own social class
• Initially, they believed that slow reform was better than revolutionary change
• Less patient Indian nationalists, took a more confrontational approach

Chapter Timeline

• East Asia: Lifetime of Fukuzawa Yukichi 1835 to 1901
• East Asia: First Opium War 1839 to 1842
• East Asia: Treaty of Nanjing 1842
• East Asia: Taiping Rebellion 1850 to 1864
• For Comparison: Second French Empire 1852 to 1870
• East Asia: Opening of Japan by Perry 1853
• South Asia: Indian Revolt 1857
• For Comparison: Italian Unification 1861
• South Asia: Lifetime of Gopal. K. Gokhale 1866 to 1915
• East Asia: Meiji Restoration 1867 to 1868
• For Comparison: Suez Canal Opens 1869
• For Comparison: German Unification 1871
• For Comparison: Berlin Conference 1884
• South Asia: Indian National Congress established 1885
• East Asia: Boxer Rebellion 1898
• South Asia: Partition of Bengal 1905
• East Asia: Japanese Colonization of Korea and Taiwan 1910