Expansion in the Industrial Age - China

EXPANSION IN THE INDUSTRIAL AGE HIST 1301 | History China In the nineteenth century, China did not emerge as a major industrial power either, in spite of its natural resources, riches, and inventive culture. Historians have provided several justifications. First, China had no need to compete with anybody because no rival in East Asia could equal it for size, riches, or military prowess. Second, labour was plentiful in China due to the country's huge and sometimes impoverished population, thus companies did not need to pay high rates to recruit people or replace them with labor-saving technology. Furthermore, the majority of China's coal reserves were situated distant from industrial and population centres, in contrast to Europe. Coal was essential to the growth of railroads and was the most effective way to power steam engines in manufacturing. In addition, internal unrest and military setbacks had weakened China. After winning the First Opium War (1839– 1842), Hong Kong and the ports of Guangzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Xiamen came under British rule. Along with signing treaties with France and the US in 1844, China also granted these countries the authority to trade in the five open ports, establish Christian churches there, and send missionaries to China. Following China's defeat by Britain in the Second Opium War (1856–1860), the United States, Russia, France, and Britain signed the Treaty of Tianjin, granting them further trading and diplomatic post privileges in Beijing. The imperial Old Summer Palace was looted and set on fire in 1860 when British and French soldiers entered Beijing due to China's refusal to abide by the treaty. The Treaty of Tianjin was reaffirmed in the ensuing Beijing Convention. What the Chinese have referred to as "the century of humiliation" began with China's loss in the Opium Wars. Six million taels (a unit of money) of Chinese silver, which could have been invested in businesses, were given to the winning foreigners as recompense for the losses they had suffered in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin. Many uprisings and violent outbursts against the ruling dynasty resulted from this evidence of the Qing's military inadequacy as well as other concerns including excessive unemployment and neglect of the vital Grand Canal, which carried food supplies from the south to the north. China was likewise undermined by internal uprising. The Taiping Rebellion started in December 1850 when Qing forces attempted to drive Hong Xiuquan's adherents from their stronghold in the southern province of Guangxi. The local schoolteacher Hong had come to think he was Jesus' brother and the son of the Christian god. He disregarded Confucian tradition and Qing authority, travelling throughout southern China spreading his religious ideas and gaining a considerable following. After overthrowing a few Qing armies in early 1851, Hong Xiuquan crowned himself king of the Taiping Tianguo, or Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. He demanded that the Qing dynasty be overthrown and exhorted his supporters to abstain from drink and opium. Poor peasants, members of Chinese secret organisations (some of whom were founded to reinstate the Ming dynasty), bandit gangs, tribal minority groups, and destitute peasants were all drawn to him by his promises of land and prosperity for everyone. The armies of Hong Xiuquan tore across southern China, capturing towns and cities and taking food, cash, and weaponry with them. The Taiping army captured the populated southern metropolis of Nanjing in 1853, and Hong Xiuquan took over as capital. Famine resulted from the food seizures and the many deaths caused by the warfare. The south, which is home to the majority of China's population, had been completely destroyed and between twenty and thirty million Chinese had died by the time the Taiping Rebellion came to an end with Hong's death in 1864.