Week 4 Hist 276 Essay

The British wanted to do business with China after seeing the market potential because of the population, as well as the significant growth in the past two centuries. China’s population increased by 330 million people less than two centuries. The agricultural production in China was not able to keep up with the rapid increase in population. The British saw opportunity in this and believed that they could generate a great amount of money from the market. China’s refusal to trade with the British was

Before the arrival of western powers, China was very stable, agricultural, and ethnocentric. They had many factories that produced silk, cotton, and porcelain with their natural resources: salt, tin, silver, and iron mines. They had no interest of trade or interaction with foreigners. From the early eighteenth century, European and American Imperialism spread throughout China with a goal to extend their nation’s power. China was one of many territories that undertook the changes of New Imperialism. By 1912, the country was governed by outside nations: Great Britain (mostly), Russia, Germany, France, and Japan. Their influence on China resulted malignantly on the country’s economy, political ties, and lifestyle; in spite of the few

The Qing Dynasty lasted for 268 years and was the last dynasty in China and was declared in 1644 by the Manchurian people of outer China after the conquest of the Ming Dynasty. It fell in 1849 to the Chinese communist party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong. Throughout the beginning of the Qing dynasty, the public confusion in regards to the new “Alien Rulers” caused havoc and widespread chaos, small anti-Qing efforts were formed in order to secure surviving Ming princes and restore the Ming Dynasty, this of course failed. Despite the issues that arose in the first forty, starting years of the dynasty in regards to rebellions and rejection towards the new government through;

China’s population was growing rapidly, almost doubling between 750 and 1100. Because of this huge population boom, paper money was established, and the trade industry grew. There were many advances that were made, such as technological improvements

Both the Tang and Song Dynasties had very successful economies. The Silk Roads were reopened and restored during the Tang Dynasty. These were essential trade routes that opened a network of

-3 x 1.66 pts. = minus 5 pts. = 45 pts. out of 50 pts. = 90%

These inventions, advancements, and other elements led Ancient China to succeed. Many factors led to ancient China's success. Some of them were inventions, geography, and the Silk Road.     In Ancient China, inventions were created that were used to improve the daily lives of the Chinese. These inventions led them to strive for success.

d. Contact with the West increased in the 17th century, but in the early 18th century, the Qing rulers restricted trade to land outside the walls of . The 1793 British mission to expand trade did not succeed, and the emperor Qianlong explained in a letter to George III that China British manufactured goods.

7. In what ways did China have an influence in Korea, Vietnam, and Japan? In what ways was that influence resisted?

During the 19th century, China transformed from a prosperous economic center to a weakened country in a system controlled by Great Britain, largely due to the opium trade. Prior to Europe’s industrial revolution in 1800, China had little need for products from other countries, and participated sparingly in world trade, while Europe borrowed China’s ideas and inventions to gain a financial foothold. But in the 19th century Britain introduced opium into the Chinese market, setting off a chain of events that lead to the Opium Wars, which along with the opium trade sapped China’s economic strength. Nevertheless, she persisted, and in 1907 China passed a law that blocked the opium trade once and for all and took out Britain’s system of power within

The Qing dynasty (1916-1912) is the last imperial dynasty of China, it was consider as the most powerful country during the “golden age” ruled by Kang Xi and Qian Long, and it has over 400 million population and has the 1st ranked GDP in the world at the moment. The Qing has the supreme power at the time and has the significant influence in East Asian. However, the collapse of the Qing Dynasty made a humiliate history of China. The Qing dynasty doesn't fall suddenly, and the collapse of Qing is not just simply because domestic revolution and alien invasion. The failure of the Qing government is worthy to study, we need to take a deep step and explore the root cause of the collapse of Qing.

Throughout China, currency was rapidly changing. At first China used paper money, but silver was the main form of payment. Silver was the main form of payment because it was easier to trade among many different countries with it. Paper money was used for a while, but the worth of it didn’t last very long and so China returned to using silver. Europe, America and China all started using silver for foreign trade. It was important for China to establish trading posts with Britain and America because of the new cultural items being brought into the country for the foreign ones. One reason for the success of silver taking over the main form of currency was the fact that large amounts of silver had been available in America and in Britain, who hadn’t started using silver as currency yet. Once the Ming Dynasty ended, silver was still used, but mostly along the coast of China.

Before European contact China was a wealthy country, isolated and self-sufficient with a highly developed agricultural system. China was not industrialized, but workers in small workshops were able to produce most of the goods the Chinese needed. Because China was practically self-sufficient, its emperors had little interest in trading with Europeans. For decades, Europeans could do business only at the port of Canton. Despite appeals from Britain and other nations, China refused to open other ports to foreigners. The Chinese regarded Europeans and their goods as inferior to their own and bought few goods from the European merchants.

New emperor: Hong-Wu. Cultivated land to triple along with revenues. Increased food supply, great agricultural reforms, and a dramatic population growth.

“Prior to 1810 Western nations had been spending 350 million Mexican silver dollars on porcelain, cotton, silks, brocades, and various grades of tea, by 1837 opium represented 57 percent of Chinese imports, and for the fiscal period 1835-36 alone China exported 4.5 million silver dollars” (England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60). This demonstrates how the illegal opium trade largely imbalanced the trade with the West. It was estimated that between four and twelve million Chinese males under the age of 40 were addicted to the use of opium. Tensions grew rapidly following the Kowloon Incident, where “drunk British sailors from several opium clipper ships rioted in Kowloon, killing a Chinese man and vandalizing a Buddhist temple” (The First and Second Opium Wars). Lin Ze-xu, the Emperor’s special emissary, ordered the seizure of opium and closing of ports. In response, the British superintendent of trade, Charles Elliot, ordered the blockade of Pearl River, thus initiating the war. Economically, China cut off trade with Britain and the Western nations. This reinforces the idea that they were an isolationist country with respect to trading with the West.