China's History since the Qing Dynasty

[China's History since the Qing Dynasty]Jenessa L 18:18, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty ended the long period of Dynastic rule in China. The Qing Dynasty lasted for nearly three hundred years. Many events occurred during the Qing Dynasty that altered the way China now interacts with the rest of the world. There was an Empress in the Qing Dynasty named, Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Cixi was born on November 29th, 1835 to an ordinary family. She was very unhappy with the life she led and felt mistreated and unloved by her parents. At the age of sixteen Cixi was chosen to be a concubine to the Emperor Xianfeng. She was thrilled at the opportunity to escape the life that she had. Cixi gradually worked her way up in rank from a third-level concubine to a first one. When Emperor Xianfeng died in 1861 Cixi's son, Tongzhi inherited the throne due to the simple fact that the other high ranking concubines bore no sons. Her ambition and lust for power led her to overthrow her son from the throne in 1865. Empress Dowager Cixi was a very conservative ruler. She ruled during the time of the Opium Wars and therefore tried to keep China isolated from the rest of the world so that the Chinese people would not be subjects of Western influence.

Opium Wars

The Opium Wars began in 1840 and lasted until 1856. These wars began because of the Westerners becoming frustrated with China only exporting and not importing goods. The Western nations were frustrated with China's isolation from the rest of the world. The British started smuggling opium into China to make up for all of the tea that they were buying. In reaction to the opium, Chinese officials prohibited the drug and destroyed all of it that they could find. In response to this Britain launched a naval attack on the Guangzhou port in China. China lost to the British power so they were forced to sign what the Chinese call, "unfair treaties". These treaties agreed to open up many trading ports to Great Britain. Other Western powers followed in the footsteps of the British and signed exporting treaties with China. In 1856 a second Opium War broke out because Chinese officials "illegally" searched a British merchant ship. At the end of this battle the Chinese were once again subjected to the signing of more treaties. These treaties allowed more trading ports to be opened, the legalization of opium and foreign missionaries and diplomats to be allowed into the country.

Boxer Rebellion

The boxers were born out of the turmoil of the Opium Wars. The Boxers were a group of peasants in China whom created a secret society called the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists". They later gained the nickname of "Boxers" by practicing forms of boxing. The boxers hated the influence the foreigners were having on China and the Qing Rulers, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. When Empress Dowager Cixi gave them her support they focused their attention solely on ridding China of all foreigners. By the 1900's the Boxer Rebellion had spread throughout China. Foreigners were getting killed right and left which caused the Western powers need to intervene. Before the Western forces could arrive to the aid of the foreigners, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered all foreigners to be murdered. After the loss of many foreign lives the international force finally arrived in China and subdued the rebellion by capturing Peking (or what is known as modern day Beijing). The Boxer Rebellion ultimately weakened the Qing Dynasty and led to its overthrow by the Republic of China in 1911.

Republic of China

The Republic of China ended more than 2,000 years of Dynastic rule in China. The Republic of China was formed under the Kuomintang (The Chinese Nationalist Party). The Kuomintang was in constant conflict with the Chinese Communist Party. The war against the Japanese Military aggression gave the Communist Party of China the boost that it needed to defeat the Republic of China. After the defeat of the Republic of China this party retreated to Taiwan, evolved, and is still in effect today.

People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China began on October 1st, 1949. Mao Zedong was the chairman of this party. The People's Republic of China was composed mostly of peasants. The People's Republic of China was backed by the Soviet Union when a Treaty of Friendship and mutual alliance was created between the two countries. The People's Republic of China was then involved in the Korean War and it failed to gain international recognition at that time. After the Korean War China focused on eliminating state enemies. Mao made all of his policies with the working class in mind. He knew they would be the force behind the changes he wanted to create in China. Mao worked towards industrialization and centralized government in China.

Modern Day China

China economy is continually growing. They seem to be mirroring the past in the sense that they are exporting goods more than they are importing. This helps their economy to further rise above the rest of the world. A common misconception is that everyone in China is of the same ethnical background. On the contrary, there are over 56 ethnic groups in China. 93% of the people are Hans while the other 7% is all the minorities. Chinese people belong to many different religions including: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Although China remains Communistic rule it continues to become more integrated with the rest of the world.

File:Shanghai Skyline. jpg

"Shanghai Skyline" . Click [1] for original source.