China: Opium Wars, Boxer rebellion, Imperialism

Semi-colonization of China

The opium Wars

The imperialist domination of China begin with the opium Wars
Before these opium Wars, only two Chinese ports were open to
foreign traders.
China was already a prosperous civilization that had invented
paper, printing and gunpowder. There was no demand for British
goods in China.
So the British had to pay back in gold and silver for importing
Chinese tea, silk, jade and porcelain.
This Led to trade deficit for Britain (And recall the mercantilism
policy- Europeans preferred export over imports. Wealth of a
country was measured in gold and silver.)
So, British merchant started smuggling opium from India into China
on a large scale, to cover up for their cost of importing Chinese
goods.
East India Companys role opium trade
In India, the British East India Company had established a
monopoly on opium cultivation.
But due to Chinese ban on opium, the East India Company did not
carry the opium itself.
Instead, they used country tradersi.e., private traders licensed
by the company to take goods from India to China.
The country traders sold the opium to smugglers along the
Chinese coast for gold and silver.
In China the East India company used the same gold and silver
(from illegal opium trade) to purchase Chinese tea, silk and other
goods, sold them in England @higher price=truckload of profit.

Thus, the illegal opium trade was profitable to British but it did immense
physical and moral damage to the Chinese.

1st Opium war

Finally Chinese government officials seized an opium cargo and
destroyed it. Britain declared war (first Opium war) and easily defeated
the Chinese. Result?=>

The Treaty of Nanjing (Nanking)

According to this treaty of Nanjing
1. China was forced to pay fines to British for war damages.
2. Hong Kong was given to Britain
3. China had to open five port cities to the British traders.
4. Chinese government was no longer free to impose tariffs on the
foreign goods
Extraterritorial rights clause
The British subjects in China were answerable only to British law, even
in disputes with Chinese! (Recall similar issue in India- the Ilbert Bill.)
MFN (Most Favored nation clause)
Whenever any nation extracted a new privilege from China, that privilege
was extended automatically to Britain!

2nd Opium War

Soon, England and France fought another war with China, on the pretext
that a French missionary had been murdered. (2ndOpium war, aka Arrow
war). Result?=>

Treaties of Tianjin
1. Freedom of movement for Christian missionaries.

2. residence in Beijing for foreign envoys

3. the opening of several new ports to Western trade and residence
4. right of foreign travel in the interior of China
5. China was defeated again and was forced to grant even more
privileges to the winners. By the end of 1860s, China had to open
14 ports to Foreigners.

1st Sino Japan War

For centuries Korea was a tributary state of China.
but Japan was trying increase her influence over Korea. Why?
o Korea is strategically located opposite the Japanese islands
o Koreas natural resources of coal and iron
This ultimately leads to War between Japan and China.
Experts had believed that China would win, given its bigger military.
But Japan won thanks to its adopted western military technology.
Result?=>
1. China had to recognize Korea as an independent state.
2. China had to give away Formosa, Taiwan and part of Southern
Manchuria to Japan.
3. China was forced to pay about $150 million to Japan for war
damages.

Sphere of Influence
Now, China had to pay war damages to Japan, but she did not
have enough ca$h.

 So, France, Russia, Britain and Germany agreed to give loans to

China.
but in return, these Western countries divided China into sphere of
influence
Sphere of influence = each Western country had certain regions of
China reserved exclusively for its purpose only. (Exclusive rights to
build railway, mines etc. in that region).
for example, Britain had exclusive rights over Yangtze valley, and
only Russia had the right to build railoads in Manchuria.
This division of China into spheres of influence has been often
described as the cutting of the Chinese melon

United States: Me too Policy

After the economic depression of the 1890s, USA needed foreign
trade to boost its economy.
In China, the American textile manufacturers had found markets for
cheap cotton goods.
But United States feared that China would be completely parceled
out to France, Russia, Germany and Britain, because of those
spheres of influences.
Therefore United States suggested the policy known as Open
door policy (also known as me too policy.)
According to this policy, all countries would have equal right to make
trade anywhere in China.
Britain supported United States in this policy, thinking that it would
discourage the annexation of China by Japan or Russia. Because
Japan and Russia could easily send their armies to Chinese
mainland.

Boxer Rebellion
Chinese people was unhappy because of following:
1. Economic Exploitation by Western powers.
2. The extraterritorial right granted to foreigners
3. Chinas humiliating defeats in Opium wars and against Japan.
4. Corruption, inefficiency of their own royal government.
5. they resented the work of Christian missionaries, blaming them for
harming traditional Chinese ceremonies and family relations; +
missionaries pressured local officials to side with Christian converts
in local lawsuits and property disputes.
This led to formation of a secret organization known as Yihetuan
(Society of Righteousness and Harmony). The foreigners called them
Boxers.
Boxers blamed foreigners for all the ills in China. They started
seizing /destroying properties of foreigners, Christian missionaries
and Chinese converts.
The movement took form of a violent rebellion.
Although the Boxers were officially denounced, they were secretly
supported by many of the royal court.
British, French, Japanese, Russian, German, and Americans sent
their troops to curb this rebellion. Ultimately the military might of
western powers crushed the Chinese rebellion.
Result?=> Western powers got following:
1. Fines from China for a period of 40 years
2. More trade concessions

3. Right to station their troops in Beijing.

Epilogue China
After the failure of boxer rebellion, Imperialism continued with the
cooperation from Chinese warlords.
Foreign powers bought these military commanders by giving loans
and in exchange the warlords granted even more privileges to the
foreign powers.
Thus in a period of few decades, China had been reduced to a
status of an international colony
Although China was not conquered or occupied by any imperialist
country, but the effect of these developments in China were same
as any other areas which were formally colonized.
although there are some fine differences:
India

China

Colonization was
Direct and absolute.

indirect control over the politics,economy and

society without taking on the onus for ruling
the country= semi-colonization.

Britain gained the

monopoly of control
over India.

no single imperial power had a monopoly of

control. China was simultaneously exploited
by many powers