the qing empire

THE QING EMPIREJialin Ke

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DISORDER (1800-1839)

Population Pressure• Expansion of agricultural base by early emperors

which supported a doubling of the population growth.

• Formation of the unemployed and homeless• Population strain causes environmental damage.

Distrust in Government• Suspicions among the people that all government

officials were corrupt.• Qing were hated because they were seen as foreign

conquerors• People did not like the growing number of foreigners • The Qing were suspected of sympathy with the

Europeans

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DISORDER

White Lotus Rebellion• Inspired by the idea that the Ming Dynasty would be

restored and the coming of the Buddha• Started in 1794, spread, and not suppressed until

1804• Causes more internal conflicts throughout the 1800s

• Social instabilities, local ethnic conflicts

British colonies in India smuggle opium into China

• The Qing were not aware of the growing opium trade until later when the government realized the harm

• 1729, the first Qing law banned opium imports

• By 1800, annual import of 4000 chests of opium, through smuggling

• By 1830, a price war caused by competition between America and Britain, raises opium demands to an annual import of 30,000 chests

• Widespread addiction

THE OPIUM WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH (1839-1850)


The emperor decides to enforce the existing ban on opium more strictly and sent Lin ZeXu to deal with the issue.

Opium War (1839-1842)• The British saw that the opium ban would limit their

trade and threaten Britain’s economy. • Bannermen – hereditary military servants of the

Qing Empire• Qing lost terribly because the British had superior

technology.• Bannermen still used muskets• British gunboats


Qing decides to negotiate.• Treaty of Nanjing 1842: - 5 treaty ports (cities open to

foreign residents), British residents gain extraterritorial rights, and Hong Kong becomes a British colony, low taxes on 5% of imports, an indemnity of 21million ounces of silver,

• Supplementary treaty one year later: guarantees most-favored-nation status to Britain, meaning that any privileges given to another country would also be given to Britain.

Results in many treaties with other foreigners• By 1900, over 90 treaty ports• China suffers territorial losses as Europeans claim colonies

THE TAIPING REBELLION (1850-1864)

Originated in Guangxi province and initiated by Hong Xiuquan• Poor farmland, poverty, ethnic divisions (that forced the Hakka

people to the despised trades)

Hong Xiuquan• Was inspired by Protestant missionaries’ teachings and thought

that he was commissioned by God to drive out the Qings to found a new kingdom on earth. He called this movement the “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace”.

• His followers were mainly the Hakkas

Military Reforms• New military units


Taipings vs. Manchus (Qing)• Taiping forces defeat imperial troops in Guangxi• Taipings (followers of Hong Xiuquan) grew in

numbers. They attract followers by replacing their anti-Chinese appeals used to enlist Hakkas with anti-Manchu to enlist Chinese.

• Recruited villagers were separated men and women to organize them into work teams.

Taipings Capture Nanjing and make it their capital


Foreign Intervention• Britain and France launches a second opium war

called the Arrow War (1856-1860) because they felt that the Qing had not observed all the provisions of the treaties.

• Britain and France invade Beijing and sack Summer Palace.

• Creates more treaties• Satisfied, British and French joins Qing against the

Taipings

Qing defeats Taiping with help from British and French forces, and military forces organized by governors (Zeng Guofan).


Taiping Rebellion was the world’s bloodiest civil war. • Death estimates from 20 million to 30 million. • Most deaths were from starvation and disease.

Results:• Depopulation and destruction of rich agricultural lands in central

and eastern China• Suffering and destruction in the cities and cultural centers of

eastern China.

Death and Disease• Taipings flee to Laos and Vietname which was infested by the

bubonic plague. Disease spreads to Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco, etc.

DECENTRALIZATION AT THE END OF THE QING EMPIRE (1864-

1875)

Qing was completely bankrupt. • Expenditures were 10x revenues• Indemnities demanded by Britain. • Rice fields and productive land was destroyed. • Refugees needed relief and troops demanded wages.

Because the Qing were in their debt, Britain and France help in the period of recovery known as the Tongzhi Restoration.

• Zeng Guofan manages recovery work and uses United States as his model. He hired Americans to run his factories and also sent the Chinese to America to learn.

DECENTRALIZATION AT THE END OF THE QING EMPIRE (1864-

1875)

Reform programs were supported by Empress Dowager Cixi but they were unable to prevent the Empire from disintegration.

The empire came under the control of a group of reformist aristocrats, military men, independently civilian governors, and foreign advisers. There was no central, unified leadership and the Qing Empire dissolved into large power zones.

COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVESSimilarities DifferencesDid not consider European economic pressure a challenge during the first half of the 19th century

China’s geographic distance protected it from the political tensions between Britain and Russia

By the 1870s, European challenges to the empires had become widely realized (Qing- Opium War, Ottoman-Crimean War)

Ottoman Empire left out of debates with Europeans because they anticipated its demise

Military superiority (and economic pressure) of the Europeans was the greatest challenge for the two rulers of the empires

the qing empire

Documents

opium ban

coloniesthe opium war

opium importsby

chests of opium

growing opium trade

price war

qing empireqing

chinathe qing