China and Japan in the Age of Imperialism

China before the Arrival of the Europeans:

• Stable

• Traditional

• Civilized

• Self-sufficient

• Largest population in the world

• Ethnocentric

• Agricultural

China Before

• China had salt, tin, silver& iron mines

• China had factories to produce goods with these resources

• China also produced silk, porcelain & cotton.

China Before

• Chinese were self-sufficient and traditional with little or no desire to trade or interact with the West

• The Europeans certain had a need to trade with the world’s largest population

China Before

• The Europeans were allowed to trade in one Chinese port, Guangzhou (Canton)

• This was not acceptable to Europeans and they needed a way to get access to more Chinese markets/customers.

China Before• Britain’s importation of Chinese goods was

becoming excessive in the first third of the nineteenth century

• China was exporting more to Britain than she imported from Britain which caused a trade imbalance in China’s favor

• In addition to Britain’s (Europe’s) silver flowing into China, which defeated the purpose of trading with China

China Before

• A trade imbalance is…

Europeans in China

• To make up for the imbalance, Britain began to sell opium grown in India to the Chinese

• The Chinese government had banned the smoking of opium in 1729

• Chinese protests to stop the sale of opium fell on deaf British ears and the sale continued.

Europeans in China

• In 1799, the following decree was made by the Chinese government: “Opium has a very violent effect. When an addict smokes it, it rapidly makes him extremely excited and capable of doing anything he pleases. But before long, it kills him. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law.”

The Opium War 1839-42

Began, on face, as a war between Britain and the Chinese over the right (wrong?) of the British to sell opium in China against the wishes of the Chinese government

Deeper roots of the war can be seen in the refusal of the British to accept the supremacy of Chinese law in China

Arrogance? Racism?

The Opium War• The British refused to hand over British

subjects to be dealt with by a system they considered to be “barbaric.”

• Chinese officials pursued to right to prosecute foreign criminals in China, irritating the British

War began as a result of China threatening to cut off all trade with the British if the opium trade did not cease

The Opium War

• British ships tried to run a Chinese blockade and this minor incident touched off a larger struggle that included the use of Indian soldiers fighting for the British

• The modern weapons of the British (steamships, cannon, muskets) could not be matched by the Chinese and they suffered a humiliating defeat

Treaty of Nanjing

• The British get island of Hong Kong until 4 July 1997

• British get extraterritorial rights in 4 ports (treaty ports) in China

• British kept selling opium

• Christian missionaries could operate in China

Treaty of Nanjing

• Extraterritoriality means…

19th Century Problems

• The period from 1850 to 1873 saw, as a result of rebellion, drought, and famine, the population of China drop by over sixty million people.

• Famine was a constant problem in China as was the influence of the European powers

The Taiping Rebellion (1850-64)

• Organized by Hong Xiuquan who had a series of visions that inspired him to crush the “demon worshippers” and to worship the Christian God instead

• Desired to create a “Heavenly Kingdom of Peace”

The Taiping Rebellion (1850-64)

• Wanted to overthrow government who he believed was responsible for demon worshipping

• Rebellion lasted 14 years and was finally put down by the government at a cost of over 20 million dead

19th Century Problems

• Attempts to Reform China:

• Conservative Qing government struggles with reform

• How to reform? – Traditional Chinese way– Western way

• The Chinese opted for a mixed approach

Self-Strengthening Movement

• Main Elements– learn Western technology,

industry, and even language, in order to meet the Western powers as equals.

– Set up factories to build steamships, ammunition, rifles and other equipment

Self-Strengthening Movement

• Self-strengthening meant a return to the Confucian ideal of the chün tzu , the "superior man," who excelled in jen , or human-ness and all the virtues associated with it. The transformation they sought, then, was a radical transformation of the inward man in order to make him worthy of authority

Results:

• mixed at best– relied too much on foreigners who were

uncomfortable helping the Chinese– Forced China to import western raw materials

and machines which hurt the Chinese economy even more

– China continues to weaken– Most Chinese did not necessarily support the

movement

Other Nations Join in

• With China in a state of weakness, other nations moved in to take advantage

• The western powers did not overthrow the Qing, but carved out spheres of influence

Other Nations Join in

• To insure that the US did not keep shut out of China, they declared the Open Door Policy (1899)– Policy kept the US involved in China and

helped to prevent China from being Colonized

Chinese Nationalism Grows

• "The One Hundred Days of Reform."

• Edicts began pouring out of the imperial court with the express purpose of changing China into a modern, constitutional state. These edicts included:– the inclusion of Western studies in all Chinese

education – the adoption of a public school system

Chinese Nationalism Grows

– the establishment of popularly elected local assemblies;

– the eventual creation of a national parliamentary government;

– Westernization of the Chinese bureaucracy;

– the development of official ministries to promote commerce, industry, and banking;

– the reform of the army.

• The edicts issued out of the reform government were implemented in only one out of fifteen provinces; the rest of China resisted the edicts

The Boxer Rebellion, 1900

• Background:– When China was defeated by Japan in 1895,

European powers responded with a policy they called, "carving up the Chinese melon."

– European powers and America began to scramble for what was called "spheres of interest."

The Boxer Rebellion, 1900

• the Americans had missed the Chinese boat and so insisted on an "open door" policy in China in which commercial opportunities were equally available to all European powers and the political and territorial integrity of China remained untouched

• The imperial court responded to this foreign threat by giving aid to various secret societies.

The Boxer Rebellion, 1900

• Anti-foreign sentiment had risen so greatly in China that the Empress Dowager believed that the secret societies could be the vanguard in a military expulsion of Europeans

The Boxer Rebellion, 1900• The Boxers believed that the expulsion of

foreign devils would magically renew Chinese society and begin a new golden age.

• The Boxer Rebellion was only limited to a few places, but concentrated itself in Beijing

• Within a couple months, an international force captured and occupied Beijing ending the rebellion

• China then began a series of western style reforms to strengthen itself

Europeans Arrive in Japan

• Dutch & English merchants were some of the first to arrive around 1600

• Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary, arrived around 1549 & by the early 1600s, had 300,000 converts to Christianity

• Europeans were eager to trade & the Japanese were eager to be rid of the “barbarians” from the west

Europeans Arrive in Japan

• Japanese did, however, want western weapons

• Japanese want to oust the Europeans and move against the Christians, wiping out the last ones by 1649

• Foreign trade or travel is prohibited & the only Europeans allowed to trade in Japan are the Dutch @ a small post on Nagasaki

Europeans Arrive in Japan

• Japan had completely isolated itself & would remain as such until the mid 1800s

• Like the Chinese, the Japanese can be seen as both ethnocentric and xenophobic

• Why is that a bad thing for the Japanese and a good thing for the Europeans?

The Opening of Japan

• Matthew C. Perry– July 1853: Perry sailed into Tokyo harbor w/ the

purpose of opening diplomatic & economic relations w/ Japan.

– Perry arrives w/ 4 US warships (steam powered) & makes the following demands:

– 1) Japan will open its ports for trade w/ the US– 2) Japan will protect shipwrecked US sailors in

Japanese waters – 3)US ships will be allowed to stop @ Japanese ports

for fuel & supplies

The Opening of Japan

• Japanese were not sure what to do but decided that they could not fight the mighty us & decided to give into the demands.

• 1854: Japan gives in and signs “unequal treaties” these grant the us demands plus, the us sailors are given extraterritoriality (if they commit a crime on Japanese lands, they are tried by us laws & not Japanese laws)

The Opening of Japan

• Japanese are later persuaded to drop their tariffs and to give Russia, Great Britain & the Netherlands the same rights

• Japanese feared being carved into spheres of influence like china had been after the opium war w/ Britain

Overthrow of the Shogun

• The humiliation caused by the unequal treaties led the people of Japan to oust the shogun.

• They argued that he had betrayed Japan

• 1868 the daimyo led a mixed army (peasant & samuri) against the shogun & won. The installed the new emperor w/ full powers – he was no longer a figure head

Meiji Era

• Means peace & enlightenment

• Brought in western ideas & gave up ancient feudal system

• Took best of western ideas and adapted them to their own Japanese needs

• Modernized Japanese military and educational systems

The Meiji Era

• Became industrialized in the western way and began to compete with the west for resources

• Only a strong modern Japan would be taken seriously & could, perhaps, have the unequal treaties removed

Meiji Reforms

• Ended feudalism in 1871

• Lands of daimyo broken up & administered by governors

• Peasants given equal status in the army w/ former samuri

• Reformed tax system – no more %age of crops for taxes. Now it was $ for taxes based on the value of the land

Meiji Reforms• Peasants were now landowners if they

could pay the taxes

• Introduced new currency called the yen

• 1881: a parliamentary form of government was introduced w/ the Diet (parliament) that has two houses

• Western powers see improvements and agree to revoke unequal treaties. After all, the west now sees Japan as “civilized”

Imperial Japan• Japan, since it is an island nation w/ few natural

resources/ must be a military power in order to trade & gain raw materials. Or so the Japanese argued

• Japan forced Korea (a part of China according to the Chinese) to open themselves up to Japanese trade & to grant the Japanese extraterritoriality

• War w/ china 1895 & the Japanese easily win. They occupied Manchuria w/ its vast iron & coal resources

Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05

• After Japanese victory over the Chinese, Japan soon came into conflict with Russia over Manchuria.

• Japanese offered to accept Russian rights in Manchuria if Russia got out of Korea

• Russians refused and Japanese launched attack in 1904.

Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05

• Japanese beat the Russians and forced them out of both Korea and Manchuria

• World finally took notice of non-white, non-European, non-Christian nation in a serious way

Japanese annexation of Korea

• With the Russians gone, the Japanese made Korea a protectorate in 1905.

• 1910, the Japanese formally annexed Korea.

• Japanese imperialism in Korea was as bad as any imperialism of any European nation it was brutal and repressive