Chinese Revolution

Subjugation
of China

Revolutions

Chinese
Revolution

Protection
of China

Rebirth of
China

a) Subjugation Of China:
From Ancient Times, China had commercial relation with the West and in 1498 when
Europeans got the direct sea route to India, China was their next target. Till the 16 th century,
Europeans developed base in Macau, Canton, Farmosa etc. As Europeans tried to develop
commercial relations Chinese created the trouble because they did not give respect to
Europeans and compulsarily demanded Silver as the medium of exchange. In this
background Europeans started promoting Opium trade which became the threat for society
and culture of China. In 1800, Chinese Government declared Opium trade illegal and in 1839
Chinese Military Officer Li was deputed to destroy the Opium containers. This led to 1st
Opium War of 1840 in which China was defeated and China gave certain relaxation to
Europeans. Example:
Opened 5 ports for Europeans traders.
Hong Kong was given to Britain and Chinese Government also accepted compensation to
European Companies.
This shattered the myth of invincibility of China.
1st Opium War ended the fear of Chinese strength plus European powers were not satisfied by
the achievements of the 1st War. For this they wanted the 2nd War and for it they prepared the
ground when France accused Chinese Government of being responsible for the killing of
French Missionary in Peking. While the search operation of Chinese officials in a British ship
having Union Jack was considered as the insult of British Monarchy. This became the ground
for 2nd Opium War(1856-58). China was again defeated and by the Treaty of Teintsin 1858
China gave relaxation to European powers like:

11 ports were opened for European Traders.

Extra-Territorial Rights to Europeans in China.
Acceptance of European traders and officers in Chinese court.
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War compensation to European companies.

In this way the two Opium wars exposed the weakness of China and along with this Taiping
Rebellion in the 2nd half of 19th century shattered Chinese Government. This rebellion was
organized by Huan Hsin Chuan, a protestant by faith who wanted to eliminate idolatory and
nature worship in China. The gravity of the revolt was so strong that the rebels controlled
Nanking, economic and political center for 11 years. Therefore the two Opium Wars and
Taiping Rebellion was the message to European Companies that the story of existing
Manchu Dynasty was over in China. So they started developing Spheres of influence and
China got divided into different European Powers.
b) Protection of China:
In the last phase of 19th century, European Powers developed spheres of influence in different
parts of China and China was facing the threat of being divided into different Nationalities like
German China, French China, British China etc. Instead of this in the beginning of 20 th
Century, China appeared to be a integrated Country because of the following reason:
Boxer Uprising of 1899 was the uprising of secret society of Fist Fighters. Their objective
was to eliminate everything foreign in China. This was the big threat for Europeans and
became the cause of their Unity in China. In this scenario, US came out with Open Door
Policy in which US appealed to European Powers to open their doors for trade and
commerce among each other. This led to economic integration creating political unity of
China.
c) Rebirth of China:
Defeat, suppression and exploitation prepared the ground for awakening and China saw the
Young China Movement which was basically the contribution of the youth and intellectuals
of China. Objective was Cultural and Political Reforms. In this the important personality was
Kang Hsu Tse who is called The Father Of Modern China as he specially emphasized on
Modern education and democracy. In this way China started moving into Modern direction
and the 2nd decade of 20th Century prove to be the turning point of Chinese History because
of Revolutions.
d) Revolutions:
1st Revolution in China, 1912 as Manchu Dynasty saw the presence of incompetent rulers
plus from inside they were facing the pressure from Young China Movement for changes in
Polity and Culture. From outside European Powers were creating the pressure with the
motive to win the faith of Chinese Government. In 1911, the last Manchu ruler voluntarily left
the throne. National Assembly became the power center and it elected Dr. Sun Yet Sen as
the 1st President of Chinese Republic. He is considered as the Maker of Modern China
because he gave 3 principles which act as a Preamble of Chinese Constitution till today.
As china was never directly under European rule so Nationalism did not develop as a biproduct of Imperialism. Therefore Dr. Sen emphasized on promotion of Nationalism at the
cost of Race, Religion and Region because according to him it is the binding force in Modern
age.
Democratic development in India was gradual from 1858 to 1947 so democracy was not a
new thing for Indian people in 1947. But in 1912, Chinese were unaware about democracy.
So Dr. Sen talked about Democracy but gradual development of democracy i.e. 1st Training
the people under Military rule and One Party System and then giving democracy to the
people.
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 Under livelihood, Dr. Sen talked about Economic development with 2 objectives:
Employment of the people.
Economic Empowerment of the Nation.
These 3 principles are still the guidelines for Chinese Government. Therefore Dr. Sen is
called as the Maker of Modern China.

During 1st World War China gave complete support to Britain and its allies but the main
reason for the gift of independence was beginning of Military Fascism in Japan and the
tension between Japan and US from 1919. In this situation it seems that as Western Powers
used Japan as a counter against Japan. Therefore, Chinese delegation was invited in Paris
Peace Conference. China was given the membership of League of Nations and in 1921, US
organized Washington Conference in which European powers surrendered their rights in
China. After this the next important leader in China was Chiang Kai Shek who was facing
the same situation after 1920 which was faced by Nehru after 1947 and as he failed to control
the situation so this led to Chinese Revolution of 1949.
1937 was a crucial year for China because Mao started Long March from Southern Province
to Northern Province and in the same year Japan attacked China. Mao also got the
advantage of 2nd World War in 1939 and his biggest success was he was able to attract the
masses especially the warrior class i.e. Farmers. Although Communists promised to give
assistance to Chiang Kai Shek but then both the groups failed to develop confidence with
each other and Chiang Kai Shek failed to counter the personality of Mao. In 1949, Mao
occupied the power center and this was the Revolution of 1949 which saw the birth of
Communist China or Peoples Republic.

China after
1920's

India after 1947

Tuchan's(warlords)

Feudal lords

Aggressive
Neighbours (Russia
and Japan)

Aggressive
Neighbours
(Pakistan and China)

Coomunist Uprising
(Nan King
episode,1927)

Communist Uprising
(from Telangana to
Punjab)

1937

1962

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