Jeon 1

Seokhyun Jeon

Mr.Hawkins

Modern History P1 Period 3

9 November 2015

China and the New Imperialism

3. How did western powers (Great Britain, France, and Germany) gain greater trading rights

in China?

Western powers gained greater trading rights in China by two events, the Opium War and the

Unequal Treaties that followed. The first event was the Opium War. Basically, the British had

smuggled opium into China and valuable silver began to flow out of the country. The Chinese

government outlawed opium and executed Chinese drug dealers (pg. 333) and basically

demanded that the British stop this illegal trade. The Chinese and British clashed and with

outdated weapons and fighting methods, the Chinese were easily defeater (pg. 334). The

second event was the Unequal Treaties. Since the Chinese lost the Opium War to the British,

they had to open five ports to foreign trade (pg. 334) and later during the mid-1800s,

under pressure from the West, China agreed to open more ports to foreign trade (pg.334).

That is how the western powers gained greater trading rights in China.

4. (a) What internal problems threatened the Qing dynasty?

Everything in China was going down hill around the 1800s. Irrigation systems and canals

were poorly maintained... (pg. 334) and a population explosion created a terrible hardship

for Chinas peasants (pg.334). In the upper classes tax evasion and widespread official

Jeon 2
corruption made life for the peasants even harder. The peasants couldnt handle the hardship and

rebelled. The rebellion was called The Taiping Rebellion, which lasted from 1850 to 1864...

(pg.334). The rebellion and continuous fighting between themselves created many internal

problems in China.

5. How was the Qing dynasty replaced by a republic?

As China was in turmoil, antiforeign feeling from the Chinese exploded in the Boxer Uprising.

This secret society was called the Harmonious Fists, their goal was to drive out the foreign

devils... (pg. 337). The society, nicknamed Boxers, attacked foreigners across China but was

crushed soon after. The defeat of the Boxers forced even Chinese conservatives to support

westernization (pg. 337), which they resisted for so long. Even through all these defeats the

Chinese had a strong sense for Chinese nationalism. To accept westernization and Chinese

culture a Chinese republic began to form. Finally the Qing dynasty crumbled when Ci Xi died

in 1908 and a two-year-old boy inherited the throne. (337). The Chinese took this situation

and toppled the Qing dynasty and replaced it with a republic.