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China had reluctant contact with European nations around 1600s-1800s
China’s government assumed they were stronger than Europe---TRUE? ?Think way back to Age of Exploration?
Who was superior?
Britain desperately wanted to trade with China Did China need anything? What was one item Britain was getting from
India that the Chinese could be interested in?
Classified as a opiate. Derived from poppy plants. Medically was used as pain reducer. Decreases pain and attention. Use leads to loss of control in breathing
and respiratory failure.
In the late 1700’s British merchants began importing the drug opium By 1835, 12 million Chinese were addicted to
the drug.
The Qing emperor ordered Queen Victoria to stop selling Opium to Chinese.
By what right do they [British merchants]…use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people?... I have heard that smoking opium is very strictly forbidden by your country; that is because the harm caused by opium is clearly understood. Since it is not permitted to do harm to your own country, then even less should you let it be passed on to harm other countries. -Lin Zexu
In this quote what is Lin stating?
Britain refused to stop selling opium Lin Zexu attempted to stop the British
merchants himself How are the British merchants going to
react to Lin’s choices?
The Battle of The World’s Most Superior Nations!
The Opium War (1839-1842) China was surprised by Britain’s
strength- China badly beat
Treaty of Nanjing (1842) U.S. & Other foreign citizens gained
extraterritorial rights- foreigners were not subject to Chinese law.
Foreign countries start to divide China up for themselves.
How would the
Chinese react to this?
Taiping Rebellion- Late 1830’s Led by Hong Xiuquan
Boxer Rebellion 1900 Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists
(Hardcore Chinese Men & Women- Used martial arts) Red Shining Lanterns ( All female boxer group)
Japan was isolationist (closed to foreigners) from 1600-1850s
American gunboats came to Japan and forced them to open to trade (1850s)
Japan saw how China was treated and decided to Westernized their military, government, schools, etc.
Meiji Restoration led by Mutsuhito- Japan modernizes and was able to compete with Europe and was never taken over
Japan beat China, then Russia in a war Russo-Japanese War (1905) – first time an
Asian nation beat an European nation
