Imperial China in the Nineteenth Century,

1644-1912

Table of Contents:Further Readings

The Ch'ing (Qing) dynasty established in 1644 was China's last imperial dynasty. Led by ruthless Manchu
invaders who overthrew the Ming, it was a rule that experienced many extremes—from astounding power to
astonishing weakness. Particularly humiliating to nationalistic China was its exploitation by foreign nations.
As the imperial age ended, it left China politically, economically, and culturally displaced and dislocated.

The Ch'ing Dynasty at its Height (1644-1799)

The Conquest of the Ming

The Manchus were a Jurchen people from Manchuria (northern China) who were united under Nurhachi
(Nurhaci; 1559-1626), a brilliant organizer like Genghis Khan. He instituted an administrative "banner
system," which registered the population and assembled the military into effective units. Nurhachi also
produced a writing system for the Jurchen language. He became the Manchu emperor in 1616 and
inaugurated the Later Chin (Jin; "Golden") dynasty. He also penetrated Chinese territory. Nurhachi was
succeeded by the Abahai (r. 1626-43), who added Chinese banners to the Jurchen system and also adopted
the traditional Six Ministries (civil affairs, finance, rituals, war, justice, public works). In 1636 he changed the
dynasty's name to Ch'ing (Qing; "Pure").

It was at the invitation of Ming General Wu San-kuei (Wu Sangui; 1612-78) that the powerful Manchu
Regent, Dorgon (1612-50) helped to expel the rebel Li Tzu-ch'eng (Zicheng) from Beijing. The Manchus
entered Beijing in June 1644 and established it as their capital. After surrendering to the Manchu, Wu then
collaborated with them to consolidate the Ch'ing dynasty. It was during this period that the Manchu insisted
Chinese males wear queues (a long braid of hair hanging at the back of their head) in order to distinguish
themselves from anti-Ch'ing forces.

Wu and other Chinese collaborators controlled southern China then rebelled against the Ch'ing in 1673. This
"War of the Three Feudatories" raged until 1681 when the Ch'ing finally suppressed the rebellion. In 1683
Taiwan was occupied as a consequence of its support of the "feudatories."

The Great Emperors

K'ang-hsi (r. 1661-1722)

Early Ch'ing emperors were charismatic individuals and conscientious rulers who the Chinese could easily
identify with and respect. K'ang-hsi (Kang Xi) was not only the Ch'ing's greatest emperor but perhaps
arguably China's greatest. His strong Confucian faith and decisive leadership appealed to the all-important
Chinese scholar-gentry. He studied the classics and in 1670 issued the Sacred Edict, which included sixteen
maxims that encapsulated Confucian moral values. He successfully attracted scholars to serve him,
involving them in intellectual projects such as the compilation of the Ming History. In addition, he patronized
the K'ang-hsi Dictionary (an administrative geography) and a magnificent encyclopedia. The emperor's
greatest achievement was that he united the Ch'ing Empire. He defeated rebels, secured northern borders
against land-hungry Russia through the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), extended Ch'ing power into Taiwan in
central Asia, and established Ch'ing influence in Tibet. Above all, he reconciled the Chinese to Manchu rule.

Yung-cheng (r. 1723-35)

Yung-cheng (Yongzheng), one of K'ang-hsi's sons, was an able and diligent successor. He was a Buddhist
and more influenced by Chinese culture than his father. He initiated a policy to reallocate monies to poorer
regions in the empire. He also tried to control surcharges, which often hurt the peasantry, and tried to
eliminate illegal gifts. His further enforcement of his father's Sacred Edict epitomized his concern for moral
order.

Ch'ien-lung (1736-99)

Like his father and grandfather, Ch'ien-lung (Qianlong) was another talented ruler. Ch'ien-lung's reign was
one of the most illustrious in Chinese history. Under his leadership, the Mongols were thoroughly defeated
and Sinkiang (Xinjiang) was integrated into the Empire. Indeed, during the mid-eighteenth century Ch'ing
China was at its height, arguably the most powerful state in the world. China's population reached three
hundred million by the end of Ch'ien-lung's reign.

Ch'ien-lung was a true patron of the arts—appointing scholars, for example, to organize The Complete
Library of the Four Treasuries. He himself was a poet, painter, and calligrapher. It was during his reign that
China's greatest novel, The Dream of the Red Chamber (1792), was published. The book's author, Ts'ao
Hseh-ch'in (Cao Xueqin; d. 1763) has been compared to Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky for his character
description and development. By the end of Ch'ien-lung's reign, however, the Ch'ing dynasty began to
decline.

The Ch'ing and the West

The Ch'ing, like the Ming viewed Europeans as tributaries—inferiors who were expected to provide tributes
or lavish gifts to the emperor. This sentiment is evidenced in the strict set of rules imposed on European
nations who were allowed to trade with China. Chinese culture and crafts (chinoiserie) were highly
fashionable in Europe and England and many countries hoped to carry on a brisk trade. The Ch'ing,
however, restricted European mercantile to the Canton area only. In addition, Europeans could only transact
with monopolistic merchant companies (cohong) and were forbidden to buy Chinese books or to learn the
Chinese language. Such conditions were reluctantly accepted by the "barbarian" traders for over two
hundred years.

The British and the Ch'ing

Confrontation and conflict characterized relations between the Ch'ing and British, whose East India
Company dominated trade with China by the end of the eighteenth century. Given the rising demand for tea
and the lack of a commodity valued highly enough by the Chinese to balance trade, the British were forced
to pay in silver bullion. In 1793 Lord Macartney, the British government's representative, arrived in China to
normalize (from the Western perspective) political and economic relations (e.g., a British residence in
Peking, the end of Canton restrictions, opening of new ports, fair and equitable tariffs). He refused to
perform the kow-tow (ritual of respect to the emperor) but was still allowed to meet with Ch'ien-lung. Nothing
substantial was achieved however, as would be the case during a similar mission by Lord Amherst in 1816.

The end of the East India Company's monopoly of trade in 1833 multiplied private trade and posed problems
for Lord Napier, the Superintendent of Trade at Canton. From his English perspective, he was not a tributary
but an equal to Chinese officials. From the Chinese view, his impetuous manner hardly made him popular.
This led to serious conflicts and at one point Napier was held hostage in a Canton warehouse.
Such restrictions on trade produced increasing economic anxieties for Europeans until there emerged an
item that the Chinese desired to import in large quantities—opium. Many Chinese became addicted to the
drug, which is made from the juice of the poppy plant. Along with the drug environment came smuggling
rings and a burgeoning threat to the Chinese economy. The situation became so serious that the Ch'ing
government was forced to appoint a commissioner, the respected Lin Tse-hsu (Zexu; 1785-1850), to
eliminate the opium trade. "Commissioner Lin" methodically took control of opium stockpiles and arrested
dealers and users. In addition, he wrote to Queen Victoria to help end the criminal trade.

The Opium War

Further measures were taken to eradicate the opium problem—Chinese soldiers began to attack British
warehouses and merchants and to seize the contraband drug. To retaliate, Britain's Prime Minister
Palmerston quickly dispatched a fleet to China sparking the Opium War. After three years the Ch'ing were
forced to surrender, badly beaten by the British whose success was due to superior military technology that
included shallow hulled ships and modern weaponry.

The Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) and the Second Opium War

The Treaty of Nanking (29 August 1842, supplemented in 1843 by the Treaty of the Bogue) ended the
Opium War and became a watershed in China's history. Europeans had demonstrated their military might;
now through provisions in the treaty, they flexed their political potential. The Ch'ing were forced to open five
ports, including Canton and Shanghai. Hong Kong, a strategic island, was ceded to the British. The Chinese
had to pay for the confiscated opium stock. The cohong were abolished and moderate tariffs instituted.
China was forced to pay $12 million in damages for British expenditures. Besides the obvious provisions,
there was a very important psychological condition that the Chinese had to fulfill: the termination of their
active condemnation of the British. Subsequent treaties with the United States (July 1844) and France
(October 1844) mirrored those of Nanking. This was the start of an "unequal treaty system" that would
forever change China's relationship and pattern of trade with other countries.

A "Second Opium War" (1856-60) began as the result of an incident on the Chinese-owned, Hong Kong-
registered, ship known as the Arrow and escalated into a conflict that led to the European occupation of
Peking in 1860 and the destruction of the emperor's Summer Palace. The Treaty of Tietsin (Tianjin; 1858)
and the Conventions of Peking (1860) consequently opened the entire country to foreigners, and legalized
the opium trade. Concurrently, the "Maritime Provinces" east of the Ussuri River and land north of the Amur
River were ceded to Imperial Russia by the Treaty of Peking (1860).

Crises, Conflicts, and Catastrophes

China's internal troubles were further compounded by changes in the course of the Yellow River that
produced floods and famines. In addition, China's surging population created many social and economic
problems. Given these conditions, rebellion was imminent.

The Triads

The Triads ("Heaven and Earth Society") was a rebel group claimed to have been founded by Buddhist
monks. Its members became involved in commercial and criminal activities; Triad fraternal lodges provided
protection and were a hotbed for anti-Manchu ("restore the Ming") activities. Their anti-foreign attitude and
significant resistance to the British during the Opium War contributed to their popularity.

The Taipings

The greatest threat to the Ch'ing and the most momentous popular rebellion in the history of imperial China
was that of Hung Hsiu-ch'üan (Hong Xiuquan; 1814-1864), a Hakka ethnic minority and frustrated Confucian
scholar who fused radical social philosophy with Christianity. Hung believed himself to be the younger
brother of Jesus Christ (illustrating the growing missionary influence in China) who was charged to exorcise
demons from China. He and other disaffected Hakkas, who organized themselves as a "God Worshipping
Society", eventually identified evil with Manchu and Confucian rule. In September 1851 this growing rebel
force took the name "T'ai-p'ing t'ien-kuo" (Taiping tianguo), meaning "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace."
Hung began his pursuit of social and cultural revolution in addition to political insurrection. One of his rules
was that Taipings renounce all forms of corruption, including the smoking of opium. He also insisted that the
queue be shorn off the men, a symbolic protest of Chinese servility to the Manchus.

In 1853 the Taipings, with Hung as their king, took Nanking and ruled from there until 1864. The Taipings
believed that women should be allowed in their bureaucracy, that a new exam system should be enacted,
and that equal shares of land should be allocated to men and women. These changes were never
completely implemented because of military setbacks and internal fighting.

The Ch'ing especially relied upon the Confucian provincial gentry to battle the Taipings. Tseng Kuo-fan
(Zeng Guofan; 1811-1872), a traditional Confucian, mobilized a local army in Hunan. This force was aided
by the Anhui Army of Li Hung-chang (Hung-chang; 1823-1901), which benefited particularly from European
assistance after the treaties of 1860. An "Ever Victorious Army" led first by American Frederick T. Ward and
then by George "Chinese" Gordon also played an important role in the destruction of the Taipings. Soon
after Hung's death in 1864, Nanking fell to loyalist troops. The Ch'ing crushed the Nian in 1868 and Muslim
rebels by 1875.

"Self-Strengthening" the Ch'ing

From 1861 to 1895 the Ch'ing initiated efforts to restore its power and rebuild its internal strength.
Successful campaigns against the Taipings and other rebels heightened Confucian morale. Feng Kuei-fen
(Feng Guifen; 1809-1874) appealed to Ch'ing leaders to encourage learning about Western technology and
science. His ideas were accepted by Tseng Kuo-fan and Li Hung-chang. Prince Kung (Gong; 1833-1898),
who acted as a regent for the boy emperor T'ung-chih (Tongzhi; 1861-1874), promoted the formation of the
Tsungli (Zongli) Yamen, which acted as a foreign office and a language school. Students were sent overseas
and infant industry arose. These changes, however, were made within an ingrained Confucian context.
Therefore China, while attempting to follow in Japan's footsteps by radically reorganizing, only succeeded in
preserving a dynasty that operated on outdated principles inherited from the ancient Han Empire.

There were additional blows to China's "self-strengthening" plan. The growing Chinese resentment to the
presence of Christian missionaries exploded in an incident at Tientsin (Tianjin). French missionaries paid for
orphans and rumors circulated that the children were then hideously mutilated for body parts and buried. A
wave of public hysteria resulted in the death of the French consul and ten nuns in 1870. The incensed
French government desired retaliation, but it was occupied with the German invasion that resulted in the
Franco-Prussian War. Thus a confrontation was averted and a diplomatic solution found, however the event
ultimately signaled Chinese rejection of European intrusion. French incursions into Annam (Vietnam) led to
Chinese intervention on behalf of its tributary. Nevertheless, French naval assaults on Taiwan and Fu-chou
(Fuzhou) ended the brief Sino-French War (1884-85). Vietnam lost its independence and became part of
French Indochina, a humiliation to Ch'ing "self-strengthening."

The final blow to the Ch'ing was the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). Though a Chinese tributary, Japan
aggressively "opened" Korea in 1876. This was but another example of the deteriorating relations between
China and Japan, which included the Japanese attack on Taiwan (1874) and the annexation of the Ryuku
Islands (1879). For the next twenty years China and Japan vied for influence over the "Hermit Kingdom,"
then suffering from domestic instability due to the growing religio-political Tonghak ("Eastern Learning")
movement founded by Ch'oe Si-hyong (1824-64). The Tonghak played a significant role in a rebellion in
1894 that necessitated Chinese intervention to prop up the Yi dynasty. Japan also sent troops, which
aggressively seized the royal palace. War began in July/August and ended in March 1895 with Japan
pummeling China on both land and sea. The subsequent Treaty of Shimonoseki forced China to cede
Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liao-tung (Liaodong) Peninsula. Furthermore, China had to recognize
Korean "independence" as a Japanese "protectorate" and pay for damages.

European powers, especially Russia, forced Japan to give up the coveted Kwantung Peninsula and
escalated further encroachments on China. The possibility of a territorial scramble for China corresponding
to European and Japanese "spheres of influence" and concessions led to an American initiative in 1899-
1900 for an "Open Door." This meant that all countries should enjoy commercial equality while China
preserved its territorial integrity. There was remarkable compliance to the "Open Door" for two practical
reasons: (1) growing Chinese resentment of Europeans; and (2) the possibility of war between the
concessionaires (Russia and Japan would begin formal hostilities in 1905).

The Reform Movement of 1898

The Treaty of Shimonoseki dramatically demonstrated that "self-strengthening" had failed. Emperor
Kuang-hsu (Guanxu) invited K'ang Yu-wei (Youwei; 1858-1927) and Liang Ch'-ch'ao (Qichao; 1873-1929) to
implement reforms. K'ang, in particular, had reinterpreted Confucianism and his "new text" readings
reconciled the philosophy with change and modernization. For over one hundred days Kuang-hsu issued
edicts ranging from educational reform to military modernization. K'ang and Liang envisioned a Japanese-
styled constitutional monarchy. Such a radical change in Chinese politics was not acceptable to the
indomitable Dowager Empress Tz'u Hsi (Cixi; 1835-1908) who overthrew her nephew Kuang-hsu and placed
him under house arrest. K'ang and Liang were forced to flee. The empress then reverted to more traditional
Chinese policies.

The Boxer Rebellion (1900)

The "Righteous and Harmonious Fists" or Boxers, who received their name from their martial arts exercises,
was a group composed mostly of peasants from the Shantung region, then suffering from economic distress
and European encroachments. Their aim was to "overthrow the Ch'ing [and] destroy the foreigner." Boxer
terrorism, which included attacks on missionaries and the slaughter of thousands of Christians, received
official Ch'ing support. Because of this support, the Boxers quickly reworked their slogan to "support the
Ch'ing." In June 1900 the Boxers, with Ch'ing assistance, laid siege to foreign diplomats in Beijing. When the
foreign powers launched forces to aid their countrymen who were under attack, the Ch'ing declared war.
China, however, was not united in this effort: war was limited to the North and the Ch'ing military
participation was limited. When foreign troops entered Beijing the Ch'ing abandoned the Boxers. After the
attack, foreign nations issued the Boxer Protocol, which called for selective executions, Ch'ing
demilitarization, and an enormous outlay of funds for damages.

Imagining a New China

After the Boxer Protocol the Ch'ing pursued a limited program of modernization, reform, and
constitutionalism. The Empress Dowager's death in 1908 severely weakened the dynasty as military
commanders such as Yuan Shih-k'ai (Yuan Shikai; 1859-1916) had already began acting as provincial
warlords. Kuang-hsu died in prison and rule of China was taken over by its last emperor, two-year-old Pu-yi.
During this period a new generation of Chinese emerged, inspired by a variety of ideas and experiences
often gained while being educated in foreign countries. These new intellectual directions influenced China's
rapidly changing economy. Railroad building and industrialism, though foreign-financed, created new
opportunities for a young and growing middle class. Rising expectations, especially national aspirations,
would lead finally to revolution.

The Revolution of 1911

The immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the Ch'ing was the government's decision to
nationalize a railway line in Szechuan (Sichuan) through the use of foreign funds. Provincial investors were
not satisfied with what the government offered and Nationalists despised the Empire's reliance on foreign
monies. An insurrection on October 10, 1911 led to the collapse of Ch'ing administrative authority.

Yuan Shih-k'ai, a powerful military commander, was asked by the Ch'ing to restore order. He did so by
advising that the boy emperor Pu-yi (1905-1967) abdicate. This was done on February 12, 1912, ending
over two millennia of imperial tradition. China was declared a republic with Sun Yat-sen as its president.
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925)

Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Nationalist Revolution, was born near Canton and lived with a brother in
Hawaii, where he received a mission school education and was inspired by ideas of a democratic republic.
He later attended medical school in Hong Kong. Sun devoted himself to organizing a number of secret
organizations and societies, the most important being the umbrella-like Revolutionary Alliance. He became
convinced that the Ch'ing should be overthrown. Motivated both by necessity and the need to receive
material support from the overseas Chinese, Sun traveled to Japan, the United States, and Europe. He
essentially supported nationalism and republicanism; losing faith in democracy, Sun foresaw a strong central
revolutionary government that would bring about mandatory democratization. He stood for the "Three
People's Principles": People's Nationalism, People's Democracy, and People's Livelihood (not necessarily
Marxist or socialist, but based on a more equitable distribution of taxes and food).

Yuan-Shikai eventually succeeded Sun as president of the Nationalist Party. Backed by a strong military
presence, Yuan continued to rule as dictator until his death in 1916. The civil war that erupted during Yuan's
rule resulted in ultimate chaos and passed China into the hands of warlords who continued to vie for control.

FURTHER READINGS

• Dietrich, Craig. People's China: A Brief History. Oxford University Press, 1986.
• Fitzgerald, C. P. China: A Short Cultural History. Westview Press, 1985.
• Gernet, Jacques. China: A New History. Harvard University Press, 1992.
• Hook, Brian, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China. Cambridge University Press,
1991.
• Latourette, Kenneth Scott. The Chinese: Their History and Culture. Macmillan, 1965.
• Morton, W. Scott. China: Its History and Culture. McGraw-Hill, 1982.
• Murphey, Rhoads. A History of Asia. HarperCollins, 1992.
• Rius, Eduardo del Rio. Mao for Beginners. Pantheon, 1980.
• Schirokauer, Conrad. A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilization. Harcourt,
1989.
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Gate of Heavenly Peace. Penguin, 1982.
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. W. W. Norton, 1990.