Transcript Opium War-Imperialism Notes

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China had reluctant contact with European
nations around 1600s-1800s
China’s government assumed they were
stronger than Europe---TRUE?
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?Think way back to Age of Exploration? Who
was superior?
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Britain desperately wanted to trade with China
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Did China need anything?
What was one item Britain was getting from India
that the Chinese could be interested in?
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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.
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In the late 1700’s British merchants began
importing the drug opium
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By 1835, 12 million Chinese were addicted to the
drug.
The Qing emperor ordered Queen Victoria to
stop selling Opium to Chinese.
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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.
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-Lin Zexu
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In this quote what is Lin stating?
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Britain refused to stop selling opium
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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!
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The Opium War (1839-1842)
China was surprised by Britain’s strength
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China badly beat
Treaty of Nanjing (1842)
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U.S. & Other foreign citizens gained
extraterritorial rights- foreigners were not subject
to Chinese law.
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Foreign countries start to divide China up for
themselves.
How would
the
Chinese
react to
this?
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Taiping RebellionLate 1830’s
 Led by Hong Xiuquan
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Boxer Rebellion
1900
 Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists
(Hardcore Chinese Men & Women- Used
martial arts)
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 Red Shining Lanterns ( All female boxer group)
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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