Transcript China - Mr. Weiss - Honors World History

DO NOW:
Describe what you see in this
picture. What is the time
period?
What does this picture say
about the relationship between
Chinese and Europeans?
In the 1300s, the Chinese Empire was ruled by Mongols such as
Kublai Khan.
Scholar
-Gentry
Farmers
Artisans
Merchants
In 1368, native
Chinese overthrew
the Mongols and
established the
Ming Dynasty.
The Ming returned
to traditional
Chinese,
Confucian culture,
dividing society
into 4 classes.
The Ming wanted to rid
China of foreign influences.
They discouraged trade
with foreigners and
strengthened the Great
Wall, to keep northern
tribes out.
But in 1644, the Manchus swept south and conquered Beijing,
overthrowing the Ming Dynasty and founding the Qing Dynasty.
Under the Qing
Dynasty, China
experienced an
agricultural
revolution and
population
explosion.
The Population
Explosion created
the same problems
that had plagued in
Europe: hunger,
unemployment and
political discontent.
But the biggest
problems came later.
Under the Qing Dynasty,
China agreed to more trade
with the West.
The British had a huge
demand for Eastern products,
such as silk and tea.
However, the Chinese had
very little demand for
European manufactured
goods and textiles, which
were regarded as inferior.
The Chinese would only
accept hard currency, silver
and gold, in exchange for silk
and tea.
The English were truly addicted to tea, and the outflow of gold and
silver frightened mercantilists in the government. They had to find
something the Chinese wanted as badly as the English wanted tea to
restore a favorable balance of trade.
What they found was opium, which the British East India Company
grew in India. Millions of Chinese became hopelessly addicted to the
drug.
Commissioner Lin complained to
Queen Victoria:
“Let us suppose that foreigners
come from another country and
brought opium into England, and
seduced the people of your country
to smoke it. Would not you …look
upon such a procedure with anger?
Now we have always heard that
your Highness possesses a most
kind and benevolent heart. Surely
then you are incapable of doing or
causing to be done unto another
that which you would not wish to be
done unto you.”
But the British refused to stop selling opium. They claimed free trade
laissez faire, that no government should get involved with business
interests. When the Chinese tried to outlaw the opium trade, the
English kept smuggling the drug into the country, leading to the Opium
Wars from 1839-1842.
The Opium War was
ended by the Treaty of
Nanking, which ceded
Hong Kong to the United
Kingdom and opened five
ports to trade with the
British.
The treaty also allowed
foreigners to by governed
and judged only by the
laws of their own country.
Known as
extraterritoriality, this
practice humiliated the
Chinese.
By 1910,
numerous
powers had
spheres of
influence in
China.
What effect
do you
believe this
state of
affairs had
on the
Chinese
people?
A Nationalist Revolt