A Brief Modern Chinese History

The Treaty of Nanjing and Its Aftermath

Once the British discovered that Qing was going to confiscate the British smugglers’ opium, the Anglo-American capitalists and groups with an interest in opium began to rise up against China. On October 1, 1839, Queen Victoria in Britain decided to send troops to China. Five months later, George Elliot, a naval officer, was appointed to lead the invading British forces. More than forty British warships and four thousand British men-at-arms entered Chinese waters south of Macao. The British war of aggression against China had begun. After failing to capture Guangzhou due to strong resistance from Qing’s army, the British headed north. In July, British troops attacked Dinghai in Zhejiang and, in August, arrived at Dagukou, Tianjin, the gateway to Beijing, continuing their attempt to force Qing into submission. At this time, Emperor Daoguang’s resolution to combat opium began to falter. He sent Qishan, a leading imperial official and the Governor of Zhili, to negotiate with the British. Qishan made a promise that the imperial court would punish the hardline anti-opium officials such as Lin Zexu. Convinced by Qishan, the British withdrew to Guangdong. The Qing government then immediately removed Lin and Deng Tingzhen from office and appointed Qishan as the Imperial Envoy to further negotiate with the British. Despite Qishan almost submitting to the British demands, British troops unexpectedly occupied Qing’s two strategic garrisons at the estuary of the Pearl River. Without the imperial court’s consent, the frightened Qishan agreed to cede Hong Kong to Britain, paying six million silver dollars for the losses suffered by opium traders, and to open Guangzhou to foreigners. The first phase of the Opium War ended with Britain’s capture of Hong Kong.

Qing declared war against Britain. Yishan, a high general in the royal family, was sent to Guangzhou. However, before he arrived, British troops seized garrisons in Hu’men and southern Guangzhou. After trying to fight against the British in May, 1841, Yishan and his army withdrew to the inner city of Guangzhou. Yishan then signed an agreement with the British and a ransom of six million silver dollars was paid for the complete withdrawal of Qing troops. marking the end of the second phase of the Opium War. Britain, however, was insatiable and sent more troops, led by Henry Pottinger, to China. In August, 1841, the reinforcements reached the South Sea and then captured Xiamen, Dinghai, Zhenhai and Ningbo. One year later, British warships entered the waters of the Yangtze River near Nanjing. Qiying, one of Qing’s top generals, was commissioned to launch peace talks with the British. On August 29, 1842, the Treaty of Nanjing was signed on board HMS Cornwallis signalling the end of the Opium War.

In October of 1843, China and Britain signed the Hu’men Treaty. The United States and France then later coerced Qing into signing the Wangxia Treaty and Huangpu Treaty. The result was that China was drawn into the British colonial system. The British gained huge profits from colonizing China, which included the cession of Hong Kong to the British empire; 21,000,000 silver dollars; five treaty ports (providing the justification for foreign settlements); direct interference in Chinese customs; extraterritorial jurisdiction; the right to navigate in China’s waters; unilateral most-favored-nation treatment; freedom to carry out missionary work (in treaty ports); and so on. The Western powers had made their way into China, pushing China into an abyss of semi-colonialism and semi-feudalism.

The Chinese Intellectuals’ Reaction and Solution

It is inconceivable that, even though Qing lost the war and signed a treaty, Emperor Daoguang was unaware of Britain. Therein lay the shortsightedness of Qing’s ruling elites. However, some officials, scholars and thinkers began to rewrite history and find feasible solutions for what had taken place in China. Take Lin Zexu, for example. He traveled to Guangzhou, where he would lead the work combating the opium trade, though he did not have much knowledge about the world. When he arrived in Guangzhou, he tried to gain more knowledge about the West. He set up a translation office, where information about the West and China was translated into readable Chinese. Some of the informative journals included Selected Reports of Macao Newspapers (澳门新闻报), Reports on China (华事译言), Foreign Laws (各国律例), Reports on the World (洋事杂录), The World (四洲志). Once equipped with sufficient information, Lin successfully launched a campaign against the Anglo-American opium traffickers. Furthermore, Lin and Qing’s generals strengthened Guangdong’s war preparedness. It is worth mentioning that Lin was the earliest prominent scholar-official who tried to understand the law of nations in China. For this reason, Fan Wenlan, an eminent Marxist historian, praised Lin for being the first Chinese to understand the non-Chinese world in a global context.17 In his campaign against the opium trade, Lin did not suggest that trade be stopped between China and other countries. He recommended that China study the advantages of foreign countries while fighting against their aggression. He argued that dealing with Britain depended on sophisticated weapons, superb skills, unbroken courage and significant effort.18 This laid the basis for Lin’s programs of manufacturing guns and ships and mobilizing the masses of the people.

One consequence of the Opium War was that Chinese elites felt it necessary to begin to study the nature of the changing world around them. Take Yao Ying 姚莹, for example. During the war, Yao superintended Taiwan and attacked British troops. Before the outbreak of the war, Yao began collecting foreign books and began to learn about the Western powers as well as other countries in Asia and religions such as Lamaism and Catholicism. Once the war ended, he continued to look for more effective methods of fighting against foreign invaders. For this reason, he correctly predicted that the British were bound to cast their covetous eyes on Tibet once they had finished annexing India and suggested that Qing strengthen border defenses as much as possible.

Yao argued that if China wanted to improve its image, then it was necessary for its leaders to have a better understanding of the world. He argued that the community of educated Chinese was shortsighted and ignorant and their actions caused harm to the country.

Lin Zexu left The Encyclopedia of Geography to Wei Yuan, one of Xu’s friends, after being removed from office. Liang Qichao, a renowned thinker-politician, said it was the precursor of modern Chinese geography.19 This book, which was based on Hugh Murray’s An Encyclopedia of Geography, came out in 1841. More than thirty countries including Britain, France and the United States were briefly discussed in The Encyclopedia of Geography. The book was comprised of history, geography, politics, religions, customs, culture, education, industry, foreign trade and international relations. The goal of The World was to find ways to resist colonial empires by fully understanding them. The World essentially aimed to gain a more global knowledge of history and geography and serve as a window through which the Chinese could see the world.

Wei Yuan, a scholar-official who supported the war against the British, created the Illustrated Treatise of Maritime Kingdoms on the basis of Lin Zexu’s The World. Readers of Wei’s monograph could find information about the history, geography, science, military affairs and social life of people in the five continents. Wei’s book was one of the earliest writings introducing the Chinese to the world. Wei made it very clear from the beginning that this book would be able to help the Chinese more effectively resist foreign aggressors by comprehensively understanding them.20 In the first chapter he emphasized the importance of studying the strong points of the colonialists.21 Wei criticized the conservatives in power, saying that when fighting against the enemy they should not refuse to study the enemy’s good points nor should they make no attempt to thoroughly understand the enemy. Wei argued that in order to successfully resist the invaders, China must follow the West’s example of promoting economic and military growth. He proposed detailed plans for how this could be achieved.22 Wei was especially critical of those who regarded foreign invaders as simply diabolic and wicked, arguing that they were ignorant of the importance of learning from others.23 Apart from his aim of improving China’s military prowess, Wei repeatedly sang the praises of the people’s successful resistance against the British troops in Sanyuanli, Guangdong24 and concluded that, thanks to Sanyuanli’s success, it became clear that the foreign invaders were not unbeatable. Wei’s Treatise later influenced Japan’s Meiji Restoration. The fifty-volume Treatise was printed in 1843; nine years later a hundred-volume edition was published.

Like Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan, Xu Jiyu 徐继畲, a high official of Fujian, tried to bring China into the modern world and was intent on collecting writings related to the West. He completed the ten-volume World Geography: A Concise Introduction (瀛环志略) published in 1849. In this book Xu discussed the geographic positions, historical changes, economico-cultural characteristics and local customs and practices of other countries, in particular the Western countries. This book became known to the Chinese for its rich contents and perfect narratives.

However, it must be pointed out that the (First) Opium War did not completely succeed in bringing changes to the old Chinese dynasty. It is said that the Emperor Daoguang still did not know where Britain was located despite his government signing the Treaty of Nanjing. The efforts made by men such as Wei Yuan and Xu Jiyu to bring China into the modern world did not have a great effect on the Chinese government.

Social Changes in Post-War China

In addition to seriously damaging China’s sovereignty, the unequal treaties signed during the Opium War brought about deep changes in the country’s social economy. Drastic changes were obvious even in the everyday life of the Chinese. First, the five treaty ports, Guangzhou (Canton), Xiamen (Amoy), Fuzhou, Shanghai and Ningbo were located on the southeast coast of China. These ports witnessed great economic prosperity. Of these, Shanghai experienced some of the most dramatic changes. Shanghai was geographically larger than Fuzhou and Ningbo, both of which had slower economic growth. Xiamen was renowned for its trade with Taiwan and the countries in Southeast Asia; however, it was not an ideal commercial hub in the eyes of Western traders. Shanghai was the most popular because it was known for its convenience and also for its proximity to the provinces that sold the best silk and tea. From the mid-1850s, Shanghai accounted for over half of China’s international trade. For these reasons, the Western powers turned their attention to Shanghai in the wake of the Opium War. As a consequence, Guangzhou, which had been China’s center of foreign trade for quite a long time, was replaced by Shanghai.

The British Consul in Shanghai seized a piece of land and turned it into a quarter for the British, marking the beginning of the concession of Chinese land. Soon, France and the United States forced Qing’s government in Shanghai to sign a land lease agreement. Not long afterward, leased territory could be found in all treaty ports. At first, the Chinese government was given the right to intervene in the administrative and legal affairs on the leased land. However, the Western powers later excluded the Chinese authorities and made the land administratively and legally independent of China. The treaty ports on these lands then served as the bases for foreign powers to invade China. Within these territories, foreign companies allowed international trade as well as opium smugglers and human traffickers. Frederick Engels commented in an editorial for an American newspaper that the colonizers retained “not a little of the old plundering buccaneering spirit which distinguished our common ancestors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.”25 Even the British Consul in Shanghai acknowledged that some foreigners in the colonized territories were “offscum of the European nations.”26

The Anglo-American capitalists were overjoyed that five ports had been created in the colonized territories after the war. The commander of the British forces complacently said he had opened a new world to British traders. He bragged to businessmen about how large the Chinese market was and how the entire production of all of Lancashire’s textile mills could not meet a single Chinese province’s demand. Some businessmen even dreamed that if one Chinese purchased one nightcap a year all of the manufacturers in the whole of England must produce at full throttle. Thus, the British traders shipped a huge amount of cotton textiles and manufactured goods, including tableware such as knives and forks that was rarely used by the Chinese.

Soon China was overflowing with British goods, which were overstocked in China, and, in 1846, the import of English goods began to decrease. Additionally, the low price of British textiles dealt a fatal blow to the traditional Chinese handicraft market. An increasing number of wealthy Chinese preferred to purchase foreign (machine-woven) cloth. In 1855, the total value of goods imported from Britain began to increase again while the traditional household textiles produced on the southeast coast of China began to decline sharply. Consequently, traditional Chinese handwoven cloth from these regions gradually began to disappear.

Opium smuggling was still being used by Western powers to economically exploit China. Of all the Anglo-American merchants seeking money in China, most were engaged in drug smuggling. Due to its failure in the First Opium War, the Qing government chose to remain silent about the opium smuggling. The Anglo-American drug traffickers, disguised as traders, took advantage of the situation. The smugglers expanded their operations northward from Guangzhou to Fengtian (present-day Liaoning). The amount of opium smuggled into China significantly increased each year. In 1843, it was approximately 43,000 chests; in 1855, more than 78,000 chests.27 In terms of market value, it was an increase from 10,000,000 silver dollars to 30,000,000. Qing’s problem of outflow of silver thus seriously worsened. China’s monetary system was inevitably affected. In 1838, one tael of silver was worth 1,600 coppers; four years later, 1,700; and, in 1849, 2,350. This posed a serious threat to China’s state finances and the everyday life of the Chinese.

During this time, the Chinese people tried their best to resist the colonialists. After the war, they grew increasingly patriotic. Xueshe (literally, study societies) played quite a significant role in mobilizing local residents to resist the British invaders. In March, 1847, the British launched a surprise attack on Hu’men, attempting to take the city of Guangzhou. Xueshe sent all able-bodied men to fight against them, forcing the British to retreat. Two years later, the (third) Governor of Hong Kong led some British troops in an attempt to enter into Guangzhou. Xueshe mobilized 100,000 residents to lie in wait for the enemy and forced the British back to Hong Kong.

The existing contradictions between social classes, and between bureaucrats and the people, in particular, were exacerbated by Qing’s failure in the Opium War. China’s last feudal dynasty was failing and even honest officials were unable to restore Qing’s government, to say nothing of the corrupt ones. To make matters worse, many officials in local governments intensified their ruthless exploitation of the common people and plunged poor peasants into despair. Consequently, the relationship between the government and the people deteriorated. In 1843, Qiying, one of the highest Qing governors, said, in one of his memoranda, that the government and the people might as well as have been enemies.28 By the 1850s, one of the best-known secret anti-Qing societies, Tian DiHui accused Qing officials of being more vicious and more ferocious than robbers and beasts, and promised to rescue the woe-struck people by eliminating all of the evil bureaucrats.29

Rebellions against Qing became increasingly fierce. In the south, China’s major rice-producing area, many refused to pay rent or grain levies. Such was the case in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, both of which were renowned for their high production of rice and served as one of the main sources of Qing’s revenue. Tenant farmers frequently stood up to oppose the high rents and levies. Struggles against the payment of levies particularly attracted those from the middle and lower echelons of rural society. A small number of landowners and educated men also played a significant role in organizing struggles. For example, in 1842, a wealthy man renowned for his philanthropic acts, led an anti-levy campaign in Hubei which developed into a rebellion against Qing. Two years later, another struggle against exorbitant grain levies emerged in Jiayi (in Taiwan) and Leiyang (in Hunan). Soon afterward, similar campaigns and struggles took place in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Jiangxi.

The Qing government’s tough measures to crack down on the anti-rent/levy campaigns resulted in more armed rebellions. Some secret societies such as Tiandihui, or the Society of Heaven and Earth, became active in the south. Tiandihui’s counterpart in the north was Bailianjiao (the White Lotus Society), which had been almost entirely destroyed after the huge rebellions it instigated in several provinces. Tiandihui, however, continued to grow and became the largest and most powerful secret society in China. It aspired to restore the fallen Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and bring justice for the poor. In the first decade after the Opium War, Tiandihui reached into the provinces in the far south. According to some statistics, there were ten or so armed rebellions led by Tiandihui each year in the early Jiaqing reign (1796–1820). Late in the Daoguang reign (1820–1850) there were up to one hundred a year. Many of these rebellions were staged in the neighboring provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hunan. The Qing government had no alternative but to invest much energy in repression. The result was a further decline in the economy and China gradually sank into a state of semi-colonialism and feudalism. It was against this backdrop of a desperate China that the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) broke out.