Download Imperial China

Imperial China
221 B.C. – 1911 A.D.
China before Qin Dynasty
• The “Yellow Emperor”
• Xia and Shang Dynasties
– 2070 B.C. - 1046 B.C.
• Zhou Dynasty
– 1046 B.C. - 256 B.C.
• “Spring and Autumn” period
– 770 B.C. - 476 B.C.
Confucius
• born in 551 B.C.
• died in 479 B.C.
In China Today
Confucianism
• Concerned primarily with restoring social
stability and order
• a system of social and ethical philosophy
• li
– rituals, norms, institutions, or mores
• ren
– humaneness, kindness, benevolence, or
virtue
Five Relationships
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father-child
ruler-subject
husband-wife
elder brother-younger brother
friend-friend
Qin Dynasty
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221 B.C. - 206 B.C.
Qin Shi Huangdi
unified China
built a centralized bureaucratic apparatus
– prefectures and counties
• persecuted Confucianism
• Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.)
promoted Confucianism as state ideology
Civil Service Exam System
• 605 A.D. to 1905 A.D.
• composition based on Confucian classics
Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)
China’s Tributary System
• Traditional system for managing foreign
relations
• The ``Middle Kingdom” worldview
• Ming dynasty had the most extensive
tributary system
– tributes from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast
Asia, and even West Asia and Africa
Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912)
• Ming dynasty fell in 1644 amid peasant
uprisings and Manchu invasion
• Manchu and Han Chinese
Ming and Qing Emperors
Mandate of Heaven
Western invasions (1839-1900)
• Opium War (1839 - 1842)
• The Second Opium War (1856 - 1860)
• Russia’s territorial gains
– Northeast China (1858 - 1860)
– Northwest China (1881 - 1884)
• Sino-French War (1883 - 1885)
• Sino-Japanese War (1894 - 95)
• 8-nation forces (1900)
The Treaty System
• large amount of indemnity
• dozens of treaty ports open to foreign
– trade
– gunboats
– missionaries
• territorial losses
• tariffs
Weakness fully exposed
• Sino-Japanese War of 1894 - 1895
– Chinese navy destroyed
– Taiwan ceded to Japan
– large indemnity
– most-favored-nation
– more treaty ports
– Korea
• start of Japanese empire
The scramble for concessions
The scramble for answers
• radicalization of domestic politics
• the “Hundred Days of Reform” in 1898
– ambitious reform program
• examination system
• bureaucracy
• modernization
– suppressed by conservatives in Qing court
• reformist leaders fled to Japan
The Boxer Uprising in 1900
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Peasants in Northern China
support from high officials of Qing court
destruction of anything foreign
siege of the legation quarter in Beijing
8-nation forces invaded Beijing
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Harsh settlement
station troops in Beijing
huge indemnity
Russian troops in
Manchuria
– until 1905
Imperialism in China
Radicalization of politics
status quo
modern monarchy
Qing court
Peasants
Reformers
Revolutionaries
republic
pre-1841 China
Marxism?
nationalism?
Legacies of Imperial Era
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enormous size
ideological and moral commitment
strong personal leadership at the apex
nationwide governing bureaucracies
– merit-based civil service exam system
– combination of executive and judicial power
• low status of merchants
• culturalism (civilization) v. nationalism