Download China After the Taiping

#3 - World History: China After the Taiping (1864-1912)
1. Efforts At Reform
a. By 1850 there were roughly 430 million Chinese. Although tens of millions died in the internal
upheavals of the 19th century and in periodic famines that gripped the country the pressures on the
land were unrelenting.
b. Many hundreds of thousands of Chinese moved abroad to Latin America, Southeast Asia and the
United States. The Qing government did little to modernize, while a frightened and formerly
isolationist Japan made sweeping changes that are referred to as Meiji Restoration.
c. The Japanese adopted western ways. They created a modern army and navy, that was armed with
repeating rifles and steel ships. Resource poor, Japan began to look at China with predatory interest
seeing Taiwan and Korea as potential targets to satisfy their growing need for natural resources.
d. China was governed by a quick witted and calculating Empress named Cixi. She was concerned
mainly with perpetuating her reign. China languished and moved slowly towards modernization.
Japan was an express locomotive by contrast.
e. In 1894 China would pay a terrible price for its foot-dragging in the process of modernization.
2. The Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895)
a. A brief war between industrialized Japan and agricultural China was fought in 1894. China
suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of a tiny nation that had been a member of its
Tribute Empire for more than 200 years.
b. The treaty that ended the war resulted in Japan’s control of both Korea and Taiwan. Japan also
demanded the right of extra-territoriality.
3. One Hundred Days of Reform (1898)
a. China had a new emperor. His name was Guagnxu. He lasted 100 days. He tried to institute
reforms of China’s military, its education system and government.
b. Cixi reclaimed the Forbidden City. The governmental bureaucracy, threatened by the
young emperor, rushed to support her.
c. The emperor was placed under house arrest, leading reformers were executed and old,
failed status quo again became the norm.
d. China’s desperate nationalists, humbled by Japan and threatened by the Europeans and
Americans, turned to the mystical thought of the Society of Righteous and Harmonious
Fists – the Boxers.
4. The Boxer Rebellion of 1900
a. The American government was a late arrival to the exploitation of China. U.S diplomats
proposed an “Open Door Policy” that would allow nations to trade throughout China.
b. The continued influx of foreigners and the inability of China’s corrupt Qing/Manchu dynasty
to protect the Chinese people and restore China’s strength created desperation.
c. Desperation led to the rise of the Boxers, Chinese nationalists who hoped to eradicate the
Western presence and influence.
d. In 1900 the Boxers killed hundreds of foreigners and thousands of Chinese Christians. They
besieged the foreign quarter of Beijing during the summer. An international army arrived and
crushed the Chinese nationalists.
5. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905
a. China’s continued weakness led Russia and Japan to compete for control of resource rich
Manchuria. Japan’s growing industrial needs and population led its leaders to make a bold and
aggressive gamble. In February of 1904, the Japanese navy made a surprise attack on Port
Arthur and succeeded in destroying Russia’s Far Eastern fleet.
b. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers attacked and drove the Russian forces back. A
second Russian fleet steamed around the world from the Baltic Sea. It was destroyed by Japan
at the Battle of Tsushima.
c. President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated a peace treaty that ended the war. Japan began an
occupation of Manchuria that would not end until 1945.
6. Sun Yat Sen
a. Founded the Nationalist Party. He wanted a democratic China with an elected president. He
promised, like Hung Xiuchuan had, to redistribute land to the peasants. He hoped to rid China of
the Unequal treaties.
b. In late 1911 the Manchu/Qing dynasty began to crumble. It was abandoned by the army and Sun
became China’s president. His presidency only lasted a few months.
c. When he fell from power, China again divided into separate states. Warlords rose to power and
two gigantic figures emerged: Chiang Kai-Shek, an army officer who became the new leader of the
Nationalist Party and his nemesis, the Communist leader, Mao Tse-Tung.
d. These men would fight a civil war from 1927 until 1949. Their war continued through World War
II and ended in victory for Mao. Chiang and his forces retreated to the island of Taiwan.
NAME: _______________________________
PERIOD:____
#3 - World History: China after Taiping 1864-1912
1.
What happened to tens of millions of Chinese citizens in the 1850s?
2.
The Qing did little to ____________________________.
3.
What are some western ideas the Japanese adopted?
4.
Why was Japan interested in China?
5.
What would China pay a terrible price for by 1894?
6.
Why was China especially humiliated in 1894?
7.
What did Emperor Guagnxu do for China?
8.
What did the Empress Cixi do to prevent reform? (2 examples)
9.
Who were the “Boxers”?
10.
In 1900, what did the Boxers do?
11.
In the early 1900s, what were Japan and Russia competing for?
12.
Who negotiated a peace treaty for the Russo-Japanese War and would win a Nobel Peace Prize
for his efforts?
13.
Who founded the Chinese Nationalist Party and will be its first president?
14.
Who were the two figures who rose to power after Sun Yat Sen and what parties did they
represent?
15.
Where did Chiang Kai Shek set up a government?