The Fall of the Qing Dynasty - Essay Example

The fall of the Qing Dynasty The Manzu Dynasty ruled china since 1644AD with a firm hand. The Qing dynasty managed to break through territorial barriers on the northwestern frontier of china. The dynasty had strong commercial, technical, and symbolic resources and enjoyed benefits from Russia. Qing enjoyed territorial consolidation that was visible in Russia’s movement in Asia. During this time, china had advanced technology and commercial economy through its access to markets over the sea and land. This access fostered technological development, industrialization and increased long-distance trade. These activities drew European countries that were exceedingly eager to connect with the wealthy China that ruled the continent and the seas. However, several factors arose in the 1800s that made the dynasty lose its global economic leadership. The country was hit by social turmoil, economic fracturing, and European imperialism. In this paper, I will outline the factors that made the Qing Empire collapse. Supremacy of the Qing Dynasty Qing dynasty was one of the greatest empires during the early-modern period. It existed at the same period with other empires such as Mugal Empire, ottoman, Austria-Hungary, and Russian empire (Ma, 30). The Qing Empire was the first to fall among the superior empires at the time. The empire was beset by a struggle between westerners and traditionalists during the nineteenth century. The modernizing party introduced nationalism in china as it did in Russia and Turkey. The party argued that imperialism was obsolete and obstructed the national sensibility of the majorities. The concept of nationalism had been drawn from the historical output, legal structure, and the educational system. Han Chinese, Mongols, Manchus, and Tibetans drew upon the imperial legacy to establish clear ideas of their language, religions, and aristocratic traditions (Ma, 31). This strengthened the nationalist idealism that championed for equal representation of the majority in the dynasty. This opened the avenue for encroachment by western countries. Imperial encroachment and nationalistic movements were significant in weakening the unity of the empire even before the Chinese revolt broke out in October 1911 (Ma, 35). The Qing Empire had suffered a dramatic loss of some of its territory to imperial powers. One of the losses was the Qing northern pacific coast that ceded to Russia through a treaty in 1860. The region is currently known as the Russian maritime province. Russia ceased another part of the Qing Empire in 1871 when it took over East Turkestan. Tibet followed suit when it was invaded by Britain in 1904. Britain and Tibet signed a short lived treaty and Qing paid indemnity to Britain in 1906. This brought an international consensus that forbade Britain and Tibet from signing treaties directly. However, Britain continues with their support for Tibet nationalists, which led to the 1906 Tibet independence. Mongolia followed suit and became independent in 1921 putting an end to the Outer Mongolia region of the Qing Empire. China’s civil war in the nineteenth century is not sufficiently treated as modern warfare compared to the American civil war or the Indian rebellion of 1857 (Ma, 40). The Taiping war of 1850-1864 was the bloodiest conflict during the revolution and remains to be the bloodiest conflict in history. The war caused fatalities of between 25 to 40 million people and the majorities were civilians. There were months of siege war and starvation was used as a weapon on both sides. The Taiping created a base and a bureaucratic government at Nanjing, an area that experienced the longest siege. Europe and America were attracted to the conflict due to the proclaimed Christianity by Taiping. However, the Qing Empire was economically stable, and western powers opted to support them against Taiping by providing military support. Contribution of foreign Nations Western powers sent troops and mercenaries to Qing Empire to suppress the Taiping. By 1860, several British and French forces were fighting alongside Qing soldiers and were later joined by American and European advisors (Ma, 42). Well known mercenaries such as Charles Gordon, Fredrick Townsend and Henry Burgevine were among European troops fighting in the Taiping war. This war was part of the transition to modern warfare for Chinese territories. Foreign troops provided machine guns, cable communication, grenades, and railroads to the Qing government as support to the imperial troops (Ma, 44). However, some portions of the weapon supplies were captured by the Taiping rebels. These weapons changed the mode warfare in the region even after the war ended. Taiping rebels began advancing to regain the lost territory and the imperial government allowed regional governors to raise, train, arm, and deploy their own armies. Some of the regional armies were not disarmed, and some governors developed an interest in technological warfare. These governors expanded their military units and the growth of regional armies was instrumental in destroying the Qing Empire. Following the defeat of china in the Opium war and the western assistance in the Taiping war, the Qing Dynasty had limited strategies for stopping European encroachment. Foreign territories signed treaty ports that opened key seaports to access by foreigners (Ma, 44). European countries, America, and japan gained access to the territory, which reduced Qing’s control over trade. Britain and other country gained access to the country and began opium trade in China, which weakened the Dynasty financially and morally. Citizens became addicted by the cheap opium supplies, which affected their productivity. Foreign countries also gained control over customs services and determined the income and export taxes for trade commodities. This was profitable for the emperor but weakened the economic superiority for the dynasty. Continued encroachment weakened the empires control over trade and administrative activities. Foreign embassies were established in the territory, and the emperor could not ignore or dismiss foreign diplomats. European citizens accused of crime could not undergo trial in Chinese courts and had to wait for court trials in their national countries. Missionaries also intruded the country, which weakened the religious system of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism (Ma, 48). The missionaries criticized traditional forms of worship and were able to convert several locals through the provision of relief food. Major cities under foreign control had concessions where foreigners established their own police patrol, horse racing tracks, night clubs, and tennis courts. This created islands of foreign territories within the Qing dynasty where the emperor lacked control. Local residents were drawn to these concessions as they commonly referred to them as paradise adventurers. This contributed to the loss of control for the general population by the emperor and other leaders of the imperial government. Foreign nations established trading monopolies in certain areas within the region. France gained control over the south-western region, and Germany grasped Shandong region (Ma, 55). Japan grabbed Taiwan and sections of Manchuria, and Russia took control of the area north of Amur River. Britain took control over Hong Kong, and Portugal was in control over Macao (Ma, 56). These countries built railway lines that ran through the provinces for trading purposes. Regional governors as well as local residents were against these constructions and occasionally blocked the transport systems. The imperial government lost favor with the locals especially merchants who lost trade monopoly. The merchants and other residents switched their support from the empire to the foreign nations controlling their areas of operation as a strategy of reviving trade activities. Some of the locals were influenced by western ideologies that made it easy to form and participate in revolutions against dynasty rule. Ideological struggles in the empire The defeat of the empire in the wars and the western intrusion made it difficult for the emperor to resisting the established ideologies. Several leaders viewed western intrusion as an opportunity to develop and reform China as had happened in Japan (Ma, 60). This led to the birth of the Self-Strengthening Movement that led to the rise of the modern country. The movement happened in three phases between 1861 and 1895. The first phase occurred between 1861 and 1872 concentrated on acquiring firearms, machinery, scientific knowledge and technical training. The participants were able to acquire knowledge at home and overseas. The second phase occurred between 1872 and 1885 and concentrated on creating wealth through mining, shipping, and telegraphs services. The third period occurred between 1885 and 1895 which dealt with the establishment of light industries such as textiles. These movements empowered the local people who began opposing the empire system of governance that had little representation of the local majorities. Some of the leaders in the movement were governors who had participated in the Taiping rebellion. They had the conviction of modern weaponry, and they had the vision of steering china towards modernization. Kang Youwei was a scholar who wanted radical reforms similar to what had happened in japan (Ma, 66). He repeatedly petitioned the emperor who was impressed by his reform agenda and wanted to establish reforms in line with western ideologies and modernization. The education system was reformed, and Beijing University was established. Schools were established, and western subjects were introduced. The civil service was streamlined following an overhaul of the political system, and the legal codes were simplified (Ma, 67). Industrialization was reformed along western lines following the construction of railway lines. These reforms were instrumental in changing the governance system in the empire and altering the Qing empire leadership. The final blow to the Qing Empire was in 1900 when the Boxer rebellion started. Boxers stormed Beijing and attacked foreign legations that were guarded by outnumbered soldiers (Ma, 75). The emperor sent imperial soldiers to support the boxers, due the perceived betrayal by foreign rulers. However, some regional governors were opposed to the boxer rebellion and suppressed the followers in the provinces. In august 1900, an international force was deployed to Beijing and suppressed the boxers (Ma, 78). The forces further entrenched the imperial government and tarnished the dynasty’s image. The emperor was force to flee Beijing and headed for Xi’an to escape the vengeance of the foreigners. Foreign nations together with representatives from Chinese territories held negotiations that led to the Boxer Protocol of September 1901. The protocol introduced reforms in the territory and punished the participant of the boxer movement. These reforms ended the reign of the emperor and subsequently led to the fall of the Qing Empire. Conclusion The Qing Empire had established itself as a powerful economic empire in the Asian region. The empire participated in foreign trade with foreign nations. The Taiping war drew support for the empire as foreign nations wanted to protect the region in exchange for trading activities. France, Russia, Japan, and America sent troops and advisors to help the emperor suppress the Taiping rebels. Some supplies were captured by rebels, and regional governors were allowed to form armies to suppress rebel activities. Foreign nations assisting the empire gained control of trading activities and reigned over some parts of the empire. Their influence was instrumental in changing views of scholars relating to the governance system. Reform battles led to the boxer movement that was defeated by international troop and exiled the emperor from Beijing marking the end of the Qing Empire. Work cited Ma, Yan. Chinese Emperors: From the Xia Dynasty to the Fall of the Qing Dynasty. London: Compendium, 2009. Print. Read More