Foreigners Changing China, 1850-1980 - Essay Example

Foreigners Changing China: 1850 to 1980 - China: 1850 to 1980 Introduction: In ancient times, China was more than just a country. Its ancient civilization and deep rooted society was the source of influence for many other nations who adopted their art of living and cultural heritage. There is little doubt that China is a proud nation and they always considered their country to be the centre of civilization. This particular frame of mind can be considered as the main cause of their resistance in adopting other cultures and their values for millennia. They assumed that they are self sufficient in all forms of society and do not require foreign intrusion. But in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century China has undergone various changes in many parts of their core infrastructures that include politics, language, economics, culture and society. This is believed to be largely under the influence of the foreign countries such as USA and Britain. So what are the basic forms of modifications that have been implemented and what has caused these changes to take place that was resisted before for such a long time? Answer to this question is the main notion of this discussion. Among all the considerable changes that were brought up by the foreign influence, changes in the politics are most important and should be emphasized in detail. Ancient Chinese Society: To understand or clearly appreciate any change we need to view the original form that was present before that modification was made. As we know from history that China was considered as a kingdom led by the emperors. These emperors and their dynasties were not chosen on their relationship to the people of China but their origin was more religious and mythical (Foster 2010). Any ruler or dynasty corrupted with the evil will be reflected upon by the nature’s anger in the form of earthquake floods or droughts indicating the change were imminent (Kornberg et al 2004). This was in contrast to the west where democracy was laying foundation of a strong government bodies. Despite China’s ruling being based on such religious foundations, it continued for a very long time. Starting from the Hans dynasty in 206 BC it remained intact until Qing dynasty collapsed in 1911 (Zinzius 2004). Arguably there needs to be a solid bond that united this nation on single platform. By looking at a bigger prospective it can be concluded that the main reason for sustenance of such establishment can be traced back to the strong social values that hold the structure together for centuries. No other nation has ever been close to signify the theme of middle kingdom like Chinese did for centuries. They were proud of their existence in the middle while the rest of the humanity revolves around them and learn from them (Ford 2010). There is no doubt that the social system in these ancient dynasties was more localized on the families and tribe as a distinct entity rather than on a single individual. So there was a strong concept of nuclear family and relationships were given highest regards. From the economic point of view China was a self sufficient civilization. Most of the Chinese emperors were not open for trades with the western world because of the hierarchical system in China. The theme of middle kingdom were so deep rooted that they considered that no one else is worthy of given an equal status to them. Although in the nineteenth century there was a great demand of China’s silk, spices and other items among the western consumers. Similarly westerns also wanted to introduce some of their unique items and offered many trade agreements to the emperors during that time but all were put down. As we know that trade creates a great influence on any society but China was virtually immune to it. Therefore, no significant foreign influence was detected in the Chinese empire due to their isolation from the rest of the world. Foreign Penetration and changes in the Politics: The difference between China’s and western political system was huge. Both in their own views criticized the other system with suspicion and there was a lack of understanding on the political front. People of China practiced what can be considered today as Isolationist foreign policy (Kornberg et al 2004). According to them all that are required under the heaven can be found in the middle kingdom that solely comprised of Chinese territory. So all the offers made by the European, especially Britain, and other countries of the west were denied by the emperors. So what changed and how they penetrated? There is one important point that should be highlighted here. British at that time believed that trade with China is not a liberty which should be given to them but it is their right. So they planned a way to penetrate their barrier in the form of opium. They secretly started trading this poison with the local trader in China and soon a significant percentage of population was addicted to opium. Imperial government was concerned of the outcome of this unchecked trade as it was demoralizing their society and corrupting their bureaucrats. So laws were made that banned the cultivation and import of opium in China but the dynasty was already so weak to implement enforce such laws. Most of the foreign countries had already advanced in the field of military and were more powerful in comparison to China who was still bounded by believes of natural forces. So a confrontation with Britain on the illegal import of large amount of opium resulted in a war in 1840. This war was easily won by Englishmen as they had far superior army and Chinese outdated ships were no match against highly advanced British navy. There is no doubt that this humiliation in the hands of British resulted in the whirlpool of changes within China. This war inevitably opened the gate for foreigners in China. And therefore, a civilization so bounded by their own culture and society was not ready to accept this foreign influence and a clash of two different civilizations became inevitable. What Changed? From these entire historic events one thing is very clear. Chinese dynasties and its foundation had been so outdated that it was very easy for the west to influence them and further penetrate in their culture. But ironically it also stirred the later movements in China that made them realize how weak and helpless they are and that something needs to be done that can make them more powerful and strong as a nation. So in my view, this wakeup call was a key factor in attributing what later becomes of China and its development as a super power. But before that we need to look at the events that stirred up following the foreign intrusion in the country. As trade of opium continued to destroy the infrastructure in China, the destabilization and hunger resulted in the abolishment of middle kingdom (Friedman 1995) and many Chinese rushed to other countries in search for better life. Therefore, there is little doubt that this foreign influence on China had any positive effect on its economy and stability. Once a proud nation self sufficient on their own, was shattered in the hands of these turnovers. Apart from humiliation, defeat in the opium war resulted in signing of many unequal trade treaties which was materialized in the form of treaty ports. These treaties allowed many westerns to colonize the special zones on the port (Bickers 1999). So from 1840 onwards the foreign powers from the trade ports started to erode their way deep into the Chinese territory (Macfarquhar 1987). And it was not long before western powers were in control in most of the China and emperors had nothing but puppet roles and were controlled by the foreigners. This particular political turnover was devastating for China because the emperors of Qing Dynasty were mostly accepting the foreign dictatorship and implementing it on the local people degrading their morale and respect. All this was to keep the dynasty rolling that would have collapsed otherwise under the foreign power. This shattered Chinese people believe of middle kingdom and they were determined to restore it. It sparked the fire that later was to engulf the whole of China and rebirth a strong republican society. Chinese Nationalism: The foreign influence that originated in 1840 and further continued for many decades resulted in hatred and anger among Chinese people. So they started to establish a modern form of nationalism that was nothing like the previous foundation of middle kingdom. They started to believe that if China has to survive they will need both wealth and power. An uprising was evident in 1900 known as Boxer Uprising which comprised of a secret society and anti western officials with a common agenda of reestablishing the sovereignty of their country. This uprising was however crushed by the foreign troops but resulted in the death of approximately 250 foreigners (Kornberg et al 2004). This indirect sort of foreign invasion prompted many patriotic rich merchants to send Chinese youth to Japan in order to learn the art of how Asians defeated the western. This was a very mature and studied approach as it crafted many prominent members of the Kuomintang party. Qing dynasty while taking last breaths also supported the reforms that were prevailing in China but it was a bit too late and dynasty finally collapsed in 1911 (North 1963). This reflects that there were still some buds of China’s deep rooted society that grew just in time to safeguard its sovereignty. Another important swirl in the politics of China came after the First World War. As Germans and the Allies, on May 4 1919, signed the treaty of Versailles in France it outraged the people of China. This is due to the fact that treaty concluded that the German enclaves in China will be given to Japan (Wei et al 2002). This resulted in massive outburst in the form of May 4 Movement. The direct impact of this movement is not relevant but it laid the foundation for a strong Chinese Communist Party which came into existence in 1921 and a desire for a Chinese society pure of foreign influence gained popularity. Their fight with the Japan invaders (Lee 1973) further strengthened their position and proved to play an important role in their win over Nationalist party during the Chinese civil war. On October 1, 1949, establishment of Peoples Republic of China (PRC) was announced by Mao Zedong. He was a leader determined to through all the foreigners out of China before accepting them again as guests (Wilhelm 1994). Conclusion: Now based under the lights of all of these historical events and discussions many conclusions can be obtained. First of all, the initial western influence and the way they penetrated into China had a negative impact on the entire infrastructure of their civilization. The whole economy and society collapsed under its influence. But in a way that initial downfall was necessary to abolish the orthodox dynasty rule that was incompatible with the modern world. Only after the foreign penetration did the people of China realized that they have to be rich and powerful to be able to dominate the current era and that the concept of middle kingdom do not go along with the globalization of this world. 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