History of China From the Opium Wars to the victory of the Communists E-Book

Rene Schreiber

• Herausgeber: via tolino media
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

China's history since the Opium Wars has been one of struggle with its own identity and indignity through the hands of European powers and Japan. In this overview history, the decline of the empire, the conflict-ridden young republic, the civil war, the Sino-Japanese war and the victory of the communists are to be considered.

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Founding of the National Revolutionary Army and the Northern Campaign

Impressum

Rene Schreiber

History of

China

(1839-1949)

From the Opium Wars to

the victory of the Communists

(Volume 1)

This work is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced, copied, set to music, printed, or made available for download without the consent of the author.

Edition 1

Copyright © 2020 Rene Schreiber

Cover: Rene Schreiber

Imprint

Rene Schreiber

Gerhard-Bronner-Straße 9/2, 1100 Vienna

Foreword

China's history since the Opium Wars is a struggle with its own identity and humiliation by the European powers and Japan.

In this overview story, the decline of the Empire, the conflict-ridden young republic, the civil war, the Sino-Japanese war, and the victory of the communists will be considered.

Note on the spelling of names

For Chinese personal names, the last name is given first. When it comes to spelling, care is taken to ensure that the name is easy to read. For non-common Chinese names, the pinyin transcription, the official system of the People's Republic of China, is used.

I used for example: Sun Yatsen, although in the People's Republic and the Republic of China the founder of the state is known as Sun Zhongshan or Sun Yixian.

The same transcription system applies to place names, except for Beijing, Canton, and Taipei(h).

The Opium Wars

With the appearance of the new European merchants, trade changed for the Chinese Empire. So that the foreign merchants could not deliver their goods directly to the customer and thus an immense profit margin could be achieved, the government set up its own quarters for foreigners. They had to work together for trade in conjunction with trade officials of the Cohong Guild. The customs directorate in Canton set the prices and enforced them rigorously. The European trader could not defend himself against this state bureaucracy.

Through this protection of its own economy, the empire was able to show a surplus of revenue until 1820. Mostly the European powers imported tea, porcelain, and silk. In return, China imported little to no goods into the Empire. So, it was a one-way economy. As a result of this imperial action, the silver (money) flowed to China and in the United Kingdom there was a shortage of silver and thus an unfavorable effect on the British economy.

In the 1820s, the British East India Company radicalized the export of opium to China. The British opposed the imperial ban on the opium trade throughout Chinese territory. The British government stationed troops to protect opium cultivation. The crowd increased fivefold between 1821 and 1837. This had fatal consequences for the Chinese economy. China had to accept a trade deficit and many citizens became addicted to this drug. Emperor Daoguang took step-by-step action against opium consumption and later against the opium trade. First, consumption was banned, and an import ban was imposed or import control was introduced.

The emperor sent his top official Lin Zexu as a special commissioner to Canton to take act against Chinese consumers and middlemen. Lin Zexu had a lot of success and confiscated 73 tons of opium and 70,000 opium pipes. In addition, 1600 Chinese were arrested. The escalation with the foreign powers flared up when 350 foreigners were interned in their trading branches (factories). Special Commissioner Lin Zexu had 1400 tons of opium burned between 3 and 23 June 1839 and then sunk into the sea. The East India Company and the British traders protested to the British government. The United Kingdom thought nothing of a war with China. However, the kingdom approved a punitive expedition to demand satisfaction and reparation from the emperor. The East India Company was thus also allowed to take Chinese property as a pledge.

In 1839, the British fleet set in motion and arrived in China in 1840. The British sank some war junks and occupied Hong Kong, Ningbo, Zhoushan and Tianjin one after the other. In 1841, the British under Charles Elliot were able to make an agreement with Qishan, the governor of Tianjin. The governor ceded Hong Kong to the British, the emperor paid an additional 6 million silver dollars, and direct trade contact with the Qing government was approved. The Emperor of China and the British government rejected the agreement. Charles Elliot was recalled and replaced by Sir Henry Pottinger and the campaign continued. In August 1841, the British fleet captured Xiamen, Ningbo and Zhoushan. In 1842, Shanghai and Zhenjiang fell and the above-mentioned offer of negotiations from the emperor was rejected. Instead, the British conquered Nanjing. In the Treaty of Nanjing, the war was ended by means of unequal treaties.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---