Modern Period (1840-1919)
The
Opium War of 1840 marked a turning point in Chinese history. From
early in the 19th century, Britain started smuggling
large quantities of opium into China, causing a great outflow of
Chinese silver and grave economic disruption in China. In 1839,
the Qing government sent Commissioner Lin Zexu to Guangdong to put
into effect the prohibition on opium trafficking. When, in an effort
to protect its opium trade, Britain initiated the First Opium War
in 1840, the Chinese people rose in armed struggle against the invaders
under the leadership of Lin Zexu and other patriotic generals. But
the corrupt and incompetent Qing government capitulated to the foreign
invaders time and again, and finally signed the Treaty of Nanjing
with Britain, a treaty of national betrayal and humiliation. From
then on, China was reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country.
??After
the Opium War, Britain, the United States, France, Russia and Japan
forced the Qing government to sign various unequal treaties, seized
??concessions?? and divided China into ??spheres of influence.?? To
oppose the twin evils of feudal oppression and foreign aggression,
the Chinese people waged heroic struggles, with many national heroes
coming to the fore. The Revolution of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
in 1851, led by Hong Xiuquan, was the largest peasant uprising in
modern Chinese history. The Revolution of 1911, a bourgeois-democratic
revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, ended the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
The monarchical system that had been in place in China for more
than 2,000 years was discarded with the founding of the provisional
government of the Republic of China. The Revolution of 1911 is of
great significance in modern Chinese history. But the fruits of
victory were soon compromised by concessions on the part of the
Chinese bourgeoisie, and the country entered a period of domination
by the Northern Warlords headed by Yuan Shikai. The people lived
in an abyss of misery in this period.
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