The Rise Of Modern China 1842 1949 Notes

Rise of Modern China – Internal challenges and the fall of the Qing

Background:

• The Qing was an expansive dynasty

  • Constantly at war (mainly on peripheries)

  • Internal and external threats often hard to differentiate

Internal Rebellions:

• Ethnic/religious rebellions: Hui rebellion

• Social rebellions: Taiping rebellion, Nien rebellion

• Political rebellion: anti-Manchu movement/Republican movement

Taiping Rebellion:

• Lasted decades

• Formed a new state, the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace, from 1850-64

• Western military assistance was required to end the rebellion

• Mainly based in southern China; a concern to Westerners with trade interests there

• Rose up against Qing injustice

Origins of Taiping:

• Dissatisfaction amongst a sub-ethnic group in southern China known as Hakkas

• Mainly blue-collar workers: miners, charcoal burners and farmers

• Charismatic cult grows around Hong Xiuquan

  • Began saying he was the younger brother of Jesus and Kingdom of Heavenly Peace was God’s will on earth, led by him

• Anti-Manchu and anti-Confucian

Heavenly Kingdom:

• Rebellion began in the Guangxi province

• Taiping heavenly army extremely effective; moved north and established a capital city in Nanjing

• Threatened Shanghai; stopped by Western training of Qing troops

• Largest civil war of the 19^th century

  • Around 20-30 million people killed

Ideology of Taiping:

• Quasi-socialist – common property, banning of private trade, end of foot binding

• Separation of men and women

• Highly militaristic; all men engaged in warfare and involved in Taiping Heavenly Army

Nian Rebellion:

• Anti-Qing movement emerging in Northern China 1850s/60s

• Originates due to natural disasters in area surrounding Yellow river

• Lack of documentation concerning Nian rebellion perhaps because its geographical location posed very little threat to the Western interests in China

Consequences of rebellions:

• Loss of revenue and control for the Qing

• Inability to successfully implement policies

• Legitimacy of the Qing challenged; strains of underlying social problems in the countryside

  • Founding of states like the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace undermined Qing authority; China ruled by rebellious groups not just the Qing dynasty

• Spread of revolutionary rhetoric and in particular anti-Manchu sentiment

Qing Reforms:

• Debates between conservatives and moderates

  • Empress Dowager – conservative – anti-Western/traditionalist

  • Guangxu Emperor – pro-reformist

• Self-Strengthening Movement 1861-95

  • Attempt to modernise along Western grounds; somewhat copying the Japanese Meiji restoration

  • Building of arsenals, shipyards; new military technologies

  • Hiring of foreign advisors

  • No attempt at social reform

• ‘Hundred Days Reform’ 1898

  • Led by reformers in the Qing system but supported by Guangxu Emperor

  • Rapid attempt to reform political system: implementation of a constitutional monarchy, removal of hereditary peerages

  • Adoption of a capitalist system

  • Ends in political coup – emperor under house arrest and empress in charge

• Late Qing Reforms 1901-11

  • ‘New policies’ introduced after Boxer uprising; inspired by Japanese model

  • Qing realised that modernisation required social reform

  • Reformation of the army (‘New Army’)

    • Extremely significant; copied Western model of military

  • End of civil service system; universities set up

  • Seeking foreign technology and training

  • Drafting of a new constitution (possibility of a constitutional monarchy)

Republican Movement:

• Tongmenghui founded in Japan in 1905

• Idea of a revolution and creation of a modern Republican state

• Funded largely by overseas Chinese in South-East Asia

• Sun Yat-sen becomes figurehead

  • Raised in Hawaii; Studied in Hong-Kong and Japan; benefited from treaties and reform

Ideologies:

• Run mainly by foreign trained intellectuals

• Broad coalition: includes political Left and Right

• Anti-Manchu ideas and Chinese nationalism

• Socialist ideals (e.g. communal property)

• Focus on martyrdom and sacrifice

Attempts at revolution:

• 1895: First Guangzhou Uprising

• 1911: Second Guangzhou Uprising

• Both failed and were put down by the Qing

Wuchang Uprising:

• Sparked by local issues (‘Railway Protection’)

• Qing attempted to stifle the opposition in Wuchang

• New Army joined the uprising

• Hubei declares itself the Republic of China and is followed by other provinces; a Republic is established

• Sun Yat-sen not directly involved

  • Claimed, however, by Tongmenghui who immediately send people to claim the revolution as theirs

• Did not occur in coastal China

• Not initially a nationwide movement

• Did not follow the usual pattern of uprisings in China (relatively un-violent)

• Still debates as to why it happened when it did

Conclusion:

• 19^th century saw a series of uprisings in China – many of which came close to toppling the Qing regime

  • Most notably the Taiping rebellion and Boxer uprising

• Qing DID start to reform (debates as to why they were unsuccessful)

• 1911 led and later claimed by those who had benefitted from reforms

  • New army/Tongmenghui

    • Qing ultimately toppled by what they had created with their reforms

• Was 1911 inevitable?

  • Historiographical debate

Historiography:

• Esherick

  • New Policy reforms were legitimate, not just an attempt to save the regime: the Qing were not destined to fail

    • Judicial, educational and political reform, alongside the establishment of Ziyiju and Zizhengyuan at local and national levels respectively, were genuine reform attempts

  • New Policy reforms needed funding from taxes and were slow to show results; therefore people lost patience with them

  • Sun Yat-sen and the Tongmenghui were of minor importance to the revolution

  • Revolutionaries in the Hubei army initiated the Wuchang uprising

    • Would have failed without radical support from New Army officers and Constitutionalists

      • These caused the uprising to spread

  • Anti-Manchu sentiment was paramount to the uprisings

    • Determination of Qing to segregate Manchu and Han

    • Rhoads says not so much Manchu ethnicity, but the enforced caste system, that...

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