Western Powers, Japan and Opium in China as the Qing Dynasty Goes into Decline

China had considered itself as a nation superior to others. This had basis in technological advancement, size of the nation, organization and urbanization. China had been a very powerful advanced nation for a long time. However, the Qin dynasty in the 1800 had started to decline. During this time, Nations in the West had became more advanced and had developed powerful technology for shipping and the military. Western powers started to show up in Japan and China looking for riches and trade agreements. In 1755 the Dutch and the English had been trying to gain trade agreements in China unsuccessfully. Viscount MaCartney tried again in 1790 sent as an embassy to China to gain trade agreements unsuccessfully. The Dutch tried in 1795 to gain trade agreements unsuccessfully too. Trade had been restricted to Guangzhou. This frustrated Western powers. As China declined in power, opium imports started to exceed exports. Chinese leaders attempted to limit opium imports and ban them completely. This led to a confrontation between the Chinese and British over opium cargo that the Chinese had destroyed. The British declared war on China in the Anglo-Chinese War in 1839 and soundly defeated the Chinese navy by 1842. The Treaty of Nanjing got signed and a series of unequal treaties began to be put in place. These included extraterritorial-ism for American and British sailors in China. This defeat and the humiliations that followed are the beginning stages of the motivations for increased nationalism in China (pp.163-168).

The treaty ports areas in China became busier and in 1895 Japan had been victorious against China in regard to Korea and established treaties that allowed factories in the port areas there. Japan had been considered a student of China and by defeating them increased feelings of humiliation and nationalism even more than the West (p.286). These treaty ports areas became business areas for foreigners and Chinese interested in new freedoms not available outside the port areas. The Chinese began to be discriminated against in social settings, employment and overseas at the same time that they experienced disappointments in the Qing dynasty. The Chinese in treaty port areas began to experience nationalism in response to the resentment of foreign humiliations. The West, at the same time, influenced them in the port areas, through missionaries and missionary schools towards modern nationalism and representative government (pp.280-281).

China by the time of World War I became viewed by the Japanese as backwards and requiring their quidance. Japan subjugated China after the war and made a list of 21 demands that the president Yuan Shikai accepted. This caused much anger in the Chinese against Japan and a unifying influence for the Chinese in order to regain their power. China began to be slighted by Western powers that did little to stop Japan and excluded China from the peace conference in Versailles despite Japan's having a place there. The Chinese found out about Japan making secret agreements for power in 1918 during this time that caused the first demonstrations of nationalism on a large scale in China in 1919 called the May 4th uprisings (pp.303-4). China had experienced the decline of the Qing dynasty, the arrival of Western powers and the modernization and aggressions of Japan. These influences on China and the Chinese helped begin a new nationalism. The foreign rule of the Qing took the blame for the poor state of China and the defeats it suffered to Western powers and Japan. At the same time, treaty port areas became a refuge from dynastic oppression of new ideas. Secret societies formed to get rid of foreign rule and foreign colonialists. The American restriction on immigration of Chinese and other Asians made them a target of protest. Guangzhou became an area for protests, boycotts and student meetings over discrimination and Chinese sovereignty. The Qing dynasty collapsed in 1911 due to a decline of power from poor leadership, economic problems, and outside pressures from rebels and foreigners (pp.330-331).

Rebel leaders and Warlords that ruled different areas of China after the collapse of the dynasty. They aligned themselves against each other and had different ideas on how China should modernize. Sun Yat-sen started the 'Revive China Society' in 1894 and announced three principles of the people: nationalism, democracy and livelihood. After the collapse of the Qing, Sun Yat-sen became the president of China in 1912. Sun felt that he did not have enough experience to run China and agreed that Yuan Shikai be president instead. Yuan Shikai accepted the 21 demands of Japan, abolished the parliament and made himself the dictator of China instead of president. This had a disillusioning influence over the Chinese about democracy (p.334-5). The Western powers of America, France, Germany and Britain had ruined their images by having discriminatory policies and exploitative trade to the Chinese and did not have as good an appeal to the peasantry of China as the Russian's had. Russia had gone through the revolution in 1917 and became communist and anti imperialist and held more appeal to the Chinese. Russia had been primarily a peasant based country making the organization and ideals more suitable to the Chinese peasantry.(pp.344-5). Treaty areas continued to profit foreigners and exploit Chinese people after the May 4th protest and protests continued to occur and became more violent. Shanghai the largest port city became a catalyst for nationalism due to the decadent lifestyles of Westerners and the blatant discrimination of the Chinese there (pp.354-356). The communist party formed and took these opportunities to enlist people in order to combat the evils of imperialism. The Guomindang organization lead by Sun Yat-sen started a campaign to conquer the Warlords in China and the communist party allied itself in this cause. They conquered several Warlords and helped to unify the country.

The Guomindang split and had Wang Jingwei as leader of the left wing and Chiang Kai-shek as leader of the right wing. Chiang pursued getting rid of the communist party, killed many communists and started a new government in Nanjing. Communists had to go underground at this time. Chiang had Japan as his support and the GMD as a defense against the communist party. He unfortunately did not run the nation for the benefit of the people.(pp.347-9). He turned to Germany as a military model and his advisors in the GMD looked to Western models for economic success. This fit for trade in the port cities. Yet, Chiang left the peasant population out. Communism and the Russian model held a greater appeal for the majority of peasants. In the mean time, Japanese oppression in China created a backlash of anti-Japanese sentiment (p.356-7). Chiang Ki-shek, the Japanese and Western powers modernized the country by building railroad lines, setting up post offices, and better communication systems. Yet, the Chinese population became disillusioned by Western imperialism and Japanese oppression and turned to communism and Russia as a model for China. The communist party gained popularity as Chiang and the GMD did little to stop Japanese aggression. Chian Ki-Shek and the communist party joined forces to resist the Japanese after they took over Manchuria (pp.353-4). The GMD and the communist party together did much to unify China by creating political groups, educating people in politics and joining together to defeat Warlords in the country. This and the suffering experienced by the Chinese under the oppression of Western powers and the Japanese instilled a desire to combat the humiliations and unify in modern nationalism.

Reference
1. Murphey, Rhoads. East Asia: A New History. 3rd edition. New York. Oxford
University Press, 2003.