X NOTES: Imperialism in China

Sunday 8 March 2015

Domination of China started with Opium Wars.

Opium Wars

Before opium wars only two ports opened to foreign traders.
No market for British goods in China.
British merchants started smuggling Opium into China on large scale. Very profitable trade.
Did immense physical and moral damage to Chinese.
In 1839, China seized opium cargo and destroyed it.
Britain declared war and defeated China.
China forced to pay heavy damages and open 5 port cities to British traders.
Chinese government agreed that future British subjects in these port cities would be tried for any crimes in English rather than Chinese courts. - Known as extraterritorial rights.
Chinese government not free to impose tariff on foreign goods.
Hong Kong given to China.

Japan tried to increase her influence over Korea.
Korea under Chinese overlordship. China resented; two countries went to war in 1894.
China got defeated. China gave Korea her independence, ceded Formosa and other islands to Japan.
Forced to pay heavy war damages of 150 million USD.
France, Russia, Britain and Germany gave loans to China to meet this payment.
In lieu divided China into spheres of influence. Each country has certain regions of China reserved exclusively for its purpose.

US feared that its trade with China would be shutoff suggested "Open door"/ "Me too" policy.
Open door - all countries will have equal rights to trade anywhere in China.
Britain supported US to discourage annexation of China by Japan and Russia.
Scramble for privileges stopped in China after an uprising against the foreign power known as Boxer rebellion (1898-1900).
Foreign powers were victorious and levied heavy damages on China as punishment.
China was not conquered and occupied by any imperialist country, but the effects of these developments were same as in areas which had been colonized.
Division of China into spheres of influence - "cutting of the Chinese melon"