Preview

Chinese Attitude Towards Western World Change Between 1880s And 1920s

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1690 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Chinese Attitude Towards Western World Change Between 1880s And 1920s
Discuss and analyses how did Chinese attitude towards the western world change between 1880s and 1920s, and what are the major impetuses for this major transformation.

Wilson Lu
1030700031

After the defeat by the British Empire in the First Opium War in 1820 led to the Treaty of Nanjing (1842), under which the cession of Hong Kong and opium was legitimized. The so call sinocentrism ebbed and flowed with China’s might and glory. The foreign trades were growing quickly due to China’s wealth not allowed Chinese monarchs to restrict and foreign countries threatened the Chinese. At the same time, it is first time that mutual influence between China and the west is more appropriate after 1840s. This paper will mainly focus on the discussion about what are the major impetuses for Chinese attitude
…show more content…
“Western Civilization, Our Tradition,” 2004. http://www.mmisi.org/ir/39_01_2/kurth.pdf.
Office of the HISTORIAN. “MILESTONES: 1899-1913” (2012). http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/ChineseRev.
Le Pichon, Alain. China Trade and Empire, 2006.
Revolutionary Players. “A Portrait of James Watt,” 2012. http://www.search.revolutionaryplayers.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?theme=53&originator=/engine/custom/people.asp&page=&records=&direction=&pointer=163&text=0&resource=17.
Spence, Jonathan. “Qianlong: Ruler, Connoisseur, and Scholar,” 2004. http://www.wmf.org/sites/default/files/wmf_article/pg_24-30_qianlong.pdf.
“BRITISH IMPERIALISM and ASIA, to 1900 ‘The Taiping Rebellion and Second Opium War’” (n.d.): 7. http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h38china.htm.
“Commodore Perry’s Expedition to Japan” (n.d.). http://www.grifworld.com/perryhome.html.

--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. Revolutionary Players, “A Portrait of James Watt,” 2012,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Japan and China had many contrasting responses to western penetration in the nineteenth century, including economic interaction - economically China suffered and Japan prospered, Japanese agricultural productivity increased while China’s did not, and China only accepted a small amount of goods while Japan accepted a wide range of goods- and political interaction - China went to war but Japan did not, Japan adopted western learning styles but China did not, and Japan heavily increased taxes on their people after 1890, while China did not -but had very comparable geographic traits – both had ocean borders – Japan was completely surrounded by water while China was bordered on a large percentage of itself, both kept their ports either fully closed, like Japan which completely isolated itself in the beginning, or like China which opened a only limited number of ports and cities to trade, and both conducted their trade – China with Britain, Japan with America – by boat across the ocean.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    "In each case the foreign powers were victorious and gained commercial privileges and legal and territorial concessions in China."(Pletcher 1). In the beginning of the book while Otter is still in China, they have multiple encounters with opium addicts and sometimes made disgruntled comments about the British for causing this. The first opium war broke out when China confiscated opium in an effort to limit and ultimately remove all opium from the country; things escalated in the days following when British sailors killed a chinese villager. This by itself wasn't too important as it was a random sailor and not a representation of the British government, but soon after the British government refused to extradite the accused. Several other events…

    • 183 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The treaty is a pivotal moment in global history as it shows clearly a few key points in global development in the 19th century. The first is how it clearly shows the ‘power balance’ of the world begins to shift firmly from Asian empires to European ones. In previous centuries, nations like China had far more power economically and militarily compared to European nations due to the size of their populations, their natural resources and control of highly coveted luxury goods such as silk and tea. It is because of these advantages that China entered a period of isolation in the decades leading up to the treaty and the imposition of strict and often arbitrary rules regarding trade.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 19th century of China opened with a broad reform of institutions, particularly in the military system. As a result, the revolution occurs and “followed by the breakup of China as the leaders of autonomous armies fought for power” (Dreyer 1). Kuomintang Party stood against the Communist Party and waged a massive civil war mainly in Northeast part of China, “ending only with the victory of communists on the mainland in 1949” (Dreyer 1). In the middle of the civil war, the aggression of the Japanese dragged China into the tragedy of the Second World War.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chinese people were very unproductive and lazy because of the drug opium in 1729. The British started bringing in opium around 1729 and got very popular within the next few years which started causing problems for the Chinese people. China didn’t want it, tried to stop it and a war started. The relationship between china and the british in the nineteenth century wasn't very good because the British were forcing opium into China causing issues for there country because the opium was very harmful to the chinese people and when they signed a treaty to end the war it was a very unequal treaty.…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    [ 19 ]. Spence, Jonathan. The Search for Modern China. Norton 7 Company. New York. 1999. Pg 224…

    • 2375 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the 19th and early 20th century, western Europe was the dominant force in the world. Western influence spread like a wildfire, filled with ideas of industrialization, western cultures, practices, and political structures, and brilliant technology. Merchants, diplomats, and many others travelled around the world to share their influence and knowledge. The West’s neighbors, Russia and China, and also Japan soon felt the presence of the West trickling further into their countries than it previously had. Each had its own unique response to the Western penetration from 1800 to 1914.…

    • 1068 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Up until the 1840’s China was completely self-reliant relying solely on the countries natural resources and self made goods. During 1840 Great Britain found a product which China was unable to resist, opium. Opium is a plant that when mixed with tobacco can be made in to many forms of drugs but is mostly used to make heroin. China’s government soon began to recognize how addictive the drug could become, China then…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history, when one civilization meets another, one civilization will often subjugate the other. Interestingly enough, this also seems to be the case when two superpowers of their time confront each other, like the Chinese and English in the late 18th century. Although there has been much change in the nature of the relationship between the English and Chinese—between 1792 and 1900—with regards to the exchange of ideas, commercialism and each society’s view on the other, there has also been much continuity the relationship between two superpowers, such as the general contempt for Chinese from British.…

    • 755 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Opium War Analysis

    • 1984 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Travis Hanes and Frank Sanello recounts the history of the Opium War through both the Chinese and the British perspectives. Its purpose is to give both sides of the story to better inform the reader of the Opium Wars causes, conflicts, and effects, while also presenting the information in an interesting way intended to captivate the reader. Because the source presents the view of each side the information is balanced and lets the reader decide what they make of both arguments. The value of this source is that it does examine both perspectives and it includes, not only stories and text but also illustrations of graphs and charts to aid understanding. The source has the limitation of its length, being very long and it covers information outside of the scope of this paper. Both of the authors are Americans that created this source many years after the event, so it is a secondary source that has an inherent underlying western inclination, though the images were obtained by primary…

    • 1984 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This was also during peak of the British empire, who controlled land all over the world. In China the british saw great opportunity, a huge economy and population to profit from, and so they started to sneak-import opium into China in order to get the population addicted, and when the chinese rejected and attacked opium ships, the British had an excuse to attack. This led the the Opium wars, which the british won, and forced the Chinese to sign unfair treaties that gave the british power over…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Qing Dynasty

    • 1832 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Nevertheless, despite the unequal treaty signed along with a series of other obligations and negativities on the defeat, the Opium war indeed opened the door of modern Chinese history, and is beneficial to China’s development from a different perspective. While the improvement in technology had largely improved people’s lives in Europe and spread the idea of liberty to the general population, China had yet to accept the trends of revolutions. Even though the majority of the reasons of Qing’s collapse are related to internal factors, the external forces helped stimulate the internal forces and push the country forward. Moreover, the break-out of the Opium War fostered the growth of emerging merchant class in China, which also set the foundation of self-strengthening and reform movements in later Qing. As five ports were forced to open in China after the Opium War, the foreign trade and other merchant activities became increasingly prosperous, especially in Canton and Shanghai. As China’s door was gradually opened after the Opium War, foreign technology, and more importantly, foreign ideas of democracy and liberty started to take roots in the land of China. As more and more young scholars became educated on the foreign ideas or were even sent abroad to study, further rebellions, reforms and revolutions have yet to take place. Therefore, the Opium War well…

    • 1832 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Symphony Orchestra

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Hickman, Kennedy. "Second Opium War: Overview." About.com Military History. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2013.…

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    6. Compare and contrast the influence of Europe and the United States on China and Japan between 1850 and 1914.…

    • 136 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the nineteenth century, westerners were heavily industrializing and practicing imperialism, and since both China and Japan wanted to retain their cultures and traditions, they figured the best way to do so was to instate policies restricting trade with foreigners. For hundreds of years, both societies were isolated and only concerned themselves with internal issues and developments, so once westerners began to try and imperialize eastern Asia, they in turn began to block off their nation to preserve their cultures and protect themselves from threat of the west. China started to become addicted to drugs, due to the opium being sold to them for silver by the British, not only were they illegally trading being foreigners, but they were taking China’s silver so that they could become more wealthy, meanwhile Japan had a dirt poor and starving population full of destitution, and the Europeans were trying to come in to stimulate the economy, but mostly to their own benefit and profit. Both of these intrusions into Japan and China caused the government to restrict their population from trading with the Europeans and Americans so that they would not lose their own heritage and traditions to adapt to the ways of the westerners.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics