Another point of tension was that the Westerners were making treaties with Asian countries and not upholding them. At the end of China’s first war Britain acquired Hong Kong Island under the way of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 (Meinheit, 1997). There was friction because with this treaty Britain had more rights to trade within China and any agreements made with other foreign countries, the British were entitled to the same rights. They were more or less able to roam on the land that was the Chinese’s. More friction cam between China and the West when in 1850 a new emperor gained the throne and it became clear that the treaties were not being upheld (Meinheit, 1997). The Chinese also had to treat Westerners as their equals which often left them humiliated. Another difference came in monetary policies. The West was trying to get the Asian countries to adapt to a system of paper money but the Asian countries adamantly opposed it. The Westerners also had a better grasp on sea power. The islanders were of course more vulnerable to European sea power, less organized politically- and they paid the price of loosing land and control (Cohen 244). These are just a few of the things to consider when discussing the clashes that occurred in the 19th century.
There were many causes and effects of the collapse of the Chinese domestic structure during the time of the 1911 Revolution. Internal political factors were the inefficient emperors, lack of Manchu leadership, corruption and political decentralization. As the emperor held absolute power, administration in Peking was efficient only if he was an able man and in the 19th century there was no great Ch’ing emperor (thecorner.org). The race to conquer China was growing and where they normally had powerful political influence from the Manchu’s, their leadership was lacking. Because they did not have strong leaders they became more incompetent which in turn caused them to hire more incompetent leaders, causing the government to slowly spiral down. Corruption was out of control. High officials were receiving gifts from low officials. In turn, low officials put government money into their own pockets and heavy taxes were imposed on the people. Economically they were suffering (thecorner.org). As the politics were so corrupt and demoralized, political power was losing its centralization. At this time period the Ch’ing court permitted the creation of armies for suppressing the rebellions. However these armies were locally based and financed. They were trained to obey local officials like Tseng Kuo-fan (thecorner.org) Thus Peking’s control over them was basically ineffective and they proved to be arbitrary.
Some social factors were the population growth and social poverty and the poor economic conditions. There were many long periods of wealth and prosperity in China which led to a rapid growth in population. However cultivable land was limited to landlords and the people were forbidden to move outside of Manchuria and thus could not find land to grow crops. The more people only meant more poverty. Since society was poor the government could only collect so many taxes (thecorner.org). Most of the time tax collection was so corrupt that rebellions broke out resulting in more costs to fix it. With the growing decentralization tax collection was even harder. The country was only growing poorer. Another important factor was the unrest of the people. Their anti-Manchu attitudes could not be suppressed and they were ready to rise up in arms (thecorner.org).
Lastly the military was very weak. There were two kinds of forces; the Eight Banner and the Chinese Green Standard. The current forces were a mixture of the soldiers from the different Banners. There were constant rivals and jealousy among them. The efficiency was poor and the there was a lack of centralization which only led to more corrupt officials. The poverty of soldiers is also important to note because the pay they received was horrible and they were forbidden to join any other profession. What was the point in being effective? The fighting spirit was basically gone (thecorner.org)
All these points eventually led up to the fall of the Chinese domestic structures.
Works Cited
“Chinese Revolution of 1911,” Thecorner.org 29 October 2007
Cohen, Warren I. East Asia At the Center. Columbia University Press, NY. 2000
Meinheit, Harold et al. “Hong Kong; From Fishing Village to Financial Center,”
Libraryofcongress.gov August 1997 29 October 2007
