EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
A History of the World since 1300
Jeremy Adelman, Princeton University
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E 1899-1911 The End of the Qing Dynasty Notes taken on June 1, 2017 by Edward Tanguay |
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China face threats from inside and out
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over the course of the 19th century, China was forced to sign humiliating treaty concessions to external powers
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European
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Japan
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also participated in slowly dismantling the sovereignty of the Chinese empire
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was never fully colonized
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the cost of colonizing was high
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foreign powers could get the regime to do some of the dirty work of controlling local populations
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informal empire
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treaties built into it to hobble the Chinese state
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market and non-state forces were used to sap and drain the Chinese empire of its sovereignty and power
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led to a wave of unrest against the Chinese government for giving in to too many concessions to foreigners
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against both the external forces as well as the Chinese state
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1899-1901 The Boxer Rebellion
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boxers would go after the symbols of the West
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telegraph wires
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foreign embassies
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churches
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clocks
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the reorganization of time came with the advent of capitalism, the assembly line, the routinization of life
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a foreign emblem in the middle of communities to organize their societies
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named after the spirit boxers
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fighter claimed to be immune to swords and spears
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The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists
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anti-foreign
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anti-Christian
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had mass-organizing skills
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Qing regime responded with some ambivalence
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saw this as an opportunity for the boxers to do the dirty work of making life hard for foreigners in China
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but a dangerous game to play
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if the boxers got too much power, they could claim authority that would be very hard to roll back
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because the Qing state was so weak, the Boxer Rebellion got out of control
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despite the calls for the Qing state to intercede, they could not in the end
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the Boxers soon let their supporters go well beyond what the Qing authorities to control
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foreign powers decided to take it upon themselves to put down the rebellion that the Qing state didn't want to or could not put down
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the Qing state they did not have the repressive capacity to contain the Boxer Rebellion
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foreign troops were dispatched to China
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half came from Japan
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eight different countries sent armies to China to wage a war against the insurgents
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this led to vast repression
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foreign powers used the occasion to demand yet more concessions from the Qing state
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including indemnity payments
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sent a bill to the Qing state to pay for the process of oppression
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the paradox of reform
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the impulse to change happens when one does not have the political space or room to do so
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it's the easiest to reform when you have the least incentive to reform
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1991 the collapse finally came
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the overthrow of the Manchu rule that had been born in the 17th century
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replaced with a Republican form of rule
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the end of a series of dynasties that had lasted, with interruptions, that had endured over 2000 years
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created a constitution
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giving citizens new rights
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need to legitimate the new regime
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without the principle loyalties to a royal family
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the architect of this new reform spirit
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Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925)
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what Pyotr Stolypin was for Russian, Sun Yat Sen was for China