The Chinese dynastic system was highly admired for its vast structural integrity which allowed it to persevere for more than two millennia. The Xia Dynasty was the first recorded dynasty in Chinese history, founded by a man named Shun who renounced his throne to his trusted official Yu. Rather than pass the power to someone qualified for the position, Yu then entrusted the Dynasty to his son Qi, setting the precedence for the Dynastic rule. 1 This ushered in the Hereditary System which was followed by many dynasties to come. Under the hereditary system the power was passed down through the family members. This system also had an added benefit of ensuring stability and continuity within the nation’s infrastructure.2 However in the later years of the Chinese empire, dynasties began to shift towards selecting government officials based upon their merit. From the Sui Dynasty in 581 to the end of the dynastic system around 1911, government officials were chosen based upon their abilities and characteristics, rather than their lineage.3 The selection process, known as the civil exams, insured that qualified citizens would run the country. The civil exams were extremely difficult and were governed by tight quotas and highly specific and invariable material. Even though the tight restrictions insured that the participants were highly qualified, it also had a negative effect. It inhibited the growth of knowledge amongst the selected officials, also known as the scholar gentry.4 The intricacies and implications of this system will be discussed in detail later in this essay. The transition from dynasty to dynasty differed greatly from other well known political systems of the early world. The people of China believed in the Mandate of ... ... middle of paper ... ...hina . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. (Pg. 187-200) 17. Franke, The Cambridge History of China. (Pg. 202-210) 18. Gascoigne, The Dynasties of China: A History. (Pg. 140) 19. Franke, The Cambridge History of China. (Pg. 150-156) 20. Franke, The Cambridge History of China. (Pg. 168-178) 21. Hucker, China’s Imperial Past : An Introduction to Chinese History & Culture. (Pg. 280) 22. Grasso, June, Jay P. Corrin, and Michael Kort. Modernization and Revolution in China: From the Opium Wars to World Power . N.p.: M.E. Sharpe, 2004. (Pg. 78-90) 23. Grasso, Modernization and Revolution in China: From the Opium Wars to World Power (Pg. 89-100) 24. Grasso, Modernization and Revolution in China: From the Opium Wars to World Power (Pg. 100) 25. Franke, The Cambridge History of China. (Pg. 267-270) 26. Gascoigne, The Dynasties of China: A History. (Pg. 140)
These elite groups were high ranked officials who had similar tasks as government officials, and the source of their power was relatively similar in every aspect. The yangban of Korea used an examination system to elect and appoint officials, so scholarly merit awarded a spot in office instead of heredity. Although the yangban used the civil service examinations wealth still defined yangban from the commoners. Yangban owned both land and slaves. Ancestry was a factor as well because yangban families wanted to produce a lineage of yangban officials. It solidified the family’s name if their subsequent generations contained successful yangban. The source of power that gave the gentry their official positi...
Gittings, John. The Changing Face of China: From Mao to market. Oxford University Press, 2005.
There were many problems with the system of trade in China; even before opium trading began. China, believing herself to be the most civilized and advanced country, did not feel the need to satisfy Britain, a “barbarian” country’s request for freer trade and were concerned the British wanted land. Britain however, had no desire for land and only wished to trade, believing it was their right to do so. These misunderstandings and differing opinions were only the start of more to come. They set the foundations to the British and Chinese hostilities.
China was plagued by famine, natural disasters and economic problems which the government failed to recover from in the nineteenth century. Empress Dowager Cixi was a reluctant reformist and made sure China remained a monarchy till her last breath in 1908 which created anti-Qing feeling. Although the fall of the Qing Dynasty can argued as a result of its failure to reform and modernize China to keep its people content, perhaps the most significant factor was due to foreign intervention. A loser of the Opium War of 1842, the Qing government fully exposed its weakness and inefficiency when fighting against the foreign powers and signing the ‘Unequal Treaties’ afterwards. The Sino-Japanese War of 1895 and the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 further humiliated the imperial government. Defeat from the Japanese was followed by a period where foreign powers scrambled for privileges in China, exacting lease territories, railroad concessions and mining rights, and carving out their respective ‘spheres of influence.’ Therefore, it is important to understand whether foreign intervention in China was the most significant factor in exposing the Qing governments’ weaknesses which led to anti-foreign sentiment and would spark revolutionary ideas from key figures such as Sun Yat Sen to overthrow the dynasty. The revolt that toppled the world’s longest lasting empire had been developing for decades but, when it finally came in October 1911, it was sparked by accident when a bomb exploded in the office of a group of revolutionary soldiers in the Russian concession of the city of Hankou on the river Yangtze in central China. The events led to the abdication of the last emperor, Puyi, four months later on February 12th, 1912 and marked the end of the Qing Dy...
The rise and fall of dynasties is a commonly discussed characteristic of the Chinese. The Shang dynasty (1500-1050 B.C.E.) was the foundation of innovative and progressive movements with the first to achieve a working writing system, metalworking, municipalities, and chariots. They believed in sacrificing the captives, who were excluded to being slaves, to the gods and ancestors for this was thought to be an aim for going to war. The invention of writing proved to be a phenomenal improvement as they could now keep records and deliver messages to the commanders of their armies far off at war. They used the logographic system; a word is represented by a pictoral sign which made literacy a royal attribute. With the successes of this risen dynasty, history tells us it must fall so another can be born for a balance in control can be established. An empire known as the Zhou dynasty (1050-256 B.C.E.) ov...
“Catastrophe, riots, factories blowing up, armies in flight, flood - the ear can detect a whole apocalypse in the starry night of the human body (Cocteau).” China is the human body of this metaphor, as Cocteau points out the destruction and chaos opium can cause in the body of man; it does the same to the well-being of China during the early to mid eighteen-hundreds. The aim of this paper is to discuss a key issue in which plagued China in their opposition to opium trade leading up to and during the Opium War. While there are many important issues related to China’s opium problem, the scope of this paper will be strategic errors. It is important to note that if improvements were made in this field, it does not guarantee that the
Graham, Hutchings. Modern China; A Guide to a Century of Change. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,2001
The thought of opium as a topic of conversation in China throughout the late eighteenth century and nineteenth century brought about discussions that varied from arguments for its legalization and praise of its distributors to the complete ban of the drug and punishment for all users and smugglers. For those who acted as proponents of the narcotic, they sincerely believed that this necessary evil was one of the only aspects of the economy that could effectively propel China into the same class as that of the world’s supreme powers (Janin 6). Those who condemned even the slightest interaction with opium or its derivatives opted for the more “honorable” route, in that, they pledged to rid their country of such horrible vices in order to follow a purer path throughout their daily lives (Mackay 124). It was from these arguments that made these debates rampantly widespread throughout the country, with neither side effectively telling the truth about the future of China and ultimately being left to the voice of those in charge of the economy, since they are the ones who control what is worth importing and exporting. If the use of opium were permitted, then the impact would have been generally positive, in that, there would be fewer smugglers to worry about breaking the law, and more profit actually being given to the Chinese government since they would actually be included. On the other hand, basing this drug trade on purely moral and some economic terms, then the people of China will constantly be in a state of intoxication because they will no longer be able to think and process clearly, while the economy of the Chinese government might also not be able to possess the buying power that they would have previously had when they unc...
While the leaders of the self-strengthening movement desired to adopt Western military technology, they failed to recognize the strength and superiority of the Western political systems behind the armies. The ruling Qing dynasty, factionalized and ineffectual, did not provide a stable platform to initiate reforms. The Qing’s response to the opium trade, which devastated the health of citizens and threatened China’s control of trade, evidenced its lack of authority. Emperor Daoguang issued twelve imperial edicts between 1813 and 1839, yet the numbers of opium chests smuggled into China grew from 4,000 to...
Fairbank, John King. The Great Chinese Revolution 1800-1985. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1986.
Allingham,, Philip V. "England and China: The Opium Wars, 1839-60." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 24 June 2006. Web. 06 Apr. 2011.
This question can be analyzed and answered through exploring and understanding a series of criterion. The first step is to comprehend the causes and effects of the Wars, and to see how treaties demonstrated what certain countries stood for politically and economically, as well as how the Chinese reacted to interacting with hostility to and from the European nations. Once the historical events that occurred during the Opium Wars are laid out, it is clear to see how these instances caused a significant jumpstart in the industrialization of China. In addition, the incidences of the Wars were an enzyme in the formation of China’s foreign policy and relation with the European nations. Much can be said about the way the Opium Wars affect how the Chinese people viewed the Europeans, especially the English. The scars left on the Chinese due to the issues of the Wars are irreparable damage to the pride and culture of the country, and severely tarnished the image of the westerners following God’s will and helping other countries hasten their rate of increasing civilization. Even though the Opium Wars took a toll on China and the Chinese people as a whole, they have come back with a storm in all manners of
Immanuel C.Y. Hsu, 1995. The Rise of Modern China.5Rev Ed Edition. Oxford University Press, USA.
The title of Ray Huang’s book 1587: A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty Decline suggests that this book is a work based on a single year in which little occurred. But in reality, Huang’s look at the events of 1587 demonstrate the complex workings of the leadership during the decline of the Ming dynasty, giving the reader an insight into the societal structure, the governmental process, and the mistakes that occurred systematically to enhance the progression towards the seemingly inevitable downfall. Though nothing of historical significance occurred during the year 1587, Huang is able to demonstrate the way in which the existing culture and the smaller, more systematic elements of political leadership can be understood within the context of a seemingly unimportant period of time.
Hsueh, Chun- tu, The Chinese Revolution of 1911: New Perspectives (Hong Kong: Joint _____Publishing Co., 1986), pp.1-15, 119-131, 139-171