adam brand, in the presence of the qing emperor in beijing, 1706
TRANSCRIPT
Adam Brand, In the Presence of the Qing Emperor in Beijing, 1706
Problems of foreign encroachment…
• By the seventeenth century, European traders trying to increase contact with East Asia and China
• Can Chinese leaders find a way to deal with foreigners outside tributary system?
First Opium War, 1839-1942
Treaty of Nanjing leads to unequal treaties and compromises Qing sovereignty
China in the age of imperialism
Taiping Rebellion (1850-1865)
How would China modernize?
• Goal of a wealthy nation, strong military
• Chinese officials trying to find a way to modernize within tradition – preserve Confucianism, but adopt technology
Chinese POWs in Japanese captivity after the war
Late-Qing cartoon: temperatures rising, constitutionalism gaining
Fall of the Qing & Republic (1912-1949)
• Sun Yat-sen emerges as national leader
• Drive to repair China’s international stature, reclaim lost territory
• Nationalism• Socialism• Democracy—after a
period of military tutelage
Which revolutionary path to follow?
• Chiang Kai-shek & Mao Zedong: both favor state-led development
• Skeptical of democracy
• Significant western & Soviet support
• Different views of top-down or bottom-up development
Nationalist Government (1928-1949)
• Warlord Period (1916-1928): semi-independent territorial leaders
• Chiang Kai-shek leads Nationalist Party to military victory, reunifies country
• Focuses on state-led modernization; attacks Communists
Rapid economic, social, cultural modernity
• Rise of print media, film, music leads to tremendous cultural change
• Changing values place the individual at heart of political and social activity
• Rights of women & impoverished become focus of national concern
Pages of Ling Long magazine, early 1930’s
Japanese troops enter Shenyang, Manchuria, 1931
Battle of Shanghai and Rape of Nanking, 1937-1938
War with Japan, 1937-1945
The establishment of the PRC and Maoism (1949-1978)
Development based on government control of economic growth; high resource control, low taxation
Post-Mao: Deng Xiaoping reforms
• Light industry gains renewed focus
• Private control over agriculture and service-industry sectors
• Low taxation leads to low social services and loss of government control
Ongoing political and social issues
• As China modernizes, how will longstanding problems be resolved
• Change and growth versus stability
• Domestic integrity versus foreign contact & relations with East Asian / Pacific neighbors
• The problem of “virtuous rule” – does the PRC government still have legitimacy?