The weak late Qing and the Opium Wars (1842-1860)
Around 1800 the Qing empire was very large, but its government had less money, its population was growing fast and officials were often corrupt. Trade with Europe was allowed only through one port, Canton.
British merchants bought tea and silk and needed something to pay for it. They sold opium (grown in British India). Opium spread in China and silver flowed out. When China tried to stop the trade, Britain fought the First Opium War (1839-42) and won with better ships and guns.
The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) was the first of the unequal treaties: Hong Kong Island was given to Britain, five ports were opened to trade, a large payment was demanded. After the Second Opium War (1856-60) more ports opened and foreigners could live and travel inland. Later treaties added extraterritoriality (foreigners tried under their own law), low fixed import taxes and foreign "concessions" in cities. They are called unequal because China could not bargain freely and got little in return.
Uprisings and self-strengthening reforms
Defeat, taxes and hunger led to uprisings. The biggest was the Taiping rebellion (1850-64), led by Hong Xiuquan, who built a rival state in the south. It was one of the deadliest wars of the 19th century. The Qing survived mainly because regional officials raised their own armies, so power moved from the centre to the provinces.
From the 1860s some officials began the Self-Strengthening Movement: arsenals, shipyards, a navy, telegraphs, railways and schools to learn foreign languages and technology. The idea was to copy Western tools but keep Chinese values.
It was limited: little money, no one plan for the whole country, officials who opposed change. The test came in 1894-95, when China lost a war with Japan, which had modernised more deeply. Taiwan was given to Japan. A short reform attempt in 1898 (the Hundred Days) was stopped by conservatives at court.
Boxer uprising and the revolution of 1911
In the north, anger at foreign missionaries, railways and poverty grew into the Boxer uprising (1899-1901). Boxers attacked foreigners and Chinese Christians and besieged the foreign legations in Beijing. An alliance of foreign armies defeated them, and the Boxer Protocol (1901) forced China to pay a large indemnity.
After this even the court accepted reforms (new schools, a new army, the end of the old exam system in 1905, promises of a parliament). But many felt they came too late. Secret groups, including that of Sun Yat-sen, wanted a republic. A military uprising at Wuchang in October 1911 spread quickly, province after province left the empire, and in early 1912 the last emperor stepped down. Over 2,000 years of imperial rule ended.
Republic, warlords and the May Fourth movement (1912-1927)
The Republic of China was proclaimed in 1912. It had the name of a republic but not a strong army or tax system. After the president Yuan Shikai died in 1916, the country broke into regions ruled by warlords with private armies. Governments in Beijing had little real power.
On 4 May 1919 students in Beijing protested when the peace conference after World War I gave former German rights in Shandong to Japan instead of returning them to China. The protests grew into the May Fourth movement and the New Culture movement: young people argued for science, democracy, plain written language, women's education and new politics. Marxist ideas spread and the Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921.
Nationalists, Communists and Japan (1927-1949)
The Nationalist Party (Guomindang), led after 1925 by Chiang Kai-shek, worked with the Communists to defeat warlords in the Northern Expedition (1926-28). In 1927 the partnership broke and the two sides fought. Nationalists ruled from Nanjing; the Communists built bases in the countryside and after the Long March (1934-35) Mao Zedong became their leader.
Japan took Manchuria in 1931 and began a full invasion in 1937. Cities fell, millions fled inland and the war lasted until 1945. Nationalists and Communists formed an uneasy alliance against Japan, but did not trust each other.
After 1945 the civil war resumed. The Communists had gained support from peasants through land reform promises and had a disciplined army; the Nationalist government was weakened by war, inflation and corruption. In October 1949 Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China; the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan.
Communist rule, planned industry and mass campaigns (1949-1976)
The new state was ruled by one party. Early on it restored order, fought inflation and carried out land reform (land moved from landlords to peasants). The First Five-Year Plan (1953-57) built heavy industry such as steel, machinery and railways, with Soviet advisers and loans. The state, not markets, decided what to produce.
Mao also used mass campaigns. In the Great Leap Forward (1958-62) people were grouped into big communes and told to make steel and raise crop output quickly. Unrealistic targets, false reports and poor farming caused a terrible famine. In the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) students (Red Guards) were encouraged to attack "old" ideas and officials. Schools closed, many people suffered, and the economy and education were damaged. Mao died in 1976.
Even so, the period raised literacy and health care and built an industrial base.
China in the Cold War world
In the 1950s China allied with the Soviet Union (treaty of 1950). It fought in the Korean War (1950-53) against UN forces led by the USA. In the late 1950s and 1960s the friendship broke down over leadership of the communist world and border questions: the Sino-Soviet split. China then stood between the two superpowers and spoke for newly independent countries in Asia and Africa.
In 1971 the People's Republic took China's seat at the United Nations, and in 1972 US president Nixon visited Beijing. Opening to the USA opened the way for trade and, later, for reform.
Reform, opening up and rising prosperity (1978-2001)
After Mao, Deng Xiaoping and others judged that the planned economy was too slow. From 1978 they began reform and opening up:
- Farm reform: families could farm land and sell extra crops (household responsibility system), so harvests grew.
- Special economic zones (from 1980, such as Shenzhen): areas with low taxes and easy rules for foreign firms, to bring trade, money and know-how.
- Market reforms sped up in the 1990s; private firms grew and many state firms were restructured.
- Joining the world: exports of factory goods boomed, ending with entry to the World Trade Organization in 2001.
The economy grew close to 10% a year for decades. Incomes rose, cities grew and hundreds of millions of people left extreme poverty. At the same time political control by the one party stayed tight, protests in 1989 were ended by force, and inequality, pollution and a big gap between city and country appeared. Historians use different arguments to weigh these gains and costs.
Key formulas and definitions
- Era 1 (1842-1911): weak government โ foreign pressure and uprisings โ slow reforms โ revolution
- Era 2 (1912-49): no strong centre โ warlords โ new ideas โ civil war and Japanese invasion โ 1949
- Era 3 (1949-78): one-party state โ state plans and mass campaigns โ growth and hardship
- Era 4 (1978-2001): reform and opening โ special zones, trade โ rising incomes โ WTO
- Key years: 1842, 1911, 1919, 1937, 1949, 1958, 1966, 1978, 2001
Worked examples
1. Easy. Why are the treaties after the Opium Wars called "unequal"?
China signed them after losing a war, so it could not bargain freely. It had to open ports, give up Hong Kong, accept foreigners judged under their own law and fixed low import taxes, and pay large sums, and it got little in return. The terms favoured one side.
2. Medium. Make a cause and effect chain from the Opium Wars to 1911.
Weak, costly government โ defeat in the Opium Wars โ unequal treaties and loss of control over trade โ anger and hardship cause the Taiping rebellion (and regional officials gain power) โ self-strengthening reforms, but too slow โ defeat by Japan (1895) and the Boxer uprising (1900) โ people lose faith in the empire โ revolution in 1911.
3. Medium. Why was the republic of 1912 weak, and what changed in 1919?
It had no strong army or tax system of its own, and army leaders became warlords after Yuan Shikai died in 1916. In 1919 students protested against the peace terms on Shandong; the May Fourth movement brought ideas of science, democracy and new politics, and led to new parties, including the Communist Party (1921).
4. Medium. Why did the Communists win the civil war (1946-49)? Give three reasons.
(1) Peasant support, since they promised and carried out land reform. (2) A disciplined, well-led army. (3) The Nationalist government was worn out by war with Japan, inflation and corruption. Historians add other factors, such as outside help and mistakes in battle.
5. Hard. Compare the aims of the Great Leap Forward (1958) and the reforms of 1978.
The Great Leap aimed to build industry and farming quickly through mass campaigns and communes, under state control and targets. The 1978 reforms aimed to raise output by using incentives: families kept extra crops, special zones invited foreign firms, markets slowly replaced plans. The first relied on mobilisation and caused famine; the second relied on incentives and trade and brought fast growth.
6. Hard. Use evidence to judge: "The 1911 revolution solved China's problems."
Against: it ended the empire but left no strong state; warlords ruled, foreign powers kept their treaty rights, and civil war and Japanese invasion followed. For: it ended 2,000 years of monarchy and opened the way for new ideas and politics (1919). Conclusion: it was a turning point, but a start, not a solution.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the two Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60) and the Treaty of Nanjing (1842).
- Saying 1911 and 1949 are the same event. 1911 ended the empire and began a republic; 1949 is when the People's Republic was proclaimed.
- Treating the Taiping rebellion and the Boxer uprising as the same. Taiping (1850-64) was a huge civil war in the south; the Boxers (1899-1901) rose in the north against foreign presence.
- Writing only one cause. A good answer links several: weak government, foreign pressure, uprisings, slow reform. Also, judge reforms by comparing before and after rather than saying only "good" or "bad".