During the years 1851-1866 there was massive civil war, or as some would consider it, a rebellion in China. This period of turmoil “was not only the most destructive war of the nineteenth century, but likely the bloodiest civil war of all time.” (Platt, 2012) The ruling government was the Qing dynasty, who had been in power since the mid 1600’s. There were widespread problems throughout the country including natural disasters such as “droughts, famines, and floods.” (Robert Worden, 1988) There were a substantial number of lower class citizens who were unhappy with their living conditions and with the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty. There was a large gap in economic status between the lower class and the wealthy members of the government. This social tension along with China being defeated militarily by France and Britain lead to a citizen uprising in the region of south China. Known as the Taiping Rebellion, this large scale revolt was fought in “an attempt to create a new Han Chinese dynasty that would unite Christianity and Confucianism.” (Black, 2013) The Taiping Rebellion impacted Chinese history in two main ways: the Chinese lower class learned to fight for social change, which lead to other rebellions, and, at the same time, the war showcased the Chinese government’s intolerance for and ability to thwart societal change. The first main impact the rebellion had on Chinese history was that the Chinese people, who were possibility influence by the American Civil war,
to a superior but as a “letter” to an equal, the letter was in Chinese
during the Zhou Dynasty, China was experiencing a great deal of political turmoil. A major part of this era was called the Period of the Warring States. It was a time when there were numerous wars that occurred due to the conflict that existed between seven states. (Watkins, 2013) These warring states were the Han, Wu, Zhao, Chu, Qi, Yan and Jin. According to Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler of the book Traditions and Encounters, “This period forced some people to reflect on the nature of society, and the roles of humans beings within society.” The authors continued saying that it forced others to “identify principles that would restore political and social order.” (Bentley & Ziegler, 2011) The principles of Confucianism were established and followed in order to help the citizens of China to live and govern their communities more efficiently. Through Confucianism, Confucius helped legitimize China’s rule and bring about order in the mist of turmoil. The effects of Confucius’ principles are still seen and felt today in many aspects of modern day Chinese society. Veritably, there were points throughout Chinese history where Confucianism affected almost every aspect of life in China. Confucius has impacted the development of Chinese thought and culture in various ways from education to politics, to familial relationships.
Isolation of China by the Qing Dynasty did not benefit the country in the end. Removing itself from other nations had been in the works since the Ming Dynasty had ruled, and the emperors of the Qing Dynasty supported isolation as well. China also had strict restrictions with their trade, which scared many other countries away. In the 1800s, numerous countries finally attempted to escape China’s trade restrictions. These effects helped to collapse the already cracking country.
The Qing Dynasty’s collapse was due to three main influences, with underlying reasons involved in each. The first being foreign intervention related strongly to militarism, gunboat diplomacy, imperialism and the rise of unequal treaty systems. The second influence was China’s failure to reform and uprisings, such as the boxer rebellion and lastly economic decline. These three factors ultimately resulted in the downfall of the dynasty.
By the time the first opium war broke out, there were rebellions across the land of the Qing dynasty. One of the rebellions was the Taiping Rebellion. Prophet Hong Xiuquan leads the Taiping Rebellion. The uprising promised social reform, land redistribution, liberation for women. It also attacked Confucian values and wanted to create a simpler script for the people with goals were to make literacy more possible for everyone. Nonetheless, local landowners create a military that stops rebellions. The Manchurian government refused to enact these reforms. It created a larger gap in the division of the Manchus and
Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Qin emperor, was an ambitious emperor who implemented a central bureaucratic system that oversaw the evolution and unification of China at the cost of public sentiment. The Qin Dynasty is considered to be among the most influential dynasties as it laid the foundation for the massive cultural and economic development of China that took place during the Han Dynasty, but it also failed to achieve many of its pro-commoner ideological goals. In fact, socioeconomic disparity was not alleviated and despite the notion of enriching the lives of the common people, it was under Qin rule in which public resentment of the authoritarian government peaked as there were countless peasant revolts against the iron-handed bureaucratic rule of the Qin. Because a paranoid emperor alone wielded political clout and influence, the tumultuous few years of Qin reign was rife with paranoia and suspicion among the masses. Although the Qin Dynasty is seldom thought to possess the same glaring discrepancy between ideology and state that the Communist regime in post-World War II China had, the failure of the flawless egalitarian state models in socioeconomic and political aspects during the Qin Dynasty mirrored the developments in early Communist China.
The Qing dynasty (1916-1912) is the last imperial dynasty of China, it was consider as the most powerful country during the “golden age” ruled by Kang Xi and Qian Long, and it has over 400 million population and has the 1st ranked GDP in the world at the moment. The Qing has the supreme power at the time and has the significant influence in East Asian. However, the collapse of the Qing Dynasty made a humiliate history of China. The Qing dynasty doesn't fall suddenly, and the collapse of Qing is not just simply because domestic revolution and alien invasion. The failure of the Qing government is worthy to study, we need to take a deep step and explore the root cause of the collapse of Qing.
I agree to a larger extent that the Qing Government was primarily responsible for causing the Taiping Rebellion. However, other underlying factors leading to the Taiping insurrection cannot be ignored. This essay will discuss how corruption in the Qing bureaucracy, the incompetent leadership, the closed mentality of the Qing Government, shortage of land and impact of an alien Manchu regime highlighted the Qing Government as the main cause of the rebellion. The essay would also include the other causes of the rebellion, such as the opium war and natural disasters.
The Han dynasty was a golden era for China. It saw the greatest land confiscation of the nation’s history and economic success. In this paper I will be focusing on the structure of the national government, the monopolizing of iron and salt, the Yumen Pass and the Yellow Turban rebellion. Join me as we take a trip back in time to visit a time in Chinas history that is highly revered.
Many people argued that Empress Dowager Cixi accelerated the speed of the demise of the Qing dynasty. Cixi might be a blasting fuse but she was not accounted for the final fall of the dynasty. The actions Cixi took had profoundly changed the foundation of feudal China so as to push China forward into a modern stage. Although many historical data suggested that whatever Cixi had done were to consolidate her authority and personal status. But no matter what, the impact on the country was obvious. Cixi broke the previous traditions from Confucianism that had been lasted for centuries. Tensions between the Manchus and Han Chinese had been greatly improved, which made a great contribution to China for later unification. Under the reign of the Empress Dowager, the social structure had undergone a series of changes. Qing 's demise is doomed, this was resulted from issues that had stacked up from previous generations. Moreover, Cixi did her best to secure China’s status in the world in such a chaotic period in history. She made undeniable contributions to China.
One might wonder what life was like in China 300 years ago? Or even think about the aspects of life just 100 years ago? Others ponder the history of China, and how the country came to be. The Manchus, and their invasion of China played an enormous role in all of these thoughts. The Manchu invasion of China during the 17th century, was an extremely significant event in Chinese history, that left important impacts on China. It also helped to influence culture for years to come.
Between the years of 1646 to 1912, the Qing Dynasty proclaimed the longest ruling dynasty in China. Over the 275 years of ruling China, the inevitable fall of the Qing Dynasty is still debated by historians. From key contributing factors such as internal crisis, inability to adequately cope with foreign powers and incompetent rulers who were unable to rise from old tradition led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.
Hong Xiuquan was the founder of the Taiping, whose followers began the longest-lived and most deadly rebellions of the 19th century. Despite coming from a poor background, he was an educated man as well as a charismatic speaker. After several attempts to pass the civil servant exams, he turned to Christianity that Protestant missionaries in Canton introduced to him. Through a strange dream, Hong Xiuquan concluded he was the son of Jesus and mandated to rid the world of corrupt officials and other agents of the devil. He preached in public and soon amassed thousands of followers. As his following grew, Hong’s indicated The Qing dynasty as the source of corruption. Additionally, the scholar gentry and other aspects of Confucianism were attacked.
The Taiping Rebellion was probably the most important event in China in the 19th century. It lasted for 14 years, took an estimated 20 million lives and altered the Qing dynasty. The rebellion began with the leadership of Hong Xiuqian who believed that he, himself was a son of God and the younger brother of Jesus Christ who was sent to reform China. In 1850, Hong joined his supportive friend Feng Yunshan and their new religious group, the God Worshippers’ Society and started the rebellion. On January 11, 1851 Hong proclaimed his new dynasty, the Taiping Tianguo “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace.” This attracted many peasants, workers, and miners, along with their propaganda against the Manchu rulers of China. So the Taiping ranks arose from
The revolutionary habits that the Chinese developed over the nineteenth century constructed the new China that the world has today. The incidents of the 1911 Revolution and May Fourth Movement tremendously shaped the future of the Industrial China. This essay seeks to examine how the revolution of 1911 and May Fourth Movement pushed to the modern China we have today.