Introduction
Chapter – 1
Table of Contents
- Book focuses on China’s history since the abdication of the last Qing emperor in early 1912.
- Marks the end of hereditary monarchy in China, which had persisted for about 3000 years.
- Collapse of Qing dynasty in 1911-1912 due to internal and external pressures.
- Replacement by an attempt at a republican parliamentary democracy.
- Foreigners from the USA, Japan, and Europe played a role in these events.
- Unlike previous invaders, these foreigners did not acknowledge the superiority of Chinese culture.
- 1911-1912 events represented a departure from traditional dynastic changes in China.
- Chinese society faced challenges in reorganizing without a hereditary emperor.
- Lowlands of present-day China are in the temperate zone and the birthplace of Chinese civilization.
- Shang dynasty (middle of the second millennium BC) marked the development of Chinese civilization with a complex writing system and advanced bronze work.
- Zhou dynasty (c. 1122-256 BC) saw the discovery of iron and expansion of Chinese influence.
- Philosophers like Confucius were active during the Zhou dynasty, focusing on societal and governmental principles.
- Mandate of Heaven concept justified the overthrow of bad rulers; dynastic changes were accepted based on this principle.
- Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) was the first to rule all of lowland China with a centralized system.
- Han Chinese, the majority of modern China’s population, traces its name to the Han dynasty.
- Inner Asian frontiers posed challenges to Chinese dynasties, leading to the rise and fall of different dynasties.
- Dynastic cycle involved the initial success, erosion of central power, internal problems, and external attacks.
- Corruption, administrative issues, and population pressure were factors contributing to dynastic decline.
- Ming and Qing dynasties faced challenges due to a significant population increase.
- Qing dynasty’s peak in the eighteenth century marked a high point in China’s history.
- By the early nineteenth century, the Qing dynasty faced rebellions and challenges, leading to a decline.
- Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) highlighted the weakening central authority and the rise of regional armies.
- Rebellions often rooted in rural hardship, corruption, ethnic rivalries, and opposition to the ruling elite.
- Manchu ruling elite’s efforts to uphold Chinese values did not prevent rebellions emphasizing their foreignness.
- Qing dynasty faced internal problems and external threats.
- Traditional Inner Asian threats diminished due to firearms, replaced by the Russian state expanding toward the Pacific.
- Foreigners, mainly from Europe and the USA, posed military threats along the Chinese coast.
- European nations chose indirect control through unequal treaties instead of direct colonization of East Asia.
- Foreign attacks, especially in 1860 and 1900, exposed military inadequacy, prompting the need for Western military knowledge.
- Self-strengthening movement aimed at acquiring new military equipment and limited industrial activity.
- Defeat by Japan in 1894-5 and the second occupation of Beijing in 1900 intensified the demand for change.
- Two sets of issues led to the collapse of the Qing dynasty: traditional challenges of a declining dynasty and new challenges posed by foreign powers.
- Efforts to reform between 1901 and 1908 faced financial constraints, regional power assertions, and a lack of well-established leaders.
- Collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911 resulted from both provincial elites and New Army units rallying against the Qing.
- Discontent with Qing arose from conflicts over provincial assemblies, the 1911 cabinet, and control of planned railways.
- Revolutionary parties, like the Tongmenghui, existed since 1905 and played a role in advocating republicanism.
- The 1911 Revolution began in Wuhan, with New Army units influenced by revolutionary sympathizers.
- Li Yuanhong became a prominent figure; under his leadership, Wuhan declared independence from the Qing.
- Anti-Manchu sentiment united various social groups seeking power, better defense, protection from foreign competition, and those with anti-Qing feelings.
- The focus on anti-Manchu sentiment restrained wider attempts at social or economic revolution.
- The 1911 Revolution marked the rejection of the dynastic system but was only the first step in the re-creation of Chinese society.
- Chinese Communists later viewed the 1911 Revolution as the first stage of the bourgeois-democratic revolution in China.