FREE ESSAY ON CHINA REVOLUTION

CHINA REVOLUTION

In the 19th century, China had a lot new treaties and wars breaking out, all throught the
19th century. Some are like the Opium War(s), The Boxer Rebellion, and Sphere of
Influence. These things were a big part of China's history.
The Opium War was two wars fought between Great Britain and China in whom Western powers
gained significant commercial privileges and territory. The Opium Wars began when the
Chinese government tried to stop the illegal importation of opium by British merchants.
The First Opium War started in 1839 when the Chinese government confiscated opium
warehouses in Guangzhou (Canton). Britain responded by sending an expedition of warships
to the city in February 1840. The British won a quick victory and the conflict was ended
by the Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing) on August 29, 1842. By this treaty, and a
supplementary one signed on October 8, 1843, China was forced to pay a large indemnity,
open five ports to British trade and residence, and cede Hong Kong to Great Britain. The
treaty also gave British citizens in China the right to be tried in British courts. Other
Western powers demanded, and were granted, similar privileges. 
In October 1856, Guangzhou police boarded the British ship Arrow and charged its crew
with smuggling. Eager to gain more trading rights, the British used the incident to
launch another offensive, precipitating the Second Opium War. British forces, aided by
the French, won another quick military victory in 1857. When the Chinese government
refused to ratify the Treaty of Tianjin, which had been signed in 1858, the hostilities
resumed. In 1860, after British and French troops had occupied Beijing and burned the
Summer Palace, the Chinese agreed to ratify the treaty. The treaty opened additional
trading ports, allowed foreign emissaries to reside in Beijing, admitted Christian
missionaries into China, and opened travel to the Chinese interior. Later negotiations
legalized the importation of opium.
The Boxer Rebellion uprising, Chinese nationalist uprising against foreigners, the
representatives of alien powers, and Chinese Christians in 1900. Expulsion of all
foreigners from China was the ultimate objective of the uprising. In 1899 a secret
society of Chinese called the Yihequan ("Righteous and Harmonious Fists"), known by
Westerners as the Boxers, began a campaign of terror against Christian missionaries in
the northeastern provinces. Although the Boxers were officially denounced, they were
secretly supported by many of the royal court, including the Dowager Empress Cixi
(Tz'u-hsi). Economic and political exploitation of China by various Western powers and
Japan and humiliating military defeats inflicted by Great Britain in the Opium Wars
(1839-1842, 1856-1860) and by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) were the
main causes of Chinese resentment, compounded by general economic problems.
The terrorist activities of the Boxer society gradually increased during 1899 with Boxer
bands attacking Christians on sight. When these bands entered the Chinese capital,
Beijing, the foreign powers dispatched a small relief column from Tianjin (Tientsin) to
secure their interests and citizens in the capital. On June 13 Cixi ordered imperial
troops to turn back this column, and the ensuing crisis culminated on June 18, 1900, in a
general uprising in Beijing, with Cixi ordering that all foreigners be killed. Many
foreigners and others took refuge in the part of the city where the foreign legations
were located; the rebels placed the area under siege. A larger relief expedition
consisting of British, French, Japanese, Russian, German, and American troops relieved
the besieged quarter and occupied Beijing on August 14, 1900. The relief forces retained
possession of the city, looking for and punishing anti foreign actions, until a peace
treaty was signed on September 7, 1901. By the terms of the treaty the Chinese were
required to pay, over a period of 40 years, a large indemnity. Other treaty provisions
included commercial concessions and the right to station foreign troops to guard the
legations in Beijing and to maintain a clear corridor from Beijing to the coast. Despite
efforts by the United States to stop further territorial encroachment (see Open Door
Policy); Russia extended its sphere of influence in Manchuria during the revolt, a policy
that culminated in the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905).
In Conclusion, these things are very important to China's History in the 19th century.