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Period: to
Empress Dowager Ci Xi
Empress Dowager Ci Xi worked with her government officials to fight against the British in the First Opium War from 1839-1842 -
Opium War
-Chinese emperor asks Queen Victoria to stop the opium -trade/unanswered
-China destroys millions of dollars of opium
-China no match for modern weaponry and equipment
-1842 Sign the Treaty of Nanjing -
Treaty of Nanjing
-China paid Britain's war costs
-Opened 5 ports to trade
-Extraterritoriality
-Britain received the island of Hong Kong
-Sometimes called the 1st of the Unequal treaties
-Western powers carved out "spheres of influence (exclusive trading privileges) -
Asia
Asia was carved up after the Opium Wars
-England annexed Hong Kong and Kowloon
-France took over Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos)
-Russia moved into Chinese Turkistan and Manchuria
-Japan grabbed Taiwan and won dominance over Korea -
China Resists Foreign Influence
-Qing (Manchu) Dynasty
-Chinese had little interest in trading with western nations
-Europeans: silk, porcelain, tea, spices
-Chinese did not need to trade