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Lin Zexu
Lin Zexu was born in Fujian Province in (1809). He was a scholar and an official who became famous for his opposition to the opium trade. In 1839, Lin was appointed Imperial Commissioner in Canton, and he ordered the British merchants there to surrender their opium stocks. When they refused, he destroyed the opium. This led to the first Opium War between China and Britain. Lin was eventually defeated and was exiled to the United States, where he died in 1885. -
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan was born in 1814 in the village of Huaxi, Guangdong Province, China. He was the third son of a poor peasant family. At the age of fifteen, Hong Xiuquan began to have religious visions.
He believed that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ and that he had been sent to save China from its corrupt government. In 1847, Hong Xiuquan and his followers launched a rebellion against the Chinese government. -
Hong Xiuquan
The rebellion was unsuccessful, and Hong Xiuquan was forced to flee to the United States.
He lived in the United States for several years, but he eventually returned to China. In 1864, Hong Xiuquan led another unsuccessful rebellion against the Chinese government. He was captured and executed. -
Empress Ci Xi
Empress Ci Xi was the last Empress of China. She was born into a family of poverty, but was able to rise above it and through social climbing and networking she was able to eventually become emperor when a power struggle arose. -
Empress Empress Ci Xi Pt.2
As Empress, she ruled China strictly, and was known for her harshness and cruelty. She was also a great patron of the arts, and her reign saw a flowering of Chinese culture. However, her policies also led to a series of disastrous military defeats, and she is ultimately remembered as one of the most tragic figures in Chinese history. -
Opium Pt.1
Opium had a profound effect on imperial China. The drug was brought over from India by the British, and it became popular because it was seen as a way to escape the harsh realities of life. Opium addiction became a major problem, and the government was forced to take action. In (1839), the emperor of China issued an edict banning the drug, and the population was encouraged to crack down on opium use. Addicts were arrested and punished, -
Opium Pt.2
and the sale and use of opium was made illegal and punishable by heavy fines and jail time
Opium was a huge trade commodity between China and Britain during the 1800s. The British East India Company began importing opium into China in the early 1700s to trade for tea, porcelain, and silk. The Chinese government attempted to ban the opium trade in 1839, which led to the First Opium War. -
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Taiping Rebellion,
The Taiping Rebellion was a massive civil war that took place in China from 1850 to 1864. It was fought between the Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a rebel group led by Hong Xiuquan. The war claimed the lives of over 20 million people, making it one of the deadliest wars in history. Hong Xiuquan was born in 1814 in the southern province of Guangdong. -
Treaty of Nanjing
Treaty of Nanjing: The Treaty of Nanjing was a treaty signed on August 29, 1842, by the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of China. It was the first of the Unequal Treaties between China and the Western powers. The treaty was ratified by the British Parliament on August 14, 1843. -
Treaty of Nanjing Pt.2
The treaty opened up five ports to the British and other Western powers and ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British. In addition, the treaty granted Christian missionaries the right to preach in China and gave British subjects extraterritorial rights.
Was one of the reasons why the Taiping Rebellion occurred. -
Taiping Rebellion Pt.2
He was raised in a poor family and had little education. As a young man, Hong became interested in Christianity and began to study the Bible. He came to believe that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, and that he had been sent to Earth to lead a new Christian kingdom. -
Taiping Rebellion Pt.3
In 1849, Hong led a group of followers in a rebellion against the Qing Dynasty. They seized the city of Nanjing and declared the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Taiping Rebellion quickly became a massive civil war. The Qing Dynasty was able to muster a large army and eventually recaptured Nanjing. -
Taiping Rebellion Pt.4
However, the Taiping Rebellion continued to fight for over a decade, eventually claiming the lives of over 20 million people. The war was a devastating blow to China, which was only just beginning to emerge from centuries of feudalism. -
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Taiping Rebellion is Put Down
The Taiping Rebellion is largely put down by the Qing dynasty. -
Treaty of Tianjin
The Treaties of Tianjin were a series of treaties signed between the Qing Dynasty of China and various Western powers in 1858. The treaties were a response to the Second Opium War and were intended to open up China to Western trade and influence. These treaties had a huge effect on China, opening them up to the Western world and giving China access to Western technology. -
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Qing Dynasty Reforms
The Qing dynasty underwent a series of reforms, including the creation of a national education system and the abolition of the traditional civil service examination. -
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Hundred Day Reform Pt.2
Major reforms included the introduction of a new currency, the yen, the privatization of the feudal estates, and the creation of a new education system. The reforms were largely successful and helped to make Japan one of the leading economies in the world. -
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Sino-Japanese War
The Sino-Japanese War was a conflict fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1894 to 1895. Hostilities began with the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, lasting for eight months until Japan's decisive victory in the Battle of Weihaiwei. -
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The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, a violent uprising against foreigners and Christians in China, takes place. -
Qing Dynasty Ends
The Qing dynasty is overthrown and replaced by the Republic of China. -
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Hundred Day Reform
This was a series of economic and social reforms enacted by the government of Emperor Meiji of Japan between 1868 and 1871. These reforms were aimed at modernizing the country and making it more competitive in the global economy as Japan's economic growth had been stunted from isolationism.