By the end of the 16th century, the northern neighbors of the Ming Empire - the descendants of the Jurchen tribes defeated at one time by Genghis Khan - united around the possession of Manchukuo under the leadership of the leader Nurkhatsi. In 1609, Nurhaci stopped paying tribute to China, and then proclaimed his own Jin dynasty. From 1618 the Manchus intensified their armed pressure on China. For eight years, they go almost to the Great Wall of China (in the extreme east).
Nurkhatsi's successor, Abahai, proclaims himself emperor and changes the name of the dynasty to Qing. The Manchurian cavalry begins to make regular raids on China, plundering and enslaving hundreds of thousands of Chinese. Emperor Ming has to send his best army under the command of Wu Sangui to the northern borders.
Meanwhile, another peasant uprising is flaring up in China. In 1644, peasant detachments led by Li Zicheng, having defeated all the other armies, occupied Beijing, and Li Zicheng himself proclaimed himself emperor. Commander Wu Sangui lets the Manchurian cavalry into Beijing and they defeat Li Zicheng in the Battle of Shanghaiguan. On June 6, 1644, the Manchus captured the capital. Li Zicheng soon dies, and the Manchus declare their infant emperor Aisingero Fulin the ruler of all China. Wu Sangui, together with the entire army, goes to the service of the conquerors.
China thus lost state sovereignty and became an integral part of another state - Manchu Empire Qing, although the struggle against the Manchu invaders continued for a long time: the last stronghold of resistance - Taiwan was captured by the Manchus in 1683.
The Manchus were the second foreign people to invade China. In the hands of the Manchu nobility were the highest authorities and the leadership of the army. Mixed marriages were forbidden, and yet the Manchus quickly adapted to Chinese culture, especially since, unlike the Mongols, they did not oppose Chinese culture.
Beginning with Kangxi (r. 1663-1723), the Manchu emperors were Buddhists, and in ethics - Confucians, ruling the country according to ancient laws. China under the rule of the Qing Dynasty in the XVII-XVIII centuries. developed quite rapidly. By the beginning of the 19th century, there were already about 300 million people in the Qing Empire - about five times more than in the same territory on average over the previous two thousand years, which led to intensive development Agriculture at active participation states. The Manchus ensured the obedience of the Chinese population, but at the same time they took care of the prosperity of the country's economy and the well-being of the people.
The rulers of the Qing state pursued a policy of isolating China from the outside world. Catholic missionaries, who played a prominent role in the imperial court until the end of the 17th century, were gradually expelled, and Christian churches were closed. By the middle of the 18th century, trade with Europeans had been eliminated, with the exception of one port in Canton (Guangzhou). The stronghold of foreign trade remained the island of Macau, which was under the control of the Portuguese.
During the first two centuries, the Qing Empire expanded in all directions and more than doubled its territory. In 1757, the Dzungar Khanate was destroyed, and its territory, together with East Turkestan, conquered by 1760, was included in the Qing Empire under the name Xinjiang (New Frontier). Korea became a vassal of the Qing Empire. At the end of the 17th century, the princes of Outer Mongolia recognized the suzerainty of the Manchu emperors. IN late XVIII century, the state of Tibet was conquered. The expansion also extended to the northwest, which led to a conflict with Russia in the Amur region. However, it should be noted that the Qing Empire is not China: the latter was only one of its parts.
Opium and the Sino-Japanese War. At the end of the 18th century, China's trade with the outside world began to expand again. Chinese silk, porcelain, tea and other goods were in great demand in Europe, but the Chinese refused to buy anything from the Europeans, so they had to pay in silver for Chinese goods. Then the British began to import opium into China - mainly by smuggling from India. Soon, the local population, especially in coastal areas, was introduced to smoking opium.
The import of opium into China steadily increased and became a real disaster for the country, which led to a series of Opium Wars in the middle of the 19th century. Defeat in these wars led to the gradual transformation of China into a de facto semi-colony of European powers.
The result of the first opium war was the victory of Great Britain, secured by the Nanjing Treaty of August 29, 1842, the payment by the Qing Empire of an indemnity in the amount of 15 million silver liang (21 million dollars), the transfer of Hong Kong Island to Great Britain and the opening of Chinese ports for British trade, including opium.
As a result of the defeat in the second "opium" war (1856-1860), China was forced to fully accept the demands of the Western powers:
- opening of foreign diplomatic missions in China;
- the opening of specially designated ports for foreigners to live and trade, including Canton, Amoy, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai, as well as the complete separation of Hong Kong;
- the establishment of special settlements in these ports, which are under the control of a foreign administration;
- extraterritoriality of citizens of Western powers in China;
- freedom of navigation of foreign ships in Chinese territorial waters;
- the participation of foreign powers in the regulation of Chinese customs tariffs, the operation of customs under the leadership of customs departments with foreign personnel in the service of China;
- access of Christian missionaries to the hinterland of China.
In addition, the Taiping uprising (1848-1864) led by the Christian Hong Xiuquan posed a threat to the Manchu court. The purpose of the uprising was to expel foreigners, overthrow the Manchu dynasty and create the Taiping heavenly kingdom, where everyone is equal. The Taiping Rebellion engulfed southern regions China. The Taipings were suppressed by the Qing army with the support of the British and French only in 1864. The war resulted in a huge number of casualties - an estimated 20 to 30 million people.
Rebellions also took place in other regions of China. In 1852-1868, the Nianjun rebellion broke out in northern China. in 1856-1873 there was an uprising in Yunan province, and in 1862-69 the Dungan uprising took place.
In the same period, other events took place: the death of Emperor Aisingero Yizhu (August, 1861) brought to the throne his five-year-old son Zaichun, born of the Precious Concubine Yi. before the emperor came of age, he was removed from power: the eldest, Prince Aisingero Sushun, was executed, two princes had to commit suicide, and the rest were simply removed. The new co-regents were, of course, the initiators of the coup: Precious Concubine Yi, who changed her title to "Empress Dowager Cixi" and "Empress Dowager Qian", and Prince Gong, appointed by the Prince Regent.
Grand Duke Gong was the initiator and promoter of a course of reform known as the "Self-Strengthening Movement" or "Overseas Assimilation Movement". Prince Gong in 1861 established and headed the Zongli Yamen, an institution of the government of the Qing Empire, which served as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instead of the traditional Ministry of Ritual. the following year he founded Tongwenguan, a school where students studied Western sciences. Western literature was translated into Chinese.
It should be noted that these reforms were conceived during the life of the late emperor: In January 1861, a memorandum signed by Gong was sent to the emperor, which proposed the creation of a special body to develop a policy designed to find ways out of the crisis in relations between the Qing Empire and foreign the world.
The reason for the appearance of the memorandum was the developments of scientists who studied the reasons for the defeat of the Qing Empire in the Opium Wars. The opinion of Feng Guifen, who studied the achievements of the Western world well, was very indicative. From his point of view, the superiority of the moral and ethical principles of Confucianism was undeniable. Therefore, allowing the borrowing of steam ships and modern firearms, it was necessary to remain faithful to the Confucian teaching: “Eastern teaching is the main one; Western teaching is applied.
However, the privileges enjoyed by foreigners in China caused discontent among the local population. Often riots broke out against foreigners. The most serious of these was the Tientsin massacre in 1870.
In January 1875, at the age of 19, Emperor Zaichun died, and remained all his life in the shadow of his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, who insisted that power be transferred to the 4-year-old Zaitian, the son of Prince Chun and Wanzhen, Cixi's sister. Thus, she cemented her clan with the imperial one and continued to exercise actual power in the country. The emperor was declared under the name of Guangxu. Meanwhile, the country continued to improve: the first railway appeared, modern schools, telegraph communication; mechanical engineering and mining developed, the navy improved.
By 1884, North Vietnam was still nominally a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, while France captured Central and South. In 1884-1885, the Franco-Chinese war broke out, unleashed by France for the right to possess northern Vietnam. The French army and navy acted independently of each other. French navy was able to destroy the Chinese Fujian fleet and destroy the arsenal in Fuzhou, and then fired at the fortifications in Taiwan and Zhenhai. Less successful french army. The Chinese inflicted several defeats on them. The French government was forced to resign, and the new one decided not to drag out the war, and concluded the Tientsin Treaty with China, according to which China withdrew troops from northern Vietnam and handed it over to the French.
In 1894, there was a military coup in Korea. The new government withdrew from Chinese patronage and, under Japanese pressure, asked Japan to expel the Chinese from its territory. On August 1, 1894, Japan declared war on China. The Qing troops were commanded by the elderly Li Hongzhang. The Chinese first lost the battle of Songhwan, and then the Huai army was defeated in the battle of Pyongyang. The Beiyang fleet was then defeated at the Battle of Yalu. Japanese troops invaded China and captured the Lushun fortress. Li Hongzhang was declared responsible for the defeats and removed from command. The Japanese, meanwhile, landed at Weihaiwei, the base of the Beiyang fleet, and captured it. Ground forces approached the capital province of Zhili. The Qing government requested a truce, but negotiations were deliberately delayed in Tokyo, because the Japanese had not yet captured the lands they wanted to receive. On April 17, 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed, according to which Taiwan and the Penghu Islands went to Japan.
Russia and Germany took advantage of China's weakening after the war. In 1896, Russia leased a strip of land in Manchuria for the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and in 1898, the Liaodong Peninsula with the ports of Dalian (Far) and Luishun (Port Arthur). In 1897, the Germans, in response to the murder of German missionaries, captured Qingdao and forced China to sign an agreement on its lease for 99 years, England also leased part of the Kowloon Peninsula near Hong Kong for 99 years.
Concessions to foreign powers forced Emperor Guangxu to agree to the reforms proposed by Kang Youwei. These reforms went down in history as "one hundred days of reform", they lasted only 104 days and were stopped by Empress Cixi. Kang Yuwei was forced to flee the country, his brother was executed, and Emperor Guanxu was removed from power by Empress Cixi. The rejection of reforms intensified the revolutionary mood.
In 1898, the Yihetuan uprising (1898-1901), or the Boxer Rebellion, began in the North of China, directed primarily against the dominance of foreigners. Empress Cixi, initially trying to put down the rebellion, then decided to use it to push out foreign powers. However, seeing the inevitable failure, she went over to the side of the Alliance of Eight Powers, which crushed the uprising. As a result, China had to sign the Final Protocol, under which it pledged to pay a huge indemnity and provide a number of new benefits to foreigners.
In 1901 it was accepted new program reforms called "New Politics". For the first time, the Chinese government has decided to encourage entrepreneurship rather than restrict it. A "New Army" was created, trained and manned according to the Western model. In 1906, work began on the creation of a constitution, and when Cixi and Guanxu died in November 1908, reforms accelerated, power passed to the 3-year-old emperor Pu Yi, on whose behalf decrees were issued on the creation of committees to prepare the constitution and convene the parliament.
At the same time, a revolutionary movement developed. In 1895, in Hawaii, Sun Yat-sen founded the Chinese Renaissance Union (Xingzhonghui), which recruited supporters from the secret societies of South China and Chinese immigrants. In the summer of 1905, several revolutionary organizations in Japan united to form the "Chinese United Revolutionary Union" (Zhongguo Gemin Tongmenghui). The activity was based on the "three people's principles" of Sun Yat-sen: nationalism, democracy and people's welfare.
On November 14, 1908, Emperor Guangxu died, whom Empress Cixi had previously removed from power. Guangxu was poisoned because Cixi didn't want him to survive her. The Empress herself died the next day. Emperor Pu Yi, who was two years old, ascended the throne. His father, Prince Chun, was appointed regent.
In 1911, the Wuchang uprising began in China. It was the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution (1911-1913), as a result of which the Manchu dynasty was overthrown. The Qing Empire collapsed and the Republic of China was proclaimed.
Strictly speaking, it is not entirely fair to characterize the entire history of the Chinese empire after the Song with the unambiguous term “decline”: for more than six centuries after the fall of the South Song empire under the blows of the Mongols, China knew both periods of decline and times of stabilization, and sometimes even some flourishing, at least measures in the field of politics. Suffice it to recall that many of the now outlying regions of this country were annexed to it precisely in these centuries of its history. And yet, on the whole, against the background of the flourishing of the Tang Sung, the subsequent centuries were already a period, if not always of decline, then at least of stagnation. In other words, forward movement, even if zigzag, was reduced at that time to a minimum, except, perhaps, for the development of demographics and the significant intensification of agriculture associated with this.
As just mentioned, the Sung empire fell under the blows of the Mongols - the same ones that swept across Eurasia in a whirlwind in the 13th century, leaving behind destroyed cities, devastated fields, many millions of corpses. What were these Mongols in the 13th century?
Mongols and the Yuan dynasty (1280–1368)
The very term "Mongols" dates back only to the time of Genghis Khan. Before that, the Mongols themselves were only part of a larger ethnic community of Siberian Tatars and were called, unlike the rest, "black Tatars." It is hardly possible to speak of the Mongols as an established ethnic community (even if just "black Tatars") earlier than in relation to the XII century. Before that, there were only proto-Mongolian ethno-tribal groups and peoples, one of which was the Khitan (we are talking about the Mongolian language and ethnic group, but not about Mongoloidity as a racial type!). The proto-Mongolian and early Mongolian groups were a steppe people of nomads who bred horses and cattle, roamed the steppe from pasture to pasture, lived in felt yurts and organized mainly in small tribal groups, connected with each other by a common origin, language, culture, etc. Neighborhood in the south with a developed Chinese civilization had a considerable influence on the nomads of the steppe northern zone, which contributed, in particular, to the acceleration of the process of creating tribes, and then powerful tribal unions led by influential leaders, who, under favorable circumstances, declared themselves emperors, as it was with Tanguts, Khitans, Jurchens. The Mongols were another such ethnic group, which, according to the terminology of L.N. Gumilyov, with an unheard-of reserve of passionary energy. The acceleration of the process of social development and property inequality contributed to the creation of proto-states among the Mongols, and the trend towards integration led to the victory of Temuchin, the son of Yesugei, in the course of fierce internecine struggles among influential leaders. At the all-Mongol kurultai of 1206, he was proclaimed the leader of all the Mongols under the name and title of Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan began by creating a strictly organized army, consisting of tens, hundreds, thousands and 10-thousandth detachments led by tenth, sot, thousand-man and temniki, and the chiefs were appointed not on the basis of kinship or nobility (although even then, and the other was always taken into account), but on the basis of the principle of meritocracy inherent in early political structures, that is, from the best warriors, which played a huge role in strengthening the combat capability of the army. The army of Genghis Khan was a new important political factor in the steppe zone, which had not yet known combat organized formations of this type and in such numbers. Actually, it was the army created by Genghis that was the decisive factor in the subsequent successes of the relatively small ethnos of the Mongols (at the time of Genghis there were hardly more than 100 thousand of them, if we count only warriors, and every fourth or even third warrior among nomads). Only a well-organized army, which served as the backbone of the entire military-political structure of the Mongols, helped them conquer and subjugate almost half the world, and even seriously threaten many of the other countries and peoples.
Having conquered the peoples of Southern Siberia, neighboring the Mongolian steppe, the army of Genghis in 1210 began a war with the Jurchens and in 1215 already occupied Beijing. For 1219–1221 blooming Central Asia was turned into ruins and the state of Khorezm Shahs was defeated. In 1223, a decisive defeat was inflicted on the militia of the Russian princes, in 1226–1227. the state of the Tanguts on the northwestern borders of China was destroyed, and the Tanguts were slaughtered with particular cruelty, and the few survivors were turned into slaves. And finally, in 1231, the main forces of the Mongols returned back to Northern China and completed the defeat of the Jurchen state of Jin (1234) here. And although at the same time a significant part of the Mongol army continued its conquests in other regions of Asia and Europe, their main business in this direction since 1235 was the conquest of South Sung China, which took over forty years.
This figure, if compared with the lightning-fast pace of military conquests in other parts of the world, evokes involuntary respect for Sung China - the very one that for decades paid off warlike nomads and preferred to maintain peace on the borders, albeit truncated ones, and enjoy prosperity in China for decades. economy and culture. When the time came and it was necessary to fight, South Sung China nevertheless managed to mobilize all its forces for resistance. Only in 1276 did the capital Hangzhou fall, but even after that the last South Sung emperors resisted for about four years, ultimately almost on ships that were forced to sail from the coastline of South China captured by the Mongol troops. Only in 1280 China was completely under the rule of the Mongols, and great khan Kublai Khan became the Chinese Emperor of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1280–1368).
The Yuan Dynasty existed - if we count not its formal years in the Chinese chronicles, but the actual domination in the main part of China - for over a century, maybe even for Northern China, about a century and a half. It was perhaps the most difficult time for China, at least after the Nan Bei Chao. For example, it can be recalled that at first the Mongols were generally inclined to exterminate all those who refused to voluntarily surrender to them - something that they sometimes practiced in the west (and almost everyone in Sung China resisted for forty years). Then a project arose to exterminate the Chinese of the five most common surnames (and those in a country where the number of surnames is estimated at a few dozen, at most a hundred or two, there were almost half, in any case, it was a significant part of the country's population). And if these bloodthirsty projects were not carried out - largely thanks to the Khitan Yelü Chu-tsai, who was an adviser to the Khan and strongly advised him not to destroy those who could bring in a regular income - then a great many Chinese fell into slavery to the Mongols, especially on north. Perhaps never in the history of China were there so many slaves, both in number and as a percentage of the rest of the population, as during the Yuan period. Needless to say, by the beginning of the rule of the Mongols (after half a century of wars), the Chinese economy had declined, agriculture and trade were upset. As for the administration, the Confucian officials were forced to give way to the Mongol khans and military leaders, as well as people from other parts of Asia, primarily from Islamic countries, who were unfamiliar with China. The Chinese of the north, and even more so of the south of the country, were considered, respectively, people of the third and fourth grade (after the Mongols themselves and the semu-jen, i.e., people from other countries).
It took several decades for China to gradually find its usual norm of existence. Over the course of these decades, the assimilation and adaptive factors characteristic of it acted with increasing activity: agriculture destroyed by nomads was restored, then crafts and trade; the volume of tax revenues grew (in the second half of the Yuan, according to some sources, 20 times against the time of Khubilai); Confucian officials again went to the administration (since 1317, the examination system began to function); the descendants of the first Mongol rulers, who often took Chinese women as wives, increasingly turned into ordinary Chinese. Perhaps, under other conditions, all these and other similar processes would gradually and peacefully manage to rectify the situation in such a way that the Mongol dynasty would ultimately remain Mongol in the main only in name, as happened several centuries later with the Manchus in China. But the conditions turned out to be unfavorable - both for the Chinese living under Mongol yoke and hard to feel it, and for the Mongols themselves, who did little for the good of the country they ruled.
This was most clearly manifested in connection with the needs of irrigation construction. Although irrigated agriculture was not central or vital to Chinese agriculture, it was still of great importance to the country, especially after the creation of the rice belt in the south. Irrigation also played a significant role in protecting the population from river floods, especially the wayward Huang He, filled with loess, from time to time overflowing its banks and flooding the country, as was the case, in particular, in the time of Wang Mang. The functions of any Chinese government included taking care of water construction and repairing canals, dams, cleaning channels, etc. in time. The Mongols almost defiantly neglected this. And for a long time there were no Confucian officials who could organize anything on the ground, acting in accordance with tradition, in the country for a long time. The result is not surprising either.
The system of dams on the Yellow River has long since fallen into disrepair. The great river now and then broke through the dams and spread widely through the valley, flooding the fields and dwellings. In 1334, the breakthrough turned out to be so powerful that the river again, once again changed its course, destroying hundreds of thousands of lives on its way. Dissatisfaction with the Mongols sharply increased in the country. The patriotic movement intensified, gaining strength and manifesting itself both in literature (Yuan drama, patriotic novels such as "Three Kingdoms") and in politics. Soon the country was seized by a powerful popular movement Here and there rebellions broke out with difficulty. The authorities tried in 1351 to restore the dam system and force the river to return to its old course. But it was already too late. The unification of hundreds of thousands of people in the construction area only added fuel to the fire: the uprisings broke out with renewed vigor, and they were led by leaders secret society Bai-lianjiao. Buddhist in its religious basis, this "White Lotus" sect has existed in China for a long time, at least since the 5th century BC. However, in the XIV century. it became a secret society that brought to the fore egalitarian peasant ideals and foretold the imminent advent of the coming Buddha age of Maitreya and, accordingly, the new Ming (light) dynasty, which would end the gloomy rule of the Mongols.
Having covered their heads with red armbands (a symbol of the coming kingdom of Light), the rebels organized themselves into detachments of "red troops", which began a decisive struggle against the Mongol oppressors. The uprising assumed not so much a sectarian-peasant as a national-patriotic character. And although its first phase ended in 1363 with the defeat of the Red troops, the anti-Mongolian movement flared up in the country with ever greater force. Especially when Zhu Yuanzhang became its head.
Coming from a peasant family, having sipped grief in his youth, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398) was a novice in a Buddhist monastery. When supporters of the sect raised an uprising, he joined it and, having shown remarkable abilities, quickly moved into the front ranks of the leaders. After the defeat of the first phase of the movement, it was Zhu who was at the head of the rebels. Relying on the Confucians who joined him, learned connoisseurs of Chinese history and culture, he successfully acted and, in the end, having defeated the Mongol troops, proclaimed himself emperor of a new dynasty, the Ming. Apart from the name, not much of the egalitarian-Buddhist foundations of the original movement remained by this time. And this is generally understandable. Remaining the leader of the rebellious peasants, Zhu Yuanzhang, like his distant predecessor Liu Bang, readily accepted the proven Confucian system of government and society, Confucian principles and orders long ago. Although as a person the new emperor was far from the Confucian ideal of a wise and just ruler and was rather a despot like Qin Shi Huang and the Sui Yang Di, he nevertheless consistently pursued a Confucian policy, including in the organization of the administration, which had been so undermined during his reign. Mongols. And this, of course, played an important role in strengthening the Ming.
And lasted about 260 years.
The dynasty was founded in 1616 on the territory of Manchuria (the northeast of modern China) and soon, taking advantage of the unstable situation in China, where the central government was weakened by numerous peasant uprisings, subjugated all of China, and then part of Mongolia and Central Asia. Thus, a nation of less than 1 million people conquered 150 million people. At the first stage, the Qing dynasty, in order to strengthen its power and position in Beijing, issued a decree according to which, under pain death penalty every man in the empire was required to dress in the Manchu style and shave the top of his head, as was customary among the Manchus.
However, the Manchu government quickly became Chineseized, and, starting with the second Qing emperor in China (Kangxi), the rulers began to speak Chinese, and government positions were given to Chinese scientists. All this helped to overcome the tension between the Chinese and Manchu aristocracy, and peace and prosperity came to the country for more than 1.5 centuries, like a calm before the storm that followed.
The first half of the Qing period was marked by population growth and economic development. Until the end of the 18th century, after the ban on trade with other countries was lifted in 1684, China, trading in silk and tea, received a huge amount of silver, until this flow was blocked by the supply of opium. However, in general, the Qing government continued the policy of self-isolation, which eventually led to the forced opening of the country by the European powers.
Chinese science, which once held a leading position in all areas, lagged behind the European one more and more, delving into philosophy. The knowledge received from European missionaries was perceived by the Chinese with distrust and was not used to develop their own science. Ultimately, this ever-increasing lag became the greatest shortcoming of Chinese civilization.
China achieved great success in art, which was experiencing another rise. Fundamental encyclopedias containing the accumulated knowledge were created, painting, dramaturgy and literature developed (the first novel written in colloquial language appeared - “The History of the Stone, or the Dream in the Red Tower”, which tells about the fate of an aristocratic family).
The peaceful rule of the Qing Dynasty was broken in last years Life of Emperor Gaozong (1736-1795). At this time, among the lower strata of the population, and then among the dissatisfied educated people, not included in public service, the cult of the White Lotus Society spread. The uncontrolled growth of the sect aroused the suspicion of the government, which ordered an investigation, but the ensuing lawlessness of local officials led to an armed uprising. Members of the "White Lotus Society", whose ranks were replenished by robbers, began to attack government offices in the villages. At the same time, the Miao tribes rebelled in the south. To put down the uprisings imperial army it took several years, which showed the West the failure of the Chinese armed forces and greatly undermined the authority of the ruling house. In addition to this, at the end of the 18th century, secret criminal gangs- "triads", which at that time opposed the Manchu emperor and undermined the foundation of the Qing dynasty from the inside. Interestingly, these criminal communities exist to this day.
The lifting of the ban on trade with other countries made a real trade boom: in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Americans bought tea and silk from Canton and Macau, paying for the goods with imported textiles and American silver. China's exports greatly exceeded its imports until the British, followed by the Americans, began to import opium into China. The drug turned out to be such a well-selling commodity that already from 1828 to 1836. imports exceeded exports by $36 million.
By that time, England had become the most powerful capitalist country, and the Canton opium trade had taken an important place in the British economy. The volumes of the drug supplied to the Middle Kingdom grew in geometric progression. Many aristocrats and officials have turned into real drug addicts, degradation has captured all segments of the population. The Chinese government imposed a ban on the potion trade, but this only led to illegal trade, smuggling, and corruption. In an attempt to stop the inexhaustible flow of opium to China in March 1939, Special Envoy Lin Tse-hsu demanded that British and English traders stop importing the drug and confiscated their cash stocks of opium, destroyed in sea water. Following this, the British government declared the actions of the Chinese illegal and demanded compensation for losses, as well as additional benefits for their entrepreneurs and the provision of certain territories at their disposal. Having received no response from China, in April 1840 Great Britain declared war. The Americans soon joined the British. China was defeated in the first opium war and in 1842 was forced to sign the Nanking Peace Treaty, according to which, in addition to significant amounts of indemnity, Great Britain received Hong Kong in perpetuity, access to trade in five ports: Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Shanghai and Ningbo - low duties to import their goods and other privileges.
This treaty was a turning point in Chinese history, after which a period of new history China. The Treaty of Nanjing and its supplementary agreement put China in an unequal position in its relations with Great Britain. They were followed by a series of similarly unequal agreements.
In 1844, treaties were signed with the United States and France, extending to these countries the rights and privileges that were granted to Great Britain. For 60 years, the country turned into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal state.
The appetite of the West, which found in China a gigantic market and a permanent source of income, was constantly growing. A few years after the signing of the peace treaty, the British demanded a revision of the conditions and the opening of cities, because. before that, all foreigners lived in special concessions. At the same time, endless rebellions, piracy, and flourishing smuggling, including the illegal trade in Chinese workers, began to tear China apart. The hatred of the local population for the "barbarians" reached its climax: the Europeans were attacked in the streets, pelted with stones, but this did not stop the British. In October 1856, England and France unleashed new war against China. In May 1858, the combined army captured Tianjin, located only 150 km from Beijing: the Qing government was forced to hastily conclude new treaty. The conditions of the Tientsin Treaty became even more difficult for the Celestial Empire: the creation of permanent foreign embassies in Beijing, the opening of additional ports, the permission for foreign missionaries to freely preach their religion, the opening of the Yangtze River all the way to Hankou, low trade duties and, finally, the legalization of the opium trade were added to the huge indemnity. (Source: R. Krueger, “China: full story Celestial).
The war, however, did not end there. In 1859, England and France demanded to remove the defenses on the Baihe River, but were refused. This was soon followed by an accidental military skirmish in the vicinity of Tianjin, in which the Chinese were victorious, killing about 400 enemy soldiers. In response to this, in 1860 the combined army captured Tianjin and approached Beijing. The Xianfeng Emperor fled, hiding behind the Great Wall of China. In October of the same year, the Anglo-French army sacked the Yuanmingyuan Summer Palace in the vicinity of Beijing. Soon the Qing government was again forced to sign a shameful and unequal peace treaty. The Beijing Treaty confirmed all the points of Tientsin, in addition, England received the Kowloon Peninsula, and China was obliged to pay additional indemnity.
Almost simultaneously with the second opium war in China, the most brutal peasant uprising in the history of the Celestial Empire broke out, which later became known as the Taiping Rebellion (1850 - 1864). The leader of the uprising was Hong Xiuquan, a Chinese Christian from a peasant family, who proclaimed himself the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Taiping (太平) means "Great Peace" in Chinese.
Hong's ideas, along with hatred for the Manchus and barbarians from the West, very quickly found a response among the broad masses of the people: in a few years, society turned into an influential and aggressive force. The bulk of the Taipings were ruined peasants, urban workers, and partly members of triads who wanted to overthrow the government. One of the hallmarks of the Taipings was long hair, a protest against the Manchu haircut that all men in the Qing Empire were required to wear. In 1851, about 20,000 Taipings announced the creation of the Heavenly State of the Great Balance. In March 1953, the Taiping army, which had grown to two million people, occupied Nanjing, which Hong Xiuquan renamed Tianjing and made his capital. So, the Taipings actually built their state inside the Qin empire. They issued new laws, carried out land reform and even created a new calendar. In the Heavenly State, wine, tobacco, opium, gambling, extramarital affairs, as well as concubines and bandaging of women's feet were prohibited. The land that belonged to God was fairly distributed among all men and women.
In 1856, in the leadership of the state, disputes for power began between the heavenly princes, usually accompanied by murders. Taking advantage of the weakening of power in Taiping, the Qing army launched an offensive. The Europeans in this war preferred to support the Manchus, refusing to call on the Chinese "Christian brothers", believing that Taiping society was not only immoral, but also a threat to trade. In 1864, Tianjin was captured, and the "heavenly prince" committed suicide by taking a lethal dose of poison. Thus, with the support of Britain, France, and the United States, the Qing government succeeded in suppressing the Taiping peasant movement, which held out for 14 years.
For the next 40 years, China continued to divide the world powers, finding more and more reasons for military aggression, as well as establishing a protectorate over the tributary countries of the Celestial Empire, among which were Burma, Korea and Vietnam. TO late XIX century, Taiwan and the Ryukyu Island became part of Japan; Russia got Port Arthur for twenty-five years; for 99 years Guangzhou Bay.
At the same time, beginning in the 60s of the 19th century, the Qing government, realizing its crisis situation, made attempts to borrow advanced science from the West. However, the process of industrialization was very slow, which was largely due to the traditional Chinese mentality, considering any other peoples as barbarians, and imitation of them as a humiliation of the nation. In addition, then ruling as regent with her young son, and then with her young nephew, Empress Dowager Cixi had little idea of the state of affairs in the country, spending millions on the construction of luxurious palaces, while the camp was forced to take loans from Russia, Britain and other powers.
The reformers made themselves felt with renewed vigor after the coronation of the eighteen-year-old Emperor Guangxu, Cixi's nephew, in 1889, after which the empress officially ceded the throne to the new ruler, but in fact her influence at court remained the same. Guangxu was fascinated by Western knowledge and was interested in the ideas of Kang Yu-wei, a young scholar from Canton who actively advocated reforming the country. As a result of a personal meeting between the emperor and the scientist, the beginning of the "100 days of reforms" was announced: the changes were to affect industry, education and state structure. The bureaucracy sounded the alarm, and the Empress Dowager, with the support of her party, carried out a coup d'état in September 1898, removing the emperor from power and again taking the throne. All decrees passed during the "100 days" were canceled, but the reform machine was already running, and nothing could drown out public opinion increasingly demanding change.
Popular discontent resulted in uprisings, among which the “boxing” or Yihetuan movement (1899 - 1902) became the largest. "Boxers" opposed the intervention of "barbarians" in the economy, religion and politics of China and brutally cracked down on Christians and "overseas devils", as well as all symbols of the presence of foreigners - railways, telegraph lines etc. The "Boxers" were able to win the favor of Cixi, and the empress began to support them, which excited the foreign public. In 1900, rebels broke into Beijing, burning down Christian churches, embassies, and foreigners' houses. The Western powers reacted immediately: a month later, a 20,000-strong combined army of British, Americans, Japanese, Austrians, French and Italians was formed, which quickly managed to capture the capital. Cixi fled to Xi'an, the "boxers" were brutally killed. China was forced to sign an even more humiliating "Final Protocol", after which the Qing government completely became a tool in the hands of the powers that control China.
On November 14, 1908, Emperor Guangxu died after a short illness, and Empress Dowager Cixi herself died the next day. With her death, the Qing era actually ended, although nominally the dynasty continued to exist, the 3-year-old nephew of Cixi Pu-Yi was appointed the new heir. The Qing Empire finally ceased to exist after the Xinhai Revolution (1911 - 1913), in 1912 an act was signed on the abdication of the emperor from the throne, and in 1924 the emperor was finally deposed, stripped of his titles, declared an ordinary citizen of the republic and expelled from Beijing.
Chinese emperors lived in Beijing, in a truly fabulous palace called the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City had not one ornate building, but several, all surrounded by beautiful gardens. Due to the uprisings of the townspeople and peasants, enemy attacks on the empire and palace coups the imperial Ming dynasty (1368-1644) eventually lost power over the country. In 1644 the last Emperor of this dynasty committed suicide, and in China (for more details, see the article ""), the Qing dynasty reigned, which ruled until 1911. Many of the emperors of the Qing dynasty were reasonable rulers and managed to achieve peace and prosperity for China.
This ivory figurine (left) depicts a government official. To become an official, one had to successfully pass very difficult exams. Chinese doctors knew how to prepare various medicinal decoctions from herbs. They also treated their patients with acupuncture (acupuncture). This is an illustration (on the right) of one of the few Chinese novels of that time. It tells about robbers who attacked officials in order to protect poor peasants from them. At first, European missionaries, such as the Jesuit in this picture, were rather warmly welcomed by the Chinese emperors, but later they were driven out of the country. Many Europeans dreamed of acquiring these exquisite products of Chinese craftsmen. But they had to pay for all this in gold and silver, because the Chinese were not interested in goods from Europe offered to them in exchange.
Agriculture
Live in countryside changed little over the centuries. One of the few innovations was, for example, corn brought from America by Spanish and Portuguese traders. During the long peace established in the Qing era, China's population began to grow. At first it did not matter, but gradually it increased so much that the harvests collected by the peasants were barely enough to feed everyone.
In the past, Chinese buyers of Chinese art have stuck to ceramics and works of art the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 AD) and the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), while Western buyers gravitated toward older works.
When Michael Bass, Vice-President of Christies (London Auction Firm), organized the Chinese Ceramics and Art Department in 2000, approximately 80% of the collectors in the sales rooms were Americans.
“Then, in 2005 and 2006, there was an influx of buyers not from the west, but from greater China,” Bass said. “Over the past three years, 40-60% of buyers are Chinese ... They dictate the nature of sales.”
These Chinese buyers, fixated on Qing and Ming imperial ceramics, outnumber Western buyers. They shun older works, apparently considering it shameful to own items that were buried with the dead.
But over the past six to seven years, even the Chinese have taken to collecting earlier artwork, according to Bass. Now they are also interested in Tang Dynasty pottery, archaic bronzes and ancient jade - the same categories that have traditionally attracted Western buyers.
“Now the market is really broad,” Bass said. “And there is interest in all of these categories.”
Still, it should not be said that the market turned completely to the earlier dynasties. Collectors and dealers auction off what they think will bring them income.
At most major Chinese art auctions in recent years, Qing Dynasty objects often make up about half of the lots. Although interest in Ming and Qing pottery is not expected to cool off anytime soon, "jades and bronzes have already risen in price," Bass said.
This could mean that other segments of earlier Chinese works will soon rise in price as well, and the focus could be on US collectors who continue to collect earlier works.
"A lot of Americans are still looking for early pottery, whether it's a 'prancing Tang horse', a 'pretty lady' from the Tang Dynasty, or artwork from the Han Dynasty," Bass said.
And for them the current prices are attractive. The vast majority of early jade and pottery is valued at less than $20,000, with many quality adjustments as low as a few thousand dollars.
A side investment incentive is obvious: China's vast art history has much to offer. Each dynasty brought with it a different way of life, new styles of costume, and a different culture, which manifests itself as an individual flavor in the art of that era.
Chinese culture has a history of 5,000 years, and the Ming and Qing dynasties together spanned only 544 years of those years. Finds from an earlier period, preceding the last two dynasties, are of great interest to cultured and inquisitive people.
Chinese art by period
Neolithic period (3000-1500 BC)
Artistic works of this period that we now have mainly consist of jade and ceramics. They really have distinguishing feature from the writings of the time when Chinese civilization was a handful of tribes.
Earthenware was often painted with red and black large round abstract and geometric shapes. The use of brushes is supposed to be used throughout China's long history, according to the Mets Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
Of all aspects of Neolithic culture, the Met Museum (Metropolitan Museum of Art) calls jade products "the most lasting contribution to Chinese civilization."
Jade is so solid matter that it cannot be cut, but is polished with quartz sand or garnet. It is remarkable that Neolithic artisans worked on it in large quantities, despite such a laborious process.
Based on the discovery of jade funerary items, the scholars explain that these cultures valued jade because of its ability, they believed, to keep the dead alive.
Shang and Zhou dynasties (1523-256 BC)
Bronze vessels are the main works of art from the era of these dynasties that we have today. The perfect quality of the surface details on the bronzes is amazing. Animal forms and motifs, including the iconic image of the taotie (hungry animal), were widely used on vessels from this period.
These vessels had dynamic shapes that were first modeled after ceramic molds and gradually evolved, becoming more complex with advances in technology. They were used for ritual food and wine offerings.
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
The Qin Dynasty is considered the first dynasty of China to unify the country. The famous "Terracotta Warriors" found in the huge tomb of the first emperor are evidence of advanced artistic production. The bodies of the warriors were made in an assembly line, but no face is like another.
Since the era of this dynasty was short and turbulent, most of the artwork from this period is identified as belonging to the previous or subsequent dynasties.
Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD)
Most Chinese today consider themselves "Han" because during the Han Dynasty a Chinese cultural identity really took shape. The empire stretched from the Great Wall to the South China Sea.
During the Han period, paper and glazed ceramics were invented, and literature and diplomacy with the West flourished.
Ceramic figurines, vessels and other objects in the form of animals and towers are the main artistic works that have survived from this dynasty.
Six Dynasties (220-586 AD)
Despite political instability and constant warfare (which is why there were six dynasties during this period), Buddhism and Taoism flourished, as did poetry, thanks to the invention of the wooden printing press.
The pottery of this period stands out, especially the greenish and greenish-gray porcelain of the Jin Dynasty.
Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) The Sui Dynasty is famous for its fine white earthenware, made in simple shapes and fired with a clear glaze. Buddhist sculpture flourished, which was greatly influenced by Indian style.
Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD)
The Tang Dynasty is regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese civilization. The Silk Road brought various influences from foreign countries, and all forms of artistic expression - painting, literature, sculpture and ceramics - reached an unprecedented level of sophistication.
One of the most iconic types of Tang artwork is the painted ceramic horse or camel. Often there are works where a realistic-looking animal is accompanied by a western groom or horseman. Five Dynasties (907-960 AD)
The good times of the Tang Dynasty ended with the weakening of imperial control. But the artists of the Five Dynasties period further developed the technique of using the prized white porcelain. Landscape painting took on a mythical direction with a new style reflecting the Taoist perception of nature that would become a hallmark of Song Dynasty painting.
Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD)
The first half of the era of this dynasty was peaceful, while the second half was full of upheavals. Artistic works of this period are filled with peace. Landscapes evoke restrained emotions in the viewer. The plot side of Song ceramics was approaching the mundane. The works had simple lines, especially those fired in the Cizhou kiln in Northern China.
Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD)
This was the Mongol dynasty - the first time China was ruled by a foreign power.
Indigenous Chinese and nomadic Mongolian features in art mixed, and works appeared with animal motifs, bold painting style and dynamic forms. At the court, subjects of Tantric Buddhism were used, also manifested in the production of mandalas and sculptures of pagan deities in classical Mongolian forms.
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD)
In an effort to restore the primacy of Chinese cultural identity, some artists have turned to ancient forms in their ceramic art and sculpture. Yet in early period During the Ming Dynasty, the decorative arts exhibited features of "the rich eclectic heritage of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty," according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History essay.
Particularly remarkable are the blue-white and painted items and enamel.
Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 AD)
The last Chinese Qing Dynasty was ruled by Manchus rather than ethnic Han Chinese.
Art and culture flourished under the Kangxi and Jinlong emperors.
Elaborate, multicolored compositions appeared on painted, illustrated china and paintings. Jade craftsmanship has reached new heights in some clever and exquisitely executed work.
Ultimately, Western demand for these cultural and commercial items led to the downfall of the dynasty.
