Kevin Yu
Kevin Yu
Professor Hinchman
Humanities 10Z
21 March 27, 2018
The downfall of Qing Dynasty
Introduction
In 1800, the Qing Dynasty of the Manchus was at the height of its power. A little over a century later, they got humiliated and harassed by Western power and Qing Dynasty collapsed. One of the main reason was the intense external pressure in Chinese society by Western effects. However, internal changes were also one of the important reasons in the downfall of Qing Dynasty.
External Factors
European Imperialism was one major contributing factor in the downfall of Qing Dynasty. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the power of Europe was the large over China and Africa. The most effective happen was Opium war in the main cause of Qing Dynasty, which Britain could impose unequal treaty to take the control of Hong Kong. Opium war was that China started to import Opium from British and China got affected by taking Opium. It was growing rapidly causing social problems and drain of silver. In 1838, the emperor decided to ban this trade. By June 1842, the British had captured some important parts of China. By the 1860s, foreign influence started to increase and China was affected a lot with Western ideas. By 1900, foreign powers including Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Japan had been stronger than China and they had established “spheres of influence” along China’s coast so that the foreign power could control the military and great trade, although they remained in some part of China.
Internal factors
In 18th century, China a...
