ABSTRACT
Domestic rebellion and foreign trade imperialism characterized the first phase of the Qing’s collapse. The second phase of the dynastic cycle, which ultimately led to the Manchus’ fall, was focussed on the periphery of the Empire. These conflicts erupted primarily in China’s contiguous colonies, such as Xinjiang and Manchuria, and in its tributary states, like Vietnam and Korea. China’s military suppression of the Muslim Rebellion in Xinjiang (1864-77), coupled with its success in pushing Russia out of the Ili Valley during the “Ili Crisis” (1871-81), was arguably its first successful anti-imperialist war against a foreign power attempting to invade and absorb Chinese territory. Although the Chinese troops used modern weapons bought from the West, their military formation and tactics were still largely traditional. St. Petersburg, faced with Zuo Zongtang’s determined military policy, which was linked with Beijing’s rigid diplomatic stance, declined to go to war. Instead, it negotiated a political settlement leading to Russia’s 1881 retreat from Xinjiang. The Ili Crisis would prove to be China’s first and last major nineteenth-century victory against a foreign power.
