ABSTRACT
After China was “laid open” by the Macartney embassy (see Chapter Three), British visitors brought home extensive reports on the country, which included the observation that China was not as strong or mighty as had been portrayed in the earlier Jesuit writings. The first Opium War (1839–1842), fought over British importation of opium into China, led to the concession of Hong Kong and marked the beginning of a period of colonial intrusions in modern Chinese history. Superior imperial powers, including Western countries and Japan, successively encroached upon China’s sovereignty. Between the Opium War and the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, China was repeatedly defeated, its inadequate military unable to ward off foreign aggressors, who intruded into China and forced its government to sign a series of so-called “unequal treaties” granting them privileges and colonies and requiring China to pay large indemnities to cover the imperial powers’ war losses. Reform movements burgeoned but failed to achieve sufficient modernization. Grassroots xenophobic movements were also aroused, notably the “Righteous and Harmonious Militia” (Yi He Tuan, 義和團), a.k.a. the Chinese Boxers, which sought to drive foreigners out of China. The Qing’s fall in 1911 put a temporary halt to the foreign intrusions and brought an end to the monarchy in China. 1
