ABSTRACT
This chapter is an overview of Chinese history from the First Opium War through the collapse of the Qing dynasty and, with it, the dynastic system itself. The chapter begins by tracing the weakening of the Qing dynasty from the late eighteenth century through the 1830s. It then covers the First Opium War and the Treaty on Nanjing, the first of the unequal treaties, the Second Opium War and its consequence for China, and the overall impact of the unequal treaties. The chapter then turns to the Taiping Rebellion and its disastrous consequences and efforts at reform led by Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang from the 1860s through the 1890s. It then covers the Sino-Japanese War, the 100 Days Reform of 1898, and the Boxer Rebellion, after which it mentions the fall of the Qing and then turns to an analysis of imperial decline.
