1840 is considered as the beginning of China's modern history. This year, the Opium War opened the door to China, and the illusion of "China Power" entered the countdown of disillusionment. Looking around the world, western countries have entered the fierce competition in the capitalist world market. 1689, Britain completed a glorious revolution. Constitutional monarchy and capitalist economy laid the foundation for Britain to enter the world market. From the end of 18 century to the beginning of 19 century, Britain completed its first industrial revolution, and the rapid development of science and technology made the British economy and society make rapid progress. However, in world trade, Britain has repeatedly hit a wall in China. As a result, an ambitious new empire found the old empire in the East and had a fierce collision.
Under what background did the war that opened the door to China's modern history break out? First, when Macartney visited China, imperialism failed to open the door to China.
/kloc-Before the 9th century, China had no modern diplomacy, only a tributary system. China's understanding of other countries is based on the traditional views on China and foreigners, and his attitude towards other countries is only to suppress and help foreigners.
Trade without a diplomatic system is also special. Western businessmen are concentrated in thirteen banks in Guangzhou, that is, thirteen designated firms that can do business with foreigners. Foreigners can conduct limited transactions within the prescribed time limit. However, at the end of18th century, in Britain, where machine industry replaced handicraft industry, commodity economy and liberalism prevailed, such a system would not work. Britain then sent a special envoy to China to meet with Emperor Qianlong, hoping to establish modern business relations: permanent ambassador; Nominal tariff; Open more trade ports; An island where people live and store, eg when Portugal occupies Macao.
However, all these efforts failed to come true when I met Emperor Qianlong. Madzar refused to bow to Qianlong on the principle of equality in modern diplomatic exchanges between the two countries, which made the emperor very unhappy. After the audience, Magarini was ordered to return to China, and all British demands were rejected. During the Jiaqing period, British envoys came to China again, and the treatment was far less than this time. When the peace talks were completely rejected, Britain considered opening the China market in other ways.
Magney's visit to China
Secondly, China people's snooping on Lin Zexu, the minister of smoking ban, and The Chronicle of Four Continents is limited.
Under the condition that Britain can't establish normal trade relations with China, China's exports have caused Britain a trade deficit. This made Britain think of another way-controlling and selling opium to China in large quantities with the help of the British East India Company. Therefore, Britain gradually eliminated the trade deficit and continued to make profits.
The opium problem began to affect China gradually. Since Qianlong, the Qing court banned opium trade, but it was repeatedly banned. During the Daoguang period, the problem was very serious. The task of banning smoking fell to Lin Zexu, an imperial envoy, but he needed to deal with British businessmen. After Lin Zexu arrived in Guangdong, he began to study his opponents.
When Lin Zexu arrived in Guangdong, knowing that China's weapons were inferior to those of the West, he tried his best to buy foreign guns and boats. At the same time, he sent someone to translate foreign publications and gave Wei the information he collected in Guangdong. Wei later compiled these materials into Atlas of the Sea. Advocate foreign control, foreign control.
The materials collected here are the chronicles of four continents and related materials. These translated contents from foreign newspapers and reports about foreigners could have been a window for China to know the world. However, Lin Zexu did not dare to make public. As a traditional scholar-bureaucrat, he was afraid of Liu Qing's criticism.
Humen cigarettes
After the smoke in Humen, the Opium War broke out.
Lin Zexu ordered the traffic in Guangzhou to be cut off, and thirteen lines besieged foreigners. The British Commercial Supervision Act (charles eliot) can only collect opium from British businessmen and give it to Lin Zexu. 1On June 3rd, 839, Lin Zexu smoked in Humen, and Daoguang Emperor was ecstatic. At this time, Britain had only two small soldier ships in Guangzhou, which could not effectively resist. In the autumn and winter of that year, there were several frictions between the Guangdong navy and the British ship, and Lin Zexu won, which did not attract enough attention from the court.
Britain wanted to completely change the current trade situation and protect its interests in China, so it sent troops. 1840 in June, the plenipotentiary Louis (George Eliot) led Lu Haijun to appear in Guangdong Ocean, and the Opium War broke out. An imperial envoy did not attack Guangdong, but blocked Haikou, which was interpreted by China as Britain's fear of Lin Zexu. In fact, the British army hopes to continue northward and take military action near the capital.
On July 6th, British troops occupied Dinghai. At that time, Dinghai was unarmed and was regarded by China as a victory without using force. So Yiliu and Yiliu and his party marched into Dagukou, Tianjin with the main fleet on August 9.
After the fall of Dinghai, Daoguang asked several inland provinces to send troops to the coast immediately, and the whole country was in chaos. The emperor at this time lacked the determination to ban smoking. He thinks that Lin Zexu's tobacco sales have caused too much trouble.
Qishan, the governor of Zhili, investigated foreigners' armaments in Dagukou in the name of "negotiation" and found that there was a significant gap between the two armies. He advocated "appeasing foreigners" and negotiating with foreigners. /kloc-In August of 0/5, Britain submitted a letter from Viscount Bamai to the Prime Minister of the Chinese Emperor, pointing out that Lin Zexu had hurt British businessmen and national character, and demanded land cession, compensation and an apology. This was interpreted by Qi Shan as China's thinking of "vindicating the emperor". He promised foreigners that he would handle it fairly, and both sides agreed to go back to Guangdong for negotiations.
During the peace talks in Guangzhou, Qishan found it difficult to get the consent of the court. He deliberately delayed, and the British army could not sit still. 184 1 year, 1 month, they were on fire again, and the portal of Humenburg fell to Bigfoot and Shajiao. Here, the British army suppressed the fort with heavy artillery fire, and then burned and demolished the military facilities of the Qing army. The British warship sank 1 1 cleared the ship. Qishan finally concluded a treaty with foreign countries, namely, the Draft Convention on Nasal Perforation, paying 6 million yuan in compensation and ceding Hong Kong. At this time, Daoguang Emperor refused and withdrew from Qishan for investigation.
184 1 February, the battle of Humen broke out, and Guan Tianpei, the prefect of Guangdong Navy, led 200 non-commissioned officers to fight bloody battles and finally died heroically. Since then, the battle of Guangzhou broke out. After the British onslaught, Guangzhou surrendered on May 26th. 184 1 In August, there was another battle between Fujian and Zhejiang, and the British army went north for the second time to Xiamen, Dinghai, Zhenhai and Ningbo. The Qing army suffered repeated defeats and wars, and the war in eastern Zhejiang took place in June+10, 5438.
the opium war
1842 in may, the British army implemented the "Yangtze river campaign plan" and prepared to control the Yangtze river basin. In June, the warship arrived at Wusong Port and occupied Wusong on 16. On July 2 1842 and July 2 1 day, the British army launched a military operation against Zhenjiang, and the Qing army and the British army launched fierce siege warfare, street fighting and hand-to-hand combat. After the city was broken, the British raped and plundered, and Zhenjiang city was in chaos. In this war, the British army cut off the economic lifeline of the Qing Dynasty. Then the Qing army approached Nanjing and the Qing court had to negotiate peace.
This is treaty of nanking, the main content of which is to open five trading ports: Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai. Cede Hong Kong Island to Britain. China and Britain reached an agreement on tariffs. Consular jurisdiction, unilateral MFN treatment, residence and land lease and other privileges.
The signing of treaty of nanking has had a serious impact on the development of China society. After Britain signed a treaty with China, the United States, France and other countries also forced China to sign the Wang Xia Treaty and the Huangpu Treaty. After the First Opium War, in order to expand their interests in China, western powers proposed a comprehensive revision of the treaty, which was flatly rejected by the Qing court. 1856 10, Britain and France launched the second opium war. It was not until 1860 that the British and French allied forces invaded Beijing, burned the Yuanmingyuan, and the Qing government defeated the peace. In June 1858 and June 1860 and June 10, the powers forced the Qing court to sign the Tianjin Treaty and the Beijing Treaty respectively.
After the Second Opium War, the Qing court began to realize the crisis in China and advocated learning from the West, thus the Westernization Movement began.
label
All this stems from the feudal thought of the Qing Dynasty, which holds that China is rich in natural products and ubiquitous, and does not need economic exchanges with foreign countries. The rulers were blindly arrogant and closed to the outside world, which led to a series of "treaties" later.