China After the Opium War: The Positive Outcomes of the Opium War - Report Example

China After the Opium War The Positive Outcomes of the Opium War Introduction The Opium War was one of the most infamous events in world history. It revealed the negative side of imperialism and severely distressed all sectors of the Chinese society. It forced the opening of Chinese doors to global trade. To the Chinese people, the Opium War was an embarrassing defeat, but it also opened their eyes to the major weaknesses of the Chinese economic, political, and cultural system. Before the Opium War, China was already suffering from economic and political ‘backwardness’. The Chinese people lacked sufficient knowledge of the outside world. But the Opium War changed all of this. This paper discusses the positive impact of the Opium War on the economic, political, and cultural institution of China. Chinese Economy after the Opium War The history of China arises with the Opium War. Mao explains the outcomes of the entrance of foreign capitalism into China in the mid-19th century, and how this occurrence transformed China into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society1: Foreign capitalism played an important part in the disintegration of China’s social economy; on the one hand it undermined the foundations of her self-sufficient natural economy and wrecked the handicraft industries both in the cities and in the peasant’s homes, and on the other, it hastened the growth of a commodity economy in town and country.2 This is the widespread belief. But there are sets of evidence that point to the contrary. The Opium Wars obliged China to open its ports to global trade. With the removal of the ‘Gong Hang’ structure—state run trading companies—and the formation of treaty ports, freight traffic and foreign trade flourished.3 Local handiworks were not able to contend with the mass production system of industrialization. Emerging domestic enterprises in the trading ports were the ones that suffered the most. In order to live on they were compelled to initiate changes. During these changes the rate of unemployment increased as local industries declined. But there was a favorable unplanned outcome though. Sooner or later Chinese companies adjusted and transformed to flourish and survive, promoting the emergence of Chinese capitalism.4 Even though Mao saw capitalism as a negative thing, he admitted that it contributed to China’s transformation. Western capitalism seriously transformed China’s economy as foreign trade thrived. To contract out jobs they believe are unbeneficial or could not carry out, Western traders strengthened local businesses. Beginning at the trade ports, particularly Canton and Shanghai, a newly formed social class surfaced—the merchants.5 These merchants were locals who took part in foreign trade. Some built storerooms to trade imported products and buy products to export. Others were middlemen involved in exporting and importing. Eventually, these merchants became influential.6 An increasing number of farmers stopped producing food to manufacture tea and silk when prices for these commodities went up in the latter part of the 19th century. Rural farming and local urban handiwork businesses were on the brink of failure.7 Dealings across various sectors of the economy had risen considerably after the Opium War; hence silver became inadequate as currency. The financial structure changed from silver to paper money in 1853. China steadily transformed from a sustainable self-supporting economy to a market one.8 The economic consequences of the Opium Wars are still felt nowadays. The Nanking Treaty opened many Chinese ports. The opening of ports and consequent rise in trade made possible the thriving of silk and tea businesses. Exporting of tea and silk dramatically rose.9 The past Chinese president and the leader of the country’s economic reform strategy, Deng Xiao-Ping, believed: Isolation prevents any country’s development. We suffered from this and so did our forefathers… Isolation lasted more than 300 years, from the middle of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to the Opium War (1840)… As a result, China fell into poverty and ignorance.10 The Opium Wars was a milestone for China and is considered as the beginning of the modern history of the country. The opium Western powers pushed to China damaged the body and mind, but some scholars say that it did not disoriented or shocked the Chinese people.11 Instead it motivated them. Chinese scholars started to realize that the country not simply had to modernize its economy, but that the whole economy has to be transformed. They realized that the government has to support and promote the success of capitalism. Private businesses must be established without the intrusion of the government and a large number of businesses have to be formed so that the market place will be filled with competition.12 The Chinese people’s fight against feudalist and imperialist forces started in this period. The Opium Wars drew the attention of China to modern scientific and technological developments. China has steadily risen on the global arena in the past decades. The GDP of the country was fourth in the world in 2005. Its global trade is one of the biggest.13 But the question is will China be able to sustain its economic progress and foreign trade that has been the reason for its current progress? From a historical perspective, the answer to this question depends on the country’s experience of the Opium Wars. The 19th-century European occupations were not just an embarrassing and gloomy event in the history of China but it gave a memorable message. As proclaimed by Mao, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, “being weak will lead to being bullied.”14 China sooner or later was able to adapt and transform itself to its benefit. The Chinese economy became stable and tough enough to recover autonomy of its trade ports, Macao and Hong Kong.15 Chinese Politics after the Opium War China steadily transformed from a semi-feudal to a semi-colonial country after the Opium War. Up until the 19th century, the feudal structure of China became increasingly dishonest and oppressive. It economy was unproductive and inefficient, and the country’s stability was declining. In the meantime, all the Western capitalist societies were becoming more and more wealthy and influential.16 Britain began in 1840 the Opium War, which closed in 1842 with the approval of the Nanjing Treaty pushing the Qing government to award Britain privileges. As a historical milestone, this war pushed the transformation of China from a feudal autocratic structure to a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society. From 1865 to 1860, France and Britain together started the Second Opium War, forcing the Qing government to agree to the Peking Treaty and Tianjin Treaty.17 China’s backward economy and the extreme poverty of its people drove them to oppose feudalism and imperialism. The anti-feudal and anti-imperialist campaigns of the Chinese people did not cease during the eight decades from 1840 to 1919, starting with the Opium War.18 The elite democratic supporters headed by Sun Yatsen introduced the 1911 revolution, which deposed the Qing court, established the Republic of China and proclaimed the termination of the feudal monarchy which had went on for many centuries in China. The feudal structure is a severe hindrance to the development of China and puts weighty spiritual restraints on Chinese thinking.19 After the 1840 Opium War, with the introduction of foreign capitalism, massive changes occurred in China. Throughout the May 4th period, China was in a quite chaotic situation. The formation of a new social structure and intellectual tradition was supported by liberal individuals who were still somewhat unknown, and whose claims were overwhelmed by more serious and urgent issues. The semi-feudal, semi-colonial social system which brought about these serious problems and other forms of social abuse and mismanagement had not yet been eliminated at the bottom.20 The Opium War was more basically a conflict between China’s ancient civilization and the developing Western imperial powers, headed by Britain. The embarrassing defeat wreaked by a quite small British force revealed the military weaknesses, and China’s core economic and political weakness, which were intensified by the growing weakness of the Qing Dynasty.21 Overwhelmed and embarrassed by their failure in the hands of Western powers, some scholars understood that for China to cope, they should gain knowledge from the Western powers. The Opium War also forced Chinese scholars and officials to reevaluate the political structure of China. Prior to the Opium Wars, Lin Ze-xu made a brave attempt to suggest to the Chinese emperor that the country must modernize its military by getting ships and weapons from the West.22 Yet the scholars thought that merely using Western knowledge in business, science, and technology was not sufficient, China should go through political revolution. They believed the government must support the expansion of capitalism.23 In 1898, several scholars created many decrees for Emperor Guang Xu. Hundreds of legislations were released by the emperor to initiate changes in economy, the military and political system. Important steps involved enhancing and making simple laws, encouraging high ranking officials to go abroad and learn from them, supporting infrastructure building, improving and upgrading the military and circulating newspapers.24 Unluckily, the reform did not last long because the Empress Dowager Ci Xi repealed them. Yet, several of the provincial schools and the Peking Imperial University that had been formed were permitted to stay. However, economic and political changes only took place with the revolution headed by Sun Yat-sat.25 Meanwhile, prior to the Opium Wars, the Chinese believed that the Earth was shaped like a square while the Heaven was more of a circle; they did not have the knowledge that the earth was in fact shaped like a ball, and they do not have knowledge of the oceans and continents. The very first Chinese scholar who discovered that China was ‘primitive’ in its knowledge of the world was Lin Ze-xu, the commissioner who halted the opium trade.26 He gathered references from translated foreign books and published the book entitled The Introduction of the Four Continents. In the introduction, the writer stated, “The book is intended to fight against the foreign invasion with advanced foreign technology, and to surpass the foreigners by learning from them.”27 These works thoroughly discussed culture, religion, science, economy, politics, history, and geographic of various nations across the globe, which embodied a beginning at presenting or representing the Chinese to the world. Chinese Culture after the Opium War After the devastating defeat of China in the Opium War, the country’s people understood that they were not the ‘heavenly middle kingdom’ anymore.28 Prior to the Opium War, the Chinese idea of European societies was quite ambiguous and in certain instances, even unbelievable. At the end of the Opium War, China scholarly found out the West; hence knowledge from Western societies was brought in to China. Western principles of capitalism and parliamentary democracy were unclearly introduced. International relations (IR) became an idea. Wei Yuan, one of the scholars, was one of the earliest to suggest that so as to compete with the West, China should gain knowledge from the West.29 The suggestion of Wei gained numerous reactions. In any case, China was defeated by the technology of the West. Within these situations, China formed the prototype of a foreign ministry, which was primarily focused on the opening of modernized factories, upgrading of the Chinese army, the study of the technology of the West.30 The first factories established were dedicated to the military, and focused on the manufacturing of ships and weapons. Since these factories’ products were not commodities, producing profit was not an issue. The operation of these factories did not rely on the money it created, not even on the market’s demands. Hence administration methods of handling a major for-profit business were not yet advanced.31 For decades, the Chinese had carried out their foreign policy by means of the tribute structure, where in foreign powers wanting to conduct trade with China were obliged first to carry a gift to the emperor, recognizing the dominance of Chinese culture and the absolute power of the Chinese ruler. Not like the nearby countries to China, the European countries fully decline to give these recognitions in return for a permit to trade, and they petitioned instead that China comply with the diplomatic tradition of the West, like the formation of treaties.32 Even though the imbalanced treaties and the exercise of the ‘most-favored-nation’ principle were successful in building and sustaining open trade with the Chinese, both were vital as well in raising hatred and unfavorable sentiments toward Western imperialism.33 Yet, witnessing Western businesses generate revenues China started to form commercial businesses. After the Opium War, Western traders had not yet totally invaded the market of China. The Manchu administration, even though lacking in finance, could still locate sufficient resources to begin new enterprises. Private organizations were fairly prosperous. With the downfall of feudalism and the growth of Western capitalism, it was eager to fund modern businesses.34 Also, Western businesses took in portions of Chinese investment and resources. It may be assumed that at the end of the Opium War capitalism in China had a positive chance to grow.35 Nevertheless, the businesses formed were managed by the feudal officials. The private sector released funding, but did not have power over the running of the business. The public servants manage the commercial businesses as though they were handling the military sector. They also exercised their influence and authority to control the markets, which hampered the progress of Chinese private sector enterprises.36 Numerous new ventures were ruined because of weak and incompetent management; those who acquired profits seldom put them back as investment. As for the public servants that govern the ventures, they became very rich despite the performance of their company. Still, the formation of modern businesses unavoidably promoted the growth the social and economic status of China. Efforts to build modern ventures, even though were unsuccessful, still drove the progress of Chinese capitalism.37 The Opium War revealed the weak points of Chinese feudalism. The demands of the war and afterward the war reparation burdened the farmers. The Manchu administration could not safeguard and rule its people anymore.38 As the economy of the country declined, poverty was prevalent, protests and uprisings emerged throughout the nation. The Manchu administrated exposed its weak points when it approved the Nanking Treaty without using all likelihoods of opposition. The Opium War contributed to the downfall of the Manchu government and promoted mass revolts.39 Witnessing the social disorder and the fall of the Manchu Dynasty, Chinese scholars tried to strengthen China. Not like the government, the scholars thought that merely using Western knowledge of businesses and technologies was not sufficient; instead China should go through political reforms. They, similar to the officials, thought that the government must let and defend the expansion of capitalism and that the military should be improved and upgraded to defeat Westerners on the combat zone.40 However, most significantly, private ventures must be established without the involvement of government and businesses should be formed to contend in the market place. The scholars also suggested a parliamentary system. This suggestion was the initial effort of private individuals to engage in government affairs.41 Discussion and Conclusions The Opium War was certainly the occurrence that opened the doors of China to external forces, to the foreign world. The Opium War, basically, spoiled the mistaken sense of dominance of China. It forcibly opened China’s trade ports, and thereby, revealed the weaknesses of the political and social systems of the country. The treaties brought about by the war exposed China to Western capitalism. This nearly devastated the Chinese economy. But it also pushed the Chinese economy to transform and improve. The war helped China’s economic progress. It also challenged and contributed to the downfall of the Manchu government, and this, together with a ruined economy, led to the increase number of poor people. This led to social disorder and protests. But the war also forced Chinese scholars and officials to reevaluate the country’s political and social system. They thought that for China to reclaim its honor, it must gain knowledge from the West. Chinese scholars started studying the political, social, economic, and cultural structures of Western societies. The scholars also suggested another, more sovereign, democratic political structure. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the Opium War also benefitted China in some ways. Bibliography Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “China After the Cultural Revolution.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 25.2(1969): 1+ Hanes, W. Travis & Sanello, Frank. Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. New York: Sourcebooks, 2004. Janin, Hunt. The India-China Opium Trade in the Nineteenth Century. New York: McFarland, 1999. Stockwell, Foster. Westerners in China: A History of Exploration and Trade, Ancient Times through the Present. New York: McFarland, 2002. Waley, Arthur. The Opium War through Chinese Eyes. London: Routledge, 2013. Wei, Yuan & Parker, Edward. Chinese Account of the Opium War. New York: Kelly & Walsh, Limited, 1888. Read More