In the mid-19th century and early 20th century, due to the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government, China was invaded by Western powers and Japan, and signed a series of unequal treaties that humiliated the country. During the First Opium War, China was forced to cede Hong Kong to the British, reducing it to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, but this was only the beginning. In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing and committed unspeakable crimes. Ironically, only 2 out of 8 countries apologized to China and returned the stolen national treasures.
In 1840, the British government launched the First Opium War against China under the pretext of selling cigarettes at Humen, and nearly 20,000 British soldiers came on warships thousands of miles away, and although the Chinese people resisted bravely, it was still difficult to resist the fierce offensive of the British army. In 1842, the defeated Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking, the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history, which ceded Hong Kong to the British and repaid the sky-high reparations. Since then, China's independence and sovereignty have been in vain, and this is only the beginning of the nightmare.
After the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, the United States and France also came to share a piece of the pie. On July 3, 1844, the Qing government signed the Treaty of Wangxia with the United States, and in October of the same year, it signed the Treaty of Huangpu with France, and since then, in addition to the reparations for the cession of land, the United States and France have not left a single one behind. In addition to directly endangering China's sovereignty, these three treaties also laid the foundation for the aggressors to use their missionary rights to invade China.
In 1895, China and Japan signed the Treaty of Maguan, which fueled Japan's ambitions to invade China and greatly deepened the degree of Semi-colonization of China. The following year, after Li Hongzhang arrived in the United States, he saw the tall buildings lined up and told reporters: "What surprised me the most was some skyscrapers of 20 stories or higher, and the Qing Dynasty could not build such a tall building because it would be blown down by the Typhoon." "It's hard to imagine how shocked he was.
Since then, the aggression of the Western powers against China has not yet ended, and China is about to usher in an unprecedented disaster.
Backwardness means beating, and what happened to China in the 19th century deeply proved this truth, and after signing a series of unequal treaties, the Chinese suffered a huge disaster. In the 20th century, the Western powers still did not stop invading China. In May 1900, a team of eight countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Italy, the United States and Austria, entered Beijing in a dignified manner.
During the Boxer Rebellion, the Boxers shouted the slogan of "Supporting the Qing Dynasty and Destroying the Foreigners" and vowed to drive western forces out of China, and this movement became the fuse for the Eight-Power Alliance to invade China. Under the pretext of suppressing the Boxers, the coalition forces carried out a series of acts of aggression against China in the name of "protecting the embassy."
On 10 June, the British Admiral led more than 2,000 soldiers in the first wave of attacks, engaging in a fierce battle with the Boxers. In the Battle of Dagukou, the Qing defender Luo Rongguang was unfortunately shot, and Dagukou was occupied by the coalition forces. On the 21st, the intolerable Qing government chose to declare war on various countries and posted a notice offering a reward for killing foreigners, but it was too late.
The Qing army resisted bravely, but in the case of a huge disparity in military strength, it soon suffered heavy losses. On August 14, the Coalition forces captured the city of Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor chose to flee. On September 7, 1901, the defeated Qing government was forced to sign the Xinugu Treaty, in addition to the sky-high indemnity of up to 980 million taels of silver, the Qing government also allowed countries to set up embassies in Beijing, and since then, China has completely degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
In addition to the treaty, after the invasion of the Coalition Forces, many inhumane crimes were committed, they put the people in the hat of the Boxers, slaughtered at will, and committed adultery and plunder. A Christian in the United States said that 680 Tianzhu believers had been killed to "put their heads on people's heads", so they wantonly killed 680 innocent people. In the British newspaper, there is a saying: "Beijing has become a real cemetery, full of dead people, no one burying them, leaving wild dogs to eat the lying corpses." ”
In 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing and carried out a massacre of people in the city, in addition to plundering a large amount of treasure. The coalition invaded the Qing Palace, looted the rare treasures in the palace, and then entered the Summer Palace, removing all the treasures that could be moved, and smashing or burning those that could not be moved. They did not even spare the temple, snatching more than 3,000 Buddha statues, more than 1,400 embroideries, and more than 4,300 bronzes from Songzhu Temple.
In the Yuanmingyuan alone, the coalition forces snatched more than 1.5 million rare treasures, from gold and silver jewelry to antique calligraphy and paintings, and even the cases and white jade pillars were also removed, of which the bronze statues of the Zodiac are particularly precious. The raw material of these bronze statues is not ordinary copper, but is made of a variety of precious metals fused together, which can withstand wind, frost, rain and snow without rust. Each statue was handmade by a court craftsman with superior skills, and the level of craftsmanship was the peak of that era. The most unfortunate thing is that the Yongle Canon, which combines the essence of ancient Chinese classics, has also been robbed.
In 1921, Germany, who had experienced World War I, was seriously injured and urgently needed China's help, so he apologized to China for his evil deeds and returned various instruments such as the celestial instrument, the horizon instrument and the chronometer that had been stolen.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the speed of development has been greatly enhanced, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has even more played a role in the national prestige and military prestige, which has significantly improved China's international status. In 1951, the Soviet Union returned 64 copies of the Yongle Canon, and in 1955, Germany also returned the three volumes of the looted canon.
Among the eight-power alliance, only Germany and the Soviet Union confessed their crimes and returned the looted property, and the other 6 countries have never said anything, so far, there are still more than 800 yongle ceremonies scattered in all corners of the world, and there are five bronze statues of the zodiac signs. Today's China is no longer what it used to be, and the shame of the past has become a driving force for every generation of Chinese people to strive for strength.