History textbook for Texas Public Schools, 1266 pages in total.
The following is an excerpted translation of an American history textbook, not my opinion.
First, early China was too successful
Before the Industrial Revolution, China had always been one of the centers of civilization in the world. Its economy was strong, with its population growing from about 100 million in 1685 to about 430 million in 1853.
So when King George III of England wrote to the Qianlong Emperor in 1793, hoping to trade. Rejected by the Qianlong Emperor, the Qianlong Emperor wrote in his letter: "Our heavenly kingdom has rich products, so there is no need to import the products of foreign barbarians."
In fact, the country has never had a commercial tradition and has historically severely restricted commercial activities.
But the explosive growth of the population has made the pressure on the land more and more intense, and the per capita arable land area is getting smaller and smaller. The internal expansion of Chinese civilization to the West and the South did not produce the wealth and resources that Europe had expanded overseas. As a result, unemployment, poverty, suffering and hunger are becoming more and more numerous.
In Europe during the same period, although a similar population surge occurred. Agricultural production was also unable to keep up, but the overseas expansion of the European empire found a great deal of resources and wealth, and contributed to the Industrial Revolution.
Moreover, the centralized system of Chinese civilization has not kept pace with population growth. As a result, the State is increasingly unable to perform its functions effectively, such as taxation, flood control, social welfare and public safety.
Gradually, the central government lost the support of local gentlemen and officials and became more and more corrupt!
Second, the intensifying peasant revolt
Chinese civilization has been caught in a cycle of "redistribution of land - land annexation - peasant life pain, outbreak of uprisings - dynastic collapse".
From 1850 to 1864, a huge peasant uprising broke out within the Qing Empire - the Taiping Rebellion!
The uprising had its progressive side, such as the development of industrial plans, the promotion of equality between men and women and the end of prostitution, opium use, etc., but its destructive nature was also enormous. The uprising is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of about 20 million to 30 million people.
And, unlike in previous ones, this peasant uprising largely rejected Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, in favor of a distinctly Christian tianism.
3. Drug abuse
At the end of the eighteenth century, the British began to grow and process opium in India to reverse the imbalance in trade with China.
By the 1830s, British, American, and other Western merchants had seen China as a growing, lucrative drug market with a steady influx of opium, leading to a massive outflow of silver. Reversing China's ability to attract most of the world's silver for centuries, this imbalance has created serious economic problems.
Recognizing this growing problem, the Qing government ordered an upright official, Lin Zexu, known as the "Drug Tsar," to preside over the "anti-smoking campaign." ("Drug Czar" originally "drug czar")
The British, outraged by the confiscation of opium property and emboldened by their new military might, sent a large naval expeditionary force to war with China.
Not surprisingly, China was defeated. The Treaty of Nanking was signed in accordance with Britain's wishes, and Chinese called it an "unequal treaty". Since then, more and more Western countries, Russia and Japan have signed similar treaties with China through war.
The Treaty of Nanking shows that with the advent of the British Industrial Revolution, the balance of global power has changed. It became part of Europe's "informal empire," and China was no longer a respected center of civilization, but just a weak and dependent country of many.
The restrictions imposed by the treaty have clearly hindered China's industrialization, as foreign goods and investment have poured into China largely unrestricted. These military pressures and economic infiltration disrupted the domestic trade of the Central Plains Dynasty, caused massive unemployment, and increased the tax burden on the peasants.
Fourth, nationalist ideologies
A growing number of educated Chinese, including many elites in official positions. Increasingly disillusioned with the Qing government, they began to realize that China was gradually becoming a vassal state of the West, largely under foreign control.
They began to see the Qing rulers as foreigners, incapable of protecting China. By the end of the 1890s, these men had organized clubs, study groups, and newspapers to study the desperate situation in China and explore other paths.
As it turned out, the Qing government's response to these emerging pressures was not enough.
In 1898, a progressive reform known as the "Hundred Days Reform" was suppressed by conservative forces.
In 1912, China's last emperor abdicated. The ancient imperial order that ruled China for two thousand years collapsed.
summary:
The Americans do not seem to regard the Treaty of Nanking as an unequal treaty, in addition. We must be vigilant against the "Yuan and Qing non-China theories" abroad, which are actually public opinion preparations made by the West, Japan, and other countries in order to split China.
Turkey is now also promoting the Mongols, Jurchens, and other ethnic groups as Turkic descendants, and claiming that China is mostly ruled by Turkic descendants. The Han Nationality has ruled the Central Plains only for a few times, and this argument occupies a wide market in the Middle East, and we must remain vigilant about this.