Qing Dynasty, the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history.
Sticking to traditions and rules, unwilling to accept new things from the outside world.
Western countries are like a group of energetic youth.
They started the bourgeois revolution and the wave of the industrial revolution, and the world changed as if overnight.
It's like a carpenter working behind closed doors, not knowing the outside world, already having planes and cars.
As time passed, the eyes of the West began to look beyond the ocean.
They looked at the Qing Dynasty as if they saw an untapped treasure.
It's like a hungry wolf seeing its prey and showing its sharp teeth one after another, ready to attack this once glorious Qing Empire.
The signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan was like a storm in which the Qing Dynasty had to take off the crown.
History always likes to joke.
It turned the Qing Dynasty, a former giant, into a child who needed to be protected.
whereas
This is not only a warning to the Qing Dynasty, but also a reminder to those who come after it.
Western powers with knives and forks
The Qing Empire at the end of the 19th century was like a huge piece of cake.
In these turbulent times, the Qing court was like a dilapidated ship, constantly rocking in the wind and waves.
The Boxer Rebellion was like a collective cry of the people.
With their rough fists, they proclaim to the world that they no longer want to be oppressed.
And in the depths of the court, the failure of the Wuxu Reform Law was like a gorgeous firework that was finally reduced to ashes.
Emperor Guangxu was placed under house arrest in Yingtai.
His eyes were full of helplessness and sadness.
During this period, China was like a rough sea.
Empress Dowager Cixi, the de facto ruler of the Qing Empire, was filled with resentment towards the Western powers.
Above the court, the old-fashioned ministers were clever in their tongues, and they portrayed the Boxers as divine soldiers, as if they could really be "invulnerable".
The Empress Dowager Cixi listened to these words as if she were listening to an old man tell a mythical story.
However, reality is always more brutal than myth.
This farce ended in tragedy.
The wheels of history roll forward and do not stop because of one person's decisions.
It's like being in a no-man's land
On October 17, 1900, the streets of Beijing were unusually quiet.
German Field Marshal Wadsey, the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance.
The city, as he expected, was not full of stubborn resistance from the Qing army.
In fact, since the coalition forces destroyed the Boxer Rebellion in one fell swoop in Tianjin, their advance speed was like a wild horse on the loose, all the way unimpeded.
The Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu chose to avoid its edge, quietly left the capital, and went to the Rehe Summer Resort.
It seems that there is a place where you can forget about the distractions of the outside world for a while.
Their departure.
makes this once prosperous capital even more desolate.
The division of the hungry wolf
After the city of Beijing was sacked, the British took the lead in proposing to divide up the Chinese lands.
These Western countries are like a pack of hungry wolves.
This proposal immediately attracted the support of Russia, Germany, France, and other countries.
In the city of Beijing in 1900, the flag of the Eight-Nation Alliance was hunting in the wind.
The United States, on the other hand, seemed to be an outsider, shaking its head at Britain's proposal to carve up China.
Apparently not.
The mind of the United States at that time was like a well-planned chess game.
Imagine crossing the Pacific Ocean to defend a distant island is like having a pet in your backyard that will never be fed.
And once there are three long and two short, it is a loss to the wife and a soldier.
Britain, Russia, and Germany, the "big brothers", are all strong.
The United States, on the other hand, is somewhat inadequate.
If you really want to carve up China, distribute it according to strength.
The cake that the United States can get may not even be enough to plug the gaps.
The privileges of the United States in China will also cease to exist.
It's like, it's candy that has already been delivered.
Suddenly being snatched away by other children, the United States is naturally not happy.
Finally, China is a vast land and a large population, and if it is really divided, it will cause chaos that is not ordinary.
The United States fears that this will not only harm their interests in China, but could also affect their other interests in Asia.
It's like a gamble.
Although the chances of winning are huge, the risks are also not small.
So
It's not that they don't want a piece of the pie from China, but they want to protect and expand their interests in a more secure and less costly way.
At that time, the Qing government, under the coercion of foreign powers, signed the Treaty of Xincho.
This paper document is like a sharp knife, piercing the heart of every Chinese.
In this treaty, the proportions of reparations to be paid by each country are clearly divided:
The United States found itself not as rich as it had hoped, accounting for only 7.32 per cent of the reparations.
It's not even as good as Japan's 7.73%, which makes them feel unwilling.
Shouldn't I change the way I play and get more out of myself?
So, a "perfect" plan was proposed:
Harness China's resources and labor and make Chinese work for them.
The finished products are then sold back to China.
In this way, it not only saves the trouble of occupying and managing land, but also continuously obtains profits and achieves "lying to win".
In the end, this plan was agreed to by the Eight-Nation Alliance.
This history is a painful lesson, but also a mirror, reflecting the necessity of a strong country.
However, the backbone of the Chinese nation has not been bent, and now it has finally ushered in the dawn.