Qing Dynasty and Opium Trade

• China's civilization was developed and ruled by dynasties.
• Dynasties would collapse due to economic decline (famine), internal power struggles, or corruption.
• External threats sometimes challenged dynasties.
• Chinese Dynastic era: 1700 BCE - 1912 CE

Qing Dynasty

• Lasted from 1639-1912.
• Longest and wealthiest of Chinese dynasties.
• Collapsed in the 1830s and 1840s due to British industrial power and trade ambitions.
• The Qing originated from Manchuria, located between China and Russia.
• In the early 1800s, the British initiated opium trade from India to China.

Opium Trade

• British traders smuggled opium from India to China to pay for Chinese goods (tea, porcelain, silk).
• Opium use weakened citizens, drained silver reserves, and decreased government income.
• China used silver as its primary currency and wasn't interested in Western products.
• The British turned to opium smuggling when silver currency ran out.
• China had a self-sufficient economy, not reliant on trade for essential products.
• In 1836, the Qing dynasty banned opium.
• Opium War: 1839-1842
• Britain sent warships following China's ban on opium to remove trade restrictions.

Treaty of Nanjing

• Signed in 1842.
• Opened five Southern Chinese ports for British trade, including for opium.
• China paid 2.1 million pounds of silver for destroyed opium and ships.
• China couldn't tax foreign goods above 5%, reducing government revenue.
• Cheaper British goods caused unemployment for Chinese craftsmen.
• British merchants could live in treaty ports with housing provided by Chinese authorities.
• The "most-favored nation" clause granted Britain the same privileges as other countries trading with China.
• Christian missionaries gained the right to travel and spread faith in China due to later conflicts and treaties.

Taiping Rebellion

• Lasted from 1850-1864.
• Led by Hong Xiuquan, who believed he was Jesus Christ's younger brother.
• Hong Xiuquan hated the Qing dynasty due to its Manchurian roots.
• Strict adherence to the Ten Commandments.
• Communes pooled resources, including stolen goods.
• Anti-corruption stance in government.
• Consisted mostly of peasants-turned-soldiers.
• Developed an army of 500,000 within 3 years
• Defeated by Qing and controlled most of Southern China.
• Planned to ban private land ownership.
• Resulted in 20-30 million deaths.
• It spurred the first wave of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. seeking jobs, especially in railroad construction.

Hong Xiuquan

• Leader of the Taiping Rebellion.
• Extremely religious failed Chinese Administrator.
• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
• Banned Chinese immigration due to discrimination.
• Only a few hundred Chinese moved to Chicago during this period.
• Chinese immigrants weren't permitted to return to the U.S. until after World War II.
• Xinhai Revolution: 1911
• Qing Dynasty overthrown, establishing the Republic of China with Sun Yat-sen as president.

Sun-Yat-Sen

• Played a role in the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
• Founder of the Nationalist Party of China (Guomindang).
• Aims to end the monarchy and establish a modern republican government due to the country's weakness under imperial rule..
• With the Qing removed, the Republic of China (ROC) was established, and Sun Yat-sen became its first president.
• China was divided into warlord-led provinces competing for control.
• Sun Yat-sen was forced to give up the presidency to warlords to prevent chaos.
• Many warlords held traditional beliefs and wanted to reinstate dynastic rule.
• Warlords oppressed peasants through high taxes and military service.
• Mistreatment, similar to the Taiping Rebellion, led to peasant support for the Communist movement in the 1930s and 1940s.
• Communists fought for peasant land ownership and sought revenge on landowners and warlords.
• World War 1: 1914-1918

Chinese Labor Corps

• Dug trenches and maintained equipment for Allies.
• China hoped for equal status with Western powers, but Japan was rewarded with more territory.
• Disappointment fueled May Fourth and Communist movements.
• May Fourth Movement in 1919
• Nationalist movement led by youths disgusted by China's weakness and manipulation by Western powers/Japan.
• Many were exposed to socialist and communist ideals from Europe during the war.
• Chinese Communist Party (CCP): 1921
• Sparked by the May Fourth Movement; founded in Shanghai.

Chiang Kai-Shek

• Took over the Nationalist party after Sun Yat-sen's death in 1925.
• United China under the Republic of China.
• Began the Nanjing Decade.
• Kidnapped in 1936 and forced to work with the CCP.

The Nanjing Decade

• Lasted from 1927-1937.
• Named after the city of Nanjing, the nation's new capital.
• A period of mostly positive reforms and modernization.
• Democracy was also implemented during this time.
• Plagued by wars, invasions, and the power of warlords.
• Unfriendly relations with the Communists.
• Nationalists (Guomindang) and Communists split
• Start of Chinese Civil War in 1927.
• Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, expanding the 2nd Sino (Chinese) - Japanese War.
• Mao Zedong took over leadership of the CCP in 1934.
• Mao Zedong (1893-1976)
• Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew the Nationalists.
• Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.
• Second Chinese-Japanese War was from 1937-1945.
• Fighting between Nationalist and Communist forces was interrupted.
• Japan wanted to invade China for resources like coal.
• After Pearl Harbor merged onto the greater conflict of WW2 and the largest Asian war in the 20th century.
• Nanjing Massacre: 1937
• Japan conquered Nanjing, leading to the Nanjing Massacre.
• WW2 ends: 1945
• Allied powers demanded Japanese withdrawal from China.
• Resumption of Chinese Civil War: 1946-1949
• The U.S. reopened its borders to Chinese immigrants.
• Many Chinese immigrants to Chicago supported the Nationalists.
• Taiwan: 1949
• Taiwan became the refuge for Nationalists who lost the Civil War in 1949.
• People's Liberation Army
• The Red Army was renamed so.
• The Communist PLA won military victories against the Nationalists and drove them out of Nanjing and Beijing.
• People's Republic of China
• Established in 1949 by Communists led by Mao Zedong; Nationalists retreated to Taiwan.
• Push factors for Chinese Americans included the gold rush, job opportunities, Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion and abusive landlords.
• Japan was divided into regions ruled by samurai lords (warriors).
• Samurai were the most honored members of Japanese society, with the right to carry swords and engage in battle.
• Tokugawa Family controlled one quarter of the entire nation.
• The head of Japan's political system
• Restricted outside trade and religion to avoid alliances.
• Japan forced to open trade in 1853:
• Commodore Matthew Perry landed his ship and threatened the Japanese.
• Presented U.S. demands for the right for ships to stop in Japan on the way to trade with China.
• Anti-Western Japanese samurai assassinated Western traders.
• Other European nations used force to open Japan up to trade.
• Emperor Meji and the Meji Restoration: 1868
• Implemented wide-ranging reforms that transformed Japan from an isolated society into an industrialized colonial power.
• Old feudal system was abolished.
• Shintoism: Japan's national religion.
• Public education was made more widely available because of Meiji Restoration.
• Students were taught loyalty to the emperor in addition to basic subjects.
• Blood Tax riots: 1873
• Largest peasant riot motivated by frustrated farmers resenting the loss of land, traditional way of life, and mandatory public schools.
• Protesting a military draft requiring service in the new national military called the "Blood Tax".
• Samurai joined with peasants hoping to regain power.
• Meiji leadership repressed the riots, finalizing control over rural Japan.
• Many rural Japanese moved to the U.S. for job opportunities.
• Issei and the nisei
• The first wave of generation Japanese and their second generation children.
• There was often tension between the two groups as the issei held Japanese traditional values and customs while the nissei were more exposed to America's culture and assimilated more easily.
• First Chinese Japanese War
• Lasted from 1894-1895.
• Japan won, proving their modernization efforts were successful.
• Russian-Japanese War
• Lasted from 1904-1905.
• A dispute between Japan and Russia over control of Korea and Manchuria.
• Japan defeating Russia shocked the world and established Japan as a force in East Asia.
• Japan became a colonial power, gained international prominence, and attracted scrutiny.
• 21 Demands: 1919
• After weakening Germany, Japan presented the Allies and China with the 21 demands as a reward, including railroads, control of territory, mining rights, and more access to ports.
• Treaty of Versailles
• At the end of World War I, in 1919, Japan proposed a clause on racial equality.
• The clause was rejected by several Western countries.
• Peace Preservation Law: 1925
• Pressure from ANTI communist conservatives created this law.
• This act deprived individual freedom in Japan and outlawed groups that sought to alter the system of government to abolish property.
• Occupation of Manchuria and China: 1931
• As the power of Japan's military grew, Japan started their wave of expansion.
• May 15th Incident: 1932
• Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated.
• Popular support for the assassins led to light sentences.
• Strengthened Japanese militarism, weakening democracy.
• Tripartite Pact: 1940
• Its goal was to "establish and maintain a new order of things," with Nazi Germany and Italy taking leadership in Europe while Japan led in Greater East Asia.
• The pact also called for mutual protection during if any one of the member powers was attacked and for technological and economic cooperation between the nations.
• They were known as the Axis Powers.
• Pearl Harbor lasted from 1940-1941.
• As Japan expanded throughout Asia, the United States banned the sale of oil (embargo) to Japan in 1940.
• US allies quickly followed.
• Japan's desperation for oil and other natural resources led them to retaliate and attack Pearl Harbor.
• Imperial Edict on Education
• Written and published by Emperor Meji to establish the goals of the Japanese public school system.
• Written in 1890, every student had to memorize and recite the Imperial Edict while bowing to the floor in front of picture of the Emperor and Empress of Japan each school day.
• Enabled national unity and modernization.
• Great Depression
• the economic crisis beginning with the stock market crash in 1929 and continuing through the 1930s.
• The bridge between norther and southern sections of lake short shore drive were delayed because of the Great Depression since funding ran out.
• Work Progress Administration
• One of the major programs of Rosevelt's effort to end the Great Depression was the Works Progress Administration.
• Roosevelts administration spent massive amounts of the national government's money on constructing roads, bridges, schools, and other public buildings to provide jobs and give people money to spend.
• FDR's Quarantine Speech: 1937
• FDR proposed that the United States take a more active role in promoting peace by "quarantining" aggressive nations to prevent the spread of war.
• The speech eventually led to US oil embargo against Japan which they saw as an aggressive nation.
• US internment of Japanese-Americans begins: 1942
• Assimilation
• Complete absorption into our everything common social activity where only the difference in physical features are noticeable.
• The nisei were in a way "forced" to assimilate to Chicago's racial hierarchy in order to survive after being improvised in the internment camps.
• Model minority
• A stereotype that characterized Japanese Americans as hardworking, reliable, efficient, a model for an other minorities.
• Many landlords preferred Japanese because they "agreeable" and "well behaved."