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For centuries, European colonisation was spread across Africa, Asia (particularly South Asia), and the Americas, and it was only a matter of time until they reached East Asia. European colonialism reached China under the Qing Dynasty. Cities in China’s industrial cities have thrived for millennia thanks to clean water, efficient transportation and cutting-edge technological advances. In China, printing, papermaking, and gunpowder have been utilised millennia. The Silk Road passed over dangerous mountain passes from China to Europe.
Background
Around 2200 BCE, the first Chinese dynasty arose. It was in the prosperous North China Plain. Chinese dynasties were organised as a political system that allowed the continuous transfer of power, ideas, and culture from one generation to the next. The Han Dynasty established China’s identity from 206 to 220 CE, and Chinese people became known as Han Chinese or People of Han. The Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, which ruled from 1644 to 1911, claimed total European control of China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia, and Korea. China’s dynastic rule came to an end in 1911.
With the penetration of China, European colonialism encountered stiff opposition. Years had been spent keeping them at bay. When it came to mass-producing things at a cheap cost, Europe’s Industrial Revolution had the upper hand over China’s industry. British colonialists in South Asia provided China with opium to degrade Chinese civilisation. With their illicit opium supplies, the British successfully ignited societal upheaval in China. After winning the first Opium Wars, which lasted from 1839 to 1842, the British Empire seized control of the majority of central China. They also tried to acquire a foothold and tight grip on China from the rest of Europe. Portugal seized control of the port city of Macau. Germany took over North China Plain’s coastline during World War II. France partitioned China and the rest of Southeast Asia. As a result of Russian incursions(north), China’s northern regions came under Russian authority. Japanese forces invaded South Korea and Formosa Island, just a few hundred miles away from China by sea (now known as Taiwan). Due to European colonialism, there has been a rise in the number of claims to Chinese territory.
While European nations attempted to claim a portion of China, they often battled each other. It wasn’t until the 1980s that China began producing and stockpiling powerful military weaponry. Consequently, the Europeans could not oppose them when they invaded Europe. Invasion from the outside swiftly weakened Chinese culture and art, which had flourished for more than 4,000 years. It wasn’t until approximately 1900 that the Chinese people organised resistance against outsiders that the battle took on recognisable dimensions (known as the Boxer Rebellion). The Qing Dynasty’s penetration of China fell and disintegrated in 1911, which marked the end of European colonialism in China.
Aftermath of European colonialism
China is the largest country in East Asia, and Mongolia is the only country on the continent that is not connected to the rest of the world by water. The Pacific Rim is home to the world’s governments and territories.
In East Asia’s major river valleys and coastal regions, adequate food production has aided robust population growth. Coastal areas receive sufficient rainfall and allow access to fishing for human use.
On the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Dam was built to control flooding, generate electricity, and provide shipping support. The reservoir is the world’s largest. Human settlements have been relocated, erosion has occurred, and other environmental concerns due to the dam.
European colonialism’s penetration of China threatened the country’s last dynasty. Both the dynasty and European colonialism had fallen out of favour by 1911. After the three-way power struggle in China, the Communists emerged victorious in 1949. The Nationalists found refuge in Formosa, where they established a government.
Imperialist Invasion
The imperialist invasion severely harmed the Chinese state, limiting its ability to play its proper role in leading China as a united nation toward prosperity. If the good things from western countries, such as technology, know-how, and modern education, could have been transferred to China in a friendly manner, the country could have caught up with and even surpassed the so-called “modern world” much sooner. Furthermore, with a strong central government and the nation united under a benevolent capable government, the Middle Kingdom’s prosperity would not have been as difficult to achieve. Without force, the civilisation that invented paper, tea, silk, and porcelain and built the Great Wall could have accomplished even more. In the glorious past of ancient and pre-modern light of the country’s apparent success, both the present status of China and the ‘might have been’ possibilities outlined above may be endorsed.
Conclusion
European colonialism led to the penetration of China after the first opium war was won by the British (1839-42). This was the first war in which steam-powered ships played a significant role (Spence, J. D. 2013: 157). Colonialism in China increased after the second opium war (1856-60). Over time, the Qing dynasty agreed to pay an unusually high compensation and relinquish sovereignty over China’s main coastal ports in humiliating treaties (1842-44, 1854, 1858, 1860). Victorious imperialists could freely trade and establish tariffs because of their total European control over treaty ports (1854). The treaties of 1858 and 1860 opened China’s interior to western commerce and influence. In 1937, the Japanese army occupied the country. China’s colonial period started in the 1840s and continued until Japan’s defeat in the Second World War ended in 1945.
