Differing Perspectives on Imperialism
WHAP/Napp
Cues: / Notes:I. The Age of Imperialism
A. The nineteenth century was Europe’s age of ______expansion
B. During that century, Europe became the center of the world economy, with ties of trade and investment in every corner of the globe
C. Behind much of Europe’s nineteenth-century expansion lay the massive fact of the ______Revolution
D. Europe needed to sell its own products
E. Wealthy Europeans also saw social benefits to ______markets, which served to keep Europe’s factories humming and its workers employed
F. What made imperialism so broadly popular in Europe, especially in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, was the growth of mass nationalism
G. Industrialization also provided new means for achieving goals
H. Steam-driven ships, moving through the new ______Canal à faster
I. Underwater telegraph made possible almost instant communication
J. Discovery of quinine to prevent malaria ______European deaths in tropics
K. Breech-loading rifles and machine guns increased Europe’s advantage
II. New European Attitudes
A. Europeans developed a secular arrogance that fused with or in some cases replaced their notions of ______superiority
B. Chinese, who had been highly praised in 18th century, seen in 19th century as weak, cunning, conservative, and a distinct threat, the “_____ peril”
C. African societies demoted in 19th century in European eyes to the status of tribes led by chiefs as a means of emphasizing their “______” qualities
D. New kind of racism, expressed now in terms of modern science
E. Europeans saw a ______of races, with whites, naturally, on top and less developed “child races” beneath them
F. Europeans saw imperialism as inevitable, natural outgrowth of ______
G. Some Europeans adopted “social Darwinism,” though not necessarily shared by Darwin himself, a racist “survival of the ______”
H. Another viewpoint was tempered with a genuine, if condescending, sense of responsibility to the “weaker races” that Europe was fated to ______
III. Imperialism and China
A. China transformed from a central presence in the Afro-Eurasian world to a weak and dependent participant in a European-dominated world system
B. Stunning reversal of fortune for a country that in Chinese eyes was the civilized center of the entire world – in their terms, the ______Kingdom
C. Robust economy and American food crops enabled massive population growth but no Industrial Revolution accompanied increase in ______
Summaries:
Cues: / D. Gradually the central state lost power to provincial officials and local gentry
E. Corruption was endemic and harsh treatment of ______was common
F. Rebellions expressed opposition to Qing dynasty and its foreign origin
G. Culmination of China’s internal crisis lay in the Taiping Uprising
H. Taiping Rebellion set much of China aflame between 1850 and 1864
1. Ideology was based on a unique form of ______
2. Hong Xiuquan (1814-1864) proclaimed himself younger brother of ____
3. Sent to cleanse the world of demons and to establish a “heavenly kingdom of great peace”
4. Called for abolition of private property; radical ______of land; equality of men and women; end of foot binding, prostitution, and opium smoking; and organization of society into sexually segregated military camps of men and women
5. Denounced the Qing dynasty as foreigners who had “______China”
6. For a time, days of Qing dynasty appeared to be over but divisions within Taiping leadership provided an opening for Qing dynasty
7. By 1864, the rebellion was ______
I. Shifting balance of global power led to the famous ______Wars
J. British began to use opium, grown and processed in India, to cover their persistent trade imbalance with China
K. By the 1830s, an enormously profitable and highly ______drug was a strong part of the market in China
L. By 1836, after a debate on whether to legalize the drug or crack down on its use, the emperor decided on suppression
M. Chinese seized and destroyed without compensation more than 3 million pounds of opium from ______traders
N. British determined to teach Chinese a lesson began first Opium War in 1839
O. Treaty of Nanjing, which ended the conflict in 1842, largely on British terms, imposed numerous restrictions on ______sovereignty
P. Chinese had to pay a $21 million indemnity to the British and ceded the island of Hong Kong
Q. Also required China to open _____ ports to trade and granted foreigners the right to live in China under their own law (extraterritoriality)
R. Britain’s victory in a second Opium War (1856-1858) was accompanied by the brutal vandalizing of the emperor’s Summer Palace outside ______
S. Western nations plus Japan and Russia all had carved out spheres of influence within ______
T. Chinese authorities were not passive tried applying traditional ______principles with very limited and cautious borrowing from the West
U. Their effort was known as “self-strengthening” but resisted by scholars
V. Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, “Boxers” ______numerous Europeans and Chinese Christians in Boxer Rebellion in 1900 but failed
W. But an immensely powerful force of Chinese nationalism, directed against both the foreign imperialists and the ______Qing dynasty, developed
X. 1911 à Qing Dynasty collapsed à the last ______of China
Summaries:
Strayer Questions:
· In what ways did the Industrial Revolution shape the character of nineteenth-century European Imperialism?
· What contributed to changing European views of Asians and Africans in the nineteenth century?
· What accounts for the massive peasant rebellions of nineteenth-century China?
· What was the impact of Western pressures on China during the nineteenth century?
· Why was China unable to respond effectively to mounting pressures from the West in the nineteenth century?
1. Land redistribution, reforms to simplify Chinese writing, equality for women, and armed struggle were major features of which pair of Chinese movements?(A) Taiping Rebellion, Communist
(B) May Fourth Movement, Taiping Rebellion
(C) Nationalist, Taiping Rebellion
(D) May Fourth Movement, Communist
(E) Nationalist, Boxer Rebellion
2. Which of the following best describes China’s trade relations with the rest of the world by about 1750?
(A) Export of Chinese manufactured and luxury goods in exchange for Western manufactured and luxury goods
(B) Export of Chinese manufactured and luxury goods in exchange for silver
(C) Import of Western manufactured and luxury goods in exchange for silver
(D) Negligible levels of trade with the rest of the world since China produced all it needed
(E) Mercantilist expansion colonizing the Philippines, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia
3. Which does NOT belong in a group of nations that achieved territorial concessions in China by 1914?
(A) Japan (E) Italy / 4. Which of the following does NOT belong in a list of Chinese movements resentful of foreign domination?
(A) Boxer Rebellion
(B) May Fourth Movement
(C) Tanzimat Reform Movement
(D) Chinese Communist Movement
(E) Kuomintang (Nationalist) Movement
5. Which thinker is most closely associated with formulating the theories of “Social Darwinism”?
(A) Karl Marx
(B) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(C) Thomas Hobbes
(D) Herbert Spencer
(E) Charles Darwin
6. Which of the following was a new Western motive for overseas territorial expansion in the industrial era?
(A) Missionary drive to convert non-Western peoples to Christianity
(B) Seizure of land to be put to use raising cash crops
(C) Drive to dominate sources of precious minerals and metals
(D) Need for raw materials for factory production
(E) Access to new markets for sale of Western manufactured goods
Excerpt from academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu
The May Fourth Movement which sparked off a new wave of social and anti-imperialist struggle after the First World War also brought about a revolution in Chinese literature. Consciously rejecting the classical style of composition which the traditional scholars had a vested interest in preserving, young writers began to use 'plain language', the colloquial style which could be understood without a classical education, to speak directly to a wider audience. Short stories were a popular form of political and literary self-expression in the dozens of journals which flourished in the new literature movement. Luxun (Lu Hsun), already a distinguished classical scholar, adopted the new style and turned later to Marxism, becoming after his death a model example for the communists of how a writer should combine his art with politics. Luxun's short stories are in a class of their own, touching the raw nerves of all that was backward and evil in Chinese society in a vivid but economical style. In this story, 'An Incident', written in 1920, Lu Hsun uses the tale of a minor rickshaw accident to criticize subtly the reluctance of most Chinese intellectuals (including himself at that time) to get involved in politics and the life of ordinary people.
“Six years have slipped by since I came from the country to the capital. During that time I have seen and heard quite enough of so-called affairs of state; but none of them made much impression on me. If asked to define their influence, I can only say they aggravated my ill temper and made me, frankly speaking, more and more misanthropic. One incident, however, struck me as significant, and aroused me from my ill temper, so that even now I cannot forget it. It happened during the winter of 1917. A bitter north wind was blowing, but, to make a living, I had to be up and out early. I met scarcely a soul on the road, and had great difficulty in hiring a rickshaw to take me to S-Gate. Presently the wind dropped a little…We were just approaching S-Gate when someone crossing the road was entangled in our rickshaw and slowly fell. It was a woman, with streaks of white in her hair, wearing ragged clothes. She had left the pavement without warning to cut across in front of us, and although the rickshaw man had made way, her tattered jacket, unbuttoned and fluttering in the wind, had caught on the shaft. Luckily the rickshaw man pulled up quickly, otherwise she would certainly have had a bad fall and been seriously injured. She lay there on the ground, and the rickshaw man stopped. I did not think the old woman was hurt, and there had been no witnesses to what had happened…
'It's all right,' I said. 'Go on.' He paid no attention, however -- perhaps he had not heard -- for he set down the shafts, and gently helped the old woman to get up. Supporting her by one arm, he asked: 'Are you all right?' 'I'm hurt.'
I had seen how slowly she fell and was sure she could not be hurt. She must be pretending …But the rickshaw man did not hesitate for a minute after the old woman said she was injured. Still holding her arm, he helped her slowly forward. I was surprised…Suddenly I had a strange feeling. His dusty, retreating figure seemed larger at that instant. Indeed, the further he walked the larger he loomed, until I had to look up to him…Even now, this remains fresh in my memory. It often causes me distress, and makes me try to think about myself. The military and political affairs of those years I have forgotten as completely as the classics I read in my childhood. Yet this incident keeps coming back to me, often more vivid than in actual life, teaching me shame, urging me to reform, and giving me fresh courage and hope.
Thesis Statement: Comparative: Imperialism: England and China
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