History Of The Qing Dynasty Essay Example

đź“ŚCategory: History, History of China
đź“ŚWords: 483
đź“ŚPages: 2
đź“ŚPublished: 19 June 2021

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China and lasted from 1644 to 1912. To a great extent, the Qing’s reliance on Confucian principles was unable to adapt to new changes the world was experiencing. Although the Qing dynasty was more powerful than many other nations, they constantly overlooked internal and external pressures because of their commitment to Confucian principles.

To begin with, the Qing dynasty began to fail, as many other countries became both more experienced and smarter. As China continually denied British requests to trade, Britain came up with a solution to disrupt China’s large population. “Britain’s solution was to export opium from India’s plantations to China” (the First Opium War). As we know, opium is a highly addictive drug that can cause both physical and mental pain. Turns out Britain's strategy was successful, and their trade deficits were back on the rise. Additionally, China underestimated Britain as an external power, and that led to many more consequences China would have to face. Many unequal treaties were passed, but one in particular extraordinarily hurt China. It was said as, “Having no choice but to surrender, the Chinese signed the Treaty of Nanjing which forced China to pay accumulated $21 million dollars of war reparations, to cede control of the island of Hong Kong to Britain in perpetuity, to open four new coastal cities to British trade, and to treat Britain as an equal country in diplomatic negotiations” (The Unequal Treaties and Extraterritoriality). As China was forced into this Treaty, they had no way of denying money and land to Britain. These treaties played a large role in the fall of the Qing dynasty. 

Internally, China’s weak government and increase in population caused problems such as heightened social tensions, conflicts over resources, and drug addiction. Similar to externally, China also faced many problems of its own leading to the fall of the Qing dynasty. Compared to other countries, China’s population surpassed hundreds of millions, and this had many repercussions. “Villages and towns grew closer, farms grew smaller, deforestation accelerated, and there were too many workers, suppressing wages and escalating competition over jobs” (Self-Strengthening). Many people lost their jobs and had conflicts over water and other resources. There were no positive outcomes of this huge surge in population, and it only led to more problems. Additionally, I stated earlier how Britain exported opium into China, and now am addressing how China poorly handled this problem. Outsmarted by the British network, China was unable to defend this strategy, and opium quickly spread throughout all of the country. “By the 1830s, approximately nine million taels of silver were flowing out of China annually and it was importing up to 13,000 chests of opium, enough to sustain the addiction of about 2 million Chinease” (the First Opium War). In just 10 years, from 1820-1830, enough opium to sustain the addiction of 2 million Chinese had already been flowing throughout China. 

All in all, the constant overlooking of internal and external pressures, and adherence to Confucius ideals, tremendously ended up hurting China in the long run. Without the following of Confucianism, the Qing dynasty still could be successful to this day.

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