Western Trade Missions
Industrialists in Great Britain pressured the government to send a mission to China to open markets and facilitate/create access to ports and inland access.
What was the main purpose of the Macartney Embassy?
Acclaimed as the most powerful emperor of the Qing Dynasty, rejected the first Western mission, abdicated in 1796 but still had government control till his death in 1799.
What is emperor Qianlong ?
The White Lotus Rebellion was an internal Chinese conflict between 1796 and 1804 (the reigns of emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing). The rebellion happened in the mountainous regions of central China.
What was the time and region of the White Lotus Rebellion?
Extra Trade Ports
Warehouse in Beijing
Unfortified Island near Chusan
Freedom of movement from Macau to Canton
Abolition of taxes for transit
Publish imperial tariffs
What were the British requests for the Chinese during the Macartney Embassy?
Said to be the most corrupt official in China’s history took close to 1.1b silver dies the same year as the previous Emperor.
What is Heshen ?
They were a Buddhist-centric society that was founded in the 1100s Song dynasty
Where did the White Lotus rebels come from?
Solidified negative British perceptions of the Chinese
Increased support for military confrontation against the Chinese.
The British East India Company increased its pressure on the British government to open up China.
The mission gathered information on the Chinese military.
What was the significance of the Macartney Embassy?
Solidifies China’s influence over it’s neighbors by making the country more well known however it causes significant financial strain and losses of population.
What is the ten great campaigns ?
Peasants and farmers experienced famines, an overpopulated nation that was still growing, while the government and gentry placed high taxes (corruption and payment for warfare, along with other vents) on the oppressed Han Chinese and put down harassment on its lower-class civilians.
What were the miseries of the Chinese people in the late 1700s - early 1800s
The British government ended the British East India Company monopoly in China, which opened up China to private British/American merchants.
Britain and China had irreconcilable differences.
Military engagement created huge tension.
Foreshadowing of the Opium War in 1839.
What was the significance of the Napier Affair?
He was already pretty ingrained in court, and Qinglong wasn’t dead yet, and he wanted to respect his father.
Why did it take Jiaqing so long to fire Heshen
Imperial favoritism: Qianlong favored Heshen heavily, did not pay attention to his severe corruption, and let him dictate many outcomes of the Qing Court, such as increasing taxes or starting military conflicts. Heshen's subordinates and benefactors, from the centralized government to the local regions, also participated in the crimes of corruption, leading to anguish among the common people
Failure in combat engagement: Emperor Qianlong’s Ten Great Campaigns drove the Qing treasury into near collapse, while they gained expansions in the unstable western area of the empire, and the monetary value they received back from these campaigns was minimal.
Indecent actions caused by impoverished soldiers: The Qing bannermen and military personnel, who were depleted of funding and payings due to corruption, looted and raided the local population’s possessions, fueling tensions
What were the controversies during late Qianlong - early Jiaqing rule?
Reason #1) China and the West had opposing world views.
China: believed it was the “middle kingdom”, self-sufficient, culturally superior, celestial power, and the emperor had the “mandate of heaven”.
West: believed they were “equals” to China, state-to-state diplomacy, and constitutional monarchs, where the king shared power.
Reason #2) The West failed to respect/change Chinese culture/rituals.
China: Confucian principles, believed in right contact within relationships, the Emperor was compassionate and generous, and his subjects were humble and submissive, kowtowing as a symbol of respect, and loss of mandate of heaven was not good.
West: Refusal to kowtow to the Emperor and respect Confucian principles and traditions.
Reason #3) The West failed to recognise the success of China’s foreign policy.
China: Tribute system in place since the Han Dynasty, Canton system in place since 1500s, Chinese Emperor needed his power to be acknowledged by outsiders to rule within China.
Reason #4) China’s strong resistance to change.
China: scholar-officials were intellectually blind and ignorant of the dangers of the commercialized West; Westerners were restricted to Macau and Canton since the 1500s, Western merchants only interacted with Co-Hong merchants or local officials, and China was a continental empire, which meant it had land frontiers, not maritime frontiers.
Reasons that caused the Western Trade Missions to fail.
He set up enclosed encampments/prisons in the areas where they were rebelling to isolate the rebels provided a place to train the regular civilians to strengthen the military.
What was Jiaqing’s strategy to put down the white lotus rebellion and why was it effective?
Many people in the majority ethnic group of China, the Hans, considered the Qing royalties and gentry, who were favorably Manchus, to be the foreign stealers and conquerors that plagued the glorious and advanced Han(Ming) nation with poverty, forced obedience, high taxes, etc. Many rebellions, no matter their different ideologies, would cling to repelling the foreign Manchu motif as a way to quickly persuade dissenters. Toppling with the fact that the government still kept part of their Manchu identity in public affiliation
What could be described as one of the most important and prolonged reasons that fueled the rebellions, tensions, mutinies, and challenges that happened throughout the Qing rule of China?