Foreign Encounters
Which drug did Britain trade illegally in China, leading to war in 1839?
Opium
What rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan and promised a “Heavenly Kingdom of Peace”?
the Taiping Rebellion
What group in 1900 attacked foreigners in Beijing shouting “Death to the foreign devils”
the Boxers
Who is known as the “father of modern China”
Sun Yat Sen
What do the Opium War and the Boxer Rebellion have in common
Both were responses to foreign pressure and ended in China’s defeat
What treaty ended the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong to Britain?
How did the Taiping Rebellion challenge Confucian order and the Qing dynasty?
It called for social equality and shared land.
What was the result of the Boxer Rebellion?
The Boxers were defeated but the Qing needed foreign intervention, and forced to pay huge indemnities, but nationalism grew.
What were Sun Yat-sen’s “Three Principles of the People
Nationalism, Democracy, and Livelihood
How did China’s responses to foreign threats change over time?
They shifted from military resistance to cultural and political reform
Who wrote a letter to Queen Victoria demanding an end to the opium trade?
Lin Zexu
What movement tried to modernize China’s military and industry without abandoning tradition
Self-Strengthening Movement
Which 6 foreign nations had spheres of influence in China around 1900
Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan,US
Which Dynasty ended 2,000 years of imperial rule in 1911?
The Qing
How did nationalism connect the Boxer Rebellion and the May Fourth Movement?
Both reflected a desire to reclaim Chinese pride and self-rule
What was the result of China’s defeat in the Opium War?
China lost sovereignty and opened treaty ports.
Who was the Qing leader who supported limited reform but resisted radical change
Dowager Empress Cixi?
Why did European powers prefer spheres of influence to full colonies in China?
They wanted trade control without governing a large population.
What movement began after the Treaty of Versailles gave Shandong to Japan in 1919?
May Fourth Movement
What event marked the start of China’s “Century of Humiliation”
the First Opium War
How did the Open Door Policy (1899) aim to protect U.S. trade in China?
It kept China’s markets open to all nations and prevented colonization.
What lesson did China learn from the failure of the Taiping and Self-Strengthening movements?
That partial reforms were not enough to resist foreign power or internal instability.
What did the failure of the Boxer Rebellion show about China’s relationship with foreign powers?
It showed China was still militarily weak but increasingly unified in anti-foreign feeling
Why was the May Fourth Movement important for the rise of the Communist Party?
It spread new ideas about science, democracy, and Marxism among Chinese students
How did China’s early experiences with foreign domination during the Opium War eventually shape the intellectual and political movements of the May Fourth era?
The humiliation of the Opium War exposed China’s vulnerability to foreign control and shattered confidence in traditional systems of power. By 1919, the May Fourth Movement redefined China’s path to power, replacing loyalty to Qing dynsaty with nationalism, science, and modern political thought.