# data[].attributes.body
China, from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, had little to no political stability due to a weak central government, a skewed national identity, and a failure of the government to respond sufficiently to the needs of its people.  Firstly, China had a weak central government due to an unhappy, growing population that couldn’t be controlled. From 1800-1900, the population of China grew from 300,000,000 to 475,000,000 (Bentley and Zieger 893). Because of this, there was an extreme strain on resources which caused Chinese people to eat non-food objects like leather, hemp, and in dire situations, other humans (Bentley and Zieger 893). This lack of resources caused many uprisings, one of the most prominent being the Taiping rebellion. The Taiping rebellion, which started with one man, grew to a coalition of millions of people. The Taiping rebellion revolted for 14 years, from 1850 to 1864, and stormed Beijing and Shanghai (Bentley and Zieger 894). Although the dynasty’s army subdued the storming of Beijing, the storming of Shanghai years later wasn’t so successfully defeated. The Taiping revolt is just an example of one of many revolts which took over China and exemplified the apathy towards the government from the Chinese people. This shows a weak central government because governmental strength can only exist if subjects agree to be governed. In turn, this shows a lack of political stability because there was no force that could govern the people to keep the state stable. Second, there was no political stability because rebellions like the Boxer rebellion and Taiping rebellion skewed national identity into being based off of ethnicity and religion rather than shared traits or citizenship. Because of food shortages and unhappiness with the government, many started to blame the unrest in the country on the foreign origin of the Qing dynasty (Bentley and Zieger 893). In addition, due to the weakened central government, many western nations were establishing spheres of influence all around China. This, in turn, caused more hatred of foreigners from the Chinese people because they felt like their country was being torn apart by outsiders. Overall, the impact of this was a complete lack of tolerance from the Chinese people. Chinese citizens, especially those who were part of the Boxer rebellion, would often shout phrases like “Death to foreign devils!” during revolts (Beck). Skewed national identity shows a lack of political stability because it shows the amount of unrest in the country and a lack of uniformity and national identity. Finally, China had no political stability due to a failure to respond to the needs of the people in a sustainable way. When rebellions like the Taiping were at their peak, the Qing dynasty ignored the grievances of the people and instead worked towards getting rid of the movement. After the Taiping revolts, the government realized radical change was needed and implemented  a confucian style of government from 1860 to 1895 (Bentley and Zieger 895). This style of governing, also known as the self-strengthening movement, implemented more western ideas with the slogan “Chinese learning at the base, Western learning for use”. While this system was better, the Chinese people weren’t satisfied with it and still revolted. Finally, in 1895, a young, progressive emperor named GuangXu listened directly to the protestors and enacted a Constitutional monarchy (Bentley and Zieger 897). This settled the revolts and satisfied the people, but didn’t last long. Guangxu’s aunt, empress CiXi, nullified the governmental style after just 103 days and put her endorsement behind the Boxer rebellion, since she was getting old and needed a backup plan for if she died in office. This, consequently, caused racially motivated rampages and for western nations to come in and settle down the revolts (Bentley and Zieger 899). Overall, although the dynasty tried to listen to its people, it didn’t do enough to make sustainable change. This shows a lack of political stability because a government that doesn’t listen to its people isn’t upholding its side of the social contract and therefore is not stable.

# data[].attributes.body
China’s weakened central powers and military allowed large Western powers to imperialize them and take over. The many foreign forces that wanted parts of China’s large territory were becoming more and more able to take it. The Westerners had advanced their militaries, battling with naval ships and guns while China mainly used swords, knives, spears, and only occasionally guns (Bentley and Ziegler 892-899). This lack of modernization lost the Opium War for the Chinese, which went from 1839 to 1842. With China weak compared to growing Western powers, it was vulnerable and taken advantage of by other countries with no way to stop them. After the loss of the Opium War, China was forced to agree to unfair treaties that allowed  Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria-Hungary, Spain, Belgium, and the United States to take parts of their land to control and profit off of. The Nanjing Treaty is an example of these, which gave Hong Kong to the British (Beck 806). These established territories were called spheres of influence, and they contributed largely to the lack of control in China. Britain’s victory in the Opium War in 1842 also gave them power over China’s trade. Another one of the “unequal treaties” established gave Britain full control over China’s foreign relations until 1943. The large amounts of power being transferred allowed Western powers and China to set up trade, which kept the foreign powers profiting while China suffered. A booming trade industry and lack of metals needed for currency caused China to be reliant on Western powers to have enough silver to maintain a local currency. Once Britain had established their control, they saw the inconvenience of trading in precious metals. China had many necessary exports that Britain needed, but Britain did not want to keep giving them gold and silver. Instead, China traded their porcelain, tea, silks, and lacquerware for opium from the British (Bentley and Ziegler 892-899). This fed into China’s growing addiction, which had taken over the lives of millions of people already. The gold and silver that Britain kept was then unable to be used to make currency in China, which contributed to the internal instability that was occurring. The two largest rebellions in China at the time were the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion. The Taiping rebellion, which started in 1850, was started by a school teacher named Hong Xiuquan. He saw the poverty and starvation occuring in China and started a movement to attempt to fix it. He decided to protest the Qing Dynasty in hopes for radical change, and to get the foreigners out of China. His movement, with over one million supporters, attacked Southeastern China and claimed Nanjing as their capital. Their army was prepared to take over Beijing, but was stopped by Qing forces with the help of European powers in 1864. Their rebellion resulted in the deaths of over 20 million people and more poverty than before (Bentley and Ziegler 892-899). The Boxer Rebellion, in 1899, formed from economic issues and disputes between Chinese and foreign missionaries in wake of Opium Wars. It attacked the foreign section of Hong Kong, but was shut down by 1901 by an army from many different nations (Bentley and Ziegler 892-899). The involvement of foreign military in the Qing dynasty’s attempt to regain control shows the desperation in the Chinese government after their many losses and experiences with imperialism from Western powers.

# data[].attributes.body
At the outbreak of the first world war, most of China's land was being divided by western powers and the nation was crumbling under foreign pressures. China was financially chaotic, politically unstable, and militarily weak. China was financially chaotic due to its many failed attempts at westernizing its industries and military. This caused them to amass copious debts that they couldn't pay back.  It was politically unstable due to a lack of central government in the country. The people had no unification so the country was split into pieces. And, China's militarily weak because it had attempted to westernize its military several times but failed due to a lack of resources. This weakened military caused western powers to go in and establish spheres of influence. With these spheres, Foreign countries could openly trade and spread cultures in China. Ultimately, China was extremely weak and unable to hold its territory by the beginning of WW1.

# data[].attributes.headline
Make a prediction: What do you think China will look like at the end of WWI?

# data[].attributes.subject
Make a prediction: What do you think China will look like at the end of WWI?

# data[].attributes.body
We predict that China will become more stable and gain respect back from Western powers. First, right before WW1, China established a Republic in which the Qing Dynasty was rejected, a liberal democratic government was implemented, and there was land reform and socialism. This, because it was introduced right before the war started, has not been tested and its consequences are unknown. With this new government, the Chinese people will definitely become more unified and the country can be put together. In addition, we assume that China will make alliances with foreign powers in the war which will definitely allow them to be more respected from a global standpoint. Overall, we think that China will be put back together and gain stability through help from the outside and power from the inside.

# data[].attributes.body
During the mid 19th century, China had control over most of the trade in the Eastern part of the world. With their control over many commodities such as teas, silk, and porcelain, they were able to make a lot of money in their trade. In addition, they were also self sufficient so they did not need to trade with outside nations. This led to a power shift where China had almost full control over the trade industry. In addition to being a self-sufficient nation, this also gave them the ability to be above other nations when it came to negotiating terms of trade. This led to them being able to only have commodities exported with no commodities imported so they lost no money. This was the case for a while until the British East India Company realized they had a commodity that China didn’t; The British East India Company had Opium. At the time, Opium was a hot commodity and was used to treat every illness ranging from a cough to a cold. The British East India Company used this to create an illegal trade route that flooded China with this commodity and eventually got them addicted. China tried to fight back but eventually lost the Opium wars which caused a shift in power from China being at the top of the trade, to Britain being at the top of the trade. Due to the loss of the opium war and weakened central powers of China, its trade, which was once only controlled imports, became a one sided influx of western powers ready to take advantage of a fragile trading empire. After China lost the first and second Opium war, the shift in power and the development of the European sphere of influence in china. This ended up making other nations want to trade in China and ended up forcing China to have outside spheres of influence. When the Chinese people revolted against the foreigners in the Boxer Rebellion, the Chinese officials asked for Westerners help and led to the Germans sending a warship fleet to occupy Jiaozhou Bay causing a large german sphere of influence. In these spheres of influence, the nations occupying them wanted trade to be easier so they started to industrialize them. This led to a boom in the number of railroads in these spheres of influence to help make trade easier. Overall, the Industrialization of China is a large part of Chinese history and the history of the British East India Company.