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11) The Nationalist Revolution/ Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian)

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11) The Nationalist Revolution/ Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian)

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As a result of the boxing rebellion, Chinese nationalism spread. They began to strengthen the government and by the early 1900s, they had introduced a constitutional monarchy while some reformers still called for a republic. Sun Yixian became the spokesman for the republic. His goal was to rebuild China on "Three Principles of People." The three principles were nationalism, democracy, and "livelihood." In 1911, Sun Yixian was named the president of the new Chinese republic.

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The secret society, the Righteous Harmonious Fists formed in 1899. Westerners began to call them Boxers as they watched them train in martial arts. Their purpose was to drive out "foreign devils" who they believed were polluting the country with un-Chinese ways. The Boxers began to attack foreigners and in response, other countries organized a multinational force. This force crushed the Boxers and rescued foreigners besieged in Beijing. As the Boxers retreated, empress Ci Xi reserved her policy on supporting them.

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The imperial court was mostly conservative, meaning they believed in the teaching of Confucius. The empress Ci Xi was a strong ruler who was committed to Confucian traditions. The empress did not support reforms, which made it hard for her people to be loyal to her because they wanted change. This also hurt the Self-Strengthening Movement because the government did not rally behind it.

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Humiliated by their defeat, reformers began to blame the conservative government. They wanted China to begin to modernize. Guangxu launched the Hundred Days of Reform. Reforms began to impact everything. Soon, conservatives began to rally against the reforms and the emperor was imprisoned. Empress Ci Xi took power and reformers fled.

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Japan began to modernize in 1868 and joined the western imperialists in fight for global dominion. In 1894, Japan began to put pressure on China that led to the Sino-Japanese War. The war did not end well, further weakening China, Japan had gained the island of Taiwan.

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As China was in this weakened state, western powers began to carve out spheres of influence along the coast of China. Many countries took territory from China. Europe created the Open Door Policy, where trade was open to everyone. However, the Chinese had no say in this policy.

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As a result of the internal conflicts, poverty and misery grew in China an peasants began to rebel. The Taiping Rebellion was the most destructive peasant revolt in history. Hong Xiuquan became the revolutionary prophet. Hong wanted land reform, community ownership of property, and equality for women and men. He called for an end to the Qing dynasty and the Taiping won control of large parts of China, but the loyal officials eventually crushed the rebellion. Due to the rebellion, between 20 and 30 million Chinese died. The government survived, but it had to share power with regional commanders. Europe kept pressure on China and Russia seized land in northern China. China was becoming weaker and weaker.

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The Qing dynasty was at a decline. Continually, there were massive floods, over population, and tax evasion by the rich. This also added to the burden of the poor and the civil service system. All of these things weakened China and made them very vulnerable.

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The Treaty of Nanjing was created by the British after the Opium War. This treaty forced China to pay Britain for their losses and also Britain gained Hong Kong as a port. China was also mandated to open five ports for trade and to allow British citizens in China to live under their own native rules and not follow those of China. This treaty was the first of multiple "unequal treaties" that favored western powers.

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The Opium trade began when the British starting trading opium for Chinese tea. Soon, many Chinese became addicted and began buying it often, hurting the Chinese economy. This led to the Chinese outlawing opium and calling for Britain to stop the trade. Britain refused due to their resentment towards the tributary system. They believed they had the right to free trade. The Opium War began when British merchants clashed with Chinese warships. China lost very easily due to having outdated weapons, this led to the creation of the Treaty of Nanjing.

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The tributary system was the traditional Chinese process for dealing with foreign relations. For other countries, this was the only way they could get in contact with the Emperor and establish a trade system with China. To the Chinese, this was another way for them to prove their superiority and inferiority by restricting trade and making it nearly impossible to get in contact with the emperor. However, not all people agreed with this system, ¨...for the Europeans it was precisely the relegation of all foreigners to inferior, unequal status, the restrictions on movement, time, and conduct, and even such details as the performance of the awkward and humiliating ketou(the act of showing respect by kneeling or bowing) that increasingly irritated them.¨ They demanded for China to change, and China refused. These such differences and conflicts resulted in the Opium War.