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As a merchant in the Shaanxi Province, I was able to live comfortably during this time period as I was able to funnel resources through South China into Northwest China and onto the Silk Road, which still was able to provide a good amount of income for me. During this time I was able to get by enough to have my business stay afloat as well as begin to start a family.

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After England and other Western nations brought Opium into the nation, I refused to partake in consuming Opium because I saw it as an unnecessary cost to not only me, but my new family during this time. Instead, I worked with the western powers to make money by selling Opium on the side in the outer regions of China as there was little law enforcement and the money was able to provide new opportunities for me, my family, and my business. But sadly, these gains were not without cost as China is now being overseen by these foreign nations, a huge patriotic letdown for the people of China and now the rest of the West will be looking to exploit the rest of China.

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My father passed away not too long after the Opium Wars and I was handed the business as his eldest son. The peace did not last long as there were new rebellions looking to bring down the Qing government, they called themselves the Taiping and Nian rebellions. These two groups spread across China, taking over cities and forcing people to become part of their cause. Thankfully, with the money that I had earned from my father's business during the Opium Wars; I was able to lead the rest of my family to safety and we managed to avoid the rebels.

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The Opium Wars and the rebellions were a wake up call for out government. For 35 years they worked to "Self-Strengthen" China and modernize without falling victim to Western influence. During this time I tried to keep to myself and keep the business going and support my new family. Thankfully the government was more interested in education, so I was able to send my children to school to obtain a higher education for our family business; it was expensive but entirely worthwhile.

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The 1890's and the beginning of the end for the Qing

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The 1890's and the beginning of the end for the Qing

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The self-strengthening did not work as well as the Government had hoped. China has become a laughing stock to the rest of the other foreign powers and the government has become stagnant and ineffective. As I have been going on my normal trading routes I have heard people talking about reforming or revolting for a new change. Personally I think both might have a very hard time, but I personally would choose revolution as I could sell things to revolutionaries as well as benefit from new laws from a potential new government. I just hope that the collapse of China won't happen from all of this and my family can continue living.

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The Qing dynasty has finally fallen after a long time. Empress Cixi died just a few years before and the rest of the government plans came back to haunt them. The gentry had their railroads seized and nationalized, the educated saw the flaws in the government and were more nationalized, such as myself and my siblings after my father sent us to school during the Self-Strengthening movement. The soldiers of the New Model army rose up after a bomb went off a Hubei, leading to the total collapse of the Qing due to an uprising that spread around the nation. My father made my siblings and I hide instead of fight due to the fear of losing one of his own children. What happened next was a short lived dream of a republic and a dark age of warlords and chaos.

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After the fall of the Qing, people tried taking things into their own hands in the form of a Republic. I personally thought this to be a good idea but the social issues that plagued the Republic made it a complete mess instead. The lack of nay legitimate governing power left a massive power vacuum filled by Warlords in the non-urban areas of China. In order to avoid any conflict I went with my family to Shanghai in order to make an attempt at keeping safe and staying successful.

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It seemed like the dark ages for China were finally coming to an end during the May 4th movement consisted of everyone, including warlords joining together for a nationalist cause. Not long after the movement the New Culture movement began by emphasizing a new culture with a basis in higher education. These new movements were a huge opportunity for my family as we could invest more in education and gain much more out of it in the long run, leading to more potential success.

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After a stable government was established with two parties the CCP and the GMT, the new government looked to unify China and get rid of the warlords. This took place in the Northern Expedition. I found this to be very helpful as I can expand my business to new parts of China and begin funneling trade to those newly reannexed territories. I also feel national pride reemerging as China is becoming whole once again and is finally moving past that era of divisiveness.

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China feels as though it is gaining it's independence back from the Western powers. Treatises were revised and extraterritoriality was abolished, putting the western people on the same level as the rest of China. But sadly all of these good things came with some negatives for my family. Myself and other merchants feel as though we are being neglected due to the fact that economic stimulation was non-existent and those who were barely getting by were having an extremely hard time. During this period I tried to make sure our money was not being spent on anything useless and things were only bought that we needed in order to save money in case of hard times.