A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century

Chapter 39 East and West

Before the mid-19th century, despite early contacts, European civilization developed slowly in Asia.Of course, the British East India Company, through Robert Clive, Warren Hastings, etc., controlled most of India; Russia annexed Siberia, and Russian colonists were flocking to that wasteland in droves but China, Japan, Korea, Indochina, Persia, and Asiatic Turkey remained untouched and unexplored by Europeans.Some countries do not allow foreigners to enter, such as China.Japan also intends to close its doors to "barbarians" and "foreign devils" in Europe and America.

[-]. Europe at the gate of Asia

However, these "barbarians" must go in.Britain knocked on the door of China in 1839 and forced her to open some ports.A Chinese official in Canton wanted to stop British merchants from smuggling opium into China from India.The Chinese government has every reason to ban the sale of this drug, because smoking opium is one of the most harmful vices.But British businessmen are hungry for money, and they don't want to stop there.Moreover, they were irritated by the official's arrogance.British merchants asked their government for help.Britain was eager to open up trade with China, so it declared war on China. The "Opium War" lasted from 1840 to 1842, forcing China to pay compensation, ceding Hong Kong Island to Britain, and opening five ports. The British could live and do business in the port and Hong Kong without interference.Great British firearms made their success easy.

The second Opium War against China But even after the Opium War and the five-port trade, China is still exclusive.Foreigners are not allowed to travel outside the treaty ports.The Second Opium War forced China to open its door even wider.The Chinese insulted the Union Jack and killed a French missionary, spurring Britain and France to launch the Second Opium War against China between 1856 and 1860. "The Savages" triumphed again.China was forced to open six more ports, allowing the opium trade and promising to protect Christian missionaries.

Because of these two wars, the door of China was opened to missionaries and businessmen.

[-]. The Japanese Revolution
Japan's xenophobia In the early 19th century, Japan, a small island nation to the east of China, was as xenophobic as China.Only the Dutch have the right to trade with Japan, and they are allowed to send only one ship per year.Missionaries were completely banned, and travelers were not allowed to disembark within the country.The Japanese think they have nothing to learn.Are not the Japanese soldiers braver than all foreign barbarians in brandishing their long curved swords?Is it wielded more deftly than the foreign barbarians?Are not the Japanese painters and potters unparalleled in their art?Doesn't Japan's Shintoism have a better culture than all other countries?

Perry in Japan America spearheaded the awakening of Japan from this egotistical stagnation.The reason for this is that American sailors are often treated badly when American ships cruise in the North Pacific in order to catch whales.Therefore, Commodore MC Perry received an order in 1853 to bring four American warships to demand better treatment for American sailors.

The Japanese government was rather shocked when Perry showed up on the coast of Japan and made his demands.They prayed in the shrine, so that these daring foreigners will be destroyed.But the ancient gods of Japan turned a deaf ear to this prayer.The following year, when Perry returned for an answer, bringing more battleships and a formidable cannon, the Japanese agreed to sign a treaty that would open only two ports to American ships.A few years later, another American, Townsend Harris, persuaded Japan to open the Nagasaki and Yokohama ports that allowed Americans to live and trade freely.Other countries were granted equivalent rights shortly after.

The feudal lord's fear of the Japanese, especially the feudal aristocracy, still regarded foreigners as barbarians.They should be driven out of Japan's territory.The two main nobles attacked the foreigners in 1863.When European and American warships wanted to punish those hostile nobles and bombed Japanese towns, the proud Japanese soldiers found themselves completely under the powerful artillery fire of foreigners.

They finally realized that Japan had a lot to learn, and they set out to learn.

Bright students The Japanese became bright students, eager to learn what the Europeans taught them.From 1860 onwards it did not take them long to reorganize their governments, draft their laws, and build up their troops on the European model.They built railroads like the Europeans did.Before long they were exporting their manufactures and gaining positions in the leading industrial and commercial nations of the world.While they retained many of their ancient customs, old religions, and pictorial clothing, they were quickly Europeanized in other ways.

The old Japanese government Until 1867, Japan was still a feudal country with a system similar to that of Europe during the Middle Ages, with illegal feudal nobles, brave knights and lowly serfs.But the king or emperor, unlike in Europe, was supposed to be descended from a goddess and therefore semi-divine.He is called the emperor.Over the centuries, the emperor put all the power of local government into the hands of the nobility and allowed the main nobility, the shogun, to run the national government.

The New Japanese Government After 1853, the shogun was so timid in his negotiations with the Americans and Europeans that patriotic Japanese leaders urged him to resign.He returned the administration in 1867, and the emperor could run the government thoroughly.The emperor happened to be a very young man—Emperor Meiji (named Mutsuhito), full of energy and eager to modernize his country.He solemnly swore to create a national assembly, to unite all classes of people in the process of reform, to break completely with "old uncivilized customs," and to seek knowledge all over the world to improve Japan's welfare.

Promises kept Unlike many rulers, Emperor Meiji kept his promises.During his practice, he was very fortunate to have the help of many excellent consultants.Over the next few years, reforms were thorough and rapid.Japan used a legal code based on the French and German models, English was taught in schools, a European calendar was introduced, religious freedom was established, and foreigners were warmly received.The emperor also sent missions to explore Western institutions.Some of the emperor's officials were so fond of long coats and patent leather shoes that they were so eager to adopt the European way.

Abolition of the feudal system Of all the reforms in Japan, the most significant was the abolition of the feudal system in 1871.This first meant the transfer of power from the feudal aristocracy to the emperor's officials in the local government.Secondly, for the common people, it also means the end of serfdom.Third, it paved the way for military reform. In 1873, Japan followed Prussia's widespread conscription and created a national army armed with modern guns to replace professional samurai with two swords each.

Constitution Another major reform in Japan was the enactment of the country's constitution in 1889, a written basic law, although the government based on it was not democratic.The cabinet is not accountable to Congress, and the poorer classes of the people are not entitled to vote.

[-]. The Awakening of China
While Japan is being so Europeanised, China still despises Western civilization and has changed little.So China has suffered great losses in all aspects. In the war with Japan in 1894-1895, she was easily defeated.Every battle was won by Japan.Japan has taken the island of Taiwan from China, and if Russia, Germany, and France hadn't objected, it would have invaded South Manchuria (Liaodong Peninsula), which is part of mainland China's territory.Russia, Germany and France do not want Japan to become too powerful.

The plan to carve up China was that China's European "big brothers" then unceremoniously took matters into their own hands.Germany, Russia, and France each occupied a Chinese port as a naval base.Britain did the same.Naturally, they have a reasonable reason for doing so.They also plan to extend their claws even further.They have carved out spheres of influence for themselves on Chinese territory.By 1898, the idea of ​​the European powers to carve up China was very obvious.In turn, China's wealth and cowardice is tempting them to do so.

The "open door" policy, but the United States stood up as a friend of China and advocated the "open door" policy.This means that all parts of China will be open to trade and investment by all foreign citizens on the same terms.Britain supports this policy.The rest of the great powers also pretended to agree.In any case, China has not been carved up and divided.She narrowly escaped death, much to the disappointment of some greedy powers.

The failure of Guangxu should be the time for China to cheer up and follow the Japanese example.A European approach may make China strong and respectable.At least that's what the then reigning young emperor Guangxu thought.Guangxu imagined that what Peter the Great did for Russia, and what Emperor Meiji did for Japan, he could also do for China.So he tried to reform.He ordered the creation of universities to teach Western knowledge.He started building railroads.He also ordered the translation of European books into Chinese.He began to regroup the troops.

But many Chinese still hate all things foreign and they are worried about reform.Among these was Guangxu's aunt, a strong-willed woman known as the Empress Dowager Cixi.She was the leader of the conservative faction, and Guangxu was soon imprisoned.Empress Dowager Cixi ran the government, abolished Guangxu's reform edict, and publicly declared that she would rebel against the "tiger-like" greed of the great powers.

In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the Chinese resisted European aggression, and soon became bolder.A secret society, the Boxers, was formed with the goal of driving foreigners out of China. The name "Boxer" derives from the fact that boxing and some martial arts features were present in the society's patriotic program.Missionaries and their Chinese converts were massacred, railways were torn down, and foreigners' homes were burned.The areas where the ministers of the governments of various countries and some foreigners lived were surrounded by the Boxers.

However, the Boxers received a painful lesson.Armies from Japan, Russia, Britain, the United States, France and Germany went to Beijing to rescue foreigners, defeated the Boxers, plundered the city, and seized the imperial palace.China must not only promise to respect the rights of foreigners in China, but also provide additional special treatment and pay hundreds of millions of taels of silver in compensation.But the U.S. government later agreed that certain payments to the U.S. would be used as fees for Chinese students studying at U.S. institutions of higher learning.Afterwards the rest of the great powers also learned from this example of generosity.

The second painful lesson of China in the Russo-Japanese War came one after another.We already know that from 1904 to 1905, Russia and Japan fought wars to decide whether Korea and "Manchuria" should be placed under Russia's or Japan's sphere of influence.This war had important impacts on China and the whole of Asia: (1) It gave Japan an advantage in Korea and southern "Manchuria", and then Japan began to invade and expand the territory of mainland China; (2) Japan The success of the war allowed it to consolidate the alliance with Britain in 1902; (3) For China, the war was painful and the price was too high.It was a war on Chinese territory ("Manchuria"), and it was Japan and Russia to dispose of China's "Manchurian" provinces on their own, with no regard for China's rights in the matter.

In addition, Little Japan's victory over Great Russia is an excellent proof that Europeanization symbolizes skill and power.

1905-1911 Reform in China After the Russo-Japanese War, the Chinese government actively worked to make up for lost time.Candidates for the civil service must study European science, history, geography, economics, international law, and languages.Tens of thousands of students were sent to study in Japan, Europe and the United States.Railroads were built, the army was reorganized, and a plan was drawn up to create a large navy.

During the 1911 revolution, many Chinese expected China to go faster and farther.They wanted a progressive republic, not an enlightened absolute monarchy. In 1911, a revolution broke out that planned a republic.Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a Christian doctor, was elected interim president.Soon General Yuan Shikai replaced Dr. Sun and became a dictator.He died in 1916, just as the young Republic of China was disintegrated and enfeebled by civil war.

China has progressed slowly relative to Japan because her population is too large, estimated to be over 3 million or 4 million.

[-]. India under the British flag

India's area is slightly larger than half that of the United States, but its population is three times that of the United States, mainly because it learned some of the first European civilizations from the British.As introduced in Chapter 3, Britain defeated its main rival, France, in the eighteenth century; and the British East India Company gained political control over most of India in addition to commercial rights.The native emperor was just a puppet.Before the mid-28th century, most of his lands were either directly conquered or placed under the jurisdiction of the East India Company.In this way, the company gained an empire many times larger than the United Kingdom.

And the backing of this company is the British government.

In 1857, native Indian soldiers employed by the East India Company launched an uprising.The uprising spread like wildfire and threatened to overthrow British rule in India.With hard work, the British army gained the upper hand.To prevent such emergencies from happening again, tens of thousands of rebels were massacred.The native emperors were also exiled.

India has learned a lesson that rebellion is dangerous.

One of the consequences of the civil uprising in India under British rule was the British government's decision to take India back from the East India Company. After 1858, most of India was ruled by a British Governor appointed from London.In the rest of India, the earth kings could keep their thrones as long as they submitted to British control.To impress the locals, Queen Victoria of England adopted the title Empress of India in 1877.

Progress in India Under British rule, the people of India made great progress in learning European civilization.They built railways and roads, constructed irrigation works, and established cotton and jute mills.Peoples of different races and religions were educated (or forced) to live together in peace.They also wrote laws consistent with British theories about fairness.Several universities and many schools were created, although the main reason for British rule in India was to promote British commerce rather than Indian education.

Self-government movement But India's upper class learned one thing that somehow defied the will of the British.Young people studying in Europe and America learned to fight for India's freedom and self-government rights that are valued by the British and the English-speaking peoples.So after they returned to China, they started a newspaper and formed a society for freedom in India.

These advocates of autonomy are so-called Indian "nationalists" who are increasingly advocating Indian autonomy.As a concession to their request, the British allowed the natives to elect members of an advisory committee, which had no powers other than the advice of the governor.In most provinces there are similar advisory committees, some elected by locals and others appointed by British officials.

British opposition Until 1914, the Indian upper-class national patriotism and self-government claims went further than the British allowed.The British had to run India for commercial benefit.Besides, they say, autonomy is useless because India is not ready.India is too populous and divided by caste, race, religion and different languages ​​and customs to be self-governing.If it were left alone, the British said, India would plunge again into chaos and anarchy.

On the other side of nationalist aspirations, Hindu nationalists claimed that they could govern themselves and be better governed than the British.Some admit that the government they form themselves will probably be inferior to that which the British help them form, but they want to be self-governing anyway.This is the consequence of India learning from European civilization.Old India is passing, while young India is eager to quit its "teacher".

[-]. Rest of Asia
France is in Indochina, between India and China, across the vast Indochinese peninsula.The Indochina peninsula belongs to the tropics, and the local population combines Indian and Chinese civilizations. In the second half of the 19th century, a local king in Indochina beheaded French Catholic missionaries, which justified the conquest of those provinces by Napoleon III of France.French possessions expanded little by little until "French Indochina" seized the eastern half of the peninsula.French laws were introduced to some extent, and a few French schools were established, but in general, France was more concerned with selling French-made food than with the Europeanization of the natives.

The progress of Siam In the central region of the Indochina peninsula, there is only one independent kingdom Siam (now Thailand), located between French Indochina and British Burma.Although some border provinces were occupied by Britain and France, Siam remained independent.Under the rule of the king, it hired European and American consultants, so the 900 million olive-skinned people have made rapid progress.Also created post office and telegraph services.Young people were sent abroad to study and schools were established in their own countries.As a result of these advances, Siam (modern-day Thailand) now has more people, proportional to its population, who can read and write, and a higher rate of children attending school than India or French Indochina.

Russia in Siberia now turns to the north of Asia, and we find a completely different situation.Siberia is the only place on the Asian continent that was colonized by Europeans.This vast area, occupied by Russian conquerors and explorers in the 16th and 17th centuries, received millions of Russian colonists, many of them exiled Russian criminals, in the 19th and 20th centuries.The total population of Siberia has reached 800 million, of which Russians account for more than half, and the ratio of the population of the indigenous tribes is about four to one.Most of the colonists lived in southern Siberia, where the land was very fertile.Large areas of barren and barren land in the north remained uninhabited.The Trans-Siberian Railway, built by the Russian government from 1891 to 1905, facilitated the development of this vast colony.

Russian Expansion Checked Russia's attempts to annex "Manchuria" and Korea into Siberia were disrupted by Japan.Another enemy, Great Britain, held back Russia's expansion south from Siberia to India and the Persian Gulf.Britain panicked for the safety of India as Russia squeezed between Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and China.Finally, Britain publicly declared that Tibet and Afghanistan should serve as buffer zones and that Russia could not plan to conquer them.After that, Britain made these two mountainous areas its own sphere of influence.

The contradiction between Anglo-Russian ambitions in modern Persia is particularly sharp in Persia, a Muslim kingdom that was glorious in ancient times but is now in decline.The British were worried that the Russians would take control of Persia, which would be very close to India.Finally, in 1907, Britain and Russia signed an agreement that northern Persia belonged to Russia's sphere of influence, southeastern Persia belonged to Britain's sphere of influence, and the central part was regarded as a neutral or buffer zone.

This agreement was a good thing from the perspective of preventing the Anglo-Russian war, but it was a disaster for the Persians.Like many other Asian countries, Persia has a reformist party that wants to adopt European institutions without sacrificing Persia's independence.These reformers persuaded the Shah of Persia to promulgate a constitution, form a parliament, and hire European and American advisers.But the Russian Tsar hoped that Persia would always decline like this, so he blocked Persia's reforms and even provoked a civil war.He hoped to find a reason to send Russian troops to Persia.In the end, Persia was still in chaos and backwardness, its northern provinces were still under the control of Russia, the south was under the control of Britain, and a large middle area fell into the hands of lawless bandits.Being the object of plunder between two great powers is worse than being annexed by one of them alone.

Asia Turkey and Baghdad Railway Before leaving Asia, a few words about the part of the Turkish Empire in Asia.This part includes Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, etc.

At the end of the 19th century, the Turks managed the region to an appalling degree.European civilization remained unknown except for a few short railways built by the Christian churches in Syria and Armenia.But in the early 20th century, a German company won the rights from Turkey to build a railway across Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, linking Constantinople with Baghdad and the Persian Gulf.In this way the Germans hoped to obtain a direct route from Germany to the markets of Persia and India.And in the event of a war with Britain, this railway will also come in handy.In addition, the Germans hoped to obtain large quantities of grain supplies from Mesopotamia through irrigation.They also firmly believe that the development and utilization of rich oil fields and mines can bring huge benefits to German capitalists.

Opposition to the Baghdad Railway The Baghdad Railway plan was strongly opposed and blocked by the German enemies, but the Germans insisted on building the railway.The Russians don't want Germany taking over Turkey.Britain worried that a German railway to the Persian Gulf would threaten its rule over India and its hold on valuable oil wells around the Persian Gulf.In fact, the enmity over the Baghdad railway was one of the indirect causes of the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

(End of this chapter)