The Expansion of the Qing Empire Before 1800

2021 ◽  
pp. 316-341
Author(s):  
Matthew W. Mosca
Keyword(s):  
Qing Empire

scholarly journals Self-Strengthening Movement of Late Qing China: an Intermediate Reform Doomed to Failure

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Qu
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Late Qing ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Late Qing China ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trend ◽  
Economy System

<p class="1Body">Despite of strong economy including highest GDP gross and self-sufficient feudal economy system, the late Qing Empire fell behind the world trend with its isolationist trade policies. As the Western world caught up technologically, economically, and politically, the former biggest economy had suffered from consecutive losses in wars. In order to preserve the feudal regime, the initiative reform, termed the Self Strengthening Movement was grandly carried out. However, without the true support from the supreme power on one hand, and without the support of the populace on the other, the Movement was an intermediate reform in attempt to preserve the royal system and forestall its continued decline. In policy, the reforms envisioned Western-style modernization without adjusting the political order, yet the entrenched conservatism of the Qing Imperial Court proved to be the decisive hindering factor in the failure of the Movement.</p>

No Sympathy for the Merchant?

Tea War ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 152-188
Author(s):  
Andrew B. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
High Age ◽  
Chinese Trade ◽  
Indian Tea

This chapter details how, after the rise of Indian tea triggered a collapse of its Chinese rivals, the Chinese trade underwent its own crisis of economic principles in the 1890s. It provides an overview of economic ideas during the high age of the Qing Empire, which entailed a sophisticated grasp of economic growth revolving around the utility of the soil and the importance of trade. The stimulus of competition from South Asian tea, crystallized in the crisis, pushed Qing thinkers to abandon dominant mercantilist notions of wealth as something acquired through overseas trade and instead visualize it as something produced by labor. Indeed, global competition compelled a minority of Qing officials to see wealth as something socially determined, originating from the skill and productivity of human activity, hence capable of infinite expansion through innovation. The economic thinker and Qing bureaucrat Chen Chi was exemplary of this transformation. He penned an influential memorial on reviving the tea trade, with much of his analysis tied to a simultaneous engagement with the translated works of English economist Henry Fawcett, ultimately arriving at the same classical tenets of “value” outlined by W. N. Lees in India.

scholarly journals Images of Europeans in the Chinese Woodblock Book Huangqing zhigongtu

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1259-1271
Author(s):  
Nikolay A. Samoylov ◽  
◽  
Dmitriy I. Mayatskiy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
The Other ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Cultural Stereotypes ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
General Picture ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Shed Light

This article explores the Chinese historical and ethnographic work of the second half of the 18th century “Illustrated tributaries of the Qing Empire” (“Huangqing zhigongtu”). This book provides rich material for a systematic analysis of the views of the Chinese about European countries during the reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). Twenty eight images and descriptions of a number of European nations — Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Swedes, the English, the Dutch, etc. — which were found in the book, have been identified, classified, and analyzed. A range of issues and problems related to the content of the descriptions has been established and compared with the illustrations from the book. The article pays particular attention to identifying and explaining the anthropological and socio-cultural stereotypes that shaped the image of Europeans in China. The authors of this paper have found out that due to Catholic missionaries the Chinese compilers of “Huangqing zhigongtu” must have had enough information about Europe in the first part of the Qing period. Nevertheless, they made a large number of mistakes when describing the geographical location of several nations and relations between some of them. They also misunderstood some habits, traditions or anthropological features of their inhabitants. On the other hand, the compilers were more accurate and precise with regard to political and trade activities of the Europeans in China or near its frontier. Studying the “Huangqing zhigongtu” can shed light not only on important factors that formed the general picture of the Chinese worldview, but also contribute to a better understanding of motives that determined the foreign policy of the Qing Empire.

scholarly journals Formation of Hong Kong’s Administrative System in the 1840-1870s

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-65
Author(s):  
G.Z. Papashvili
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Colonial Administration ◽  
Qualitative Characteristic ◽  
Chinese Community ◽  
Administrative System ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Administrative Control ◽  
Control Pattern

The article considers the process of Hong Kong’s administrative system formation after its placement under the administration of the British Empire in 1842. A brief description of the local Chinese and expatriate communities is given and the character of their interaction is identified. The transformations of Hong Kong’s administrative system at the various stages of its formation are analyzed and its qualitative characteristic is given. The significant language and other barriers to the establishing of interaction between colonial administration and the Chinese community and inefficiency of the administrative control pattern in the 1840-50s are identified. Inefficiency of this pattern is considered as a prerequisite for its development by establishing of the new scheme of civil servants’ selection with the aim of teaching them Chinese language and creation of the team of interpreters ready to communicate with the local Chinese. The abovementioned scheme turned out to be efficient and practically laid the foundation for creating Hong Kong’s administrative system. The author comes to the conclusion that the new scheme trained specialists made an important contribution to the development of Hong Kong, which from the periphery of the Qing Empire was transformed to the autonomous outpost of the British Empire.

The Formation and Regulations of the Military Hunt in Qing Mongolia

Inner Asia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Khohchahar E. Chuluu
Keyword(s):  
Wild Animal ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Human Errors ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Building Project ◽  
The Military ◽  
Dangerous Activity

Abstract In the Mongolian tradition, hunting and war have had strong connections with each other. During the Qing Empire, Mongolian hunts were not only local practices, but were also involved in the Qing empire-building project. On the other hand, the collective hunt itself was by nature a dangerous activity that contained potential physical risks from wild animal attacks as well as human errors. It is conventionally understood that the hunt therefore must have been well organised in order to secure success and security. But how a hunt was organised and operated in reality has not yet been well examined. This study explores the organisational structure and regulations of a military hunt in Qing Inner Mongolia, a geographically important zone where both the Manchus and Mongols actively held hunts. The primary focus of this article is the nineteenth-century Alasha Banner grand hunt, a well-organised and documented Mongolian military hunt from the Qing period.

Overseas Chinese Commerce, Decolonization, and the Cold War in Southeast Asia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Lim
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Cold War

The term “overseas Chinese” refers to people who left the Qing Empire (and later on, the Republic of China or ROC) for a better life in Southeast Asia. Some of them arrived in Southeast Asia as merchants. They were either involved in retail or wholesale trade, or importing and exporting goods between the Qing Empire/ROC and Southeast Asia. With the decolonization of Southeast Asia from the end of World War II in 1945, overseas Chinese commerce was targeted by nationalists because the merchants were seen to have been working together with the colonial authorities and to have enriched themselves at the expense of locals. New nationalist regimes in Southeast Asia introduced anti-Chinese legislation in order to reduce the overseas Chinese presence in economic activities. Chinese merchants were banned from certain trades and trade monopolies were broken down. Several Southeast Asian states also attempted to assimilate the overseas Chinese by forcing them to adopt local-sounding names. However, the overseas Chinese continued to be dominant in the economies of Malaya (later Malaysia) and Singapore. Malaysia introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP), which has an anti-Chinese agenda, in 1970. The decolonization process also occurred during the Cold War, and Chinese merchants sought to continue trade with China at a time when governments in Southeast Asia were suspicious of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Attempts by merchants from Malaya and Singapore to trade with the PRC in 1956 were considered to have failed, as the PRC had other political concerns. By the time Singapore had gained independence in 1965, the door to investment and trade with the PRC was shut, and the Chinese in Southeast Asia turned their backs on China by taking on citizenship in their countries of residence.

A Review of Chinese Eastern Railway Study in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Weiyun Mа
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Far East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Qing Empire ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic

The article reviews research on Chinese Eastern Railway in China. The research on Chinese Eastern Railway in China began in the early 20th century, has a history of more than 100 years. The existing research results mainly focus on the construction of Chinese Eastern Railway and Tsarist Russia&apos;s expansion policy, negotiation between China and Russia (Soviet Union) on the railway issue, the contradictions and struggles of Japan and the United States around the railway problem and so on. These documents cover a wide range of issues which almost involve the political, diplomacy, economy and trade, culture and other fields of international relations in the Far East from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of 20th century, provide a broad vision for the study of Chinese Eastern Railway. But there are problems in the research. Although there are many works on Chinese Eastern Railway, but most discussions are limited to a certain stage, there are few works on the whole history of Chinese Eastern Railway. Not only should we pay attention to the study of the early 20th century in other words the period of the Qing Empire, moreover, we should strengthen the research in the period of the Republic of China and the new China period, this is of great significance to the study of the whole history of Sino — Soviet relations. In addition due to specific historical conditions, part of the Russian data of Chinese Eastern Railway in China was lost, in addition, there is no detailed and authoritative reference book for Russian archives of Chinese Eastern Railway, this situation makes the cited materials in Chinese works appear too old the materials cited in the book seem too old. The authors thank for proofreading and examining the translation A.I. Kobzev, Ph.D. (Philosophy), professor, director of China Department, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, director of TSC of Humanities and Social Sciences and director of Philosophy Department of MIPT (SRI), director of TSC «Oriental Philosophy» of RSUH, Chief researcher of Russian language, literature and culture research center of Heilongjiang University.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document