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Lin Ze-xu made 1,600 arrests and confiscated 11,000 pounds of Opium from merchants
Near the port of Canton in China, the emperor's emissary Lin Ze-xu made 1,600 arrest of British merchants and confiscated 11,000 pounds of Opium from the merchants. The British superintend of trade looked to find a peaceful solution however this did the opposite. Lin held the merchants as hostages until the British succumbed to his deal. This resulted in Lin burning over 9 million dollars worth of Opium that the British had traded in to free their merchants -
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First Opium War
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British forces occupy the mouth of the Yangtze River and Shanghi
After winning multiple major battles, the British were able to declare the mouth of the Yangtze River and Shanghai as territory. This was a major win for the British because it immobilized the Chinese navy since the Navy operates through the Yangtze. Also, China could not afford to lose a city as Shanghai for trading purposes. China was forced to go through with a unequal treaty. due to the fact that the british held the most important area. -
Treaty of Naking is signed
In August of 1842, the Chinese and British singed a treaty on a royal warship in the Yangtze River. Since the British forced the treaty, the conditions were "unequal". Under the treaty of Naking, China was to give the Island of Hong Kong to Great Britain, open the ports of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Shanghai, and Ningbo to foreign trade and residence, pay for all of the British opium destroyed by Zu. Also on Chinas behalf, they agreed to lower tax tariffs from twenty percent to five percent. -
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Taiping Rebellion
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Second Opium War
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Chinese officals remove Chinese crewmen from British ship "Arrow" in Hong Kong
On the day of October 1856, Chinese officials removed 12 Chinese crewmen from a British ship located in Hong Kong named the Arrow. British officers in Canton demanded the release of these Chinese prisoners, yet the Chinese officials refused. Their reason for the removal of crewmen was that they believed the Arrow to be involved with illegal smuggling. -
Chinese government negotiates the Treaties of Tanjin
During the second Opium war, China had been preoccupied by the Taping Rebellion and had no chance of stopping European forces. This forced China to seek peace, which resulted in a treaty with Russia, America, Britain, and France. The terms of this unequal treaty were that ten new ports were opened up to foreign trade, these countries were to be permitted to open up a legislation branch in Beijing, and that China was to pay both Britain and France in currency. -
Chinese attack British forces on Baihe river
During the interval of peace during the Second Opium, ruler Xianfeng was persuaded by Mongolian General Sengge Richen to send troops to the recently acquired Taku Fort on the Baihe River. The Mongolian General planned to deny British Admiral Sir James Hope Ships taking land troops to the British ambassador for his journey to Beijing. On June 24 1859 the Chinese launched a attack on the unsuspecting British Navy from the Taku Fort, forcing the British Navy to withdraw with the help of the Us Navy -
Convetion of Perking
With their capital overthrown and a fleeing emperor, Prince Gong had no other choice but to make peace with the foreign empires or have their forbidden city burned to the ground as a punishment for their malicious act. The Convention of Perking was composed of three different treaties including the signatures of the Qing, Russian, and British. In whole, China was to make Hong Kong and part of the Kowloon peninsula, to Great Britain forever, and outer Manchuria and what is now Primorye. -
British and French troops capture Bejing
On October 6th, 1859, French and British troops captured the city of Beijing. Since General Richen sent the reminder of the Chinese army to attack the French positions, the foreign troops entered the city unopposed. Once the capture, the troops stripped the city of its wealth and freed all western prisoners. The capture also resulted in Emperor Xianfeng fleeing, leaving Prince Gong in charge of the ruined city. -
Tiajin Masscare
Rumor had it that the Catholic Orphanages were illegally buying kidnapped children and performing experiments on them. The Chinese became enraged and took to the streets. Tensions were furthered when French Consul Henry Fortiener shot important Chinese officials but only killed their servants. The crowd reacted to this by killing Henry Fortiner along with twenty other Frenchmen. These series of events enraged the French and Roman churches, and warships were sent from western powers to help them. -
Tonghak Rebellion
The Tonghak Rebellion was a peasant mutiny that fueled the First Sino-Japanese War. During the 1894 Korean peasant were poor and impoverished, resulting in the majority of them tuned to the nationalist religion of Tonghak. When the peasants asked and were rejected of a social reform, a rebellion broke out. Both China and Japan sent forces to suppress the rebellion. However once the rebellion was stifled, Japan refused to withdraw it forces, going against the Lito Convention, resulting in a war -
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Sino-Japenese War
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The Treaty of Shimonoseki is signed
The Chinese represented by Li Hung-chang and Ito Hirobumi for the Japanese, signaling the end of the one-year Sino-Japanese war, signed the treaty of Shimonoseki. Due to the fact that they were horribly beaten, China signed a very unequal treaty. The terms included China handing over Taiwan, the Pescadores islands, and Port Arthur and the Liaodong peninsula, opening five new ports to the Japanese, paying a large sum of money to the Japanese, and declaring Korea an independent state. -
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Boxer Rebellion
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Eight Nation Alliance was created in order to Supress the Boxer Rebellion
In early June of 1900, members of the Boxer Rebellion began to attack international embassies in Tianjin and Being. Foreseeing a major conflict, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Great Britain, and the United States formed the Eight-Nation Alliance. The purpose of this Alliance was to send troops from all nations to suppress this threat. -
The boxer rebellion attacks the Legation Quarter
On June 20, 1900, the Boxer Rebellion launched a full-scale attack on the Legation Quarter in Beijing. The Legislation Quarter is where all the foreign embassies were held in Beijing at the time. However, 435 international marines held off the rebels until reinforcements arrived. -
Boxer Protocol
After the Boxer rebellion was stifled, the Eight-nation alliance called for a treaty. China, along with Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States singed a protocol. This protocol stated that China owed the international forces a total of 450 million taels (Chinese currency), in which that they did not have. It took a loan of 39 nine years for China to pay off this treaty, in which resulted in a massive economic hit -
Qing Court Abicates
The QIng court formally resigned on Febuary 9th of 1912. This abication marked the end of the dynasty era that lasted for two thousand years. Ever since the first Opium War, the Qing court had been steeply declining. After the Wuchang uprising, the government had minimal control over the population. The government had no other choice but to reside and give way to a new form of rule
