East Asia: Center of the World - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 291

The French Sisters of Mercy set up an orphanage in
Tianjin (Tientsin) but unwisely offered to pay the Chi-
nese for “orphans” brought under their care. In Chinese
eyes, these foreign women were really kidnappers. When
the Chinese gathered to protest, the French opened fire.
This sparked the 1870 Tientsin Massacre of Christians.
Western gunboats steamed into port ending any sem-
blance of good relations between China and Europe.

were designed to keep the Chinese out of “white” areas.
People spoke of the “Y ellow Peril,” and in 1882, strict im-
migration laws were passed to stem the Chinese influx.
Nevertheless, Chinese communities and business ven-
tures prospered in the United States.
Within China a self-strengthening movement was
taking place. Certain senior scholars recommended that
China should learn from the West in order to get rid of
the foreigners, including the corrupt Manchus. They
pointed to Japan, a small nation that was busy industrial-
izing like the West. Many young Chinese went to Japan,
Britain, and the United States to study . However, there
were few lasting results in terms of reform.
Work began on China' s first railroad out of Shanghai
in 1875. Peasants believed that the steel road was dis-
turbing the feng shui so they smashed it to bits. Others,
acting out of fear of modernization, destroyed textile ma-
chinery . The government did, however, manage to buy
guns and warships for the beginnings of a navy .
But the self-strengthening movement failed to com-
municate any sense of urgency to the common people.
Even the reclusive Empress Dowager Ci Xi (Tzu-Hsi)
seemed unaware that China was disintegrating—losing
territory to the “foreign devils.”

Heavenly Kingdom
of Great Peace

At the time of the Opium Wars, a Christian school-
master named Hung Chiu-chuan started a revolu-
tionary movement in southern China. Hung taught
that land should belong to the people, crop sur-
pluses should go to areas of shortage, and women
should be equal to men.
Resistance to the ineffective and corrupt Manchus
began in 1850. After announcing the coming of the
Taiping Tien Kuan--Heavenly Kingdom of the Great
Peace--Hung and his followers attacked along the
Yangzi valley and occupied Nanjing. By 1860, the
“God Worshippers” had brought a third of China
under their control. This was the Taiping Rebellion.
It seemed that Hung and his forces would soon
rule all of China. However, they underestimated the
reaction of the Western powers. The British decided
to give the emperor just enough guns and ammuni-
tion to defeat Hung. Nanjing surrendered in 1864
and Hung eventually committed suicide. The Taiping
Rebellion, which cost China 20 million lives, was
over. However, its real significance, in terms of mod-
ern history , is the fact that it demonstrated the poten-
tial power of the peasantry . Properly equipped and
led, China' s peasant masses could achieve anything.

DOWNFALL OF THE MANCHU
Figure 10-16 shows China' s territorial losses in the nine-
teenth century . Vietnam was lost to France in 1885 and
Burma fell into British hands the following year. Russia, des-
perate for an ice-free port in the Pacific, gained access to
Manchuria. It also occupied the chaotic Xinjiang border re-
gions. In fact, the Russians stayed in the Ili V alley for ten
years. T To get rid of them, the Chinese gave the Russians nav-
igation rights on Manchurian river systems. The Russians
then began road and railway construction in Manchuria.
Between 1875 and 1880, Japan forced its way into
two more tributary states: Korea and the Ryukyu Islands.
This and related events precipitated the Sino-Japanese
war of 1894-1895. Chinese troops were decimated on
land and at sea while the Empress Dowager spent money
repairing the Summer Palace.
The war ended with the T Treaty of Shimonoseki
(1895), whereby China recognized Korea as an inde-
pendent kingdom. China also ceded the island of
Taiwan, the Pescadores, and the Liaodong (Liao-tung)
peninsula to Japan. Later, the Russians pressed the
Japanese to leave the peninsula because of their interest
in the ice-free port of Dalian (Dairen or Port Arthur). The
Japanese obliged, and with that move, the Chinese saw

RESPONSE TO THE WEST
After the Opium Wars, many Chinese emigrated to Aus-
tralia and the United States. Thousands of Chinese
coolies (laborers) were hired to work in mines and build
railroads. Australians resented their capacity for hard la-
bor over long hours. Restrictive laws were passed, race
riots took place, and widespread anti-Chinese feelings
persuaded the government to adopt a “Keep Australia
White” policy . In the United States, Chinatowns emerged
and race riots were frequent. America' s first zoning laws