East Asian History Notes Schirokauer, Chapter 16 and 17

Study Questions:
1. What was the more significant factor in Qing history internal or external problems.
2. What were the main causes of the Opium War? China's isolationist trade policy with the West. The
fact that China would only accept silver from the British created tension between the two countries.
The British began a widespread illegal exportation of opium throughout China. The Chinese saw this
as disrespectful to their Emperor and angered them greatly. During the flood of opium into China, the
British were pushing for extraterritoriality, basically implying that their laws were superior to China's.
Neither countries were willing to compromised. China was not willing to grant Britain free trade and
extraterritoriality, and Britain would not stop selling opium in China. Tension eventually bubbled over
into the first Opium War.
3. What was the Treaty of Nanjing and how did both the British and the Chinese react to its
implementation? The Treaty of Nanjing was a treaty between the Chinese and British that marked the
end of the first Opium War and China's defeat during it. Treaty ports were opened within China where
western merchants could trade with anyone they wanted to and the Qing government had to pay six
million silver dollars to the British as reparations for the opium Lin Zexu confiscated and destroyed.
4. Was the Taiping rebellion the result of internal or external issues? Both. The Qing government's
incompetence in dealing with the west and various natural disasters, caused the Chinese people,
especially the Han, to see the Qing as an ineffective and corrupt regime.
5. What role did financial crisis play in the Meijii Restoration? Tax corruption and merchant
monopolies led to anti-Tokogawa sentiment.
6. What was the significance of Choshu and Satsuma? These two domains were responsible for
overthrowing the Tokogawa shogunate in 1868.
7. What was the role of the West in the Meiji Restoration? When the Tokogawa bakufu signed treaties
with the United States, Yoshida of the Sonno Joi movement determined that the bakufu must be
overthrown. During the last years of the Tokogawa era, the British supported Satsuma, and the French
were providing the Shogunate with arms.
8. Did the Meiji Restoration create more issues than it resolved? The abolition of hans and domains
resulted in many large merchant houses who had developed business relationships with diamyo to
struggle or even go bankrupt. The peasantry were unhappy with the new land system and forced
military service, and showed their displeasure by staging uprisings with increasing frequency. In 1870,
commoners were allowed to acquire surnames and were released from previous occupational and
residential restrictions. There was serious samurai discontent throughout Japan, in part due to peasants
now being allowed to be warriors, which made the samurai class somewhat obsolete. The Meiji
government was split between those who believed in restoring old ways and those who strive for
modernazation.

Key Terms:
Inner Opium War = The internal conflict among the Chinese resulting from the Opium War.
Lin Zexu = (1785-1850) Chinese scholar/Official Lin's forceful opposition of the opium trade was a
primary catalyst for the first Opium War of 1839-1842.
Xian Feng = (1850-1861) Qing Emperor Xianfeng, which means Universal Prosperity, did not
reflect the state of China during Xian Feng's rule.
Hong Xiuquan = (1831-1861) Hakka Chinese leader of the Taiping Rebellion agaisnt the Qing
Established the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace over varying portions of southern China, with himself as
the Heavenly King and self-proclaimed younger brother of Jesus Christ.
Treaty System = Following China's defeat in the British-Chinese conflict known as the first Opium
War, and Matthew C. Perry of the United States sailing into Edo (Tokyo) Treaty Ports were opened to
Westerners in China and Japan. Within these treaty ports, Western subjects had the right of
extraterritoriality (Under the control of Western consuls and were not subject to the laws of the
countries in which they resided). Treaty ports in Shanghai and Guanzhou constituted the major areas
from which industrialization developed in China.
Nanjing = Capital of China's eastern Jiangsu province. During the Taiping rebellion, Nanjing was
proclaimed to be the capital of the Heavenly Kingdon of Great Peace (Taiping Rebels).
Hakka = Han Chinese from Hakka speaking provinces.
Zeng Guofan = (1811-1872) Was an eminent Han Chinese official, military general, and devout
Confucian scholar of the late Qing Dynasty Zeng raised the Xian Army to fight effectively against the
Taipin Rebellion. He was successful in that endeavor.
Taiping =
Neo Confucianism = Neo-Confucianism was an attempt to create a more rationalist and secular form
of Confucianism by rejecting superstitious and mystical elements of Daoism and Buddhism that had
influenced Confucianism during and after the Han Dynasty
Choshu and Satsuma = Two feudal domains located in southern Japan who formed an alliance. The
goal of this alliance was to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.
Sonno Joi = Sonno (revere the emperor) and Joi (expel the barbarians) A Japanese political philosophy
and social movement derived from Neo-Confucianism, it became a political slogan in the 1850-1860s
in the movement to overthrow the Tokogawa bakufu. Yoshida Shoin (1830-1859) was the main
spokesman and hero of the Sonno Joi movement.
Character Oath = (1868) An oath which outlined the main aims and the course of action to be followed
during Emperor Meiji's reign. It can be considered the first constitution of modern Japan.
By this oath, we set up as our aim the establishment of the national weal on a broad basis
and the framing of a constitution and laws.

1. Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by open discussion.
2. All classes, high and low, shall be united in vigorously carrying out the administration of affairs
of state.
3. The common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall all be allowed to pursue
their own calling so that there may be no discontent.
4. Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws of Nature.
5. Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundation of imperial
rule.

1873 = The crisis of 1873 centered on the issue of going to war with Korea. Satsuma military leader,
Saigo, believed this to be the right move. Okubo of Choshu opposed this idea. Eventually Saigo gave
up his efforts to guide Japan into war with Korea, this left the new government in the hands of a group
of men unified by a commitment to modernization.
It was also the year during which the Japanese Tax Reform was enacted. Started by the Meiji
Government, it was a major reconstruction of the previous land taxation system, and established the
right of private land ownership in Japan for the first time.
Meiji Restoration = The Meiji restoration was a chain of events that restored practical imperial rule to
Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. The Restoration led to enormous changes in Japan's polotical and
social structure , and spanned both the late Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period. The
movement begin, in part, to Japan's realization that the West had outclassed them in industry and
technology. Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States sailing into Edo, Japan with a fleet of
large warships that far outclassed those of Japan was a key factor in sparking this realization.