Chapter 3. Reflection and Rebirth in Tribulation

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), tremendous changes took place in China, when signs of capitalism gradually emerged. The commodity economy witnessed unprecedented development, especially in the booming handicraft industry where products became more and more abundant, and several large industrial and commercial cities emerged. In Suzhou, employment appeared in a form in which“machine owners contribute capital while machine workers contribute their strength”. Some workshops developed into independent handicraft factories. The wealthy owners were in fact the same as the capitalists later, employing others as workers. The workers were paid by working day as employees. The growing capitalism called for a new legal system, which did not come into being in China. In the 18th century, Scottish economist Adam Smith studied the history of China in that period and concluded that although China had always been the richest country in the world, with the most fertile land, the most meticulous farming, the largest population, and the most diligent people, it seemed to be standing still for a long time. Travelers’ latest reports on China’s farming, diligence and population density bore little difference from that of Marco Polo, who visited the country 500 years before. It might be long before Marco Polo’s time that China’s wealth should have fully developed to the extent allowed by the country’s legal system.

If China had in the Ming Dynasty opened its door to capitalism and built new institutions and systems, China would have started to walk ahead of the times and led the world. But there is no hypothesis in history. China did not change its system, slipping behind the tide of history. The Manchu ethnic group, which used to inhabit northern China, established the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Still, the Chinese society did not convert to capitalism. The traditional agrarian society went on day after day, until the gradual decline of the Qing Dynasty.

In the meantime, capitalist countries such as Britain, France and the United States were developing rapidly.

The United Kingdom went through the emerging industrial revolution that began in the 1760s. By the 1830s and 40s, large-scale machine industry gradually replaced handicraft industry. Capitalism continued to gain strength. With the sharp increase of industrial output, Britain was eager to find new resources and markets.

France, a capitalist country second only to the United Kingdom, had the second largest industrial output in the world around 1840.

At the same time, the United States, as an emerging economy, was also evolving and displaying fresh vitality.

In Russia, after the Emancipation Reform of 1861, capitalist industry and commerce developed rapidly.

China, affluent in economy but backward in institutions, was naturally coveted by Western powers.

At some point, British merchants began to smuggle opium on the coast of Guangdong, and this trade became increasingly rampant.

In 1838, Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty appointed Lin Zexu – the Governor of Huguang, as Imperial Commissioner, and sent him to Guangdong to eradicate the opium trade. On his arrival, Lin challenged British arrogance by seizing more than 20,000 cases of opium from British merchants at Humen Port and destroying them. This incident provided the pretext for the British government to send an expeditionary force to China.

In June 1840, George Elliot, Admiral of the British Navy and Charles Elliot, Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, led 47 British Naval warships and 4,000 Army troops to the Pearl River in Guangdong and imposed a blockade on the nearshore waters. In August, the British fleet arrived outside Tianjin port. On August 20th, Emperor Daoguang was forced under duress to approve and sign a letter to the British, allowing trade and punishing Lin Zexu for the British fleet to withdraw to Guangzhou. The Emperor also sent his minister Qishan there to negotiate.

In October, Qishan was appointed as Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. The war party led by Lin Zexu were dismissed. Later, Lin was banished to Xinjiang.

On January 7, 1841, the British forces suddenly captured the Dajiao and Shajiao Forts at the entrance of the Humen Strait. More than 700 Qing troops were killed or wounded, and 11 troopers and tugboats were destroyed. Qishan signed a tentative agreement – the Convention of Chuenpi with Charles Elliot, in which Hong Kong would be ceded to the United Kingdom. After that, the British forces occupied Hong Kong. Fortunately, Qishan did not use the official seal, and the tentative agreement was never approved by the emperor, which resulted in a convention that was not legally binding.

That was the First Opium War, which marked the beginning of China’s modern history and the start of a tortuous national struggle.

On August 29, 1842, the Treaty of Nanking, also known as the Treaty of Jiangning, was signed by Qing representatives Qiying and Yilibu, and UK representative Henry Pottinger on board HMS Cornwallis, the flagship of the British forces. That was the first of the unequal treaties in China’s modern history. It compromised the integrity of China’s sovereignty, and dragged China into the capitalist world market, gradually reducing it to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society.

One of the original copies of the treaty is kept by the British government, and the other one is kept in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The Treaty of Nanking has a total of 13 articles, announcing the end of the Sino-British war and the start of peace. The Chinese government would open five “treaty ports” – Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai. Britain was allowed to send resident consuls to the treaty ports and British merchants and their families were allowed to communicate with the local people freely. The Qing government would pay 21 million silver dollars to the UK, including 6 million for compensation of the burned opium, 12 million for British military expenses, and 3 million for compensation of merchants’ debts. The total sum was to be paid in installments over four years and the Qing government would be charged an annual interest of 5 percent for the money that was not paid in a timely manner. At the same time, Hong Kong was ceded to the United Kingdom.

After the Opium War, Western powers plundered almost 1.9 billion silver dollars through the Treaties of Nanking, Tianjin, Peking, Ili, and Shimonoseki, the Boxer Protocol, and the Treaties of Lhasa and Yantai. That sum was 16 times the total revenue of the Qing government in 1901, and 82 times the total industrial and mining capital of the whole country.

The huge war reparations overwhelmed the Chinese government. In 1842, the payment was 4.3 million silver dollars, accounting for 11 percent of the annual gross income. In 1843, the payment was 3.5 million silver dollars, accounting for 11.3 percent of the annual gross income. In 1844, the payment was 3.5 million, accounting for 9.2 percent of the annual gross income.

The Opium War gradually reduced China to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, losing its independence in the world, and leading to the disintegration of the natural economy in the country.

In the face of this tragic situation, China’s patriotic elites made great efforts to change the situation. They had to reflect on the traditional methods of governance, including the rule of virtue, which was a beauty in people’s minds.

The first thing they thought of was to save the nation by engaging in industry. The Self-Strengthening Movement was launched.

In 1865, the Jiangnan Machine Works (Jiangnan Shipyard) began to translate Western books. By the 1890s, about 13,000 translated books had been sold. The industrialists were not theorists or thinkers. They were not in a position to spearhead and spread culture and ideas. However, they saw national rejuvenation and strength as their duty. Their devotion and selfless contribution deeply moved future generations.

Under the influence of Western thoughts, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao masterminded the Hundred Days’ Reform – a political, cultural, and educational reform movement that played an important role in promoting the progress of Chinese society. From 1880 to 1940, 2,204 Japanese books were translated into Chinese, half of which were works of social sciences, including a number of Western works on law. Yan Fu translated De l’esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws) by French thinker and jurist Montesquieu, and On Liberty by English philosopher John Stuart Mill. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao were theorists and revolutionaries. Yan Fu was a thinker and translator. Shen Jiaben was a jurist and law practitioner. They were all pioneers who introduced Western legal culture into China.

The rise of the emerging industrial economy and the new demands of the ideology influenced by the West called for China’s renewal. In response, history gave China a large number of visionary pioneers who are worthy of admiration and respect, for example, Shen Jiaben, Wu Tingfang, and Sun Yat-sen.