CHINA 



1349 



CHINA 



But a great change was coming to China. In 

 the thirteenth century the Mongols swept over 

 the country under Genghis Khan (which see), 

 and under Kublai Khan, grandson of that con- 

 queror, established a firm rule. Never before 

 had China known such prosperity and splen- 

 dor as it knew then. Marco Polo, a Venetian 

 traveler who visited China, or as he called 

 it, Cathay, brought back glowing accounts of 

 its high civilization, and Italy established cer- 

 tain commercial relations with its merchants 

 (see POLO, MARCO). The Mongol dynasty, 

 never popular with the Chinese, was over- 

 thrown in 1368 by the Ming dynasty, which 

 reigned for almost 300 years, and permitted the 

 Portuguese and Spanish traders to enter the 

 country and settle at its ports. 



Early Modern Period . During . the latter 

 part of the Ming rule rebellion was rife, the 

 very throne being menaced, and finally, in 1643, 

 the Manchus were invited into the country to 

 establish order and to ward off the attacks of 

 the Tartars. Their object accomplished, the 

 Manchus refused to leave the country, but took 

 Peking, proclaimed a Manchu prince emperor, 

 and founded the last royal dynasty of China, 

 which continued nearly 300 years, until the 

 formation of the republic. For a time the 

 Chinese refused 1 to submit, but opposition 

 gradually died out, and the conquerors were 

 merged with the original inhabitants of the 

 country. One sign there was of the subjection 

 of the Chinese they were forced to adopt and 

 to wear continually the queue, or "pigtail," in- 

 troduced by the Manchus. For two centuries 

 internal progress went on slowly, as progress 

 has always taken place in China, and still the 

 outside world knew little of the great nation 

 with its strange mixture of advanced civiliza- 

 tion and hatred of anything new. Unable en- 

 tirely to avoid trade relations with Europe and 

 America, the Chinese submitted to them as 

 little as possible, and made it difficult and 

 even dangerous for "foreign devils" to enter 

 the country. But the Western nations were not 

 prepared to submit tamely to the regulations 

 which restricted their trade, and before the 

 middle of the nineteenth century they had 

 begun to show China that a change in attitude 

 was expedient. 



Increased Intercourse with the World. Un- 

 fortunately for the credit of the European 

 nations, the first sharp dispute with China was 

 over the opium question. Late in the eight- 

 eenth century opium traffic had been by the 

 Chinese government declared illegal, but the 



decrees were not really enforced until 1839, and 

 then the attempts at enforcement met with 

 protest from the British government. For the 

 opium trade was worth millions of dollars 

 annually to Great Britain and could not lightly 

 be relinquished. Finally, in 1840, actual war 

 broke out, and at its close China was com- 

 pelled to surrender the island of Hong-kong, 

 pay an indemnity of $21,000,000 and open to 

 British trade five of its chief ports. The treaty 

 made no mention of the opium trade. Two 

 years later the United States and France also 

 made trade treaties with China. In 1856 China 

 again roused the wrath of Great Britain by re- 

 fusing to apologize for the seizure of a Chinese 

 boat flying the British flag, and again war re- 

 sulted. With France as its ally, Great Britain 

 actually took Peking, and in 1860 secured by 

 the treaty of peace increased trading privileges 

 and the promise of toleration for the Christian 

 religion. 



In the meantime China had been disturbed 

 by a severe rebellion, which had grown out 

 of the attempt of a half-mad fanatic school- 

 master to overthrow the Manchu dynasty and 

 establish himself as the Heaven-sent head of 

 the nation. Everybody who had a grievance 

 flocked to his standard, and by 1853 the rebel- 

 lion had reached great dimensions, Nanking 

 having been seized as a capital and Hung-siu- 

 tseuen proclaimed as the head of the Peace 

 dynasty. From his watchword, Ping, or peace, 

 and the word tai, or great, this upheaval is 

 known as the Tai-Ping Rebellion. The Chi- 

 nese government was unable to cope with it, 

 but a small army consisting chiefly of Chinese 

 under Charles George Gordon, or "Chinese" 

 Gordon (which see), soon stamped it out. 



Relations with Japan. Korea was always a 

 debatable ground between China and Japan, 

 and the difficulties concerning it in 1894 

 brought about open war between the two 

 powers (see JAPAN, subtitle History). From 

 the first Japan had the upper hand, and after 

 a complete victory was able to wrest from 

 China a treaty guaranteeing Korean indepen- 

 dence, giving up to Japan the island of For- 

 mosa and the Liao-tung Peninsula with the 

 strong fort of Port Arthur, and promising a 

 huge indemnity. Foreign powers intervened 

 and made Japan relinquish much of its gains, 

 but they also used the opportunity to secure 

 from China increased commercial privileges, 

 and it became evident that their aggressions 

 were likely to go beyond this. 



The Era of Internal Reform. Sadly weak- 



