British Imperialism in China

China in the DeclineThrough the 1700s, China

flourishes under the Qing dynasty. China is at the center of the world economy as Europeans and Americans seek Chinese goods

China had a growing problem, literally, their population was growing too fast which negatively effects the food supply and makes it harder to govern.

This made the government weaker and led to the Taiping Rebellion

British ImperialismThe Chinese have a large country with

many resources so Europe was having a difficult time finding something the Chinese wanted to trade.

The British would do almost anything to make money at the time so they started selling the Chinese the drug, Opium, which is very addictive.

This led to China trying to ban the sale of Opium which led to the Opium Wars with the British

Spheres of InfluenceThe Chinese would lose the Opium War

to the British and their advanced military technology

This forced the Chinese to trade, gave the British control of several Chinese ports including Hong Kong and forced the Chinese to pay the British billions of dollars in today’s money

China is said to be “carved up like a melon” by foreign powers competing for “spheres of influence” on Chinese soil.