international relations

Question 1

What were the long term causes of the first opium war?

Answer 1

• britain had to use hong system when trading with china (duties which were favourable to china)
• britain was militarily superior to china. this gave both countries a sense that britain could forcefully impose what they wanted on china
• east india company which exported opium was rapidly expanding. in 1839 had exported 40k chests to china
• however this figure doesn’t represent genuine chinese demand for opium, britain forced china to buy this opium to fund their chinese imports otherwise there would be a BoP deficit.
• the social consequences of opium were disturbing chinese society

Question 2

What were the short term causes of the opium war?

Answer 2

-silver drain in china. deficit of $18m
- qing government in 1839 ordered the seizing of opium stocks in canton which distributed 90% of the drug
- lin, who hated the social impacts of opium, was appointed imperial commissioner of the opium operation seized and destroyed the opium stocks and arrest of major traders.
- britain anticipated opium to be legalised in china soon and so began to stockpile opium.
- traders lobbied the foreign secretary and he used gunboat diplomacy

Question 3

What were the events of the first opium war?

Answer 3

• china was military inferior. muskets vs british rifles. barges vs steamships. china was losing the war on land and on the sea
• attacked silver warehouses that china needed to pay soliders
• british indian army seized canton and other ports. steamships bombarded coastal fronts and captured islands
• more soliders arrived allowing britain capture borge forts and almost ready to seize shanghai

Question 4

What was the convention of chuan pi?

Answer 4

• C had to pay $6 million
• port of canton opened up to trade
• britain would gain hong kong, china could still collect taxes
• BRITAIN HAD TO WITHDRAW FROM THE ISLANDS THEY HAD TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED DURING THE WAR

Question 5

What was the treaty of nianjing ?

Answer 5

• c had to pay $21 million
• ports of canton, guangzhou, fuzhou and xiamen opened to trade
• hong kong gained by the british
• british citizens were exempt from chinese law
• british citizens could buy property in shanghai
• was the first in a series of unequal treaties
• treaty of wangxia was inspired by treaty of nianjing in which usa became most favoured nation to reduce british influence

Question 6

what were the causes of the second opium war?

Answer 6

• britain wanted to renegotiate the terms of the treaty of nianjing
• they wanted: all ports to be fully open to trade, china accepts that opium imports from burma and india are legal, british imports are free from levies, permanent embassy with full powers in beijing
• for 2 years the manchu government failed to give a proper response
• oct 1854 canton police impounded arrow, a ship sailing with a british flag. The Chinese Hong Kong owners appealed to the British government. The brits demanded the ship be freed.
• when it appeared that china was stalling, Britain sanctioned the shelling of canton.
• 1857 Anglo-french coalition seized canton. France, Russia, USA supported them. 1858 Anglo-french coalition brought tianjin under European control

Question 7

What happened in the treaty of tianjing?

Answer 7

• 11 Chinese ports to be opened up to British trade
• Britain, France, Russia and US allowed to set up embassies in beijing
• foreigners allowed to travel to china to complete missionary work to trade without restrictions. Yangzi river opened up to foreign shipping including war ships
• foreigners allowed and Chinese Christian’s allowed ot worship freely without interference from the Chinese government
• china has to pay $15 million to Britain, France and British merchants
• 1860 Britains nd France claimed that China was not pitting in place these actions so attacked and burnt don the summer palace in Beijing. The British high commissioner claimed this was in retaliation for the killing of 2 British journalists

Question 8

What was the convention of Beijing 1860

Answer 8

• accepted the convention of Beijing which was ratification of the treaty of tianjin
• port of Kowloon also granted to Britain on a permanent basis. Manchu government granted permission for Chinese to go to North America and work as indentured labourers

Question 9

What happened in the triple intervention?

Answer 9

• Russia wanted port of Liadong - Japan had gained this in the Treaty of Shimoneski
• France, Germany and Russia teamed up because they all wanted to exploit china
• japan agreed to give up liadong
• Russians and Japanese decided to fight over this and japan won in the France-jap war

Question 10

What was the open door policy?

Answer 10

• America didn’t want other countries to gain control over China and become stronger than America so they said no one should gain any more control of china
• America said this was so that china could trade with everyone
• everyone wanted to trade with America so they listened to them

Question 11

What happened under Yuan Shikai?

Answer 11

• yuan shikai’s loan of $100 million from the consortium generated Chinese backlash.
• japan made sure that the conditions were particularly harsh so that they could dominate china later on: pledge future tax revenues as security, place administration of finances under foreign controllers, recognise British control of Tibet. Recognise Russian control of Outer Mongolia
• this infringed on Chinese sovereignty and sparked the second attempted revolution

Question 12

What were japans 21 demands?

Answer 12

• China has to agree to Japanese conditions on Germany getting shangdong in south east china. China has to consult japan when apppointing senior officials in Manchuria and Mongolia. China has to have senior Japanese advisors in government, Japanese police officers in china, china must purchase over 50% of munitions from japan
• the west needed Japanese support in ww2 and so didn’t help
  Yuan also needed western and Japanese support to accept the loan.
• violent protests in china

Question 13

What happened in the may4th movement?

Question 14

What happened in the scramble for concessions?

Answer 14

• Britain had consolidated its hold on HK by being granted the Kowloon harbour on a 99 year lease.
• Britain claimed possession of Weihaiwei in shangdong to create a naval base and coaling station
• Germany took control of qingdao in shangdong
• France made the government recognise french interests in guangdong, guangxi, and yunnan
• japan asserted the right to full control of Korea. Russia responded by increasing influencing in Outer Mongolia, manchuria and claiming port Arthur