Boxer Rebellion

This was integral part of Chinese thinking and was a major factor in the reasoning in the way China dealt with the West. According to Wakeman, the Chinese viewed themselves as superior to all other societies, he states, "The Chinese did not stereotype all barbarians in a single undifferentiated category. They were acutely of the differences between Mongols khans.and Dutch merchants. But all barbarians were placed beneath the Chinese in an ideal world order of which their empire was the Central Kingdom" (pg. 111). This Chinese "world order" has an extreme consequence later when western powers flooded into China. This view of superiority sets the tone for the relationship between China and the West. As England moved in to the Trade picture, represented by the East India Company, it would eventually bring opium. Opium was illegal in China and England regardless, imported it to balance trade. Opium became toxic to the economy of China, to its addicts, and to the framework of Chinese agrarian society (Wakeman pg. 127-128). This drug bled the silver out of China and destroyed the value of copper and the ability of peasants to pay their rent. The illegal importation of opium and the war over it, illustrated the extent the west was going to act over profit, China's perception of the west as barbarians, I feel clouded their perception and affected their decision over what to do about some critical decisions. Granted, opium was a serious problem, but even the most simplest of life forms, barbarians, can cause major problems. After China losing the Opium Wars, they marked the entrance of western imperialism into China with Treaty of Nanking. If China perceived the West as a real threat and not as a barbarian, why concede? The Treaty of Nanking was one of many known as "unequal treaties" (Wakeman, pg. 137). The treaty was based on a policy of appeasement that gave the west a strangle hold in China.