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Reformation of the Qing Dynasty

 

            Although there were many contributing factors to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, humiliation by foreigners did play a big part in it. However, there were also economic problems, natural disasters and a corrupted government which played there part. All of these factors put together lead to the fall of the Qing dynasty. On a number of occasions in the 19th century, the Qing government were humiliated by foreigners, such as the British, German and French, which meant that the government lost a lot of the support from the Chinese population. The Opium War was just one of these occasions. Along with the humiliating Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, the Chinese people were left with next to no faith in their government, as well as addiction problems which were causing societies to break up and become very uncomfortable place to live. In addition to this, the massive outflow of Chinese currency to foreign opium providers was causing a major silver shortage in China, meaning that the economy was worse than ever. However, the Treaty of Nanjing was not the only humiliating treaty with China agreed to. A series of unequal treaties such as Tianjin in 1860 and Shimonoseki in 1895 gave foreigners power of the most important areas of China, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and the Yangtze River, much to the frustration of the Chinese people. This encouraged them to take action against the foreigners. Some of them joined gangs who harassed foreigners, such as the Boxers. Others joined Sun Yat-sen and his revolutionary party to spread anti-government messages. These actions would later on support the Wuchang Uprising in 1911, which overthrew the government. .
             Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary party were called the Revolutionary Alliance and they were devoted to overthrowing the Qing dynasty and setting up a republican democracy like in the USA. The Chinese population were very keen on this idea, as their current government we proving themselves to be incapable of running the country and they liked the idea of having a say in the running of their country.


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