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Global A Go Go, The Bolivarian Revolution and Wefri Warsay Yekaalo. Part II
In my last posting, I briefly touched on India. Now, I will turn your attention to China and Japan. The reason I picked China and Japan for this discussion is to explore briefly the reaction of the Chinese and the Japanese to the encounters with the Europeans (especially the British in the case of China and the Americans in the case of Japan). According to Perry M. Rogers, (at the time of the contacts emphasis mine) the Europeans were expanding their influence throughout the world in search of natural resources to feed the insatiable appetites to their industrial economies and for markets that would support their growing affluence. The 1850’s because of the superiority of Western armaments and technology China and Japan were faced to reassess their standards (p.171). As we will see, China and Japan moved in diametrically opposite directions.
China China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. For our discussion, I would like to start with the emperor Qianlong (1736-1795), the last of the three emperors who ruled for a total of 135 years. In September 1793, King George III (the same King George who lost America) sent an envoy, Lord George McCartney, to Emperor Qianlong in China. Lord McCartney presented Emperor Qianlong with gifts of examples of Western industry and expertise. There were firearms, saddles, chiming clocks and astronomical instruments. The Emperor was not impressed. (Rogers, 171) Before I proceed to the emperor’s reply, I would like to briefly discuss how China was governed at the time. The Chinese emperors (whether Ming, Manchu, Qing etc.) ruled by divine right known as “Mandate of Heaven� as “Son of Heaven�. It is a Chinese belief that Heaven entrusts or withdraws a ruler’s or a dynasty’s right to govern. The Chinese developed an elaborate civil service system that supported the emperors. The civil servants were well versed in the teaching (philosophy of government) of Kang fu Tse or otherwise known as Confucius in the West.
Lord McCarthney approached the emperor Qianlong in 1793 with gifts and requests. As was mentioned earlier, the emperor was not impressed either with the gifts or the requests. Here is what the emperor had to say in reply to King George III; “As your ambassador (Lord McCarthney) can see, we posses all things. I set no value on objects strange and ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufacturers (Rogers, 171). Even though Lord McCarthney was not the first European to go to China, his mission to China is very important for our discussion. After all the previous contacts (the Portuguese came first in the sixteenth century and were permitted to trade on Macao) with the Europeans, the Chinese allowed the westerners to trade only at Canton (Guangzhou), outside its walls along the river (Craig, pg. 416). Also, where the Europeans were allowed to trade, they were under the jurisdiction of Chinese law. The mission of Lord McCarthney was to negotiate the opening of other ports, fixed tariffs, representation in Beijing (Peking) etc. which were turned down by Emperor Qianlong.
Do you remember the British East India Company? Well, after establishing themselves well in India, the company had developed a triangular commerce among China, India and Britain (p.416). According to Rogers, by eighteenth century the trade included British textiles to India, Indian cotton to China and Chinese, silk, tea and porcelain to Britain. Yet the Chinese demanded payment in silver (their common currency) and never really purchased enough cotton to impress the profit-minded executives of the British East India Company. What commodity could be forced into the Chinese market that would demand a constant supply and produce a growing profit? The answer was opium (p.182). Thus the British East India Company introduced opium to China from the poppy fields of the state of Punjab in India. The introduction of the opium trade poisoned the Chinese people and provided the cornerstone of British profits for decades (p.171). As can be imagined, the effect on the Chinese people was traumatic. The Chinese opposed the introduction intensely. At this juncture, I would like to juxtapose the comment of John Adams, one of the founding fathers of America and the second president, as regards to the Chinese blocking of Britain’s effort to create a market for opium. This is what he had to say; “China was acting contrary to the law of nature and that the Chinese exclusion policy is an enormous outrage upon the rights of human nature, and upon the first principles of rights of nations� (Chomsky, p. 13).
After banning opium in 1836, the government of China in 1939 sent an official to Canton to enforce the ban. After the official destroyed six months’ supply of opium of the British India Company, a war- probably the only war in the world named after its undisguised purpose - called the Opium War started. It was a humiliating defeat for China, which brought about the infamous “unequal treaties�. The consequences of the Opium War brought together (to a realization of soul searching) a group of Chinese intellectuals to form the “Self-Strengthening Movement�. This movement would create a sense of Chinese nationalism that is a foundation for modern China. It is important to see as an example some of the writings of these intellectuals at the time. “Where is Your Conscience?�: The Curse of Opium by Lin Zxeu, “Use the Barbarians to Fight the Barbarians� by Wei Yuan and The Opium Poison by You Zan. I would like to quote You Zan who I think best summarizes the period.
The Westerners’ most effective weapon in butchering our financial well-being has been and still is opium, the poison of which permeates into every corner of the nation. We exchange precious silver for harmful drugs, and the total amount of silver that has flowed out of the country during the past fifty years is so large that we had ceased to count. The more we ban the opium traffic, the more the people violate the ban. Meanwhile the westerners, sitting there comfortably and radiating a self-satisfied smile, collect their profit. They will not be satisfied until every Chinese looks like a skeleton and every Chinese penny goes into their pockets. They will not be happy until China, as a nation, has degenerated to such an extent that no recovery is remotely possible. Their strategy is clear: to prevent China from becoming strong, they have to keep her permanently poor… (Rogers, p.185)
The Self-Strengthening Movement faced two major problems. The first was what to do with the emperors whom they felt were weak. The movement also believed that the concept of “Mandate of Heaven� was old and that change was inevitable. The second was how should China move forward faced with such an overwhelming threat from the West to their traditions, security, economics and way of life? Looking at some of the writings of the members of the movement will show us how China and Japan (as we will see later) took different approaches when faced with the technologies of the West. For example in New Factories in Shanghai, the author Li Hongzhang mentions:
… However ingenious or miraculous it may look in appearance, a mechanical device comes about as a result of applying the understandable natural law. In order to assure her safety, we must imitate the West in technical matter, especially in the manufacturing of machinery. Only through trial and error over a long period of time can we hope that it will bear good fruits and yield concrete results. (Li. pp.66-67)
From the 1860’s on, China’s efforts to industrialize and modernize her society met with defeat, while Japan’s met with resounding success (Rogers p.171)
To be continued.
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