THE British, allied with the French and North Americans, began their Second Opium war against China in October 1856 CE.
By December of the following year, the European invaders had taken major port cities such as Guangzhou and by May of 1858 CE, Dagu fort had been annexed too.
Eventually, the British reached Tianjin where the Emperor Xianfeng was stationed, forcing him to send an emissary called Guiliang to negotiate peace with the Europeans.
This negotiation led to the signing of yet another undesirable treaty called the Treaty of Tianjin.
The terms and conditions of the treaty were as unequal and disadvantageous to the Chinese as those of the predecessor Treaty of Nanking.
Through the Treaty of Tianjin, the Chinese were further plundered by the British. They were forced to allow foreigners to establish foreign legations in Beijing that would allow them to operate in the land as they saw fit without consideration of Chinese laws or customs.
It also demanded the Chinese government to pay reparations to the nations of Britain, France and the USA and to cover war costs.
In 1859 CE, Britain along with France went further to demand the removal of a strategic fort by a river called Baihe.
Upon refusal, the whites waged a surprise attack at Dagu fort in June of that year. The Chinese took many casualties and lost many warships in trying to defend their land and infrastructure, but they managed to cause the foreign troops to retreat from Dagu.
In August, the British and French waged yet another surprise attack on Dagu fort, and this time with a larger army.
They took Dagu fort and also Tianjin.
Emperor Xianfeng fled from Beijing, where he had been during the invasion of Tianjin and sought refuge in Rehe of Hubei province.
The whites then entered Beijing in October of 1860 CE and desecrated the imperial garden and looted Chinese treasures.
The imperial garden was large and beautiful and carried numerous artefacts that had been inherited by imperial heirs since ancient times and kept in this elaborate garden.
It was known as ‘Yuanmingyuan garden’ and for three days and nights; it was burnt and looted by the British and French forces.
This is reminiscent of the Great Zimbabwe monument and many others that were looted by Cecil Rhodes and his white settlers.
Ancient artefacts such as beads, stone sculptures of the Zimbabwean bird and gold can still be found in South African and British museums, and also in the private collections of the descendants of the looters.
This is exactly what happened in China.
Soon after this, the Chinese government was forced yet again to sign another treaty, the Treaty of Peking (Beijing) with Britain, France and Russia.
Tianjin was turned into a trading port and the demand for reparations increased.
Thus the Second Opium War again ended with China’s defeat and further subjugation.
Due to the defeat of China, the imperial house of the Qing dynasty was greatly weakened in power and influence.
The rule of Emperors in China had crystallised around 200 BCE in the time of Qinshihuang.
Before then there had been constant warring in China.
The Qin and Han which are the dynasties that the typical modern day Chinese descends from, began to rule in this period of Emperor Qinshihuang.
It was this dynasty that introduced a Feudal system which was based on the people serving the emperors by way of working and fighting for them, and in exchange receiving support, land and protection.
Following the various defeats in the Opium Wars, the imperial house came together to work out strategies to modernise their military, economic strategies as well as their foreign policy.
Thus the 1860s were characterised by the setting up of modern day military industries. The 1870s were characterised by the promotion of civilian industries to curb poverty and strengthen the economy.
By the beginning of the 1890s, the Qing had raised a somewhat modern army which they set up for coastal defence and named it the Northern fleet.
Just as these efforts were beginning to bear fruit, the Chinese would be forced to put their forces to test in a war with neighboring Japan.
Japan attacked Korea, (which was then undivided) in July of 1894 CE with a view to annexing it.
The King of Korea responded by inviting China to help fend off the Japanese. China felt obliged to assist because the Han Chinese, the single largest group in China, are kinsmen of Koreans.
The Chinese arrived at a Korean peninsula where the Japanese had dispatched their troops.
They clashed with Japanese warships and this quickly blew into a battle.
The war crossed into the Korean city of Pyonyang and though the Chinese fought diligently, they were routed by the Japanese troops.
The Chinese troops retreated to China and the Japanese advanced until 12 of their warships entered Chinese territory.
On September 17 1894 CE, commanders Ding Ruchang and Liu Buchan ordered 10 warships from China’s Northern fleet to engage the Japanese at home.
The Northern fleet fought bravely, but they found that Japan had acquired more advanced weapons and thus they took many casualties.
The Japanese warships also outnumbered theirs and this led to China’s defeat.
By November, the Japanese had taken Dalian and Lushun where they committed acts of genocide that led to the death of well over 18 000 Chinese people in a period of less than four days.
In February of the following year, the Japanese took over the port of Weihaiwei where the Northern fleet had been stationed and finished it off.
In April of 1895 CE, China, represented by Li Hongzhang was forced to sign yet another oppressive treaty, this time with an unlikely invader, their close neighbour Japan.
It was called the Treaty of Shimonoseki and entailed China having to pay Japan 200 million taels of silver as war reparations.
It also required for China to cede Liaodong peninsula and Taiwan to Japan.
Russia intervened and succeeded in returning Liaodong peninsula to China, but under the condition that they pay Japan 30 million taels of silver.
Evidently, the Japanese were no different to the British and other European invaders in China because they acted in much the same way in subjugating and plundering China.
Japan’s commonality in foreign policy to Western nations such as Britain was not a coincidence or accident.
In the following article, we shall look at how the Europeans influenced Japan turned it into a war machine.