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Kushal Haran

Mr. Sheehy
AP Euro
3/10/14
Whos the Barbarian? : European New Imperialism and Social Antagonisms in China
It was rare that a European country would be found desiring to trade with a nation only to
be rejected because their goods were considered to be too invaluable. However, this was the
exact condition of the Euro-Chinese trade system. This is where one finds the genesis for the
European imperial domination in China that constituted the better part of the 19th century.
However, while European imperial interests began as purely economic, they soon turned into a
cultural mediation governed by the principle of the White Mans Burden which was all too
similar to the scramble for Africa. It is for this reason that the 19th century saw arguably the
tensest times in the Chinese empires. As a result of resentment from the opium wars and
economic exploitation coupled with western cultural and geographic dominion manifested in the
spheres of influence, social instability in China was at an all-time high. European imperialism
had fundamentally created a social antagonism between the western peoples and the Chinese in
which the former believed the latter had to be civilized while the latter believed the westerners
were monstrous intruders that needed to be fended off. Therefore, European nations originally
dominated China for economic reasons but added cultural reformation as time went on. This
economic and cultural exploitation of the Chinese people garnered extreme contempt for western
civilization in China leading to social unrest at the micro and macro political levels.

Just preceding European colonization, China, under the Qing Dynasty, was one of the
largest economies in the world. This was largely a result of technological advances, less
government regulation over domestic economic policies, and the seeds of industrialization being
planted in China (CEC). Furthermore, as European markets expanded and Chinas economy
became better and more dynamic the demand for Chinese goods, specifically porcelain, silk, and
tea, skyrocketed. However, the problem was that the Qing dynasty had little interest in trading
with Western nations, specifically Britain. In fact, the emperor once proclaimed Our land is so
wealthy and prosperous, that we possess all things. Therefore there is no need to exchange the
produce of foreign barbarians for our own. Basically, China had no interest in British goods
because they believed they had access to all those resources within the country. This doctrine
ends up creating a complex system of trade within China that spanned the whole continental land
that the Qing dynasty occupied. This system regulated foreign trade so much that only the
Canton port allowed trade and all goods at the port were severely taxed (Zelin). However, the
west had found the good that was worth trading for, opium. Nevertheless, the Qing dynasty
attempted to prohibit opium as much as possible for the poison that it was. Turning back to
European intentions, it is clear why they desired to dominate China. There were goods that
European nations wanted that they were not receiving despite technically having the resources to
trade (they had a surplus of opium). To respond to increased taxation on trade, Britain imported
large amounts of opium into China (He). By doing so, the spread of opium rapidly increased with
Chinese officials (who were supposed to regulate opium) being bribed with opium. Finally the
Qing dynasty nixed all trade with Britain as a last effort to shut down the Opium trade. This
embargo is what started the first Opium war, arguably the first imperialist conflict between
Europe and China that would pave the way for all European exploitation of China to come.

England clearly dominated the war, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking (the
first of the unequal treaties) (CEC). This treaty is economic imperialism par excellence. The
British got to establish four more trading ports in China of their choice, got to fix the tariffs on
the trade, got to trade at any time with no restrictions, and got to communicate with Chinese
officials directly while the Chinese had to pay reparations. The Chinese economic system was
eclipsed in favor of a British system of trade that only benefited the West. This clearly is
indicative of the fact that European imperialism in China began as an economic endeavor. If it
was not for the economic relationship between the West and the East, there would not have been
an Opium War, and the Unequal treaties would never have existed. Furthermore, it is clear that
cultural difference was almost entirely irrelevant in this imperialist entanglement between the
West and China.
Nevertheless, cultural difference was accentuated more and more as European
engagement with China increased. While European attitudes towards China began as respectful
and perhaps even dignified, it quickly changed to an interpretation that rendered the Chinese
peoples as primitive and barbaric. At the beginning, Europeans held China in high esteem
because of its success politically and economically. Furthermore, it was the Europeans who
desired to engage China and China rejecting them. That relationship established the European
nations as perhaps lower than China (He). However, after the First Opium war, this attitude
drastically changed. For example, Edmund Fishbourne wrote in the 1850s the opinion of the
civilized Englishman upon any subject, and those of the primitive Chinaman on the same
subjectwill be found to be the very opposite (Fishbourne 2). This statement illuminates how
Europeans understood Chinamen as primitive and barbaric as well as stupid since their opinion
would be found to be the very opposite of the civilized Englishman. This logic was

materially institutionalized through a variety of institutions in China, most significantly through


Christian propagation. While missionaries existed prior to the Opium Wars in China, they were
scarce. However, following the unequal treaties, the number of missionaries exponentially
increased. Christian schools were set up throughout China and missionaries began to try to
convert as many Chinese people as possible as European power increased in China. One of the
rationales for conversion that missionaries employed was that Chinese religion was inherently
backwards and needed to be westernized (He). This is nothing but the white mans burden
being applied to coloniality in China. This logic of westernization culminated in the failed
Hundred Days Reforms that were instituted by the Guangxzu emperor. While it is clear the
reforms were initiated by a Chinese leader, the Western roots of the reformation are evident
(Zelin). Really, all the reforms were just Chinas attempt to westernize by becoming capitalist,
adopting a western curriculum in schools, industrializing, and becoming a constitutional
monarchy. It is irrelevant whether the reformations would have been good for China or not.
Rather, what is important is that China was compelled to westernize because of imperialist
exploitation of Chinese culture. In this way, this attempted reformation is the legacy of European
imperialism in China. If China was never carved into Spheres of Influence, this attempted
reformation clearly would never have occurred because the vast European intrusion would never
have occurred thus not exposing Western values to China.
The Chinese response to European expansion was hostile to say the very least. The
Chinese people resented the West for ever engaging their country. The attitude towards the west
was already negative much prior to the era of the spheres of influence. This is clear for the
emperors exclamation of the barbarity of the European peoples that was mentioned up above.
Furthermore, the Chinese despised the methods of control European powers employed in African

countries and India. This is another reason why international trade was so regulated prior to the
opium wars. The Chinese feared that economic exploitation was imminent if they engaged
Western nations too much (Zelin) Obviously the fact that the exact threat they feared
materialized did not alleviate the tension between the East and the West any more. Chinese
aggression was primarily mental rather than physical after the opium wars. This tension
increased year by year as more spheres of influence were carved out and Europeans were given
more and more privileges in China, like extraterritoriality rights. This tension was
institutionalized through cultural customs in which the Chinese attempted to not engage in thee
Europeans in any way possible. Chinese reactions to European cultural mediation were even
more pronounced. For example, in response to the spread of Christianity, Chinese AntiForeignism was published in 1892 in which it condemned Christian rituals and spread harsh and
fallacious stereotypes of Western people (He). At the governmental level, the Chinese detested
European expansionism as well. For example, Lin Zexu explicitly voiced his hatred in an open
letter to the queen, there are barbarian ships that strive to come here for trade for the purpose of
making a great profit. The wealth of China is used to profit the barbarians. That is to say, the
great profit made by barbarians is all taken from the rightful share of China. By what right do
they then in return use the poisonous drug to injure the Chinese people? (Zexu). Zexu uses
barbarian three times to describe Britain, which represents how much Zexu despises economic
imperialism. With both civilizations considering the other as barbaric, it is no wonder why this
social antagonism was so emphasized in China during the Age of New Imperialism. This tension
got so bad that finally, the Boxer Rebellion occurred between 1898 and 1900 which is an
example of a violent reaction to European imperialism. The rebellion was basically a militia
called the boxers, revolting against the weak Qing dynasty because of its complicity with

western eradication of Chinese culture and social systems. While unsuccessful, the rebellion
reflects the visceral hatred the Chinese people held for the Western world and their exploitative,
imperialistic methods of control.
European imperialism was not just an era but a beginning of an epoch that is still
continuing today. It is a world founded on Western values that has set up systems of privilege
everywhere so as to favor the white man over marked bodies. This imperialistic domination
established a world where every nation has western aspects engrained into the very fabric of their
political and social systems. The example of China so clearly illustrates this principle. Even now,
the industrialized nature of China and the whole country of Hong Kong are founded on western
roots that are inextricable from the social climate of the two countries. Despite the fight against
the spheres of influence, despite the trade restrictions, despite the rebellions, European
coloniality prevailed. As emperor Qianlong would proclaim, it appears the foreign barbarians
have won.

Bibliography
Fishbourne, E. Gardiner. Impressions of China, and the Present Revolution Its Progress and Prospects.
London: Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday, 1855. Print.
He, Tao. "British Imperialism in China A Legacy of Commerce, Addiction, and Gunboat
Diplomacy." Guidedhistory.com. N.p., 10 June 2009. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
"History of Qing Dynasty - China Education Center." History of Qing Dynasty - China Education Center.
China Education Center, 7 Sept. 2007. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Zelin, Madeleine. "Grandeur of the Qing Economy." Grandeur of the Qing Economy. Columbia, n.d. Web.
11 Mar. 2014.
Zexu, Lin. Letter to Queen Victoria. 1839. Fordham.com. Fordham University, Oct. 1998. Web.

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