EFFECTS OF COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM ON CHINA

Name

Course

Date

Effects of Colonialism and Imperialism on China

Colonialism and imperialism significantly play a significant role in shaping the historical constituent of China as a nation and the Chinese people. At the nineteenth century, China was not industrialized, but it had its system where the small workshop run by the indigenous workers were able to produce a high percentage of the goods that Chinese required even if not to satisfaction. The self-sufficient condition made the Chinese empire rarely get involved in trade with the western superpowers who have hugely dominated other nations in Africa and Asia. The colonialism and imperialism in China by the Europeans had both negative and positive effects on the country and the Chinese. However, the adverse impact by western colonizers overweight the sound ones as their fundamental interest was the acquisition of natural resources and raw materials for their developing industries, the market for their industrial products as well as attainment of many colonization spheres abroad. Among the positive effects of Colonialism and Imperialism in China include industrial revolution and technology advancement. In this paper, the adverse effects of Colonialism and Imperialism in China are discussed to a profound extent as well as their impacts on the Chinese.

There before colonialization, the Europeans had been based on the Canton port for an extended period where they used to trade and carry business which was not that efficient as the Chinese were not interested in their products. They regarded the products from European merchants as inferior hence the downfall of the westerns commerce in the nation. Only a few goods would be bought from the Europeans at the Canton port as the Chinese preferred their home made products. Therefore, the Europeans significantly had the urge to come up with a product that will do well in China to strengthen their bond in the country. The main aim of the Europeans getting associated was for economic benefits especially enhancement of useful trade where they could import large quantities of good to China in exchange for the natural resources available. The British among other Europeans such as French plead the Chinese emperors to trade with them for a long time bearing no fruits.

At last the efforts and determination of the European colonizers finding a product that could do well in the China market succeeded after the invention of opium from India by the British East Indian Company. Opium is a convention drug forming tranquilizer that is manufactured from the poppy plant. The opium trade trended in China as the civilians would purchase it in bulk. Although the government of China tried to stop opium trade in the country, their efforts failed, and the drug gets into the local bases where a large number of the Chinese get addicted. Economic was the primary motive of the British imperialism in China during the nineteenth century. The British market was in high demand for the Chinese silk, tea, and porcelain, but the British merchants did not have adequate silver to trade these products with the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the opium from India was significant as it acted as a barter trade bridge commodity. The British merchants could exchange the drug with the goods that were in demand in their home market.

The following increase of opium trading in China led to high addiction rate which resulted in social instability and economic degradation in the country. China attempted to bun opium in the country with no success and instead of leading to Opium Wars that caused the death of many people and loss of properties. At first, opium war started after the China government captivated British merchants’ ship, put in custody the Chinese members who were later released, lowered the Britain flag and destroyed all the trading goods that carried among opium. The British Empire seek revenge by bombarding Canton territories leading to great losses and death of many people. Later, the French joined the British in attacking China in the revenge of French missionary that had been killed in the China land. The second Opium War began after drunk British merchants killed Chinese at Canton port and the China government insisted their judgment be carried out in China. The British government refused to surrender the offenders leading to the armament of its military that was sent to bombard Canton and other China’s territories as a way of protecting its civilians.

Both Opium wars lead to significant destruction of properties and enormous death of people in China as it was the ground land where they were fought. The British arms were superior, and they ended up defeating Chines in both the wars forcing them to sign the unfair treaties such as the Treaty Ports. The imposed agreements enabled the Europeans to colonize China and allowed Christian missionary in the country as well as the control of tariffs by the foreigners. The treaties also opened other cities to trade with British merchants, and they included alien legal authority on the Chinese territory in these ports. The British Merchants had the right to trade into the interior parts of China and along the coastal regions. The British were authorized to trade in the Shanghai as well as Canton ports, and they were also given the island of Hong Kong.

In China, the imperialism was different from that evident in other regions such as Asia and Africa as British Imperialism did not politically take hold of the country’s mainland. In the late nineteenth century, the foreign powers were competing to have their spheres of influence in China. The European nation divided China into the area of control during the Qing dynasty at the commencement of the twentieth century. All this was possible because China portrayed weaknesses of not being politically as well as social economically stable. The British and foreign influence led to rebellions as people were furious with their impact on the public stability in the nation. Opium addiction significantly resulted in social-economic stability as people became less productive and China became economically disadvantaged with less revenue generation.

Colonialism and Imperialism compromised the liberty of the people of China leading to significant erosion of the cultural customs and beliefs. The spread of Christianity religion throughout the country changed many as they significantly adopted the western culture and the way of doing things. The use of opium there before was not a custom in the Chinese culture, but after the colonialism and imperialism, it became a way of living where many addicts could not stay without it affecting their performance level in various level.

From the above discussion, it is right that Colonialism and Imperialism lead to significant adverse effects in China and the impacts are experienced up to today. The European colonizers achieved their aim of getting the economic benefit as they reached the opium market, gained products that were inadequate in their homeland market from China and acquired fertile Chinese lands as well as empires signifying their general superiority. The colonization and imperialism play a significant historical role in the China nation as up to date Hong Kong live to be leading with regards to finance and commerce matters.