Century of Humiliation

This article is a stub.

You can help by expanding it!

Add more data, information, drawings, or useless stuff, as long as it is relevant to this page’s topic!

Hundred Years of National Humiliation : 百年國恥
←      → 1839 – 1945
the cake of empires
General Information
Time of Exist:	4 September 1839 - 2 September 1945
Government:	Absolute Monarchy (1839-1911, 1915-1916) Provisional Government (1912-1913) Warlord-Ruled Factions (1916-1928) One-Party State (1925-1945)
Relations and Opinions
Friends:	Boxers
Enemies:	Empire of Japan British Empire French Colonial Empire French Third Republic
Historical Information
Preceded By:	Qing Dynasty
Succeeded By:	Republic of China after WWII

“”The opening of China by Western powers through the Opium Wars was not about civilizing an ancient culture, but about commercial greed and imperialism.

— John King Fairbank

The century of humiliation was a period in Chinese history beginning with the First Opium War (1839–1842, Qing Dynasty), and ending in 1945 with China emerging out of the Second World War as one of the Big Four. During this period of roughly a hundred years, China was is typified by decline, defeat and political fragmentation. Foreign, mainly European powers like Britain and Russia exploited China for goods and clay. They intervened, annexed and subjugated China. In the century of humiliation, China is seen as a weak and crumbling empire.

History

Chinese nationalists in the 1920s and the 1930s dated the Century of Humiliation to the mid-19th century, on the eve of the First Opium War amidst the dramatic political unraveling of Qing China that followed.

Defeats by foreign powers cited as part of the Century of Humiliation include the following (WIP):

• Western and Japanese Trade in Opium to China (1800s–1940s)
• Defeat in the First Opium War (1839–1842)
• British occupation of Hong Kong (1841-1997)
• Treaty of Nanking (1842)
• Treaty of Whampoa (1844)
• Defeat in the Second Opium War (1856–1860)
• Treaty of Aigun (1858)
• Treaty of Peking (1860)
• The sacking and looting of the Old Summer Palace by Anglo-French forces (1860)
• Partial defeat during the Sino-French War, which resulted in losing suzerainty over Vietnam and influence in the Indochinese Peninsula (1884–1885)
• The British Sikkim expedition (1888)
• Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895)

Collapse of Qing Dynasty

ROC defeated Qing Dynasty during the Xinhai Rebellion of 1911 to abolish monarchy and kicked out the Manchus.

Criticism

“	China's nineteenth-century humiliations were strongly related to her weakness and failure at sea. At the start of the First Opium War, China had no unified navy and not a sense of how vulnerable she was to attack from the sea. British navy forces sailed and steamed wherever they wanted to go. In the Second Opium War (1856–1860), the Chinese had no way to prevent the Anglo-French navy expedition of 1860 from sailing into the Gulf of Zhili and landing as near as possible to Beijing. Meanwhile, new but not exactly modern Chinese armies suppressed the midcentury rebellions, bluffed Russia into a peaceful settlement of disputed frontiers in Central Asia, and defeated the French forces on land in the Sino-French War (1884–85). But the defeat at sea, and the resulting threat to steamship traffic to Taiwan, forced China to conclude peace on unfavorable terms.	”
	— Edward L. Dreyer

Many histroians have criticized the view of China being weak in the 19th century. They argue that vulnerability and weakness to foreign imperialism in the 19th century are based mainly on Qing's maritime naval weakness, and achieved military success against Westerners on land. The allegation that China refused to modernize or was unable to defeat Western armies was also criticized, noting that China embarked on a massive military modernization in the late 1800s after several defeats, bought weapons from Western countries, and manufactured his own at arsenals, such as the Hanyang Arsenal during the Boxer Rebellion. In addition, the claim that Chinese society was traumatized by the Western victories was also questioned, as many Chinese peasants (then 90% of the population) lived outside the concessions and continued about their daily lives uninterrupted and without any feeling of "humiliation".

How to draw

Imperialism symbol looming over the upside down Qing dragon

Century of Humiliation has a drawing rating of hard.

1. Draw a ball.
2. Fill it with yellow.
3. Draw an upside down blue Chinese dragon with red and green hair and white scales in the middle. It’s head should be facing left.
4. Add the imperialism symbol on top of the dragon.
5. Add Chinese eyes and you are done!

Color Name		HEX
	Yellow	#FECD21
	Blue	#00386A
	Green	#09866C
	Red	#E6170F
	White	#FFFFFF
	Black	#000000

Gallery

• 
•