Scramble for China

Last updated
A French political cartoon in 1898, showing Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and Japan dividing China China imperialism cartoon.jpg
A French political cartoon in 1898, showing Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and Japan dividing China

The Scramble for China, [1] also known as the Partition of China [2] or the Scramble for Concessions, [3] was a concept that existed during the 1890s in Europe, the United States, and the Empire of Japan for the partitioning of China under the Qing dynasty as their own spheres of influence, during the era of "New Imperialism". However, the United States Secretary of State created the Open Door Policy in 1899 which sought to prevent the European powers from trying to carve up China into colonies and proposed that all interested powers had equal access to China. [4] The policy was gradually accepted by the major powers so that the concept of the partitioning of China generally lost favor by the early 20th century.

Contents

Chinese press routinely described the scramble as the "carving up of the melon" (瓜分), [5] and modern Chinese writers usually consider such events in China part of the century of humiliation that began with the First Opium War (1839–1842) and ended with China established as a great power in 1945 or the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Marxist historians in China considered China during this period a semi-colony because of the domination by the Western countries. [6] On the other hand, the Scramble for Africa by the Western European powers also appeared around the same time, which resulted in the direct colonization of almost all of the African continent by 1914.

History

The Qing dynasty reached its peak during the 18th century, with a large population and territory. Until the early 19th century, the internal areas of the Qing Empire had little influence from European powers. At that time, the Qing government only allowed Western European countries to conduct any trade with China in Guangzhou under the Canton System. But as new technology began to unbalance the relationship in the 19th century, foreigners gradually gathered around the declining Qing Empire. The great powers such as Britain that won the Opium Wars initially only demanded the creation of a new framework for China's foreign relations and overseas trade, including privileges such as extraterritoriality and treaty ports. But with China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War and the signing of the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki with the Empire of Japan in 1895, China was considered the "Sick man of Asia", and the ambitions of the great powers to compete for spheres of influence in China were greatly stimulated. [1] [7]

In 1897, Germany demanded and was given a set of exclusive mining and railroad rights in Shandong, along with the lease of Jiaozhou Bay. Russia obtained access to Dairen and Port Arthur and the right to build a railroad across Manchuria, along with the lease of Liaodong. The United Kingdom and France also received a number of concessions, including the British lease of the New Territories of Hong Kong and the French lease of Guangzhouwan. At this time, much of China was divided up into "spheres of influence": Germany had influence in Shandong and the Yellow River valley; Russia had influence in the Liaodong Peninsula and Manchuria; the United Kingdom had influence in Weihaiwei and the Yangtze Valley; France had influence in the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangdong, and Guangxi; and Japan also had influence in Fujian.

Spheres of influence in China during the late Qing dynasty KCRC China spheres of influence.jpg
Spheres of influence in China during the late Qing dynasty
US cartoon from 1899: Uncle Sam (center, representing the United States) demanding Open Door access to trade with China while European powers plan to cut it up for themselves. From left to right: Kaiser Wilhelm II (Germany), King Umberto I (Italy), John Bull (Britain), Tsar Nicholas II (Russia) and President Emile Loubet (France). Emperor Franz Joseph I (Austria) is in the back. Putting his foot down.jpg
US cartoon from 1899: Uncle Sam (center, representing the United States) demanding Open Door access to trade with China while European powers plan to cut it up for themselves. From left to right: Kaiser Wilhelm II (Germany), King Umberto I (Italy), John Bull (Britain), Tsar Nicholas II (Russia) and President Emile Loubet (France). Emperor Franz Joseph I (Austria) is in the back.

As the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions wrote in 1898, Europe's current Scramble for China was much like its Scramble for Africa, which had sparked many discussions since a few years ago; China's vulnerability was made clear to the world in its 1895 war with Japan, and her current state could encourage eagles to flock together; and they had not taken long to do this – Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and others had all staked claims and were aggressively advancing their projects. [7]

In 1899, Italy also presented an ultimatum to the Chinese government, demanding the lease of Sanmen Bay in Zhejiang. However, this demand was sternly rejected by China. The Empress Dowager Cixi, the effective ruler of Qing China then decided that enough was enough [8] and stated at a palace meeting that "not a single piece of loess will be given to the Italians", and such policy ultimately forced Italy to give up any claim to China's coast. The Chinese justified their refusal by arguing that Italy had no genuine political or economic stakes in China. And indeed the Italian demand to emulate the major nations was mostly motivated by concerns of prestige. However, it was said that the result was that Italy "was made to appear a third or fourth-rate power". [9] The fiasco was an embarrassment for Italy, which was still stung by its defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian Empire in the Battle of Adowa in 1896. [10] Such event in China also dispelled any idea of second-rate powers at that time like the Netherlands or Denmark taking the opportunity to participate in the Scramble for China. [8] [11]

The fact that China being humiliated by foreign powers caused strong xenophobia inside the country and became the fuse of the Boxer Rebellion, an uprising against foreigners and Christians that occurred in China around 1900, begun by peasants but eventually supported by the Qing government under the Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi issued an imperial decree in the name of Guangxu Emperor that was a de facto declaration of war on the invading powers, who in turn formed a multinational military coalition known as the Eight-Nation Alliance which invaded northern China and defeated the "Boxers". With the success of the invasion, the later stages developed into a punitive colonial expedition, which pillaged the capital Beijing and North China for more than a year. The fighting ended in 1901 with the signing of the Boxer Protocol. [12]

China continued to be divided up into these spheres until the United States, which had no sphere of influence in China and only recently acquired the Philippines from Spain, grew alarmed at the possibility of its businessmen being excluded from Chinese markets. To prevent the "carving of China like a melon", as the European powers were doing in Africa at the time, the U.S. Secretary of State John Hay created the Open Door Policy that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China, and circulated a note known as the "Open Door Note" (dated September 6, 1899) to the major European powers. [13] The Note asked the powers to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis and called upon all powers, within their spheres of influence to refrain from interfering with any treaty port or any vested interest, to permit Chinese authorities to collect tariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to their own nationals in the matter of harbor dues or railroad charges.

The Open Door policy was then accepted only grudgingly, if at all, by the major powers, and it had no legal standing or enforcement mechanism. Each country tried to evade Hay's request by taking the position that it could not commit itself until the other nations had complied. However, by July 1900, Hay announced that each of the powers had granted its consent in principle. Although treaties after 1900 referred to the Open Door Policy, competition continued abated among the various powers for special concessions within China for railroad rights, mining rights, loans, foreign trade ports, and so forth. [14] On October 6, 1900, Britain and Germany signed the Yangtze Agreement to oppose the partition of China into spheres of influence. The agreement, signed by Lord Salisbury and Ambassador Paul von Hatzfeldt, was an endorsement of the Open Door Policy. The Germans supported it because a partition of China would limit Germany to a small trading market, instead of all of China. [15] [16] Over the next decades, American policy-makers and national figures continued to refer to the Open Door Policy as a basic doctrine, which stopped the European powers from carving up China into colonies, but did allow them to establish spheres of influence. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western imperialism in Asia</span> Imperialization and spread of influence over Asia by Western Europe and associated states

The influence and imperialism of Western Europe and associated states peaked in Asian territories from the colonial period beginning in the 16th century and substantially reducing with 20th century decolonization. It originated in the 15th-century search for alternative trade routes to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia as a response to Ottoman control of the Silk Road that led directly to the Age of Discovery, and additionally the introduction of early modern warfare into what Europeans first called the East Indies and later the Far East. By the early 16th century, the Age of Sail greatly expanded Western European influence and development of the spice trade under colonialism. European-style colonial empires and imperialism operated in Asia throughout six centuries of colonialism, formally ending with the independence of the Portuguese Empire's last colony Macau in 1999. The empires introduced Western concepts of nation and the multinational state. This article attempts to outline the consequent development of the Western concept of the nation state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxer Rebellion</span> 1899–1901 anti-imperialist uprising in China

The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising or Boxer Insurrection, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, known as the "Boxers" in English due to many of its members having practised Chinese martial arts, which at the time were referred to as "Chinese boxing". It was defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance of foreign powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Shimonoseki</span> 1895 treaty ending the First Sino-Japanese War

The Treaty of Shimonoseki, also known as the Treaty of Maguan in China and Treaty of Bakan in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was an unequal treaty signed at the Shunpanrō hotel, Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War.

Treaty ports were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Imperialism</span> Colonial expansion in late 19th and early 20th centuries

In historical contexts, New Imperialism characterizes a period of colonial expansion by European powers, the United States, and Japan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The period featured an unprecedented pursuit of overseas territorial acquisitions. At the time, states focused on building their empires with new technological advances and developments, expanding their territory through conquest, and exploiting the resources of the subjugated countries. During the era of New Imperialism, the European powers individually conquered almost all of Africa and parts of Asia. The new wave of imperialism reflected ongoing rivalries among the great powers, the economic desire for new resources and markets, and a "civilizing mission" ethos. Many of the colonies established during this era gained independence during the era of decolonization that followed World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sphere of influence</span> Political concept

In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guangxu Emperor</span> Emperor of China from 1875 to 1908

The Guangxu Emperor, also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign was largely dominated by his maternal aunt Empress Dowager Cixi. He initiated the radical Hundred Days' Reform but was abruptly stopped when the Empress Dowager launched a coup in 1898, after which he was held under virtual house arrest until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-One Demands</span> 1915 Japanese set of demands to China

The Twenty-One Demands was a set of demands made during the First World War by the Empire of Japan under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu to the government of the Republic of China on 18 January 1915. The secret demands would greatly extend Japanese control of China. Japan would keep the former German areas it had conquered at the start of World War I in 1914. Japan would be strong in Manchuria and South Mongolia. And, Japan would have an expanded role in railways. The most extreme demands would give Japan a decisive voice in finance, policing, and government affairs. The last part would make China in effect a protectorate of Japan, and thereby reduce Western influence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Tientsin</span> 1858 unequal treaty between Qing China and the UK, France, Russia, and the US

The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several unequal treaties signed at Tianjin in June 1858. The Qing dynasty, Russian Empire, Second French Empire, United Kingdom, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties, counted by the Chinese among the unequal treaties, opened more Chinese ports to foreign trade, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allowed Christian missionary activity, and effectively legalized the import of opium. They ended the first phase of the Second Opium War, which had begun in 1856 and were ratified by the Emperor of China in the Convention of Peking in 1860, after the end of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Open Door Policy</span> Late 19th/early 20th-century U.S. foreign policy seeking to open trade with China

The Open Door Policy is the United States diplomatic policy established in the late 19th and early 20th century that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China. The policy was created in U.S. Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note, dated September 6, 1899, and circulated to the major European powers. In order to prevent the "carving of China like a melon", as they were doing in Africa, the Note asked the powers to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis and called upon all powers, within their spheres of influence to refrain from interfering with any treaty port or any vested interest, to permit Chinese authorities to collect tariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to their own nationals in the matter of harbor dues or railroad charges. The policy was accepted only grudgingly, if at all, by the major powers, and it had no legal standing or enforcement mechanism. In July 1900, as the powers contemplated intervention to put down the violently anti-foreign Boxer uprising, Hay circulated a Second Open Door Note affirming the principles. Over the next decades, American policy-makers and national figures continued to refer to the Open Door Policy as a basic doctrine, and Chinese diplomats appealed to it as they sought American support, but critics pointed out that the policy had little practical effect.

The unequal treaties were a series of agreements made between Asian countries – most notably Qing China, Tokugawa Japan and Joseon Korea – and Western countries – most notably the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United States and Russia – during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were often signed following a military defeat suffered by the former party, or amid military threats made by the latter. Their terms specified obligations to be borne almost exclusively by the former party: provisions included the cession of territory, the payment of reparations, the opening of treaty ports, the relinquishment of the right to control tariffs and imports, and the granting of extraterritoriality to foreign citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nine-Power Treaty</span> 1922 treaty affirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China

The Nine-Power Treaty or Nine-Power Agreement was a 1922 treaty affirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of China as per the Open Door Policy. The Nine-Power Treaty was signed on 6 February 1922 by all of the attendees to the Washington Naval Conference: Belgium, China, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign concessions in Tianjin</span> Former concession territories of Qing China

The foreign concessions in Tianjin were concession territories ceded by the Qing dynasty to a number of European countries, the United States and Japan within the city of Tianjin. There were altogether nine foreign concessions in old Tianjin on the eve of World War II. These concessions also contributed to the rapid development of Tianjin from the early to mid-20th century. The first foreign concessions in Tianjin were granted in 1860. By 1943, all the foreign concessions, except the Japanese concession, had ceased to exist de facto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign concessions in China</span> European spheres of influence in China

Foreign concessions in China were a group of concessions that existed during late Imperial China and the Republic of China, which were governed and occupied by foreign powers, and are frequently associated with colonialism and imperialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Li–Lobanov Treaty</span> 1896 secret treaty between Russian Empire and Qing China

The Li–Lobanov Treaty or the Sino-Russian Secret Treaty was a secret and unequal treaty signed on June 3, 1896 in Moscow by foreign minister Alexey Lobanov-Rostovsky on behalf of the Russian Empire and viceroy Li Hongzhang on behalf of Qing China. The treaty and its consequences increased anti-foreign sentiment in China, which came to a head in the Boxer Uprising of 1900.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Century of humiliation</span> Era in Chinese history (c. 1839–1940s)

The century of humiliation was a period in Chinese history beginning with the First Opium War (1839–1842), and ending in 1945 with China emerging out of the Second World War as one of the Big Four and established as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, or alternately, ending in 1949 with the founding of the People's Republic of China. The century-long period is typified by the decline, defeat and political fragmentation of the Qing dynasty and the subsequent Republic of China, which led to demoralizing foreign intervention, annexation and subjugation of China by Western powers, Russia, and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xu Jingcheng</span> Chinese diplomat and politician

Xu Jingcheng was a Chinese diplomat and Qing politician supportive of the Hundred Days' Reform. He was envoy to Belgium, France, Italy, Russia, Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany for the Qing imperial court and led reforms in modernizing China's railways and public works. As a modernizer and diplomat, he protested the breaches of international law in 1900 as one of the five ministers executed during the Boxer Rebellion. In Article IIa of the Boxer Protocol of 1901, the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces successfully pressed for the rehabilitation of Xu Jingcheng by an Imperial Edict of the Qing government:

Imperial Edict of the 13th February last rehabilitated the memories of Hsu Yung-yi, President of the Board of War; Li Shan, President of the Board of Works; Hsu Ching Cheng, Senior VicePresident of the Board of Civil Office; Lien Yuan, Vice-Chancellor of the Grand Council; and Yuan Chang, Vice-President of the Court of Sacrifices, who had been put to death for having protested against the outrageous breaches of international law of last year.

The Yangtze Agreement was an agreement between Great Britain and Germany signed on October 16, 1900, signed by Prime Minister Lord Salisbury and Ambassador Count Paul von Hatzfeldt respectively. It stated both parties' opposition to the partition of China into spheres of influence.

Chinese cruiser <i>Hai Tien</i> Chinese ship

Hai Tien was the second ship of the Hai Chi class of protected cruisers and one of the last built for the Manchu Qing dynasty.

The history of China–United States relations covers the relations of the United States with the Qing and Republic eras. For history after the 1949 founding of the People's Republic of China, see China–United States relations.

References

  1. 1 2 Robert A. Bickers (2015). The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Qing Empire, 1832–1914. Royal Pavilion & Museums. ISBN   9788184246834.
  2. ↑ Public Opinion: A Weekly Review of Current Thought and Activity, Volume 74. G. Cole. 1898. p. 359.
  3. ↑ "The Unequal Treaties System" (PDF). Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "The Open Door Note and The Open Door Policy" . Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  5. ↑ Esherick, Joseph (2006). Empire to Nation: Historical Perspectives on the Making of the Modern World. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 229. ISBN   9780742540316.
  6. ↑ Li, Lin (2021). "Repatriation, colonialism, and decolonization in China". Icofom Study Series (49–2): 147–163. doi:10.4000/iss.3818 . Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  7. 1 2 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1898). The Missionary Herald, Volume 94. Board. p. 256.
  8. 1 2 Nield, Robert (2015). China's Foreign Places: The Foreign Presence in China in the Treaty Port Era, 1840-1943. Hong Kong University Press. p. 195. ISBN   9789888139286.
  9. ↑ Andornino, Giovanni (2013). Italy's Encounters with Modern China: Imperial Dreams, Strategic Ambitions. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 58. ISBN   9781137290939.
  10. ↑ Coco, Orazio (24 April 2019). "Italian diplomacy in China: the forgotten affair of Sān Mén Xiàn (1898–1899)". Journal of Modern Italian Studies. 24 (2): 328–349. doi:10.1080/1354571X.2019.1576416. S2CID   150961616.
  11. ↑ "慈禧太后最硬气的一次 怒斥此国: 一把黄土都不给他们" . Retrieved 2024-03-30.
  12. ↑ Hevia, James L. "Looting and its discontents: Moral discourse and the plunder of Beijing, 1900–1901" in R. Bickers and R. G. Tiedemann (eds.), The Boxers, China, and the world Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009 [ ISBN missing ]
  13. ↑ "Commercial Rights in China ('Open Door' Policy): Declarations by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, and Russia accepting United States proposal for 'open door' policy in China, September 6, 1899 – March 20, 1900", Bevans Vol. 1, p. 278.
  14. ↑ Sugita, Yoneyuki, "The Rise of an American Principle in China: A Reinterpretation of the First Open Door Notes toward China" in Richard J. Jensen, Jon Thares Davidann, and Yoneyuki Sugita, eds. Trans-Pacific relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the twentieth century (Greenwood, 2003) pp 3–20
  15. ↑ "Yangtze Agreement", Historical Dictionary of the British Empire (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996), pp. 1176 [ ISBN missing ]
  16. ↑ Paul M. Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism: 1860–1914 (1980) pp 243, 354.[ ISBN missing ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.