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15 years after winning the First Opium War, the British were growing antsy. They wanted even more favorable trade conditions, including the definitive legalization of the opium trade, as well as the regulation of the coolie trade. (Coolies were Chinese indentured servants—in effect, legal slaves—shipped off by the British to outlying spots of the British Empire and to Latin America.) The British also believed that the Chinese were not keeping up with the [Read more…]
In the early afternoon, I left the Forbidden City through the northern Gate of Divine Prowess knowing that it would be incredibly hard to top that experience. Nonetheless, I still had a whole lot of Beijing to [Read more…]
The Taiping Rebellion? What the hell is that? In school I learned about the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. But I’m quite certain I’d never heard of the Taiping Rebellion. Would you believe it was the bloodiest conflict of the 19th century and the bloodiest civil war in history at likely well over 20 million dead? Battle deaths were actually less than half a million. The remainder died from famine and plague directly related to the war. (Plus there was the matter of thousands of civilians executed by the victors for suspicion of loyalty to the rebels.) [Read more…]
Way back in 1387, barely a decade after driving the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty back to Mongolia, the Ming Dynasty were nervous about the possibility of an invasion by Mongols then ruling in Manchuria, to the northeast. In a preemptive strike, the Ming invaded Manchuria and loosely annexed it into China. About 200 years later, with the Mongols gone and the Chinese only governing Manchuria casually, native Manchus began to organize and by 1616 declared their own dynasty, eventually named Qing (pronounced “Ching”). The Manchu rebellion overthrew the declining Ming [Read more…]
In 1378, the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty were overthrown and sent packing back to Mongolia by what became the Ming Dynasty. Thus was ushered in perhaps China’s most shimmering golden age of all. In fact, Ming means “brilliant” or “bright”. In Beijing, the Ming picked up where the Mongols left off, creating a master-planned imperial city centered on the new imperial palace, known today as the Forbidden City. The Great Wall as it exists today is mostly due to construction performed during the Ming Dynasty. Ming emperors were enthusiastic patrons [Read more…]