What Are Chinese Students Taught About The West? (Part II)

Link: The Opium Wars



 Part II

In 1836, most of China was cut off from trade with the Western world.  What trade that did occur left the Chinese with a healthy trade surplus.  Europe, the United States and Russia (heretofore referred to as "The West") wanted access to Chinese markets, and they wanted it bad.  At the time, the drug Opium (grown primarily in Turkey and in Her Majesty's Dominion of India) was being smuggled into China at a steadily increasing rate.  The import of Opium was threatening the balance of trade, not to mention the growing number of Chinese who were becoming addicts.  Ironically, the sale of Opium was illegal in England at the time.  The Chinese government decided that what was good for the goose was good for the gander, and not only made Opium illegal, but in 1839, raided a number of warehouses and ships in Canton and burned their cargo of Opium.  The Chinese may have felt that they were well within their rights to combat what was obviously a menace to Chinese society, but their actions could not have been more damaging to China's interests.  The war that followed was one-sided.  The British held every military advantage and occupied areas around Canton.  In  1842, the Chinese were obliged to agree to the Treaty of Nanking, which ceded Hong Kong to Great Britain and opened up various ports to trade.

The United States and France approached China after the Treaty of Nanking, and demanded the same concessions.  The idea of "most favored nation" took root in China, and to many Chinese, they became lower class citizens in their own country.  The British and the French again defeated China in the Second Opium War (1856).  In 1858, with the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin, foreigners (read missionaries) were allowed to travel unimpeded throughout China, and the Western nations were allowed to open embassies in Peking.  This last concession is more important than it may seem.  The Chinese revered their Emperor, and to allow "foreign devils" to live in the same city was a terrible insult.  More ports were opened to trade, the Opium poured into China, Christian missionaries seemed to be on every street corner, and the Chinese Civil Administration became prostrate with corruption.  In 1898, a movement of peasants calling themselves "Boxers", decided to remove the foreigners from China (initially the Boxers were protesting the insults inflicted on Chinese peasants by mostly American missionaries).  The movement swelled to hundreds of thousands, and forced its way past Chinese authorities and occupied Peking.  Cixi was powerless to stop the Boxers, and their intent to remove the foreign devils sounded promising, so she sided with the Movement as it laid siege to the foreign legation (the collection of Western embassies).  Eventually a rescue army of Austrians, French, Brits, Russians and even Japanese troops crushed the Boxer rebellion.  Cixi was allowed to stay on the throne, but another round of humiliating concessions were forced on China.

Imperial China died with Cixi (actually, Cixi was succeeded in 1908 by the child-emperor PuYi.  His story is also a fascinating read, as he lived long enough to experience Mao's Cultural Revolution).  Fast-forward to 2014, and one finds Chinese history books paint a less-than flattering portrayal of the West in the nineteenth century.  I've seen a few translated versions, and not surprisingly, a bit of Sino-license has been applied.  But just as the West had a monopoly on history in 1900, its China's turn to interpret history in a self-serving fashion.  The few Chinese that I have had the pleasure to know are very aware that current Western accounts of the Opium Wars and the Boxer rebellion are much more accurate.  But even in its accuracy, the greed and avarice with which the West conducted its China policy beggars shame.  Less than 180 years ago, British and French diplomacy was centered around creating a nation of Opium addicts.  I'm sure that many historians and armchair revisionists will disagree with my assessment, but there it is.  As someone who on occasion has had delicate dealings with a number of Chinese, let me say that my respectful acceptance of the shameful behavior on behalf of the Western governments in the mid 19th century, was well-received and greatly appreciated.

What Are Chinese Students Taught About the West? (Part I)

Link: The Opium Wars


Part I

Within the diplomatic community it is well known that the Chinese (mainland) continue to harbor a certain amount of historic resentment towards the United States, Russia, and Europe.  During my career, I raised this issue with every one of my Chinese contacts.  I love history, and I have tried to get my hands around the China story.  But its a monster, let me tell you.  I decided to focus my intial foray into l'histoire chinoise on the last two centuries, give or take a few years.  One book I recommend is "Dragon Lady", 1992 by Sterling Seagrave.  The Dragon Lady of the title is none other than the Manchu Qing Dynasty's last true ruler, the Dowager Empress Cixi (Tzu Hsi).  The manner in which history was allowed to treat the legacy of Cixi is a good example of why we so exasperate the Chinese.  To many non-English speakers, it appeared that, until recently, the white, English-speaking male owned history.  Cixi ruled for 47 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908.  She was originally one of many concubines chosen for the Manchu Emperor Xianfeng, and when he died, was fortunate enough to have born his only son.

For the next half-century Cixi managed to survive all manner of internal disruptions, alongside the slow but methodical dismemberment of China by the Western Powers.  I am not an apologist for Cixi; certainly she was involved in some decisions that are both cruel and hard to imagine.  But she provided the European and American press no-end of gossip.  Since no one was in a position to speak on behalf of the Empress Dowager (actually, a few brave souls tried and failed), a number of self-described "Chinese Historians" and "Sino-Experts" turned Cixi into the most evil, corrupt, lustful creature since, well, Nero.  This perception was still accepted in the United States in 1963, when the blockbuster movie "55 Days at Peking" (an attempt to chronicle the 1898 Chinese Boxer Rebellion) introduced Cixi as the stereotypical cunning, deceptive Oriental who spoke perfect English!  Thanks to a growing number of historians and Sterling Seagrave, Cixi's reputation has been somewhat recovered.  But the average Chinese citizen can't hold a grudge just because of ol' Cixi, right?  Actually, compared to the crimes committed by the Western Powers during the Opium Wars (and after), Cixi's vilification pales.

Some historians argue that the issue for the Chinese people is not the actual events that took place, but the attitude of "West is superior to East" than took root.  Terms like "Chinese Laundry" became common.  Most Americans are unaware of the part Chinese labor played in building the transcontinental railroad, not to mention the west coast communities of San Francisco and Los Angeles.  But in my experience, it always comes back to the Opium Wars.  I believe that the majority of Chinese are convinced that the era of the Opium Wars and the arrival of Christian Missionaries is when the West decided that the Chinese people were somehow inferior to Europeans.

(To be continued with Part II)