China Western Expansion

China was the most superior country for many years, which in turn provided security and trade opportunities through the tributary system to many inferior surrounding countries. The Chinese empire thrived off other countries in order to give China a more powerful provision. Westerners noticed the opportunities that Asia had to provide, and took a particular interest in the two most powerful countries of Asia: China and Japan. In response to their interests the westerners started to invaded China and Japan, they had an imbalanced connection with China before the invasion but the Westerners pushed for more interaction. The western penetration led to cultural, economical and political effects within both of these powerful Asian countries. China

China was entangled in the two Opium Wars that left them helpless. The first Opium War ended by forcing the Chinese to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, an unequal treaty which stated that Chinese were to open five ports to British trade, establish fair and regular tariff, and cede Hong Kong to the British (Cohen, 252). The Qing Empire was still not satisfied with the European expansion into their country, which led to the second Opium War. This war ended with “complete defeat of Qing” (Lu 9/21) it consumed more treaties, and more ports for foreign trade. China became powerless and were forced to allow western expansion. On the other had, Japan dealt with western penetration in a must different and more reasonable way. In 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Japan from America in the hopes to persuade Japan to become an open door country, allowing foreign trade. The shogun, who had complete control over Japan did not believe that this was the best idea for his countries but soon was persuaded by Perry and agreed to open the countries doors and end the long-term

In 1850, “China was being torn apart by The Taiping Rebellion” (Cohen, 255) that led to one of the most devastating civil wars in history. The rebellion was led by Hong Xiuquan who believed he was the brother of Jesus Christ and was summoned to reform China. Finally, in 1864 foreign forces stopped the bloodiest war in history leaving China vulnerable. Because of the devastation in China, the Europeans saw this as an opportunity for them to gain more control over China by establishing more treaties. Similarly, there was an uprising in Japan in 1868 that overthrew the shogun and appointed complete power to the emperor. Samurai leaders arranged a military uprising in order to defeat the shogun successfully. There intent was to allow Japan to become more modernized and to be able to have their emperor in full colonial power. This uprising transformed Japan into a more powerful and effective