The Decline and the Collapse

The Collapse of the Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the strongest out of all the past dynasties and was also the last dynasty in China.  It started to fell apart in the 18th century.  There was overpopulation growth, bad harvests, rebellions, wars, and natural disasters, Sun Yet-Sen coming to power, and foreign influence.

Great Britain wanted tea from China, but China did not need any goods from them.  Great Britain owed China so much that they had to do something to get out of their debt.  They decided on selling silver, but China did not care about that.  Great Britain came up with the idea of selling opium, a type of Indian drug.  The Chinese became so addicted that the Emperor Tao-Kuang of Qing made Opium illegal in China.  Great Britain did not like the idea of stopping opium trade in China, which led to the Opium War.  Great Britain won the war, forcing China to sign the Treaty of Nanjing.  From this treaty, more trade ports were opened to the west, foreign cultures and ideas were spread all over China.  This was the beginning of Western influence.

While China struggled with bad economy, the life of the villagers and the poor people of Qing became more difficult.  The villagers and the poor were not happy with their living standard, resulting the Taiping Rebellion led by a Christian leader, Hong Xiuquan.  With the help from the Western powers, China was able to restore Nanjing.  During the Taiping Rebellion, more than 20 million people, men, women, and children were killed.
The Qing spent way too much money on their military and living a fancy life.  This made the economy worse.  Then came the overpopulation growth.  When China’s population increased enormously, there was not enough food to feed every.  Natural disasters like flood ruined the farm land, and farmers cannot plant any crops.  As a result, most people became bandits, stealing food and everything, or formed rebellions against the Qing.
Sun Yat-Sen wanted to make China better and dreamed of making China into a Republic.  By the late 19th century, Sun Yat-Sen formed a group that opposed the Qing Dynasty.  He was later forced to leave china or else his head would be cut off.  When Sun Yat-Sen came back, he formed a Revolutionary in the early 20th century.  He created the Three People’s Principles, Nationalism, free from imperialism rule, Democracy, to run by the power of the people, and People’s livelihood, benefiting to the welfare of everyone rather than benefiting only the upper classes.  When Empress Dowager Ci Xi died, everything was turning good for Sun Yat-Sun.  The three-year-old Emperor Pu Yi was in charge and Sun Yet-Sen took advances of this.  A document was signed for giving up the throne in Emperor Pu Yi’s name.  Sun Yat-Sen became the president of the Republican, but not for long.  He was only the president for about four years and was replaced by Yuan Shikai.  The people of china did not like all of Sun Yat-Sen’s ideas.  Sun Yat-Sen later died of cancer in March 12, 1925.
The collaspe of the Qing Dynasty was caused by both internal problems and external problems.