Editing Qing dynasty (section)

===Rebellion, unrest, and external pressure===
 [[File:Destroying Chinese war junks, by E. Duncan (1843).jpg|thumb|British Steamship destroying Chinese war [[junks]] (E. Duncan; 1843)]]

During the early Qing, China continued to be the hegemonic imperial power in East Asia. Although there was no formal ministry of foreign relations, the [[Lifan Yuan]] was responsible for relations with the Mongols and Tibetans in Inner Asia, while the [[Tributary system of China|tributary system]], a loose set of institutions and customs taken over from the Ming, in theory governed relations with East and Southeast Asian countries. The 1689 [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] stabilised relations with the [[Tsardom of Russia]]. However, during the 18th century, European empires gradually expanded across the world and developed economies predicated on maritime trade, colonial extraction, and technological advances. The dynasty was confronted with [[Westphalian sovereignty|newly developing concepts of the international system]] and state-to-state relations. European trading posts expanded into territorial control in what is now India and Indonesia. The Qing response was to establish the [[Canton System]] in 1756, which restricted maritime trade to [[Guangzhou]] and gave monopoly trading rights to [[Hong (business)|private Chinese merchants]]. This was successful for a time, and the [[British East India Company]] and the [[Dutch East India Company]] had long before been granted similar monopoly rights by their governments.

In 1793, the British East India Company, with the support of the British government, sent a [[Macartney Mission|diplomatic mission]] to China led by [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|Lord Macartney]] in order to open trade and put relations on a basis of equality. The imperial court viewed trade as of secondary interest, whereas the British saw maritime trade as the key to their economy. The Qianlong Emperor told Macartney "the kings of the myriad nations come by land and sea with all sorts of precious things", and "consequently there is nothing we lack..."{{sfnp|Têng|Fairbank|1954|p=19}}
[[File:Foreign factory site.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|View of the Canton River, showing the [[Thirteen Factories]] in the background (1850–1855)]]

Since China had little demand for European goods, Europe paid in silver for Chinese goods, an imbalance that worried the [[mercantilist]] governments of Britain and France. The [[History of opium in China|growing Chinese demand for opium]] provided the remedy. The British East India Company greatly expanded its production in Bengal. The [[Daoguang Emperor]], concerned both over the outflow of silver and the damage that opium smoking was causing to his subjects, ordered [[Lin Zexu]] to end the opium trade. Lin confiscated the stocks of opium without compensation in 1839, leading Britain to send a military expedition the following year. The [[First Opium War]] revealed the outdated state of the Chinese military. The Qing navy, composed entirely of wooden sailing [[junks]], was severely outclassed by the modern tactics and firepower of the [[British Royal Navy]]. British soldiers, using advanced muskets and artillery, easily outmaneuvered and outgunned Qing forces in ground battles. The Qing surrender in 1842 marked a decisive, humiliating blow. The [[Treaty of Nanjing]], the first of the "[[unequal treaties]]", demanded war reparations, forced China to open up the [[Treaty Ports]] of [[Shamian Island|Canton]], [[Amoy]], [[Fuzhou]], [[Ningbo]] and [[Shanghai]] to Western trade and missionaries, and to cede [[Hong Kong Island]] to Britain. It revealed weaknesses in the Qing government and provoked rebellions against the regime.

The [[Taiping Rebellion]] (1849–1864) was the first major [[anti-Manchu sentiment|anti-Manchu movement]]. Amid widespread social unrest and worsening famine, the rebellion not only posed the most serious threat to Qing rule, but during its 14-year course, between 20 and 30&nbsp;million people died.{{sfnp|Platt|2012|p=xxii}} The rebellion began under the leadership of [[Hong Xiuquan]] (1814–1864), a disappointed civil service examination candidate who, influenced by reading the [[Old Testament]] in translation, had a series of visions and announced himself to be the son of God, the younger brother of Jesus Christ, sent to reform China.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Taiping Rebellion |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Taiping-Rebellion |access-date=2021-11-07}}</ref> In 1851, Hong launched an uprising in [[Guizhou]] and established the [[Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]] with himself as its king. Within this kingdom, slavery, concubinage, arranged marriage, opium smoking, footbinding, judicial torture, and the worship of idols were all banned. However, success led to internal feuds, defections and corruption. In addition, British and French troops, equipped with modern weapons, had come to the assistance of the Qing army. Nonetheless, it was not until 1864 that Qing forces under [[Zeng Guofan]] succeeded in crushing the revolt. After the outbreak of this rebellion, there were also revolts by the [[Hui people|Muslims]] and [[Miao people]] of China against the Qing, most notably in the [[Miao Rebellion (1854–1873)|Miao Rebellion]] (1854–1873) in [[Guizhou]], the [[Panthay Rebellion]] (1856–1873) in [[Yunnan]], and the [[Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)|Dungan Revolt]] (1862–1877) in the northwest.
[[File:Regaining the Provincial Capital of Ruizhou.jpg|thumb|Qing forces defeating Taiping armies]]

The Western powers, largely unsatisfied with the Treaty of Nanjing, gave grudging support to the Qing government during the Taiping and Nian rebellions. China's income fell sharply during the wars as vast areas of farmland were destroyed, millions of lives were lost, and countless armies were raised and equipped to fight the rebels. In 1854, Britain tried to re-negotiate the Treaty of Nanjing, inserting clauses allowing British commercial access to Chinese rivers and the creation of a permanent British embassy at Beijing.

[[File:Prince Gong.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Prince Gong|Yixin, Prince Gong]]]]
In 1856, Qing authorities, in searching for a pirate, boarded a ship, the ''Arrow'', which the British claimed had been flying the British flag, an incident which led to the [[Second Opium War]]. In 1858, facing no other options, the [[Xianfeng Emperor]] agreed to the [[Treaty of Tientsin]], which contained clauses deeply insulting to the Chinese, such as a demand that all official Chinese documents be written in English and a proviso granting British warships unlimited access to all navigable Chinese rivers.

Ratification of the treaty in the following year led to a resumption of hostilities. In 1860, with Anglo-French forces marching on Beijing, the emperor and his court fled the capital for the [[Chengde Mountain Resort|imperial hunting lodge at Rehe]]. Once in Beijing, the Anglo-French forces looted and burned the [[Old Summer Palace]] and, in an act of revenge for the arrest, torture, and execution of the English diplomatic mission.{{sfnp|Hevia|2003}} [[Prince Gong]], a younger half-brother of the emperor, who had been left as his brother's proxy in the capital, was forced to sign the [[Convention of Beijing]]. The humiliated emperor died the following year at Rehe.