Throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Europeans continually oppressed the Chinese. When George MaCartney, a colonial diplomat, came to China in 1793 he wanted to trade with the Chinese but they didn’t want to. They weren’t a commercial country. They had no need to trade with the Europeans. Around the end of the 15th century, Christianity game to China. At first, the Chinese tolerated it. Even some of the Chinese converted to Christianity but Kangxi, the emperor of China at the time, kicked the Christians out because they wouldn’t allow Confucian practices to mix with traditional Christian worship. They didn’t leave for good though. They came back after the first opium because of the treaty of Nanking. The Chinese were forced to sign the treaty by the Europeans and forced to be open to Christian ideas. That directly led to the Tiaping rebellion then led to the second opium war. The Chinese were forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin. This allowed missionaries and travelers freedom to be and travel through China. Throughout all these events one can see the Europeans as bullies. They forced the Chinese to sign two treaties that allowed what they wanted to happen in China. This is kind of ironic because a treaty is an agreement between to countries, but these events clearly show it wasn’t an agreement. The Chinese were forced to sign the treaties.
The influence of Christianity greatly impacted China. The Rites Controversy, the Tiaping rebellion, and the boxer rebellion were all significant times of unrest in China. The Chinese were forced to tolerate Christianity due to the treaty of Nanking and Tianjin. The Chinese eventually wanted to once and for all purge china of Christianity. This occurred in the violent events of the boxer rebellion. Without these disturbances in China, one wonders whether China would have flourished economically, socially and politically, rather than being distracted by these events. Would Confucianism have survived if the west hadn’t imposed on China?
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