Relations Between China And The West example essay topic

In my essay I am going to examine evidence of China's history from the late 19th century to the early 21st century and see how the relations between China and the West changed. I intend to examine how Civil wars and foreign invasion affected the relationship between China and the West. Emperors ruled China for four thousand years until 1911. Then there was a revolution. The Manchu emperor was overthrown, and China had to find a new King of government.

This great change in 1911 led to many other changes, so it's important to know why the revolution happened. It will help to explain some of the later developments in China this century. The Boxer Rebellion was cruelly suppressed as western armies rooted out the leaders. Westerns countries forced the Chinese governments to sign an agreement giving the westerners even more power. So, the Boxer Rebellion ended with increased power for the "barbarians".

However the rebellion did shock many Chinese scholars into believing that the Manchu rulers were to blame for the foreign control in China, so they must be overthrown. Many people in the twentieth century criticised the rule of the emperors. They complained about the centuries- old problems like poverty many were also ashamed at the way China had been taken over by foreign powers. China's weakness on its system of government was blamed and they plotted to overthrown the emperors. The main group of rebels was the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance, led by Sun Yat-Sen. Their chance came when the dowager empress Ci Xi died in November 1908 and was replaced by the 3-year-old boy called Pu Yi. When the Rebellion came in 1911 there was no one to uphold the power of the emperor and the rebellion became a revolution.

Led by Chiang Kai-Shek, the GMD took control over most of China. The only thing standing in China's way was the CCP. Chiang was so powerful that the CCP was forced to retreat. The CCPs main base was established in a remote southern area called Jiangxi. Even then Chiang and the GMD were determined to destroy them and the extermination campaigns were launched to finish off the CCP built up a strong force known as the Red Army. This army fought off Chiang's attacks, but in 1934 Chiang tried a new tactic.

The CCP's answer was to break out of its Jiangxi base and head for a safer area to the west. Taxes had to be paid on everything that's one of the main reasons for the start of revolution. Famine and floods happened somewhere in China every year until recently. Food had always been an urgent problem to the Chinese.

The emperors ruled China for four thousand years until 1911. The Manchu emperor was overthrown, and China had to find a new kind of government. In the 19th century more and more westerners visited China most Chinese thought these visitors were barbarians, uncivilised people of little importance. But some Chinese became worried. They could see how powerful the westerners were. This made them think about making changes in China.

As the CCP travelled through western China they freed many areas from warlord rule and gave peasants the land, many of the CCP members joined the GMD army and fought to defeat the warlords and resist the threat from Japan. The local 'warlords' terrorized their own areas for their own profit. More problems came outside. Japan took advantage of China's weakness and invaded China.

In 1915 Japan presented the 'twenty-one demands'. These gave Japan great control over the Chinese people. The revolution caused a lot of famine as the warlords treated the peasants brutally. By 1945 China had suffered nine years of war against Japan.

There were several attempts to bring the CCP and the GMD together to sort out the chaotic state of the country. But neither side trusted the other and had a full-scale civil war began. The GMD had about 3 million men under arms, supported by American supplies, against the CCPs one million. The GMD expected a quick victory, yet within three years it had suffered a total defeat.

Entire GMD armies surrendered to the communists without a fight in January 1945 Beijing surrendered, and in October Guangzhou fell to the CCP. The civil war was over, and Mao Zedong proclaimed the new peoples Republic of China. The GMD and Chiang Kai-Shek fled to the island of Taiwan. Eventually the Chinese struggle against the Japanese invaders became part of the world war 11. China found a new ally the USA, which was also at war with Japan. The USA sent help to China, to the government of Chiang Kai-Shek.

However, Chiang was still reluctant to make an all-out effort to fight the Japanese. He continued to believe the CCP was his real enemy and conserved his strength for the expected struggle with the CCP. Chiang called the Japanese 'a disease of the skin' and he called the CCP 'a disease of the heart'. The Red Army fought well against the Japanese using guerrilla tactics.

The Red Army made a point of treating the peasants well, and quickly won their support. The area they controlled in northern China was now growing. The Chinese saw further evidence of Americans anti-communist activities when US combat troops were sent to help fight in the Korean war and the Vietnam war. In both wars the USA fought alongside the governments of South Korea and South Vietnam to resist the invasion of communist forces from North Korea and North Vietnam.

China saw both wars as a threat to its security, and sent aid to its fellow communist governments. South Korea had 300,000 soldiers and Chinese and North Korea had 150,000 soldiers. In the cold war years of the 1950's China regarded America as the archenemy. America had been an ally of the GMD and continued to support Chiang Kai-Shek's government on Taiwan as the legitimate government of China, sending it thousands of dollars of economic and military aid. America imposed a strict embargo on all trade with China. In view of events in the recent and past, explain and examine, China's changing relationship, with the Western world.

In 2002 America sent over a navel spy plane to take aerial pictures of China. The plane was taken down by the Chinese and taken apart. America said that the plane was innocent, but China still didn't believe them. America was unhappy with China because of the drama between Washington and Beijing. Taiwan and China have been separated since 1949, when the GMD were defeated and retreated to Taiwan after the Civil War.

China still fears that the GMD will invade with the help of America. But during the 1980's when relations were warm, America recognised the Communists as rightful rulers of China and that Taiwan is part of China. I think that China will never have a strong relationship with the West as we have played a role in their history over the past hundred years, but it could grow stronger after time. The political opinions of China are very different from the West the way they have dealt with some of their political problems has shocked and disgusted us, but they believe that the way we do things aren't right.

We are a Democratic country whereas they are a Nationalist country. We played a role in their warfare as we helped them in the Boxer Rebellion; we also made China sign an agreement that gave us more control. Also we asked for 450 million dollars in compensation after the Boxer Rebellion. Leaders from the West and China have not got along, take the visit from King George who tried to make a trade link with China, the ruler at the time Qian Long, tried to patronize the King and called us barbarians. They believed that they were more powerful than the leaders of the West. Relations started to get better when Britain handed back Hong Kong in 1977, Britain were the first country from the West who resumed relations after the incident at Tiananmen Square.

Also relations have got even more stronger when the leader of China visited Britain for the first time in history, it was a great turning point.