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Dynasties From Shang to Qing: Difference between revisions
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After two wars fought over this, both of which China lost due to its woefully out-of-date military, the Chinese were forced to accept European control of certain parts of China, had to buy European goods and pay the Europeans ridiculous amounts of reparation money. On the bright side, the opium trade was banned.
Around the middle of the 19th century, the [
At the same time, the [
The Qing government attempted a program of reform to make China more Western and hopefully save it from further humiliation. [[Status Quo Is God|It failed]], partly because the reformers [[We ARE Struggling Together!|actively squabbled with each other instead of the foreigners]], partly because even the reformers thought all China needed was a better military and [[Anachronism Stew|the rest could stay the same]], and partly because the Empress [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|was rumored to have taken the program's funds to build herself a boat made out of marble]].
That Empress' name was Cixi (pronounced 'Tsih-shee'), and if there was ever a real life [[Dragon Lady]], Cixi was it. Originally a concubine to the late emperor Xianfeng, [[The Man Behind the Man|Cixi stayed in power as regent]] [[Long Runners|for 48 years]], originally [[Has Two Mommies|in non-romantic union with fellow empress C'ian]]. This regency covered the 'rule' of multiple emperors. One was her son, who resisted her iron grasp by [[Book Dumb|refusing to study]], sneaking out to brothels, and finally dying of smallpox without having had the courtesy to sire a son. Lacking a traditional heir, the two empresses named Cixi's young nephew as the new Emperor. While all this was distracting everyone, however, modernisation was definitely not happening.
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[[Category:Useful Notes/China]]
[[Category:Dynasties From Shang To Qing]]
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