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Protestant Christian missionary arrives in China from London Missionary Society
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Daoguang Emperor expels missionaries for distributing Christian books
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Ending with the Treaty of Nanjing. Great Britain establishes a sphere of influence along the Yangtze River, annexes Hong Kong, and provides extraterritorial rights to all foreigners in China (they do not need to follow Chinese laws, only European laws).
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Western Christian missionaries flood into China and try to convert Chinese people to be
Christians (Chinese are general Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, or a mix of all three sets of beliefs). -
China signs the Treaty of Huangpu with France, giving France a small sphere of influence
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Taiping Rebellion against Qing Dynasty. Millions of Chinese Christians revolt against the Qing Dynasty, but the rebellion fails after 14 years of fighting. 30,000,000 Chinese people are dead because of the Taiping Rebellion.
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During the Taiping Rebellion, Britain and France demanded to re-negotiate their treaties to increase the power of their spheres of influence. Because of the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing Dynasty is too weak to fight Britain and France, and gives in to harsher treaties with Britain and France. In return, Britain and France help to crush the Taiping Rebellion.
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Japan defeats China and annexes Korea and gains a sphere of influence in Eastern China.
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Drought followed by flooding strikes Shandong, causing wide-spread misery
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Armed men kill two German Catholic Missionaries in northern China. Germany’s Kaiser (King) Wilhelm II sends a fleet of ships to Shandong to establish a sphere of influence.
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Young men form the “Righteous and Harmonious Fist” group, practicing shadow boxing (their nickname was “Boxers”), martial arts, and telling peasants they are bullet-proof, to get them to join. They spend the next year training recruits, burning churches, and killing Chinese Christians.
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In a surprise change, Empress Dowager Cixi sends a letter of support to the Boxers.
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Boxers storm through countryside, burning churches, and killing Christians
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Boxers cut railroad line at Tianjin, isolating Beijing
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German Minister von Ketteler arrests and executes a boy he thinks is a Boxer
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Thousands of Boxers burn Christian churches in response to the boy's murder
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Empress Dowager Cixi decides to fully support Boxers, tries to convince the rest of the ruling officials in the government to also support them.
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Qing government sends messengers to the foreigners in Beijing to offer them a safe way to leave China without being killed; instead, the foreigners kill the messengers
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Based on these murders, the Qing government declares war on the foreign powers
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Chinese set fire to parts of the foreign neighborhood in Beijing
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Soldiers from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, and the USA join together and take over a city that had been controlled by the Boxers. 550 Boxers and 250 foreigners died. Then the foreign troops looted the city, raping and killing civilians.
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The Eight-Nation relief force (Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, USA, Italy, and Austria-Hungary) lands on the coast and begins marching to Beijing, so Qing government declares a cease-fire on the foreigners and surrenders.
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Qing officials are forced to sign the "Boxer Protocol," which makes them pay war reparations over 40 years.
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Sun Yat-sen leads the Chinese Nationalist Revolution - Qing Dynasty falls, ending
almost 400 years of monarchy in China.