Foreigners came to China in early 13th century at the time when China was still a comparatively advanced
country. With mutual respect and equality in trade, culture and religion's exchange,
western traders and missionaries were well received in China. China also sent their ships
traveling to the Middle East and Africa.
Two hundred years later in early 1500, Europeans, supported
by their governments, started to make requests to Chinese government for allowing them to
land in China for further commercial and diplomatic activities. They were restricted when
the Qing government was still quite strong at that time. Not until 17th century, the
Chinese government officially opened up the seaports in the southern China. Foreign
merchants had seized the opportunities to purchase goods from China back to Europe.
The story is familiar. With self-sufficiency and close-door
society, China did not need much from the west. At the same time, China did not progress
fast enough as Europe went through the industrial revolution. Foreigners made good
fortunes in the trading but ran into high trade deficit. It was British that first started opium smuggling into
China to obtain extra-ordinary profit in exchanging for valuable goods from China. When the Qing government attempted to stop it, it had been too late since
China was so weak in military that after its loss in the opium war with British in 1842,
Qing government signed the Treaty of Nanjing. It was also
British that the first western country used military to humiliate Chinese with an unfair
treaty that Hong Kong was ceded and a large amount of indemnities was paid. Since then, all foreign powers got into
China and were ready to slice up China in no time.
Qing government became powerless. Chinese realized the
danger of losing their motherland and had attempted to overturn the Qing government and
drive out the foreign powers. The Qing government held on to the power with the full
support from the foreign powers. (See the "Boxers"
)
Reading the Chinese history of the last century, it is a
shameful and painful memory to all Chinese. Since the Treaty of Nanjing, Chinese
government was bend to the power of G8 and signed all kinds of unequal treaties. Foreign
powers, including British, Japan, Russia, German, America and France, gang together and
forced into Yiheyan (Summer Palace) of Beijing. The palace was burned down and all the
national treasuries were stolen and removed from the palace.
Chinese had to go through 80 years of turbulence with
continuous civil war, foreign interference and Japanese invasion. Japanese slaughtered
million of Chinese during the Second World War,. Nanjing Massacre ran deep into all
Chinese memory. At the end of the World War II, America, without any consent from China,
unitarily signed off Diaoyutai , a group of islands of China, to the war criminal, Japanese
government.
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| we
are against is aggressive behavior and
expansionistic ambition of Let's
not forget that Japan is yet to apologize to those
countries that suffered gravely from its aggressions
in World War II, and has so far persistently covered
up for its war
crimes.
Know more about
"Defend DiaoYu Tai", click on the logo |
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Chinese finally stands up again on the date of October 1,
1949 that the Communist China announced to the world the birth of the People's Republic of
China. For almost two hundred years, this is the first government fully supported by
majority of the Chinese that is able to fence off all the foreign powers from China
although China was then a bankruptcy country after a long war and turbulence.
History tends to repeat itself. Communist China after close
door for so many years lags behind badly economically. China has eventually opened its
door to foreign investors in late 70 and the cries for high trade deficit reappear again.
The West and Japan led by US had tried to block Communist China to the corner since its
early establishment. The history told us that it is not Chinese against the West. It is
the West against China. We, Chinese, should learn from the history and be alert not to
repeat the shameful history again. The Communist China should take effort to plan
carefully and progress in its own pace. DON'T RUSH INTO ANY POSSIBLE TRAP! China has a lot
to learn from the America the dirty world politics.
Offensive is not our culture but
smart defensive is very necessary.
History is the ironic
evidence. The truth tells it all. Chinese national pain will not be easily forgotten.
Letter
to Queen Victoria, 1839
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details
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