In what way did the Treaty of Nanjing alter China's culture and society forever?
1 Answer
It was the first of the "unequal" treaties. It created Hong Kong and set China down a hard road of foreign imperialism.
Explanation:
The Treaty of Nanjing is a deceptively simple document. It has only a few articles and led to further treaties that laid out exact details. The Treaty effectively ended the "canton" system which isolated foreign trade in China and opened the door to mass importation of opium which addicted a large number of Chinese. The long term effects of which could still be seen by the Communists on the Long March a century later where opium was used as currency to pay wages in impoverished provinces.
Hong Kong was created and it was a template for other territorial grabs by the foreign powers. It could be seen as a precursor to the Japanese Imperialistic land grabs in the 1930s.
The Qing Empire was weakened and there came an endless stream of calamities. The flood of missionaries that followed the treaty and domestic anxiety led to the directly to the Taiping rebellion which destroyed and depopulated a large part of central China. Other rebellions challenge Qing authority. Rising demands of the Imperialists humiliated the Chinese Government. The Republican that replaced it in 1912 inherited an impoverished nation often governed locally by Warlords and dismembered by Imperial powers.
