Ch. 19

In the 1800's, Strayer points out how the Chinese victimized themselves by interacting with the British. The British sold the Chinese addictive opium creating issues from within their own government. china was successful by limiting the import of European goods, but their state soon collapsed and they became reliant on Europe. There were numerous rebellions by the Chinese citizens and military pressure from the west did not help. these civil conflicts resulted in the loss of millions of lives and took a huge toll on the economy. The problem with opium was that there was a market for it in china and the British took advantage of it. Britain used their power to smuggle it through ports to trade it. The ottoman Empire compared to the Chinese empire were both close to an Islamic civilization and they both were not under colonial rule. Strayer ends the chapter by saying that Japan is beginning to emerge into a "New East Asian power" they were able to modernize and become an imperialist country under the leadership of the shogun. they created a constitution, parliament, and a modern education system. they soon joined the west Imperialism by defeating China, Taiwan, Korea, and even Russia.