People say that China is a country that smells of tradition, customs and effort. One of the oldest civilizations in the world, a country ruled for hundreds of years by hereditary absolutist monarchies called dynasties. China seemed to have been anchored in time, its forbidden city, sanctuary of the monarchies and spaces where the nobility lived very differently from its population. But as we will see below, different events led to a popular revolution, creating a new concept of country that was called People’s Republic of China. Why did the Dynasties disappear after so long, why was their name changed from the Republic of China to the People’s Republic of China.
The People’s Republic of China | The End of the Dynasties
the first dynasty who governed the country was the xia dynastya dynasty of which there has been practically no record except for the literary records that place its government around 2205 BC c. From this first dynasty to the last, which would rule from the 1644 to 1912, the qing dynasty, thousands of years of tradition, culture and science that began to falter towards the end of the 19th century.
The 19th century was a very turbulent century for the Chinese population, the constants raids of the northern peoples, especially from the Huns, provoked a migratory movement difficult to absorb. Years of bad harvests and a population as extensive as China’s caused one of the greatest catastrophes such as the Famine suffered in the northern part of the country, a famine that caused approximately thirteen million deaths.
late 19th centurythe idea of establishing a constitutional monarchy led the Guangxu Emperor to undertake a series of reforms, but they were quickly aborted when he was overthrown in a coup devised by the Empress Cixi.
Perhaps Empress Cixi’s idea was not to modify the monarchical system, but she was in charge of modernize the country The arrival of the railway or the telegraph is due to her, while she modified certain practices that were considered traditional, such as the binding of the feet of Chinese women.
The People’s Republic of China | The Boxing Rebellion
but the call Boxer Rebellionmanaged to weaken the government of Cixi and therefore the Qing dynasty.
The so-called Boxer Rebellion began in late 1899 and ended in September 1901, it was a movement against foreign influence in different sectors such as commerce, religion or politics. A movement in favor of the old traditions and against progress.
The rebellion ended with the Xinchou Treaty or Boxer Protocol. A treaty by which China undertook to execute the officers involved in the rebellion as well as compensate the victorious countries with more than three hundred million dollars as war damages, a payment that should be settled over a period of 40 years.
The winning countries and signatories of the Boxer Protocol were:
- Germany
- Austria
- Hungary
- Belgium
- France
- USA
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Russia
Commercial advantages and the permission to establish troops between the capital Beijing and the Yellow Sea, were an essential part for the signing of the treaty.
The Qing dynasty, weakened by the events it had to face during the 19th century, such as the different Opium Wars against the British Empire which led them to have to sign very unequal treaties with great economic compensation and even the loss of territories in favor of Great Britain, such as the loss of the Port of Hong Kong.
Wars like the Sino-Japanese occurred between 1894-1895, for which lost the island of Taiwan to Japan, as well as the influence that China had on Korea. All these wars and rebellions like the one in Miao, Nien, Panthay, weakened the government by creating a state of unrest among the Chinese population.
The last the Xinhai revolution in 1911, I put an end to millennia of tradition and dynastic culture, giving rise to the Republic of China.
The People’s Republic of China | The Republic of China
After the Xinhai Revolution, on the first day of January 1912, the Republic of China was proclaimed. the first president Sun Yat-Sen, leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party, although he would hold his position ephemerally. In 1915, an ancient general belonging to the Qing dynasty named Yuan Shikai was self-proclaimed Emperor of China.
This proclamation did not please the Chinese people and neither did the new army. Without the support of the army and with the discontent of the Chinese people, Yuan Shikai, was forced to abdicate and re-establish the Republic of China.
The political situation in China was very weak, despite having been recognized by the international community, power was still concentrated in the great regional lords. The situation changed at the end of 1920, when the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, I can reunite under the mandate of chiang kai shekthe country.
The People’s Republic of China | The People’s Republic of China
Transfer the capital from Beijing to Nanjing and dedicated his policy to the development and modernization of China, with the only idea of achieving a democratic and modern China. But with the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War in 1949the communist party of Mao Zedongwas declared the winner.
Everything that the chinese nationalist party had fought against communism and for a democracyhad collapsed. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in Beijing. Political opponents were expelled and found refuge in the Island of Taiwan, creating its own Republic of China on it since the revolution never came to have control of it.
From 1949 to the present, the Republic of China has continued to claim its legitimate right by the Chinese government, being recognized by a large part of the international community. Today Taiwan is still the Republic of China, While for the rest of the country the name is the People’s Republic of China, leaving in clear evidence the difference of regimes.
For the next entries, we will continue to develop the fascinating history of China, its current situation, the economic colossus it has become or how its society and technology live and develop.
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