History of Modern East Asia -1 (c.1840-1949)

Pre modern China basically represented a feudal society. The Gentry were the ruling class in true sense of the term. Apart from Gentry, these were social classes like the peasantry, artisans and merchants. In about 1840, with the Opium War, the Western imperialist powers transformed China in an informal colony and China was turned into a semi colony. In the mid-19th Century the common people of China revolted against the monarchy and ruling classes. The Taiping revolution was the most important among the infringes. Then came the era of Tung Chi Restoration and a self-strengthening movement for strengthening the monarchical institutions. The Western Power introduced an ‘Open Door’ policy in China to tighten the grip of imperialism. In the beginning of the 20th Century the Boxer Rebellion broke out, which was virtually an anti-foreigner movement. In 1911, a democratic republican revolution broke out in China, under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen, which saw the birth of a republic. However, republican experiments in China was a failure, and it was followed by the rise of warlordism. After the First world War a student movement broke out in China on 4 May, 1919, popularly known as the May 4th Movement. The May 4th Movement lead to the emergence of Communist Party of China in 1920. The period was followed by bitter conflict between the Communists and the nationalists in China. The nationalists mobilized themselves in Kuomintang Party. The subsequent years saw fierce civil wars between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. During the late 1930s China faced an aggression from its neighboring country Japan. The Communist Party of China, under, the able leadership of Mao Tsetung launched a two edged struggle – against Japanese imperialism, on one hand, and also against the nationalists, on the other. Finally the Communists came out victorious and the People’s Republic of China was founded on 1st October 1949.