I found the Fourth Wave to be very interesting. It is the start of modern China, and the two dynasties (Ming and Qing) were two of the most important dynasties in help shaping the face of the China that we know today. Throughout the Wave, we can see themes that continue on throughout most of the almost 600 years of the Qing and Ming. Two themes that I found to be both prevalent were those of foreign policy (China's interaction with Europe) and religion (introduction of Christianity).
The Ming Dynasty is the first real dealings with Westerners. Ever since the two hemispheres started trading with one another, the Chinese had called them "sea barbarians", which really shows their opinion of the Europeans. Having seen how Westerners spread religion and develop trade by wiping out entire villages during the Age of Exploration, the Chinese saw the Westerners generally as lower beings that they didn't see as a threat. After Zheng He's voyages, the Chinese didn't have any major reaction with the West until the Rites controversy, which I'll talk about in the next paragraph. This incident really cast a negative light on the West, and the Chinese didn't really enjoy dealing with the Westerner's brutality. So during the Macartney Mission in the late 1700s when the Chinese were asked to open up trade, the Chinese respectfully declined. This refusal of British demands is important, as it shows that up to this point China still had power of the Europeans in the West and the West could not do anything about it. China still had the tribute system, and they believed they Westerners were like vassal states who needed to pay respect to the Middle Kingdom. A prime example of this would be the Canton policy, where the Chinese had complete control over whom Western merchants traded and where. However, this all changed during the Opium War. After the Chinese banned the sale and even use of Opium, Britain reacted very differently to China's defiance. Rather than accepting China's decision, like they had during Macartney, they got very aggressive, bombing ports and towns all up and down the East Coast, and even into the Yellow River. China was no match for Britain's weapons, and thus started the beginning of foreign dominance in China. After both Opium Wars, China lost more and more control over the foreigners in China, with things such as extraterritoriality (exempt from Chinese law) and gunboat diplomacy (using military might to get their way) developed. Until the Second Unified Front halfway into the 20th century, the "foreign devils" would always have power over the Chinese.
Another thing the foreign devils affected greatly was religion in China. Ever since foreign religion had come to China, the Chinese were infamous for their tolerance. There were accounts that in a single city, there would be places of worship for 8 different religions. We wouldn't see acceptance like this in Europe well into the 20th century. As Christianity had already been introduced to China, the Jesuit missionaries were first welcomed when the came to China. Mateo Ricci, probably the most important Jesuit, gained the respect of the Chinese as he had learned about their culture before trying to spread his religion. Other missionaries, however, were not as civilized, which ended up sparking the Rites Controversy. The Chinese couldn't believe that foreigners would come to their land and explain to them that they couldn't practice rituals, such as praying to ancestors, which had been part of their culture for thousands of years, just because the Pope believed it to be heretical. The Chinese just couldn't comprehend why the Chinese should listen to some religious leader thousands of miles away, who hadn't even been to China. However, after Europeans began dominating the Chinese, they no longer had any say in how religion was treated in their own country. One interesting thing that I noticed during this unit was how much violence religion can create. During the Taiping rebellion, Hong Xiuquan convinced his followers that he was the brother of Jesus. Using this to rally support, Xiuquan started one of the most violent military campaigns in history, with over 30million people killed. The Crusades 800 years ago used religion to justify violence, as do the Israelis and Palestinians today in the Middle East. I think that if everyone was as accepting as the Chinese once were, we would live in a much better world.
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