Term Paper on "Westerners in China"

Term Paper 4 pages (1264 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Westerners in China

In the 17th century, Westerners from Europe had begun to penetrate the lands of the Far East, and in China, the main reason for this penetration was based on the spread of Christianity. The first group to attempt this was the Jesuits, due to understanding that learning was held in high esteem in China. Thus, the Jesuits sent a group of distinguished scholars to China, led by the Italian Matteo Ricci. He arrived in Peking in 1601 and remained until his death in 1610. His successors then introduced the great knowledge of the West to the Chinese leaders in Peking, subjects such as astronomy, mathematics, geography and the use of mechanical devices. At the same time, these Jesuit scholars took the opportunity to relate to the Chinese the doctrines of Christianity and were successful in converting a number of prominent Chinese officials.

For many years, the Jesuits held Western dominance in China, mostly because they were more tolerant and open to Chinese religious and social traditions and customs. But in the mid-17 the century, the Vatican in Rome became aware of what was occurring in China under the influence of the Jesuits and soon intervened with a very strict doctrinal approach to teaching Christianity. The emperor of China, the Manchu K'ang Hsi, a rather enlightened ruler for 17th century China, went against the Vatican and declared that the Jesuits' teaching style was appropriate for his people as long as it accommodated Chinese tradition. However, by the first decades of the 18th century, the Chinese monarchy evicted all Christian missionaries except for those individuals who contributed scientifically to the country.

By the end of the 18th century, the Chinese monarchy "established formal relations with Russia which, in 1689, led to the Treaty of Nerchinsk which fixed the boundary between Manchuria and Siberia" (Gregory, 245). At this time, the Manchu dynasty was still in power and was very concerned about China's northern borders, due to the Russians attempt to force their political will further south beyond Manchuria. Nonetheless, Russia managed to set up numerous trading posts along within the Chinese/Russian frontiers and in 1727 signed an agreement with the Chinese monarchy to send trading missions to Peking and establish a Russian church with a limited number of Russian missionaries.

By the mid-1700's, Westerners were truly beginning to infiltrate China and were coming from all parts of Europe. Great Britain and France had already entered India and had great desires to push further to the east; ships of every description were sailing from both of these nations, along with ships from other Eurpoean countries, such as Italy, Portugal and Spain. In esence, these nations desperately wished to create regular trade and political relations with this Asian giant, yet China, due to sensing some rather devious motivations on the part of the Europeans, continued to resist the infiltration of the Westerners.

The mid-1700's also marked the ascension of the English as the masters of the sea and their desires to open the ports of China to foreign ships in order to trade a vast assembly of goods and materials. This situation was greatly advanced by the rise of the East India Company which, through most of the 18th century, dominated foreign trade within Asia. Obviously, the Chinese monarchy recognized the potential of this trade between the various nations and soon developed a monopoly to keep all trade under the control of China. Yet only certain Cantonese merchants were allowed to operate within this monopoly which then gave rise to a kind of guild, organized to placate the needs of the emperor and the Western traders. This was the dominating circumstance for a very long time, but as England gradually rose to the heights of mastery of the seas while the Industrial Revolution was… READ MORE

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