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The Opium War
Britain statrted selling opium to China in the late 1700's. The Chinese demand for opium rapidly increased because more and more people became hooked on the drug. Opium was harmful to the people and also drained China's supply of silver. These effects really angered the Chinese government and in 1839 they destroyed a British shipment of opium, which caused a war to begin. The British easily defeated the Chinese because they were a much more modernized nation. -
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion was a peasant uprising that lasted 14 years. More than 20 million people were killed in the rebellion. The fighting severely weakened the Qing dynasty. -
Chinese Revolution
As a result of the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing dynasty weakened and eventually collapsed after Ci Xi's death. Subsequently, China declared itself a republic. A civil war broke out for the right to rule China. -
The Long March
Mao Zedong became the leader of the Chinese Communists in the late 1920's and 1930's. Mao led about 90,000 Communists on a 6,000-mile journey across China to flee from the Nationalists. Only about 7,000 people survived. -
The Great Leap Forward
Mao desired to achieve modernization very quickly and efficiently. Therefore, he introduced a program called "The Great Leap Forward." This plan involved China divided into communes. People were forced to live and work in communes. Eventually, this program failed because people had no motivation to work hard and some even resisted the system, causing disaster.
