Empires in collision pages 931-957 and documents

Empires in Collision
In 1793 the Chinese emperor Qianlong rejected British requests for open trade. But... by 1912 the the imperial state had collapsed "and the country had been transformed from a central presence in the global economy to a weak and dependent participant in a European dominated world system"(932). This means that Europe, Great Britain, was the major economic and political player. That's huge! What a turn around.
There was a lot of violence especially with peasants. There was corruption, harassment, and harsh treatment. Solider versus the tax payer. In the end, "European military pressure and economic penetration during the first half of the nineteenth century disrupted internal trade routes, created substantial unemployment and raised peasant taxes"(934). Wow, harsh much? I mean, it like they wanted to extract all goods from any place. In the reading, Strayer mentions how gangs rose from this and so did a lot of rebellion. Of course, the rebellion came from these peasants who were tired of the treatment they were receiving.
The Chinese authorities were not really passive in the face of their country's mounting crises, both internal and external.
In 1750, the Ottoman Empire was the central political fixture of widespread Islamic world. Just like in China, the Islamic world represents a really high and successful civilization that felt little need to learn from the "infidels"/ "barbarians" of the West.
Competition form cheap European manufactured goods hit the Ottoman artisans hard. It was convenient for them (the Europeans)... this again, led to riots. The riots were because of the protesting of these foreign imports.
Soon, the leaders of the Ottoman Empire saw many of the problems that were having and it was during the 19th century when there was an "increase in ambitious programs of 'defensive modernization'  that were earlier, more sustained and far from vigorous than the timid and half-hearted measures of self-strengthening in China" (944).
After reading the section on Japan, I want to say that Japan was more successful during the nineteenth century. This seems kind of unfair because there are a lot of things that come into play. Things like wealth, power, and certain events that happened.
One document that stood out the most was in page 962: A address to two hundred million countrywomen.
The document is written by a very powerful lady, Qiu Jin. She was very influential, liberal, and wanted a revolution. She came from a pretty wealthy family where she ha duh opportunity to have an education. What she basically wrote in her text was how unfair the lives of women were. The only way a woman would have a "good life" was is she was lucky enough to have one. If you had a nice dad or a nice husband, you were lucky. If you were beaten, it was your fault. If you are not, you were lucky and you should be thankful. A woman was meant to be pretty, that was their job and be submissive to the man.

Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa

Colonial Encounters in Asia and Africa

Europe: They had new economic needs. They wanted people to buy new products because eindurstial production was much more efficient. They had a lot of stuff but what can you do with all the product if you have nobody to sell it to? They needed solutions so they turned to sell abroad. It was unethical. They sold to people who didn't really need their product and changed their entire economy. The thing was that they wanted to expand; they made more profit abroad rather than at home. Imperialism would lead to solving their problems. They took resources of other countries in order to get cheap resources, sell their products, and grow. Britain grew and spread across everywhere.
The english imperialist: Cecil Rhodes believed that, "the British Empire is a matter of bread and butter. If you wish to avoid civil war, then you must become imperialist"

British Empire is taking over everywhere. England is dominant but many wanted to get their hands on Africa. There's a cartoon on page 882 that shows an octopus whose tentacles are already attached to many countries, while other tentacle is about to grasp yet another colony, Egypt. This was created by America and it kinda shows how greedy Europe was and how they are not leaving much for others.

If you look at page 883, theres and image of European Racial Images... it was a picture about how Europeans viewed evolution. The idea of this image is that the white European man was the most evolved. They were superior. Others were "less developed". It says that race is everything and they used it as an excuse for rationalization ...to take care of the ones who were "inferior". It was an excuse to take territory and rights. Personally, this picture was one of the worst ones. Its disrespectful in so many ways and it shows so much ignorance. They are saying some humans are lesser than other humans. Thats a huge red flag! The result of that is that real policies that happen after this. For example: education... who deserves education? who doesn't? This image really gives is a graphical idea that the Europeans truly believed they were superior. I believe they would even try to prove it scientifically.

The second wave involved: Asia, Africa, and Australia (Australia was mostly an outlet though). The French and British were on the move. The European colonizers went as business men, administrators and then (most) left home. They went for a specific reason and then returned home. Because of this, there was borders being redrawn. These powers came in an divided up Africa. The countries didn't exist there before. They drew borders. This was a problem because the borders had nothing to do with the reality on ground: people were divided, people were brought together even though they had no things in common. The Europeans forced the people to work and if they did not work hard enough then they were severely punched. There is a picture on page 894 where there are two kids with arms being chopped off. Its sad and dehumanizing. The people couldn't do anything to protect their families since they were being controlled by an outside power. Later the Europeans then withdrew... this left the people living there skill-less.

*cash crop economy... market economies