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.