Major Events

           During the time of the Qing Empire, a lot of major events occurred in China.  One of those major events was the ban of Christianity in China, which happened in 1723.  A law was passed that deported all Christian missionaries from China, except for 20 of them (but were not allowed to preach) and churches became town halls, schools, and warehouses.  This ban showed that there was still extreme conflict between old Chinese customs and the anti-Christian movement.  Two other major events that happened during the Qing Dynasty were the Opium Wars.  These wars happened in 1839 and then in 1856, and they led to trade ports for the British.  China was addicted to a substance known as opium, and the British were the ones that supplied China with it.  After the emperor of China made it illegal for the British to supply the Chinese with opium, a war broke loose.  Since China was addicted to opium, their army was destroyed and the British won fairly easily.  This resulted in the British opening five trade ports along the borders of China in order to make trade easier.  In 1900, another event, known as the Boxer Rebellion, began in China.  The Boxers did not like the idea of foreign influence, so they rebelled against Chinese Christians and attempted to invade foreign embassies in Beijing.  The Boxers killed thousands of Chinese Christians.  This rebellion led to eight different countries invading China, including England, the U.S, Germany, France, and Russia, and forcing China into signing a peace treaty with all of the countries.  This rebellion ended up leading to China’s government weakening and the partitioning of China, which consisted of the Russian occupying Manchuria and the Germans occupying Tsingtao.  These major events during the time of the Qing Dynasty caused great controversy to the Qing Empire.  People were wondering the Manchus could keep China under control, in which they were capable of doing.