CGS SS 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: First Opium War, Second Opium War, Kang Youwei
16 Jan 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Had a gov"t, legal code, civil servants, and established currency. Cash crop society,not everyone has to farm to survive. Traders want to bring back chinese products. Tensions by 1700"s ; step back by 1800"s. Food shortages, revolts, growing sign of western imperialism. Authoritarian rule: emperor is the sun of a new heaven from a dynasty. Past of imperial rule, civilization before common era. If one of these happened, it sent a message that the emperor wasn"t good enough. Highly stratified, hard to move classes, men had more rights than women. 4 orders, each serves the class below. Shi scholar class, evolved from war, wore silk robes and carried weapons. Nong peasant farmers that fed the empire, they have a surplus and are making money. Shang merchants that profit from the work of others, looked down upon. More western involvement in the 1700"s/1800"s, west surpasses china. Increased demands for table china", chinese goods were seen as status symbols.
