Still, foreign power was minimal until 1839. The British,
hoping to rectify the trade imbalance with China caused by
tea imports, starting dumping opium, an illegal substance,
on the Chinese market. When the Chinese responded by destroying
the British stores, they were attacked and defeated. The Treaty
of Nanjing was forced on them in 1842, forcing China open
and giving westerners special rights, including the Russian
stranglehold on Manchuria. The people, angered by the Opium
War and the loss of Korea to Japan in 1894, rose up in the
Boxer Rebellion of 1900-1901.
The people, often led by students who began studying abroad,
began to rebel again against the autocratic monarchy, a monarchy
that had hinted at a constitution in 1905. Men like Sun Yat-sen
pushed the provinces into repudiating the Manchus by 1911
and forcing Pu-yi, the last emperor, to abdicate. Into this
power vacuum, Yuan Shikai became provisional president of
the republic with the support of Sun’s Guomindang party. Eventually,
Yuan turned against the democratic government, assumed dictatorial
powers, and attempted to gain the title of emperor. He was
opposed by Sun and a mix of unruly warlords out for power.
