American+Imperialism+in+China

Significance How Other Countries Failed

__American Imperialism in China__
American [|imperialism] in China was something to take note of. The way in which America imperialized in China was different than the ways in which Japan, Russia, Italy, Britain, and France chose to imperialize. After the [|Sino-Japanese war], the other five world powers tried to colonize the country. The Chinese were less comfortable with the European powers and Russia in their country than the U.S., because the European powers were using their military power to destroy the country and force the Chinese to do things that they did not want to do. For instance, The French navy destroyed the Fukien fleet in 1885. (Craig, 622) In 1896 Russia got Chinese permission to build the Chinese Eastern Railway. (Craig, 625) Also, Russia sent a naval squadron into Port Arthur in December 1897 and got from China in March 1898 a twenty-five year lease of the southern tip of Manchuria, the Liaotung (or Kwantung) Peninsula, with the right to connect it with the Chinese Eastern Railway. (Craig, 625) Soon after Russia’s completion of the Chinese Eastern Railway, the great power rivalry motivated [|Britain], [|France], [|Germany], [|Japan], [|Russia], and to some extent the [|United States] to cooperate with one another to take advantage of the expected breakup of [|China]. (Craig, 625) However, according to the map(s) below, the United States did not imperialize by colonization. They took a different approach. Instead of participating in the colonization of China, the United States used underhanded tactics to gain a foothold in China. It chose to imperialize religiously rather than militarily or physically taking over an area and using it for it's own purposes. This choice made all the difference for America’s future influence in China.

There are many reasons why the countries besides the US were rather unsuccessful when they tried to imperialize parts of China. Other than the US, there were three other main nations that had vied for parts of China at some point or another. These were Britain, Russia, and Japan, each of whom failed for a variety of reasons. First, is the British Empire. They had been doing so well up to that point, able to take areas with little to no resistance at all. Indeed, they were known as the empire “on which the sun never sets”. This, in fact, was part of their undoing. Their forces were spread too thin, so to speak. Also, they were still grappling with India, so that was where much of their focus was aimed. When the British tried to expand into China, they could only afford to give a part of their time to the area. Since the main goal of imperialism was to gain from the occupation of a land, Britian went about this first. These "take-take-take" actions did not sit very well with China. They were given few if any real benefits from the occupation, only losing things to Britain. As time went on, the British were pushed out rather passively. The Chinese were unwilling to support their presence.

Then there were the Russians. A much more straight-forward approach, and a similarly straight-forward loss. Always looking to expand their massive boundaries, they moved south to China. However, at the time they were also at war with Japan. This meant that they too couldn’t afford to have all their attention at China, and they likewise left in time.

Following this, there was Japan. They tired to take over parts of the land in China, but such an enterprise didn’t end up working very well. They took the land rather aggressively, and China pushed them out with equal force.

As for the US, they didn’t try any of these tactics. They simply offered the Chinese what they so desired, which was a sound education system and better health facilities. It was not really imperialism in the economic sense as such was applied by the other nations but was still imperialism. Imperialism is technically "a policy of extending your rule over foreign countries" (1 dictionary.com). The United States avoided taking a risk with how the Chinese reacted and appealed to their current needs to gain favor. [|Christianity], the most popular religion in the country spread to China, and that falls under the definition of Imperialism.

Works Consulted:
TIEDEMANN, R. G. "The Fate of British and French Firms in China, 1949-54: Imperialism Imprisoned.(Review)." //The English Historical Review// 114.456 (April 1999): 511(1). //Expanded Academic ASAP//. Thomson Gale. Greenwich High School. 2 May. 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A54466727&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=s0579&version=1.0. Bickers, Robert. "CHINESE BURNS BRITAIN IN CHINA 1842-1900." //History Today// 50.8 (August 2000): 10. //Student Edition//. Thomson Gale. Greenwich High School. 2 May. 2007 http://find.galegroup.com/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A63986758&source=gale&srcprod=STOM&userGroupName=s0579&version=1.0. _Eurpopean Expansion and the Counter-Example of Asia 1300-1600__. Ed. Joseph R. Levenson. Eaglewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc, 1967.
 * __Spheres of Influence in China__ . Map. National Geographic. __laredoclass.net__. National Geographic. 3 May 2007 .**