Previously in Understanding China through Comics .
From penniless farm boy to emperor of China .
Nanjing
Reunifying China
Turning inward: The Ming Dynasty, 1368 – 1644 .
Protector of the poor .
Low tax .
Labor duties .
Leave people alone .
Low pay and corruption .
Local officials .
Central government officials .
Warehouse administrators .
Students .
“What a difficult situation this is!” .
Short-term measures with long-term implications
.
Losing control of its own currency .
Failure of copper coins .
Overspending destroys paper money .
Retreat .
Turning to silver .
Japanese pirates .
Tax monetization for war .
Macau .
“Why are we fighting with our money supply?” .
Spanish Americas .
“We don’t control the trade or the source of silver.”
.
Conscientious individuals in a flawed system .
Wang Yangming and the School of Mind .
Core teaching .
Impact .
Hai Rui, the oddball .
Zhang Juzheng and a last attempt to save the empire
.
“It’s a bad time to run out of money” .
Final years of the Ming Dynasty .
“Bandits can tear my body apart, but don’t hurt my people”
Manchus and the West: The Qing Dynasty, 1644 – 1912“We’re here to protect Chinese tradition” .
The last Ming resistance in Taiwan
Century of peace .
Growing economy .
Territorial expansion .
Early contact with the West .
Re-establishing trade .
American crops .
Jesuits
.
Turning point .
System failure .
Rise of industrial Britain .
Bankruptcy .
Opium trade .
The first Opium War .
The invisible hand
.
Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace rebellion
“Jesus is my brother!” .
Scholars against the rebels .
The second Opium War
.
Self-strengthening
Empress Dowager Cixi to the rescue .
Sir Robert Hart, head of the Chinese customs service.
Burlingame, ambassador for America and China .
New hope - the Beiyang force
.
Philo McGiffin and the Chinese navy .
Incompatible with tradition .
A new academy at Weihai Wei
.
When the dragon meets the rising sun .
Rise of industrial Japan .
Line of advantage
.
The first Sino-Japanese war .
The Korean crisis .
Declaration of war .
Getting ready .
The Battle of Yalu River .
Encounter .
Outnumbered battle .
Fire in the forecastle .
Withdraw .
Battle results .
Total defeat
Aftermath .
Peace treaty .
Diaoyu Islands .
Japan’s path to imperial power .
Carving up China
Hundred Days’ Reform
Society on the eve of revolution .
Modern city life .
Impoverished countryside .
“Now you must turn to God!” .
Tensions in the birthplace of Confucius .
Last straw from the Forbidden City
The storm of 1900 .
Battle of Beijing .
Eight-nation alliance .
Boxer Protocol .
Final humiliation .
Revolution
Sun Zhongshan, father of modern China .