Weekly Blog #1: West Influences vs. East philosophy

This week in our History of China class, we not only covered the materials on the Qing dynasty and its fall, but we also had an in-depth discussion on Western influences in China’s prosperous port—Canton, also known as Guangzhou—and the Qing dynasty’s struggle to maintain their power on the port, the justification of labeling the West as criminals and barbaric, and the justification of religious tolerance China had. One issue that I found interesting was how culturally different these two civilizations are, in terms of religion.  Another particular issue that I found most interesting from what we have learned this week and in our discussion was the importance of Western influences in China during the Qing dynasty, specifically, during the Opium Wars.

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Firstly, I would like to touch on the different religion/philosophy each country holds. Christianity is to Britain as Confucianism is to China. Taken from the New Testament, the Christian “Golden Rule” states: “Do to others what you would want them to treat you”. This rule is viewed in a positive way in which one should treat other people justly in order for them to be justly treated. Meanwhile, the Confucius “Negative Golden Rule” taken from the Analects states: “Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you.” This rule offers the idea that “I don’t like this done to me, so I won’t do it to other people.” This rule is to stop one from doing evil; to get rid of the evil first. Compared to the Christian “Golden Rule”, the Chinese “Negative Golden Rule” serves as a more independent thinking and less demanding than of the Christians. The Confucius “Negative Golden Rule” encourages self-restraint by which people express their respect for ancestors and elders. In contrast, the Christian “Golden Rule” suggest people to do good deeds, which in context, is to proselytize people to become a Christian; it is the same idea as “I like being Christian, so I will make you a Christian too.” Both rules are similar in that they both encouraged a caring and thoughtful behavior.

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These two differing views in life can be applied to the Age of Exploration where there were the Ming expeditions, and European, specifically the Portuguese and Spanish voyages. During this period, Ming fleets were well known for their enormous size which intimidated foreign lands. They had a choice to make when entering foreign lands: to conquer or to make peace. By applying the Confucius “Negative Golden Rule”, the Ming fleets did not try to conquer as they did not want their own lands to be conquered too, so they instead established tributary systems to maintain peace. However, in Portuguese and Spanish cases, they were very keen in converting local people in different countries to become Christians or Roman Catholics since this was one of their motives for sea-trading.  

                     

Spanish and Portuguese ships.

The topic of western influences in China during the Qing dynasty has sparked many questions regarding the past: whether the world would be different if China continued their Age of Exploration, whether China would become the dominating country on sea-trading, whether China would be different if Western influences did not enter the country, and others. The Opium Wars marked the beginning of the period that China is finally freed of their isolation since they become more involved in interaction between foreign contacts. The more Western influences China received, the harder the Qing dynasty had to struggle to maintain its government. Christianity was one factor that weakened the Qing government in which it has been interfering with the normal ordinary lives the Chinese had. And so, rebellions broke out for the people desired to rid the country of Christianity. Another factor would be the silver imbalance that favored China, which allows the country to bloom, especially their population. A bigger population would mean more mouths to feed, and so because the Qing dynasty was in the midst of a weakened government, they had difficulties in managing the country, so peasant rebellions broke out. 

Ming fleets used by Zheng He.

Everything would be very different if the West did not enter China. China would still remain in isolation and would still continue with the dynastic cycles. And if they had continued sea-trading during the Ming dynasty, they would definitely overpower the West with their enormous ships. But because of their different nature of behaviors, that they do not seek to conquer foreign lands, China would most likely not be as violent as the West is.