What event helped to modernize Beijing?\
Answers
Answered by
0
I. Introduction
For around 10,000 years of Chinese history, Beijing wasn’t always the center of economy, culture and politics as it has become over recent centuries. I first visited Beijing when I was 11 years old. I remember I was surprised to see that the city was much more ‘modernized’ than what I’d been thinking or watching on television. My second visit to Beijing, in the following year, was filled with more shocks and exclamations, since although I stayed in the same building, the dormitory of Beijing Universitywhere my dad lived, the surroundings and the atmosphere of the streets were completely changed from before.
China is changing rapidly. And so is its capital, Beijing. This paper will try to access how China has gone through this modernization process.
II. What is Modernization?
Although we use the word ‘modernization’ a lot, it is hard actually trying to define the word. People usually use the word ‘modernization’ interchangeably with the word ‘industrialization’, whereas the latter more signifies only the development of the manufacturing sector. The word ‘westernization’ as well does not convey the wholesome meaning and implications of the word ‘modernization’.
Literally, modernization is a process of a society as a whole to enter the ‘modern’ era. Then what defines ‘modern’? Clarifying this would be very important, because doing so will affect what time or what should be dealt throughout this paper.
I view modernization as the process by which societies have been and are being transformed under the impact of the scientific and technological revolution. This, of course, has a close relationship with westernization and industrialization, since the three processes inter-influence each other and thus the periods that three of them cover quite often overlap.
There are other features, which, although don’t ‘define’ modernization, indicates the level of modernization. These include relative growth in nonagricultural production, especially manufactures and services; a movement from high birth and death rates to low ones; sustained economic growth; specialization and proliferation of organizations and skills; bureaucratization; mass political participation (democratic or not); and an expansion of education at all levels; and so on.
In any society, the period of modernization can’t be stated specifically, like we can state that the French Revolution started from 1789, because modernization is not a phenomenon happening from one part of the society, but a series of phenomena occurring throughout the society. Likewise, it is hard to say when the modernization of Beijing (or China) began, or if the process has been even completed yet.
This paper will cover the period starting from the mid 19th century to the late 20th century, because this period was when the rapid changes in many parts of China occurred.
III. Overview: Modernization of Chinese Urban Areas
Wherever in the world, modernization process included more or less increasing gaps between the urban areas and the rural areas. However, it is worth stating that in China’s case, this gap was unusually wide, partially because the wide landscape and the large population of the nation didn’t allow the rapid social, economic, and cultural changes throughout the whole nation. It is thus important to notice that the following contents are based on the changes and circumstances that occurred in China’s urban areas, or in the center.
Dividing the period between mid 19C and late 20C roughly into five phases and naming each of them weren’t to draw a clear line between the periods but to enjoy the convenience of looking at gradual changes throughout near two centuries of history.
Phase 1:: 1840s ~ 1900:: Ready to Wake Up
Opening of the first five Chinese ports in Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Fuzhou and Guangzhou (Canton) and the cession of the Hong Kong Islandto Great Britain were signed in the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, followed by the First Opium War. This was an unequal treaty that China was forced to sign, but it was true that the treaty opened up China’s big ports to the Western world, which was the starting point for the Westernization in China. Foreign merchants could officially trade in those cities, not only bringing lots and lots of Chinese goods to the Western world, but also introducing foreign goods and culture to conservativeChina.
Following the Taiping Rebellion, which showed the Chinese farmers starting to voice their demands, and the Second Opium War, which again opened more Chinese cities to the Western world, the tide of modernization was uprising. A Foreign Office in Beijing opened in 1861, and so the Self Strengthening Movement, which was consisted of a number of diplomatic and military modernization projects, marked the 1860s.
The Boxer Rebellion in 1900 leads to the siege of the legation in Beijing, and an international force was involved to lift the siege. Consequently, China was required to pay a large indemnity to the foreign power.
Answered by
0
Answer:Introduction
Explanation:
Similar questions