The Period from 1840 to 1919

In the early period of 19th century, Qing Dynasty declined rapidly. Great Britain took the chance to export a quantity of Opium to China. The government of Qing Dynasty then decided to ban the continuous importation of Opium. In order to protect the Opium trade with China, the British imperialists launched the Opium War against China in 1840. Qing Empire was defeated in the war and compelled to sign on the Treaty of Nanking, a great humiliation on the sovereignty of China. In the wake of the first Opium War came invaders from various countries. The foreign powers, including Great Britain, America, France, Russia, and Japan forced the corrupted and incompetent Qing government to sign a series of unequal treaties. From then on, China was reduced to be a semi-colonized and semi-feudal society.

Revolution of 1911 led Dr. Sun Yat-sen overthrew the Qing Dynasty which ruled for more than 200 years. At the same time, it concluded the feudal imperial tyranny extending for more than 2000 years, and gave rise to the Republic of China. This was the greatest event on the recent history of China.