When the Opium wars began, China thought it could sink no lower, but now with these so called "spheres of influence" China is being divided up among foreign devils whose only objective is money and wealth.

For the ignorant, these spheres are certain regions of our mother country run by a Warlord, the "ruler" of that sphere (1). Foreign countries negotiate with these warlords to obtain exclusive rights to mining, trade, and railroads within the area. These deals are siphoned through the warlord and the money stays with them. Therefore, China overall loses money because it stays with a few people, instead of going to our government and being distributed among the public.

Last year, in 1898 these spheres were started. The French set up in Hainin, Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong. The Germans set up in Santung and leased Qingdao. The Russians held their sphere in Manchuria and leased Port Arthur. The British leased Weihaiwei, and Italians had their sphere in Zhejican. Even our neighbor, Japan, jumped at the option of wealth and seized Taiwan, Xiamen, and part of our peninsula! (2).

The greater population of China is greatly upset at the interaction and negotiations with the "enemies" and don't like how their taxes are going up to pay for these spheres. One farmer comments, "I scarcely grow enough to feed my family, much less another country in addition." The more successful warlords, namely Zhang Zuolin of Manchuria, Yan Xishan of Shanxi, and Tang Jiyao of Yunnan (3) see no problem with this at all. Zuolin notes, "China is too far behind the times, we need to catch up with the new technology that these Westerners have, or else we shall perish as a country. I believe that in the long run, trading with the West will do China good." The Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion weakened China internally, and created new foreign markets. The Warlords are seizing the chance at gaining a lot of power and money and decided to run these "spheres". They gained and hoarded lots of money, which is draining the rest of China economically and we're losing money and "territorial integrity" (4). However Empress dowager Cixi is unwilling to do anything to stop these foreign devils from invading and won't create any new policies. Presently, we are very weak internally due to lack of change and these foreigners taking over. If China doesn't do something soon and modernize, China may soon cease to exist.

Sources

1. "Spheres of Influence," http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/44113.html 2000.

2. "Carving up China," http://history.binghamton.edu/hist274/Feb24.htm February 24, 2000

3.Cambridge University, The Cambridge encyclopedia of China (Spain: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1991), 235-236

4. Eileen, Tamura, China: understanding its past (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998)113-115

Images List

1. Thomas Caswell, "China" [http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/imperialism/china.cfm] 1999-2000

2. J. Buschini, "Boxer Rebellion" [http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/fists.html] 2000