The 19^th century is one of the most turbulent periods of Chinese history, as internal uprisings, natural disasters, and the relentless encroachment of the West culminated in the end of the empire. A succession of weak rulers were manipulated and controlled by the Dowager Empress Cixi, who ruled for much of the late Qing from “behind the curtain.” The Taiping Rebellion of 1850-64 devastated south and central China.

Western powers, frustrated by the reluctance of the Chinese to open to foreign trade, brought the Chinese under increasing pressure. Keen to protect the trade of opium from their colonies in India, the British engaged in the first Opium War (1840-42), which culminated in the Treaty of Nanjing, resulting in the opening of four new ports to trade, the payment of huge indemnities, and the ceding of Hong Kong to Britain. Following the Arrow War (Second Opium War) with Britian and France (1856), the European forces divided China into “spheres of influence” – the British strongest along the Yangtze and in Shanghai, the Germans controlling Shandong province, and the French controlling the borders with Vietnam. In 1900 the Boxers allied with imperial troops and attacked the foreign legations in Beijing. An eight-nation army defeated the onslaught, and Cixi fled to Xi’an, blaming everything on the emperor. The Chinese government paid once more for the loss of life and Cixi returned to Beijing until her death in 1908. The child emperor Pu Yi lived in the Forbidden City as the last emperor until his abdication. On 1 January 1912 the Republican leader Sun Yatsen inaugurated the Chinese Republic.