Why Did the Qing Dynasty Fall?

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The Qing Dynasty first started following the military invasion by the people of Manchuria, it was the final dynasty of the Chinese Empire, which ruled from 1644 to 1912. By the early 20th century, the Qing rulers were being undermined by aggressive foreign powers, rural unrest, and military weakness. The Last Emperor, the 6-year-old Puyi, abdicated in February of 1912. Chinese people did not like the feeling that their country was being ruled by foreigners known as the Manchu. Along with other ethnic and cultural changes which brought further tensions between the Chinese and the Qing Dynasty for example the ‘queue’ hairstyle. This was brought about to show that the Chinese had accepted the Manchu rule by men shaving their hair in a particular style; it would be shaved at the top leaving the rest of the hair to grow into a braided ponytail. Lots of men rebelled against this Manchu political idea, and did so by cutting off their ponytail. This action was to make a statement however resulted in terrible punishment, such as public (long and painful) hangings/executions. A reason for the fall of the Qing Dynasty was Imperialism, or the practice of conquering and developing another area usually for trading purposes. The Sino-Japanese war was very humiliating for the Chinese people because it once again highlighted defeat on China by a foreign power, and as well internal troubles, this increased the prejudiced feeling toward outsiders, which resulted in a lot of resentment for foreigners, which meant that leaders such as Cixi who were opposed to foreigners and modernization gained a lot of support from the population. There was a high demand for China's tea in Great Britain but a low demand for Britain's goods in China. Great Britain was in debt with China and they had to do something to get out. As a result, they turned to selling silver to make the imbalance
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