33.6 The far east: a.d. 1801 to 1900  (Page 2/6)

The population of China by 1850 was over 400,000,000

Thus began China's modern history. In the last half of the century Manchu and true Chinese leaders tried to respond to economic and military incursions of the West with the so-called self strengthening movement, to adapt western technology without disturbing traditional political and social orders. From 1870 to near the end of the century it seemed to be working fairly well, but this was misleading and the imperial order completely fell a few years later. (Ref. 101 )

To leave the political scene for a bit, we should reiterate that by the 1820s Manchu China was the world's largest and most populous empire, directly controlling vast territories in inner Asia and drawing tribute f rom still larger areas including Korea, Indo-China, Siam, Burma and Nepal. A postal service with 2,000 express stations, over 30,000 horses and almost 50,000 foot messengers and 70,000 service people was used basically as a means of control by the imperial government. In 1855 troops were sent across the Salween River into Yunnan province to suppress some rebels in an area where bubonic plague was endemic. The troops not only contracted the disease but brought it back into the remainder of China and by 1894 it had reached Canton and Hong Kong. It was then that teams of scientists were sent in and the bacillus Pasteurella pestis identified and the mode of transmission, by fleas from rodents to men, was established. In the meantime steamships were carrying the disease f rom China around the world. Chinese medicine continued to fascinate the West. The Pharmacopoeia, called Pen Ts'ao, listed many wines. Tortoise wine was good for bronchitis; snake wine was curative of palsy; dog wine helped lassitude and mutton wine was good for the testicles. (Ref. 8 , 140 , 211 , 213 )

We must include a few words about Chinese paintings. Japanese collectors have given the impression that Sung paintings are great, Yuan occasionally good, and Ming and Ch'ing increasingly imitative and sterile. This not what the Chinese themselves think, but their traditions are not those of the West. Their paintings of ten have no background at all and they feel no compulsion to fill up the canvas with details. Similarly they do not handicap themselves with convention about perspective. In landscapes particularly, the viewer might consider himself as if suspended in air, shif ting about to view different parts of the scene. (Ref. 101 )