Was China colonised by foreign power in recent centuries?

[IblinI]

Tamerlane was also set to conquer China, but he became ill and died so the invasion never happened.

Since Ming empire was at its peak, I don't feel the odds is with Tamerlane.

 

[Kamikaze Pilot]

They occupied the major cities on the coast. Yes.
China was in the midst of a civil war when Japan attack.
Japan was "looting a burning house".
Japan under estimate the resolve of the Chinese people.
Read how the Chinese dismantle factories and transport them to ChungQing. Read how the Chinese build the Burma road to supply the war against Japan.

This sounds so much like Soviet response to Nazi invasion.

@dsr478

 

[Hamza913]

Since Ming empire was at its peak, I don't feel the odds is with Tamerlane.

Fair point, but I don't think he would have been invading if he didn't have a plan.

Would have been an interesting spectacle, but him dying was probably for the best (otherwise there would have been lots of bloodshed).

 

[beijingwalker]

Japan only managed to occupy some big cities in China but never rural regions, Japan at its peak manage to reach less than one third of China's land and still that's the regions best termed as battle fields. Japan surrendered to KMT in China in 1945 and being occupied by US ever since.

 

[Baybars Han]

Japan didn't colonise China. It was a war and they were invaded.
Mongols are a different story and I don't know much about the Manchus.

 

[Dai Toruko]

Yes, opium had China colonized ... with 170,000 tons of silver taken out of China and over 100 million Chinese perished from opium.

 

[brainiac3397]

There are some differences between what the Nazis did to the USSR and Japan did to China. The Nazis directly occupied the territories of Russia they captured, though they did run two tests of puppet states in Soviet territory(Belarusian Central Council and Lokot Autonomy). Otherwise, like what they did to France, the Nazis generally preferred establishing their own Nazi occupation regime. Either they'd establish a Reich Commissariat(staffed by Nazi party members) or a Military Administration(staffed by the military). They actual had a Reich Commissariat of Muscovy but they never managed to conquer enough of the USSR(and eventually lost ground) to actually create it.

The Japanese on the other hand preferred to establish puppet regimes to handle adminsitrative duties in the areas they captured while they provided military security. This fit in better with their imperial policy which focused on colonialism and client states. Examples include Manchuko and Reorganized National Government of China as puppets and Korea and Taiwan as colonies.

But as was stated, China wasn't colonized by Japan. Japan only actually held a small portion of the Republic of China's territories, albeit the more populated and important portion(with Shanghai and Beijing). Otherwise, China was able to keep them at bay in Shaanxi and Chongqing.

 

[beijingwalker]

over 100 million Chinese perished from opium.

ignorance knows no boudaries

 

[GeraltofRivia]

Fair point, but I don't think he would have been invading if he didn't have a plan.

Would have been an interesting spectacle, but him dying was probably for the best (otherwise there would have been lots of bloodshed).

Indeed It would be interesting. Apparently he had massed a army of 200,000 to invade Ming. It would take a very long march crossing mountains and desert to reach Chinese border, and the supply line would be very stretched. No doubt even his army reached China with half the number it would still be a strong force.

On the other hand, he was in his 70s, this adventure was proven too much for the age. If he did manage to finish the journey, he would face emperor Yongle, who was in his prime years and was a very experienced general. He and his north army has been fighting against North Yuan for years.

Anyway it did not happen.

They still held large portions of China for a fair bit of time.

Yes, so did Germany occupied France for most of WW2.

 

[Tauren Paladin]

Some people here like dsr478 don't know what colonisation is. Colonisation is when a country gives up its land to a foreign invader and becomes a puppet state for that foreign invader like India. China never gave up its territory to the Japanese during world war 2. They fought with the allies to drive them out.

 

[Hamza913]

Some people here like dsr478 don't know what colonisation is. Colonisation is when a country gives up its land to a foreign invader and becomes a puppet state for that foreign invader like India. China never gave up its territory to the Japanese during world war 2. They fought with the allies to drive them out.

You still had people act against the British to drive them out, e.g Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan, Muhammad Iqbal Shedai, and acts of rebellion like the Sepoy Mutiny.

 

[Dai Toruko]

ignorance knows no boudaries

Its pretty embarrassing how helpless China was during this compared to how overconfident they were going into it. At the start of the Opium wars they saw themselves as the undisputed strongest nation on Earth, but had no idea how much stronger of a threat the British Empire was.

 

[TexasJohn]

China did end up ceding some turf to Britain as a result of the opium wars, but it was messy affair and ended up sucking the French into it also. But it was never colonized. Unfair treaties - oh yes, but no real conquest.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars

 

[rcrmj]

Macao to Portugal, Hongkong to Britain, only these two areas can be defined being colonised by foreign countries. Because one of the most distinct effects of colonization is the official language, as both two places consider Portuguese and English as their official language respectively. And that is also the reason that Taiwan does not fit in this category even they had been ruled by Japanese for long decades.

but the mainland was never colonized by foreign forces, but military conquests and lootings by foreign forces were evidently large````

Lots people's perception of Mongol conquest of China = colonization of China is a total false.
firstly, Mongolia was not recognized by former Chinese government of ROC, it is part of China
secondly, the Chinese Yuan dynasty was founded by Mongol, and its legal system, official language, governing structure, art, literature, economy and culture was still Chinese, these share no similarities to the likes of what would have happend to the colonized.
lastly, just like Manchu emperors, mongol emperors they all considered themselves were legitimate divine successors of the Middle-Kingdom ruling legacy, and the true kins of the heavenly decendents