Study Of The Anti-foreign Riots In Late Qing Dynasty (1842-1900)

With china's being forced to open his door after the opium war, a series of anti-foreign riots broke out all over the country, among of which, the most important is the canton people's anti-city entering struggles and Chinese people's anti- Christianity preaching struggles. For these conflicts, there have been many studies in the academic circles now, and most mainly analyzed the conflicts'process and reason from the points of the class struggle or culture conflict , but few from the capitalism expansion. So it is necessary to study these conflicts again from the capitalism expansion, which is the inevitably, unavoidably historical tendency that Late Qing government must face.This paper mainly analyzed the following subjects on the basis of lots of historical materials and many studies in print . First, brief statement of the conflicts in canton, and examination of the realistic and cultural reasons to cause the conflicts; second, unavoidability and inevitability of the capitalism expansion, British diplomatic policy in China and Late Qing Government's reaction to them; third, leading role of the local officials and gentries in the conflicts, and the cultural reasons which they are hostile to the Christianity; fourth, relationship between the capitalism expansion and the Christianity conquest, and which brings the shock to the traditional belief, convention and the gentries'authority ; fifth, rumors'types and contents ,their producing and spreading reasons ,and their effects to the conflicts; at last, comments on the conflicts under the nationality-time standard, that is to say, as commenting on historical characters or events ,it must safeguard the national's interests and, at the same time, conform to the time's tendency.