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Imperialism and China

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Submitted By fho19
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Imperialism’s effects on China has always been controversial and debatable. Andrew Nathan’s article on Imperialism’s Effects on China explains imperialism’s positive contributions to modern day China and defends the theory that China’s difficulties are caused by internal factors rather than external. On the other hand, Joseph Esherick’s Harvard on China: The Apologetics of Imperialism argues that China’s economic and social disruptions are caused by imperialism. However, when one examines the evidence chosen and rhetoric of both sides, one may realize the faults in Nathan’s essay which are not shown in Esherick’s. Esherick, as opposed to Nathan, delivers his arguments and defends his stance in a well-rounded manner along with wise usage of his evidence–forming a more crystalized and convincing argument. The two sides disagree on the fundamental question of whether imperialism brought harm or benefits to China in three aspects: effects on the economy, effects on politics, and the results of imperialism. Nathan focuses on the economic benefits foreign trade has brought, while undermining the arguments that his opponents made (in this case, mainly James Peck and Issac’s arguments.) Nathan explains that “it is difficult to establish a negative relationship between the foreign presence and the success of Chinese enterprise.” He attributes the failure of the Chinese industrialization process to the “failure of that sector as a whole to develop,” and states that the problem can “hardly be explained by the depressing effect of foreign treaty port enterprise on Chinese treaty port enterprise.” He responds that the net drain of wealth is inherently inevitable since “China’s national debt per capita and her foreign trade per capita must have been among the lowest in the world.” He also points out that “the distorting impact of imperialism on China’s political evolution

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