Why didn't China industrialize during the Qing Dynasty and China was called the sick man of Asia in the 19th-20th century?

为何中国未能在清代实现工业化，甚至还在19至20世纪被称为东亚病夫？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Gavin Y. Simon

Spent 3 years in Beiing and 1 year in SichuanAuthor has 129 answers and 616.2K answer viewsSep 27

First of all, the Qing Dynasty did undergo industrialization in its later years. In history, this is known as the Self-Strengthening Movement or the Foreign Affairs Movement, which took place roughly from the 1870s to 1895. In the early days of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing emperors indeed opposed industrialization. The Industrial Revolution took place in England in the mid-18th century. That was during the reign of Emperor Qianlong.

首先，清朝后期中国尝试过工业化。历史上称之为自强运动或洋务运动，大约发生在1870年到1895年之间。清朝初期的皇帝反对工业化。工业革命发生在18世纪中期的英国，即清乾隆年间的事。

Technology has never been a mainstream subject of study in ancient China. Frequently, technology was belittled and even ironically dismissed as worthless tricks to deceive people. This is related to the economic and political system of ancient China. Ancient China was a centralized empire dominated by bureaucracy. What the rulers valued most was the stability of the empire, especially the sustained output of agriculture and the homogeneity of ideology among the imperial subjects.

在中国古代，科学技术从来都不是主流学科。科学技术的重要性长期被贬低，甚至被人们看成没用的骗人把戏。这跟中国古代的经济和政 治制 度有关。古代中国是官僚主义统治的中央帝国。统治者最需要的是帝国的稳定，特别是稳定的农业产量和统一的意识形态。

Geographically, the core part of China is in a temperate monsoon zone. This means that each year, this region will have roughly the same cultivation and harvest seasons, so agricultural production can rely on past experiences. Such experiences do not change much on multi-century time scales. Even though the ancient Chinese occasionally made key advances in agricultural equipment and irrigation facilities, they did not need to innovate much in terms of the overall methods of operation of agricultural production.

从地理位置上看，中国的政 治中心处于温带季风带。这意味着该地区每年的种植和收获季节大致相同，因此农业生产可以依赖以前的经验。尽管中国古代在农耕用具和灌溉设施方面也取得过重大进步，但农业生产的整体操作方法并不需要太多创新。

From an economic perspective, ancient China was a naturally occurring small-scale agricultural economy with men farming and women weaving. Commerce was suppressed for most of the dynasties from the Qin Dynasty onwards, as the highly mobile merchants were seen by the emperors as a destabilizing factor in imperial society. When trade was not as developed, the demands that could facilitate technological development, such as long-distance transportation, did not exst.

从经济角度看，中国古代自然形成的是小农经济，男耕女织。从秦朝开始的大多数朝代，商业活动都受到了抑制，因为流动性强的商人被皇帝视为帝国社会的不稳定分子。商贸不够发达，就不存在能够促进技术发展的需求，例如长途运输。

On the military front, China is located within a relatively isolated geographical area in which it has been a dominant military power since ancient times. Though occasionally threatened by ethnic minorities, for the most time China has been militarily secure. As a result, ancient China also lost the motivation to develop science and technology through improving military weapons.

在军事方面，中国地处一个相对孤立的地区，自古以来就是一个军事强国。尽管偶尔会受到少 数民族的威胁，但大多数时候中国都是安全的。因此，古代中国也失去了通过改进军事武器来发展科学技术的动力。

All of the above illustrates the disinterest of the ancient Chinese rulers in the development of technology and productivity. The situation in the Qing Dynasty was a little more unique. The Qing Dynasty was an empire founded by the Manchus. Ever since it unified China, it has been challenged by ethnic tensions. The rulers of the empire were Manchus, but they were outnumbered by the Han Chinese. The emperors of the Qing dynasty had always taken a wary attitude toward the Han Chinese. They avoided allowing them to gain too much strength in all sorts of domains.

这些方面的因素导致中国古代统治者对科学技术和生产力的发展不感兴趣。清朝就更特别了。清朝是满族人建立的帝国。自从统一中国以来，清朝政府一直面临民族关系紧张的问题。大清帝国的统治者是满族人，但人数上少于汉人。清朝的皇帝一直对汉人小心警戒，不会让汉人在任何领域拥有强大的实力。

The Qing emperors believed that once they industrialized, as England did, the Han Chinese would be able to master factories and advanced weapons. This would threaten the dominance of the Manchus. And along with Western industrial technology came the modern de ocratic ideas of the West, which would challenge the old bureaucratic system of the empire. As a result, the Qing Dynasty rejected industrialization and globalization until the disastrous defeat in the Second Opium War.

As for the title of the Sick Man of East Asia, it was mainly related to the massive sale of opium by Britain in China.

清朝皇帝相信，一旦他们像英国那样实现了工业化，汉人就能掌控工厂和先进武器，威胁到满族的统治地位。伴随着西方工业技术而来的是西方的现代皿 煮思想，这会对帝国腐朽的官僚体系造成严重冲击。因此，清朝政府拒绝进行工业化和全球化，直到在第二次鸦片战争中惨败。

至于“东亚病夫”的称号，主要是跟英国在中国大量贩卖鸦片有关。

Yuan Li

First of all, although some people think that the industrial revolution started with the Jenny spng machine, it does not mean that the quality and work efficiency of British products have become the first in the world since the Jenny spng machine. The reason why Britain was able to industrialize was because he had a large number of colonies for commodity dum, forcing them to optimize industrial equipment to improve their industrial strength, and the reason why the Qing Dynasty did not industrialize was because Chinese silk, porcelain, tea and other Chinese products were A much-needed luxury in the West. This is like a comparison between unmanned workshops and handmade luxury goods. Because the silver from all over the world poured into the territory of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and foreign commodities were not attractive enough, colonial empires like the United Kingdom had been in a trade deficit with the Qing Dynasty until the emergence of opium, which made British merchants profitable. (It is interesting that when the Chinese got the opium production technology, they sold it to the UK and European countries in reverse. It seems that opium was strictly prohibited in Europe at that time, so European drug addicts came to China to smoke opium. Of course, this is not What is something to brag about, so China's anti-drug policy is very strict now (50 grams of heroin will be shot). The computer translation translates "drug use" into smoking drugs. China regards addictive opium, marijuana, cocaine and other similar addictive things It's called poison", so Chinese call these addictive things called smoking, poison)

首先，虽然有人认为工业革命的爆发是以珍妮纺纱机作为标志的，但这并不意味着英国产品的质量和生产效率在珍妮纺纱机出现之后就成为了世界第一。英国之所以能够实现工业化，是因为英国拥有大量的殖民地进行商品倾销，英国必须优化生产设备、提高生产能力，而清朝之所以没有实现工业化，则是因为中国的丝绸、瓷器、茶叶等产品在西方是受到热捧的奢侈品。这就像是机器作坊和手工奢侈品之间的对比。

因为当时世界各地的白银大量涌入清朝境内，而清朝对外来商品不感兴趣，英国等殖民帝国对清朝一直处于贸易逆差状态，直到鸦片的出现才让英国商人开始获利。(有意思的是，当中国人终于掌握鸦片生产技术时，他们反手把鸦片卖给英国和欧洲国家。当时的欧洲严格禁止吸食鸦片，所以欧洲的瘾君子到中国来吸食鸦片。当然，这并不是什么值得吹嘘的事情，所以中国现在的禁毒政策非常严格，只要50克海洛因就得抓去枪毙）。中国把让人上瘾的鸦片、大麻、可卡因之类的东西叫做“毒品”，吸食这些东西叫做“吸毒”。

Peter Ole Kvint

Creative boss. at The Internet (2008–present)Author has 4.3K answers and 3.9M answer viewsUpdated Aug 27

Why didn't China industrialize during the Qing Dynasty?

Corruption was the norm for Chinese dynasties. But when the world changes, corruption becomes a problem. China's leadership received only positive reporters. Without negative or neutral reporters, there is no basis for action. This was also the problem of the Soviet Union. If someone told the truth, they became the problem. The jester was so important at the European courts because he had the duty to say what everyone was thinking.

The main cause was racism. The Chinese upper class did not perceive the Europeans as equal to the Chinese. And did not visit other countries.

中国历代王朝都有腐 败现象。当世界发生剧变时，腐 败就成了一个大问题。人们对统治者报喜不报忧，封建统治者对存在的问题毫无察觉，也就不需要采取行动。苏联也遇到过同样的问题。如果有人讲真话，他们自己就成了问题所在。小丑在欧洲宫廷中的地位之所以那么重要，就是因为小丑的职责就是说出每个人的想法。

主要原因在于种族偏见。中国的贵族阶层认为欧洲人和中国人无法相提并论，他们从未出访过其他国家。

Extreme Conservatism. A Chinese dynasty begins with the founder and from there it descends. Therefore, everything was best in the begng and progress is a setback.

No training of military engineers. It was the military engineers, in Europe, who in peacetime did the civil engineering tasks. And quite slowly the industrial in Britain began without any ruler having decided it.

极端的保守主义。中国的每个朝代始于开国者，并从此衰落。所以，维持原样是最好的，进步就面临着阻碍。

中国没有培养军事工程师。欧洲的军事工程师在和平时期建造了一系列土木工程。而英国的工业发展在统治者还未下令执行之前就慢慢开始自发进行了。

Casting system. China was divided into a caste system with the cavalry and army at the top. Next, the administrative class. The peasants. So artisans, fishermen. And finally over the beggars there was a cluster of merchants and bankers. And the merchants had a better relationship with their foreign business associates than with their own government.

社会等级。中国社会被划分为三六九等，骑兵和军队地位崇高。接下来是官宦阶层、农民、工匠、渔夫，商人的地位仅仅比乞丐高一些。商人与外国商业伙伴的关系甚至好过跟政府的关系。

Insane tax system. Qing Dynasty lived off an export duty. This was such a great success that the British ran out of silver. And had to send armies to China to force the Chinese to hand over the silver again. That is, the Chinese did not get anything out of all the silver that they had earned.

疯狂的税收体系。出口关税养肥了清朝政府。英国人耗尽了白银储备，不得不派军逼中国人交出白银。也就是说，中国人没有从他们赚来的白银中获得任何好处。

Jonathan Liu

ChineseAuthor has 254 answers and 1.6M answer views5y

How did the Industrial revolution influence China? (Qing Dynasty)?

The main impact of the industrial revolution in China was that it spelled the doom for the Qing Dynasty.

There being extremely high demand for Chinese products in Europe among the growing middle class, in particular porcelain, silk and tea (especially in Britain, obviously). However trade was severely limited, being only permitted in Canton with Western merchants only permitted to stay in certain small areas without their families. In addition everything was closely monitored with trade only allowed for licensed merchants through the Cohong, a monopoly guild of Chinese Merchants. In addition, whilst demand for Chinese products in Britain was sky-high, China only accepted silver as payment and Britain didn’t have much silver. In fact, tea exports from China grew from 42000 kg in 1700 to 10.4 million kg in 1800 at a cost of 1600 tonnes of silver.

工业革命对中国的主要影响是宣告了清朝的灭亡。

欧洲不断增多的中产阶级对中国商品有极高的需求，尤其是瓷器、丝绸和茶叶(尤其在英国)。但中国严格限制贸易活动，只在广州口岸开放对外贸易，西方商人不得携带家人来华，只能在划定的小片地区逗留。而且所有活动都受到严密监控，只有持照商人才能通过中国商人的垄断行会进行贸易。除此之外，尽管英国对中国商品的需求很旺盛，但中国只接受白银作为支付手段，而英国的白银储量不多。事实上，中国的茶叶出口从1700年的42000公斤增长到1800年的1040万公斤，就让英国消耗了1600吨白银。

As a result, to prevent this huge drain of silver, the British East India Company looked to Opium as a trade commodity. Using poppies grown in India, the highly addictive opium was smuggled into China in return for silver and goods. It quickly became hugely profitable with opium imports increasing from 1000 to 40,000 chests between 1783 and 1839 upon the outbreak of the first Opium War. After attempts by British, Dutch and Russian embassies failed to convince Qing Emperors to open up their ports to free trade at the end of the 18th century and begng of the 19th, China was on course for disaster.

结果，为了防止白银大量流失，英国东印度公司将鸦片作为一种贸易商品。英国把印度种植的罂粟，这种极易上瘾的鸦片，走私到中国来换取白银和商品。1783年到1839年第一次鸦片战争爆发期间，鸦片进口量从1000箱增加到40000箱，很快就让英国人获得了巨大的利润。18世纪末19世纪初，英国、荷兰和俄罗斯使团试图说服清朝皇帝开放港口进行自由贸易，但都以失败告终，中国走上了灾难之路。

A reason why this is so important is because whilst China failed to open up its doors since the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century, Europe began to advance rapidly technologically. Qing Emperors failed to realise how backward their country was and made no attempt to modernise even when shown new technological innovations by various foreign embassies. This is sort of understandable considering how the Qing Empire was still one of the most powerful and the most populous empire in the world by far (33% of the world’s population lived in China).

当中国从明朝开始固步自封时，欧洲的科技开始了日新月异的发展。清朝皇帝压根不清楚中国有多落后，当外国大使向他们展示最新的科技创新时，他们也没有考虑过现代化。鉴于清朝的中国仍是当时世界上最强大、人口最多的帝国之一(当时全球有33%的人口生活在中国)，这也就不足为奇了。

When the Qing Empire inevitably went to war with Britain over trade and opium, Britain, an industrialised nation with steam naval boats, heavy artillery, rockets and modern rifles, were able to humiliatingly defeat Qing forces on home ground that consisted of antiquated junk ships and soldiers armed with matchlock guns that were last seen on European battlefields in the early 1700’s despite Chinese numerical superiority. It was the embarrassing defeat of the Chinese and its unequal peace treaty of Nanking that led to the Tai rebellion and the Second Opium War later followed, resulting in the Qing Empire’s final total collapse by the late 19th century.

当大清帝国终于因为贸易和鸦片问题跟英国开战时，尽管中国军队在人数上占据优势，但英国这个拥有蒸汽海军舰艇、重型火炮、火箭弹和现代步枪的工业化国家，还是在中国的国土上不可一世地击败了由老式破船和端着火枪的士兵组成的清朝军队，这些武器最后一次出现在欧洲战场已经是18世纪早期的老黄历了。中国难堪的战败和不平等的南京和约，导致了太平天国起义和随后的第二次鸦片战争，并最终导致了清朝政府在19世纪末的彻底倒台。

MUSIAU

Had an interest of History and would like to learn moreAuthor has 169 answers and 476.9K answer viewsMar 13

Why was the Qing dynasty so strong in the 1600s and 1700s but dramatically declined in the 1800s? When did it start to become weaker?

Because of the Industrial Revolution which was one of the biggest shifts in History and China failed to modernized like the other Asian countries like Japan and Siam.

是由于工业革命这个人类历史上最大的转折点之一，中国没有像日本和印度等亚洲国家那样实现了现代化。

CaiLei

Lives in China (1975–present)Author has 2.6K answers and 25.9M answer viewsUpdated 10mo

What forces stopped the Qing dynasty from industrializing?

There was industrialization in the Qing Dynasty, For example, Hanyang Iron & Steel Works, but it was controlled by comprador capitalists!

The Qing Dynasty was forcibly opened by Western powers and implemented an opening-up policy!

Empress Dowager Cix was one hundred years before Deng iao opened up to the outside world.

清朝也进行过工业化努力，比如汉阳钢铁厂，但被买办资本家控制了！

清朝被西方列强强行开放，实行对外开放政策！

Westerners should praise the Empress Dowager Cix. Westerners have always missed the Qing Dynasty.

Qing Dynasty and ROC's opening to the western world is very “good”. Why close the door and rely on self-reliance.

西方人应该赞颂慈禧太后。西方人总是对清朝念念不忘。

清朝和中华民国对西方世界打开国门是“大好事”。为何要关上国门，自力更生呢。

During the Qing Dynasty, Western powers invested and built factories in China, and the goods on the market were all with the word "foreign".

such as iron nails called "foreign nails"(洋钉). Kerosene is called "foreign oil"(洋油). Cement is called "foreign ash"(洋灰). The candle is called "foreign wax"(洋蜡). Cigarettes are called "foreign smoke"(洋烟), matches are called "foreign fire"(洋火)...

But this opening to the outside world is entirely dum, Unfair dum must be prevented!

清朝时期，西方列强在中国投资建厂，市场上售卖的货物都标有“洋”一词。

比如铁钉被称为洋钉，煤油被称为洋油，水泥被称为洋灰，蜡烛被称为洋蜡，香烟被称为洋烟, 火柴被称为洋火...

但这种对外开放完全是倾销，这种不公平的倾销必须抵制！

Children cannot compete with adults in the same arena.

Because the Qing Dynasty was an agricultural country, no industrial products competed with Western products, this is unequal business competition.

If this situation continues, China will become a dum ground for industrial products and technologies in Western developed countries, a supply ground for raw materials, and an investment ground for surplus capital. Just like India.

孩童是不可能与成人在同一个竞技场上竞争的。

清朝是农业国，没有能跟西方商品竞争的工业产品，这是完全不对等的商业竞争。

如果这种情况持续下去，中国将成为西方发达国家工业产品和技术的倾销地、原材料的供应地、剩余资本的投资地，就像印度一样。

Bill Yu Liao (廖彧)

Lives in Australia, professional procrastinatorAuthor has 138 answers and 1.9M answer views3y

Why was China called the "Sick Man of Asia" for the 19th and early 20th century?

It all began with one event (technically 2, but it is widely known with this name):

这都是因为一个历史事件（实际上是2个历史事件，但因为这个名字被世人熟知）：

The Opium Wars

鸦片战争

This was the single event which leads to China’s Century of Humiliation, the root cause of the downfall of the Celestial Empire. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, China was bullied and occupied by foreign powers, and the country was split into multiple warlord factions

这就是导致中国百年屈辱的历史事件，也是清朝灭亡的根本原因。在整个19世纪和20世纪，中国被列强欺凌占领，军阀混战

Introduction

The Opium Wars were two conflicts wars which occurred in the mid-19th century that mainly involved the Chinese Qing Dynasty and the British Empire on the opium trade. Opium is a highly addictive drug harvested from the opium poppies pre-mature seed pod sap (Drugs, 2014). This sap contains high concentrations of morphine, codeine, and papaverine. Inhaling large quantities of this highly addictive drug causes many side effects on the inhaler including high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia (NBCI, 2016).

介绍

鸦片战争是发生在19世纪中期的两场战争，是清朝政府和大英帝国因鸦片贸易而爆发的。鸦片由罂粟未成熟的种子荚汁加工而来，是一种高度成瘾性的毒品。这种汁液含有高浓度的吗啡，可待因和罂粟碱。大量吸食这种高度成瘾性毒品会对吸食者的身体造成许多不良反应，包括高血压、糖尿病、高血压和血脂异常。

The Opium Wars is made up of two separate wars, the First Opium War began in 1839 to 1842, and the Second Opium War started from 1856 to 1860. The Opium Wars resulted in an increased amount in the import of opium into China, which had a profound effect on China both politically and from a societal perspective.

鸦片战争由两场独立的战争组成，第一次鸦片战争始于1839年至1842年，第二次鸦片战争始于1856年至1860年。鸦片战争导致中国进口鸦片的数量增加，这对中国的政治和社会都产生了深远的影响。

What was the cause that leads to the Opium Wars?

Since the early 18th century, the British East India Company established opium farms in Bengal province of India, where they are grown cheaply and then sold to China. However, opium trade was kept at a minimum with just 200 chests entering China annually (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018). By the start of the 19th century, the economic output of China became the largest in the world and contributed to more than 30% of the world’s total GDP output. Throughout the 18th and 19th century, the European powers mainly traded silk, tea, porcelain, and pottery with China and the demand for Chinese luxury items rose tremendously across Europe. However, the Qing Dynasty only accepted gold and silver as payment and would not accept European currency. As a result, large amounts of silver and gold were leaving Europe which caused an imbalance in trade between the European powers and China as silver. In response, the Europeans mass produced opium in mass and sold it to the Chinese in order to stop the trade imbalance (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).

鸦片战争的起因是什么?

自18世纪初起，英国东印度公司在印度的孟加拉省建立鸦片农场，在那里种植廉价的鸦片，然后卖到中国。但最初鸦片贸易规模一直很小，每年进入中国的鸦片只有200箱(《大英百科全书》，2018)。到19世纪初，中国经济总量已居世界首位，占世界GDP总量的30%以上。

整个18、19世纪，欧洲列强主要与中国进行丝绸、茶叶、瓷器和陶器的贸易，整个欧洲对中国奢侈品的需求急剧上升。

但清朝只接受黄金和白银作为支付手段，不接受欧洲货币。

结果，大量的金银流出欧洲，造成欧洲列强与中国贸易的不平衡。为了打破这种贸易不平衡，欧洲人大量生产鸦片并卖给中国人(《大英百科全书》，2018)。

The Opium Wars and its impacts on China

In order to finally put an end to the opium trade, on May of 1839 the Chinese emperor Daoguang forced the British Minister of Trade in China to hand over the opium stocks in Canton and destroyed 1210 tonnes of opium. The British government became outraged and dispatched a fleet from the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy used its superior gunnery power and bombarded the coastal city of Canton and inflicted heavy damage on the Chinese navy, this tactic was known as Gunboat Diplomacy.

鸦片战争及其对中国的影响

为了彻底终结鸦片贸易，1839年5月，中国道光皇帝强迫英国驻华贸易大臣交出广东的鸦片库存，销毁了1210吨鸦片。英国政府恼羞成怒，派出皇家海军的一支舰队。英国皇家海军凭借强大的火炮轰炸了广州这个沿海城市，对中国海军进行了沉重打击，这种战术被称为炮艇外交。

In 1842, China was forced to sign the first unequal treaty, the Treaty of Nanking, which granted the British trade rights on five Chinese ports and ceded Hong Kong to the British Empire for 99 years. However, the British were not satisfied with the treaty as the empire was still running on a trade imbalance with China. This eventually lead to the Second Opium War on 1856 and ending on 1860 with the Treaty of Tianin which forced China to pay 8 million taels (Chinese currency), the legalization of opium trade, giving full rights for Christian missionaries, and the opening of Tianin trade port for European traders only (Abc Bullion, 2012).

1842年，中国被迫签署了第一个不平等条约《南京条约》，该条约授予英国对中国5个港口的贸易权，并将香港割让给大英帝国99年。但英国人对条约仍不满足，因为英国和中国的贸易依然不平衡。这最终导致了1856年的第二次鸦片战争，并在1860年以天津条约的签订告终，该条约迫使中国向英国支付800万两战争赔款，并承认鸦片贸易合法化，给予基督教传教士完全的权利，天津港仅对欧洲商人开放。

The unfair treaties resulted in a dramatic increase of opium imports into China from 200 chests annually in 1729 to 60 000 opium chests by the end of the Second Opium War, with each chest weighing approxmately 64 kilograms (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018). Opium addiction became extremely problematic with over 10 million Chinese becoming opium addicts (National Army Musem, 2018).

这些不公平条约导致中国的鸦片进口量从1729年的每年200箱急剧增加到第二次鸦片战争结束时的每年6万箱，每箱重约64公斤，超过1000万中国人因鸦片成瘾。

Conclusion

In summary, the Opium Wars lead to the destruction of the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty collapsed because of political and social unrests due to the massive influx of opium into China. The collapse of the Qing Dynasty led to the Warlord Era with the Republic of China is recognised internationally as the successor of Qing China. However, it wasn’t until the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 where opium trade in China was finally put to a stop. This was the reason why China was called “the sick man of Asia” throughout the 19th and 20th century.

结论

总而言之，鸦片战争导致了中国最后一个帝国王朝——清朝的灭亡。鸦片大量流入中国，导致中国的政治和社会严重动荡，清朝灭亡了。直到1949年中华人民共和国成立，中国的鸦片贸易才最终停止。这就是中国在19世纪和20世纪被称为“亚洲病夫”的原因。