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Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China, 1839-1861

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An early and interesting book by the distinguished historian Frederic Wakeman. This is a careful study of the decline of Qing governance in Kwangtung province in the first half of 19th century, particularly the period of the 1st and 2nd Opium Wars and the Great Taiping Rebellion. Wakeman's narrative shows how the strains experienced by the Qing state, particularly the effects of European imperialism, upset the delicate balance between local gentry power and the authority of the central government. Responding to the 1st Opium War, the Imperial court authorized the expansion of local militias. These decisions and subsequent turmoil in Kwangtung province, described in considerable and interesting detail, gradually eroded the power of the central government. The power vacuum was filled by the local gentry, particularly the wealthier rural clans. In Canton and the immediately surrounding region, authority came to rest in the British and French occupiers. In addition to the direct loss of political power, the Qing also experienced loss of prestige and as the effects of European imperialism became more pronounced, Qing legitimacy suffered from Chinese ethnocentrism. The result was a progressive and self-perpetuating process of Qing incapacity.