The question of whether China was colonized or not may not have a straight forward answer but the fact remains that there were elements of colonization in that state. The presence of the British in that country brought out aspects of colonialism since their primary objective was purely economic. It was due to the fact that there was a high demand of Chinese tea, silk and porcelain in the British market. The problem with this trade was that the British did not have enough porcelain to trade with the Qing empire. The resultant effect was the creation of a barter trade system that was based on Opium to close the gap that came about because of the payment issues (John 43).
With time, there were clashes that came about between the Qing Empire and the British merchants which gave rise to infamous Opium wars. In response, China attempted to ban the sale of Opium to the port city of Canton led to the opium war in 1839 when the Chinese were defeated by the superior British arms. It led to imposition of the many treaties. These treaties paved the way for other cities to trade, there was also the aspect of foreign legal jurisdiction on the Chinese territory on these ports, foreign control of tariffs and the presence of the Christian missionaries. The second Opium war was ignited when the Chinese attacked a ship flying a Hong Kong flag. What followed was the signing of the treaty of Tianjin that led to opening f more ports for trade, foreign allegations being allowed to reside in Beijing. The British imperialism may not have had a strong political influence in China but the cultural and political legacy can still be seen (John 39).
Colonialism in Japan
It cannot be said for sure that Japan was colonized by the western powers although it was a colonizer itself. Despite this fact, the country has experienced semi colonial situations just like any other country. The western colonialism affected Japan in very many significant ways.
Its first encounter was with the Portuguese in the mid16th century. They brought about the catholic religion and new technology of the gun and gun powder into Japan. It led to alteration of the way the Samurai soldiers fought during their wars and it led to an increase in the national unification. With time, the national rulers began to perceive catholic religion as a threat and they decided to ban the religion nationwide and persecuted its followers in the 1620s. The result of this experience was formation of sakoku which is a closed nation policy whose main objective was to consolidate the new regime. It came with the effect of banning of the overseas travel and getting into contact with the foreigners giving the government the monopoly over foreign trade (Mason, Michele and Helen 209).
Generally, the western colonialism’s influence on Japan had a profound and a wide ranging effects on the state’s activities. One of those activities was in the denying the state the right to impose tariffs and this damaged the country’s economy. Also, the treaties led to the opening of various ports such as Kanagawa, Nagasaki, Niigate and Kobe. They opened up settlement areas in the close to these ports which belonged to the treaty nations.
Colonization in India
Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, India had a population of close to three hundred million people. From the onset, this was an indication of the availability of free labor in the country. It was ruled by a changing group of the Hindu or Muslim rulers of the time.
The British were interested in India for two main reasons, the availability of raw materials and the presence of a consumer population. The country was originally taken over by the corporation referred to as the The East India Company in the 1800s, which was later taken over by the British government. They wanted to take control of the raw materials which were available and the fact that there was too much labor available for them. The Indians offered the British the skills of their artisans in weaving, agricultural exports and other services such as the skills of the merchants. The coming of the British resulted into revolutionary changes due to their aggressive ambitions (John 43).
The resultant effect of their presence benefited the Indians by the modern goods that they received, modern transportation, education increase and protection. Negatively, the British rule resulted into them controlling the government and the economy and the Indians were not treated as the natives of the country. It resulted into opposition from the native Indians since they were offended by the British Military officers and so the Indian soldiers revolted. They were after their own liberation and so they had to fight the British to gain their own freedom. The fact that the economic capability was in the hands of the colonial masters led to a decline in the economic standards of the Indians.
The shared colonial experience
The fact that all these countries had some similarities in the way they were colonized brings out the concept of sharing some of the colonial experiences. First, the presence of the colonialists would serve to benefit the natives of the respective nations in terms of improved services or goods. The Chinese benefited from improved technology of the gun and the gun powder and this led to a new way of fighting their wars. They also had improved economy following the since the British would be involved with barter trade so as to market their opium. For Japan country, they benefited from improved medical services and transport services. The Indians on the other hand managed to improve their economy by offering their skills for hire. In all the three countries, the main objective for the colonial masters was the hunt for labor to increase their economic advantage over the natives (Peter 213).
On a negative front, the three countries had to put up with poor treatment from their masters. This is what resulted into creation of treaties most of which were meant to protect the natives from the harsh treatment of the colonialists. For the Chinese, the Opium wars created the conflict that gave rise to creation of the treaties to remedy this conflict. In Japan, the political ambitions of the colonial masters gave rise to sakoku which in turn gave more powers to the foreigners since they had accessibility to most of the economic zones. In India, the British colonialists mistreated the natives and this resulted into wars between the British military officers and the Indian soldiers. In all these cases, the colonialists mistreated the natives in an attempt to take control of their economic zones which eventually gave way for conflicts as seen from the signing of the treaties or fighting by the natives to regain control of their lands. Hence, I do agree that these countries shared some colonial experience.
Works Cited
Herman, John E. Amid the Clouds and Mist: China's Colonization of Guizhou, 1200-1700. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007. Print.
Mason, Michele, and Helen J. S. Lee. Reading Colonial Japan: Text, Context, and Critique. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2012. Print.
Robb, Peter. A History of India. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.
