01/11/2025
't the British and/or some other European powers colonize China like they did to India? Was it because China had a tradition of being united for long stretches of time, was banditry too large of problem in China or is there another reason?
The British colonized Hong Kong. The Portuguese colonized Macau. The Japanese colonized Taiwan. Russia grabbed parts of China for itself. Kiautschou Bay was a German colony, as was Qingdao. Guangzhouwan was a French colony. And then there were quasi-colonies like the Shanghai International Settlement (US and UK) and the foreign concessions.
Besides these colonies, China was divided up by foreign powers into spheres of influence (E.g., Russia in the North, France in the South. etc.). China was treated as a pie to be carved up and distributed. If Russia wanted to take Japan’s slice of the pie, they would need to fight Japan for it. And that did happen. The war between Japan and Russia (1904–1905) was fought mainly in China for Chinese territory.
Eventually Japan did try to colonize the whole country, killing tens of millions of people in the process..
Edit: Just add one point here. Understanding the above is important in understanding why in modern China there is so much concern about maintaining territorial integrity.