Chinese history is fascinating. If we examine Chinese history from 1793 until 1949, the British were more interested in trading with China than China was in trading with the West. The Opium Wars were based around Britain wanting to redress the trade imbalance yet defying an Imperial Prohibition on the importation of opium! Britain winning the wars saw ports forcibly opened and trade concessions to Britain. The thing that I find amazing with the West is, they wanted to import Chinese goods, like silk, spices and the like, but they had no respect for the Chinese people.

The Empress Tzu Hsi utilised the Tai Ping to drive out the foreigners, and later, there was the Boxer Rebellion.

One of the reasons why Chairman Mao was successful over Chiang Kai-shek was that he was focused on driving out the Imperial Japanese Army, while Chiang divided his forces to fight Mao and the Japanese.