Why Why Why?
Whats the significance?
Taiping Uprising
The Taiping uprising cause a lot of damage to the power and the respect of Qing dynasty in China, essentially showing how weak they were. With European assistance and after 14 years the rebellion was finally suppressed.
A side effect of the rebellion was many of the Chinese fled the worst effected areas during the rebellion and migrated to america, establishing Chinese communities on the west coast
Opium Wars
The opium wars were significant because they humiliated the Chinese who believed they were a great and powerful empire, Also showed a clear example that china could be pushed around by distant foreigners. Another significance was that the Wars were conducted so that Britain could force China to allow the British to bring opium into China to sell. The British needed to sell opium to China. When China banned the trade, Britain went to war.