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The Qing Dynasty is a fallen kingdom, an end to an era of emperors and empresses, a time now preserved in aged and printed books duplicated into the thousands for the commoners to read and educate themselves. It is curious how humanity loves to turn on themselves in the pursuit of coin and power. The Qing Dynasty was never prosperous and without issues to begin with. However, as problem upon problem piled up, it was eventually internal human error and action within this tumultuous period that broke the back and brought the end of the final dynasty. While external issues like the opium wars were a catalyst for the Qing Dynasty's demise, the leading causes of the Qing Dynasty's fall were the internal complications such as the horrific famines that took place, as well as the Empress Cixi and her actions.
The opium wars had devastating and adverse impacts, but government incompetence worsened their effect and brought the Qing Dynasty closer to its end. When the war began, "China interpreted the attack as not the beginning of a full-scale war..." (SPICE). China's government was incompetent because it simply disregarded the idea that the British were serious in their attack or could even compete with its assumed superior army. China allowed the British to sail on right through its territorial seas without stopping them earlier before the situation escalated, which would make it harder to contain and control. By not subduing the British or even considering the damage they could cause, China's incompetent government and poor decisions caused them to be defeated at the hands of the British and led to the signing of the unfair Treaty of Nanjing. "Subsequent British campaigns over the next year were likewise successful against the inferior Qing forces" (Britannica). China's idea of its superiority, which continued well into the Qing Dynasty, led to its downfall. Isolated from most of the world save for foreign traders who visited them; the Chinese did not have much idea of the people of other continents and considered them 'barbaric.' When they assumed the British were inferior and didn't take them seriously, this led the British to get a steady footing in their attack of China which would lead to the death of thousands of Chinese. The Qing Dynasty assumed that their weapons and science were superior to those of the British - while in truth, they were really streets behind. This led to the Chinese being overpowered; an unfortunate situation, but one that could have been avoided if the Qing Dynasty had taken action earlier against an enemy which they took lightly.
Empress Cixi, one of the Qing dynasty's final rulers, hastened the end of the Qing Dynasty through her ignorant decisions and selfish spending of government funds. She abused her access to public finances and "used Navy funds to build herself a lavish summer palace." (SACU) Previously, China was overpowered by the British in the opium war because of its pride and reluctance to change due to its assumed superiority. Empress Cixi should actually have been more cautious and less overconfident by paying more attention towards strengthening the country's defenses and army forces to fend off possible attacks. However, Emperor Cixi did not do this, and it was this weakened and underfunded naval force that led to China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese war. Empress Cixi also allowed "financial corruption to run rampant in the forbidden city." (SACU), and this led to erosion of the trust of Chinese citizens in her leadership. By turning a blind eye, it is possible that the crime rate was higher due to police being bribed. Citizens were also taxed higher for the personal gain of the rulers. Although the Qing Dynasty was never going to last forever, Empress Cixi made a lot of bad decisions that, if avoided, could have led to its survival for at least a few more years.
As the Qing dynasty's population rose to over three hundred million, famine was well around the corner, bringing the Qing dynasty down through overpopulation. As the populace increased, food and supplies became scarce. For a short while, sufferers could borrow from each other, but that soon came to an end. "They killed their plowing oxen and pawned their implements of agriculture, their coverlets and clothes, and at last they gave up all thought of the future, and fell to selling their furniture and the materials of their houses, for a mere song, till at last no purchaser could be found [Keagan Paul)." People became desperate for any form of entertainment, for anything to save them from the hunger and scarcity of both supplies and money. In Woodblocks (Famine of China), we can see desperate people digging in the dirt for food and kneading dry grass into cakes. We see a man ready to commit suicide, and in those trying times, it is not unlikely to assume that many most likely turned to cannibalism-going insane with guilt as a result. Many most likely lost their faith in the government, as the words, "Ye who spend large sums every day on your food, will you not give these sufferers a cup of soup?" Are written on the woodblocks. These carvings show that the starving citizens are begging, sinking low so they can provide for themselves or their family, just for a mere bowl of soup from a community that is unwilling to give up even a mere fraction of their riches. "To get an idea of the extent of the suffering in the late nineteenth century look closely at the woodblock prints from the china relief fund distributed in Europe." Considering China's pride, it is unlikely that they were truly willing to accept help unless they were desperate-which they were. The total number of deaths was around nine and a half million, and it would be logical to assume that farmers, entertainers, and children were among the dead. Empress Cixi most likely took the famines as embarrassment when she attempted to restore the Qing dynasty to its former glory, independent of former countries.
The dynasties of china were already crumbling, the troubles of previous emperors and empresses catching up with them. However, despite all the things foreigners launched against them in the pursuit of money and land, it was internal error and action that finally brought down the Qing Dynasty. The Qing dynasty fell due to famines that ravaged the land and a controversial empress whose actions speak for themselves. As people died in the millions, money was both amassed and lost. The Opium war was a catalyst, but it was also merely an event added to the camel’s back before it broke. The Qing dynasty fell, and a new modern era began.