Since then, China has been reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and the history of China has entered a modern history marked by the Opium War. This is a history of humiliation of the Chinese nation, an indomitable struggle of the Chinese nation, and an exploration history of generations of China people seeking ways to enrich the people and strengthen the country. To learn this history well, we must grasp three main lines.

First of all, a disastrous history of humiliation.

The modern history of China is a history of disaster and humiliation of the Chinese nation, and the people of China suffered from imperialist aggression and bullying. In the modern history of China, imperialist countries, big and small, rushed to invade us. China was forced to sign hundreds of unequal treaties, and the people of China were defeated again and again in the western wars of aggression.

1840, in order to open the door to China, Britain launched the Opium War flagrantly, and the ancient and backward China was defeated by western guns. 1842, treaty of nanking, the first unequal treaty in China's modern history, was signed. Since then, the first batch of unequal treaties in China's modern history, such as the Sino-British Charter on Trade with Five Ports, the Sino-British Humen Treaty, the Sino-American Wang Xia Treaty, and the Sino-French Huangpu Treaty, have been signed. They were forced to cede territory, pay reparations, open trading ports and negotiate tariffs with foreign countries, and foreign countries gained consular jurisdiction in China and the privilege of preaching at trading ports. These treaties have brought barbarism and humiliation to the people of China.

1856, Britain, France and other countries launched the Second Opium War in order to further open the door to China. After the failure of resistance, the Qing government was forced to sign the Tianjin Treaty with Britain, France, Russia and the United States, and the Beijing Treaty with Britain, France and Russia. China lost a large area of territory and sovereignty, especially the Russian plundered China 1.5 million square kilometers. Foreign aggression extended to the interior of China, and China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal degree deepened.

1885, France launched the Sino-French war of aggression against China, the Qing government signed the Sino-French New Testament, and the great powers gained the right to build railways in China. 1894, China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, and was forced to sign the treaty of shimonoseki with Japan, which greatly deepened the semi-colonial and semi-feudal degree of China, and the compensation reached 200 million taels of silver. The imperialist powers set off a frenzy to carve up China.