Before the Opium War of 1840, China was a feudal society. The development of commodity economy within Chinese feudal society had nurtured the germ of capitalism, and without the influence of foreign capitalism, China would have gradually developed into a capitalist society. But the Opium War of British Aggression against China in 1840 began to interrupt the original course of Chinese history and change the direction of Chinese historical development. With the invasion of foreign capitalist-imperialist forces, the Chinese society was faced with two fundamental changes: firstly, independent China had gradually become a semi-colonial China; secondly, feudal China had gradually become a semi-feudal China…
Article Length: 3,490 characters
Own the print edition of The Great Dictionary of Marxism for unrestricted study and reference.
