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This map was produced at the height of British Imperial power and shows direct British rule extending all the way from Iran (Persia) to Thailand (Siam). Most of the contiguous Indian Ocean littoral, from South Africa to Singapore and Australia, was also under British administration or de facto control.<br/><br/> It is relevant to note that the map shows Sikkim extending north into the present-day territory of China's Tibetan Autonomous Region. Similarly Darjeeling is shown in eastern Nepal, while Bhutan is elongated to the east and most of India's Arunachal Pradesh province is shown as part of the Qing Empire. In Kashmir, by contrast, the disputed Aksai Chin region, now under Chinese control, is shown as part of India.
Hanfu or Han Chinese Clothing refers to the historical dress of the Han Chinese people, which was worn for millennia before the conquest by the Manchus and the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644.
First used in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 ), cannon were among the earliest forms of gunpowder artillery, and over time replaced siege engines—among other forms of aging weaponry—on the battlefield. The first hand cannon appeared during the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut between the Mamluks and Mongols in the Middle East. The first cannon in Europe were probably used in Iberia, during the Reconquista, in the 13th century, and English cannon were first deployed in the Hundred Years' War, at the Battle of Crécy, in 1346.
The women are not wearing Manchu style fashion and so are Han Chinese. They may be entertainers from the southern province of Guangdong.
Foot binding (pinyin: chanzu, literally 'bound feet') was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the first half of 20th century.<br/><br/> There is little evidence for the custom prior to the court of the Southern Tang dynasty in Nanjing, which celebrated the fame of its dancing girls, renowned for their tiny feet and beautiful bow shoes. What is clear is that foot binding was first practised among the elite and only in the wealthiest parts of China, which suggests that binding the feet of well-born girls represented their freedom from manual labor and, at the same time, the ability of their husbands to afford wives who did not need to work, who existed solely to serve their men and direct household servants while performing no labor themselves.<br/><br/> Bound feet were considered intensely erotic in traditional Chinese culture. Qing Dynasty sex manuals listed 48 different ways of playing with women's bound feet. Some men preferred never to see a woman's bound feet, so they were always concealed within tiny 'lotus shoes' and wrappings. Feng Xun is recorded as stating, 'If you remove the shoes and bindings, the aesthetic feeling will be destroyed forever' - an indication that men understood that the symbolic erotic fantasy of bound feet did not correspond to its unpleasant physical reality, which was therefore to be kept hidden.<br/><br/> For men, the primary erotic effect was a function of the lotus gait, the tiny steps and swaying walk of a woman whose feet had been bound.
'The Real Barbarian', by Edward Linley Sambourne, Illustrated London News, 5 January, 1861.<br/><br/> Several documents known as the 'Treaty of Tien-tsin' were signed in Tianjin (Tientsin) in June 1858, ending the first part of the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The Second French Empire, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties opened more Chinese ports (see Treaty of Nanking) to the foreigners, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allow Christian missionary activity, and legalized the import of opium.<br/><br/> In addition, China was to pay an indemnity to Britain and France of 2 million taels of silver respectively, and compensation to British merchants of 3 million taels of silver.<br/><br/> The treaty was ratified by the Emperor of China in the Convention of Peking in 1860, after the end of the war.
The Jap in a China Shop: 'Now then, you pig-headed old pig-tail open your shop - and hand me the keys!' At the time of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese were seen by many Westerners as 'plucky' rather than imperialist aggressors.<br/><br/> The First Sino-Japanese War (1 August 1894 – 17 April 1895) was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea. After more than six months of continuous successes by Japanese army and naval forces and the loss of the Chinese port of Weihaiwei, the Qing leadership sued for peace in February 1895.<br/><br/> Direct results of the war showed that the military strength and sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty had been severely weakened during the nineteenth century; and it demonstrated that forced reform had modernized Japan significantly since the Meiji Restoration in 1867, especially as compared with the Self-Strengthening Movement in China. Regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan; and the Qing Dynasty, along with the classical tradition in China, suffered a major blow. These trends would later manifest in the 1911 Revolution.
'The Open Mouth', by Edward Linley Sambourne, Illustrated London News, 10 May, 1859:<br/><br/> British Lion: 'It's alright, Johnny Chinaman. We've come to a perfectly friendly arrangement'.<br/><br/> Russian Bear (pleasantly): 'We're going to invade you'.<br/><br/> Several documents known as the 'Treaty of Tien-tsin' were signed in Tianjin (Tientsin) in June 1858, ending the first part of the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The Second French Empire, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, and the United States were the parties involved. These treaties opened more Chinese ports (see Treaty of Nanking) to the foreigners, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allow Christian missionary activity, and legalized the import of opium.<br/><br/> The treaty was ratified by the Emperor of China in the Convention of Peking in 1860, after the end of the war.
Foot whipping, variously known as bastinado, falanga (phalanga), and falaka (falaqa), is a form of corporal punishment whereby the soles of the feet are beaten with an object such as a cane or rod, a club, a piece of wood, a stout leather bullwhip, or a flexible bat of heavy rubber. It is also sometimes favoured as a form of torture because, although extremely painful, it leaves few physical marks. The prisoner may be immobilised before application of the beating by tying, securing the feet in stocks, locking the legs into an elevated position, or hanging upside-down. The Persian term falaka referred to a wooden plank which was used to secure the feet prior to beating. This punishment has, at various times, been used in China, as well as the Middle East. It was used throughout the Ottoman Empire.