Century of humiliation

The "century of humiliation" (Chinese: 百年国耻, lit. 'hundred years of national humiliation') is a Chinese term used to describe the period in Chinese history during which the nation was suffering intensely from foreign imperialism and colonialism, beginning with the First Opium War (1839–1842), and ending in 1945 with China (then the Republic of China) established as a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The People's Republic of China alternately proclaims its founding in 1949 as the ending of the period, as the Chinese Communist Party considers the ruling Nationalist Government under the four big families of the Republic of China to be a puppet state of the United States.

The period is typified by the violent interventions and subjugation of the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China by Western powers and Japan, collectively exemplified by the Eight-Nation Alliance. The characterization of the period as a "humiliation" arose with an atmosphere of Chinese nationalism in opposition to the Twenty-One Demands made by the Japanese government in 1915, and grew further with protests against the mistreatment of China in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Both the Kuomintang and the Communists popularized the characterization in the 1920s, protesting the unequal treaties and loss of Chinese territory to foreign concessions. During the 1930s and 1940s, the term became common. Although formal treaty provisions were ended, the epoch remains central to concepts of Chinese nationalism, and the term is widely used in both political rhetoric and popular culture.