Message from ablackwelder

[Anonymous]

This lecture (Thanks again, Clay!) had some truly striking visuals and stories; it felt like a lesson that in itself could have been expanded to a full seminar of material. The conclusion of the Opium War with the Treaty of Nanjing cut the Chinese so deep on a national level- having to pay reparations, Hong Kong given to the British, French missionaries later allowed in, and finally the US 1885 agreement for all of the above PLUS "Most Favored Nation Status." Extra territoriality was the end-all in humiliation (and something I've talked about to many people since the program ended), and this was still not nearly as devastating as the horrors of the subsequent century. To finish the seminar, then, with talk of the Olympics (which were a massive success) symbolized an epic turnaround. Looking forward to receiving this powerpoint among others...