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In Russia, the man who changed everything was Peter the Great (reigned 1682-1725). It was he who proclaimed Russia as an empire (China had proudly worn this label since 221 BC), carried out far-reaching reforms, and, as a result of the Great Northern War (1700-1721) against Sweden, turned Russia into a full-fledged European power. In China, the fir...

The main bone of contention for Russia and China at the end of the 17th century was the Amur basin, north of the Chinese lands, where Russian immigrants were settling the uninhabited terrain and building the first fortifications. The Qing emperors, wary of Russian expansionism, considered these lands their own, despite the minimal Chinese populatio...

In the 18th century, the Qing dynasty succeeded in consolidating its power and bringing about an economic recovery. Effectively self-sufficient by now, China became a major exporter of textiles and porcelain. Nor did the emperors neglect culture, restoring literary monuments of past epochs and compiling dictionaries and encyclopedias. Despite that,...

In the mid-19th century, both St. Petersburg and Beijing fought wars against Western powers and lost. Russian defeat came in the Crimean War of 1853-1856 against Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire, while Qing China was powerless to resist Britain and France in the so-called Opium Wars (1840s-50s), when a series of treaties imposed on China tur...