Question

How did foreigners begin to gain control over China?

Answer 1

Hint: The foreign relations and occupations of China have been peculiar in their own right. The modern interference in China can be traced back to its beginning in the Qing dynasty which turned out to be the last dynastic rule in China.

Complete answer: After the First Opium War was fought between China and Britain from 1839 to 1842, China had to allow the open trading with Westerners that it had been fending off till then. China seemingly lost the war then as it had been militarily less equipped and modernised as compared to the European powers.
Post this, many unfair treaties were made to be signed by China which were to allow the British to settle colonies, foreign diplomats to settle in the Chinese territory and no-barrier trade policies to be accepted by the ruling dynasty of China. France occupied Vietnam and Britain occupied Burma. Tibet didn’t accept China’s suzerainty. So effectively, China was not seen as a dominant power anymore.
Japan and Russia also came in to seize China’s territories and seek control over the resources that these regions could provide. Thus, the foreign influence kept growing in Chinese territory and was first countered or opposed in the Boxer’s revolution.

Note: During the first world war, China had tried to support the Triple Entente in the war by supplying its forces. This was skeptically seen by the foreign forces exerting dominance in China as a methodology for it to gain the lost control again, so they denied this help. Later, with Russia facing the Bolshevik revolution, the Chinese military is what helped the Allies secure victory.