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152-514: The river has borne the name "Ashi" since the Qing (17th–20th century). Before that, it was known as the Anchuhu ( Middle Chinese : ʔan -tsyhwit-xu ), a medieval Chinese transcription of its original Jurchen name Anchun , Ancun , or Alcun , meaning 'gold' or 'golden', presumably from placer deposits along its banks. From the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD , the river formed part of

304-564: A "responsible cabinet" led by Yikuang , Prince Qing. However, it became known as the " royal cabinet ", as five of its thirteen members, were part of or related to the royal family. The Wuchang Uprising on 10 October 1911 set off a series of uprisings. By November, 14 of the 22 provinces had rejected Qing rule. This led to the creation of the Republic of China , in Nanjing on 1 January 1912, with Sun Yat-sen as its provisional head. Seeing

456-622: A Han revolt in 1623, Nurhaci turned against them and enacted discriminatory policies and killings against them. He ordered that Han who assimilated to the Jurchen (in Jilin) before 1619 be treated equally with Jurchens, not like the conquered Han in Liaodong. Hong Taiji recognized the need to attract Han Chinese, explaining to reluctant Manchus why he needed to treat the defecting Ming general Hong Chengchou leniently. Hong Taiji incorporated Han into

608-555: A box in the Palace of Heavenly Purity , which would only be opened after his death. Seeing that Yinreng was completely disavowed, Yinsi and some other princes turned to support the 14th prince, Yinti, while the 13th prince supported Yinzhen. They formed the so-called "Eighth Lord Party" ( 八爺黨 ) and "Fourth Lord Party" ( 四爺黨 ). Following the deposition of the crown prince, the Kangxi Emperor implemented groundbreaking changes in

760-485: A campaign to unify the nearby tribes . By 1616, however, he had sufficiently consolidated Jianzhou so as to be able to proclaim himself Khan of the Later Jin dynasty in reference to the previous Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty . Two years later, Nurhaci announced the " Seven Grievances " and openly renounced the sovereignty of Ming overlordship in order to complete the unification of those Jurchen tribes still allied with

912-593: A confederation of Oirat tribes based in parts of what is now Xinjiang , continued to threaten the Qing Empire and invaded Tibet in 1717. They took control of Lhasa with a 6,000 strong army and killed Lha-bzang Khan. The Dzungars held on to the city for three years and at the Battle of the Salween River defeated a Qing army sent to the region in 1718. The Qing did not take control of Lhasa until 1720, when

1064-641: A descendant of Genghis Khan, opposed and fought against the Qing until he died of smallpox in 1634. Thereafter, the Inner Mongols under his son Ejei Khan surrendered to the Qing and he was given the title of Prince (Qin Wang, 親王). The Inner Mongolian nobility now became closely tied to the Qing royal family and intermarried with them extensively. Ejei Khan died in 1661 and was succeeded by his brother Abunai. After Abunai showed disaffection with Manchu Qing rule, he

1216-619: A desperate situation, the Qing court brought Yuan Shikai back to power. His Beiyang Army crushed the revolutionaries in Wuhan at the Battle of Yangxia . After taking the position of Prime Minister he created his own cabinet , with the support of Empress Dowager Longyu . However, Yuan Shikai decided to cooperate with Sun Yat-sen's revolutionaries to overthrow the Qing dynasty. Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654 – 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing , personal name Xuanye ,

1368-412: A direct threat to the throne. So much so that upon his death he was bestowed the extraordinary posthumous title of Emperor Yi ( 義皇帝 ), the only instance in Qing history in which a Manchu "prince of the blood" ( 親王 ) was so honored. Two months into Shunzhi's personal rule, however, Dorgon was not only stripped of his titles, but his corpse was disinterred and mutilated. Dorgon's fall from grace also led to

1520-666: A disappointed civil service examination candidate who, influenced by reading the Old Testament in translation, had a series of visions and announced himself to be the son of God, the younger brother of Jesus Christ, sent to reform China. In 1851, Hong launched an uprising in Guizhou and established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with himself as its king. Within this kingdom, slavery, concubinage, arranged marriage, opium smoking, footbinding, judicial torture, and

1672-613: A former minor Ming official, who established a short-lived Shun dynasty . The last Ming ruler, the Chongzhen Emperor , committed suicide when the city fell to the rebels, marking the effective end of the dynasty. Li Zicheng then led rebel forces numbering some 200,000 to confront Ming general Wu Sangui , stationed at Shanhai Pass of the Great Wall to defend the capital against the approaching Manchu-led armies. Wu, to survive, had to ally with one of his adversaries against

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1824-519: A misunderstanding that Manchus were afraid of water. Han bannermen carried out the fighting and killing, casting conquest of the Mingdoubt on the claim that fear of the water led to the coastal evacuation and ban on maritime activities. Even though a poem refers to the soldiers carrying out massacres in Fujian as "barbarians", both Han Green Standard Army and Han bannermen were involved and carried out

1976-623: A painter and copper-engraver at the Qing court. In 1723, he returned to Naples from China with four young Chinese Christians, in order to groom them to become priests and send them back to China as missionaries. This marked the beginning of the Collegio dei Cinesi, sanctioned by Pope Clement XII to help the evangelization of Christianity in China. This Chinese Institute was the first school of Sinology in Europe , which would later develop to become

2128-454: A patron of Tibetan Buddhism to establish legitimacy as a ruler of the Mongols and Tibetans. Kangxi's reign began when the young emperor was seven. To prevent a repeat of Dorgon's monopolizing of power, on his deathbed his father hastily appointed four regents who were not closely related to the imperial family and had no claim to the throne. However, through chance and machination, Oboi ,

2280-515: A perfect successor. Yinreng was tutored by the mandarin Wang Shan, who remained devoted to him, and spent the later years of his life trying to persuade the Kangxi Emperor to restore Yinreng as the crown prince. Yinreng proved to be unworthy of the succession despite his father showing favoritism towards him. He was said to have beaten and killed his subordinates, and was alleged to have had sexual relations with one of his father's concubines, which

2432-485: A series of edicts and plans were made to reorganize the bureaucracy, restructure the school system, and appoint new officials. Opposition from the bureaucracy was immediate and intense. Although she had been involved in the initial reforms, the Empress Dowager stepped in to call them off , arrested and executed several reformers, and took over day-to-day control of policy. Yet many of the plans stayed in place, and

2584-485: A short, but hard-fought campaign. She fled to Xi'an . The victorious allies then enforced their demands on the Qing government, including compensation for their expenses in invading China and execution of complicit officials, via the Boxer Protocol . The defeat by Japan in 1895 created a sense of crisis which the failure of the 1898 reforms and the disasters of 1900 only exacerbated. Cixi in 1901 moved to mollify

2736-809: A short-lived proto-state known as the Zheltuga Republic (1883–1886) in the Amur River basin, which was however soon crushed by the Qing forces. In 1884, Qing China obtained concessions in Korea , such as the Chinese concession of Incheon , but the pro-Japanese Koreans in Seoul led the Gapsin Coup . Tensions between China and Japan rose after China intervened to suppress the uprising. The Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi and Li Hongzhang signed

2888-460: A subsidiary capital after 1173. 45°49′29″N 126°42′43″E  /  45.8246°N 126.7119°E  / 45.8246; 126.7119 This Heilongjiang location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( / tʃ ɪ ŋ / CHING ), officially the Great Qing , was a Manchu -led imperial dynasty of China and

3040-400: Is associated with fire within the Chinese zodiacal system , while Qīng ( 清 ) is associated with water, illustrating the triumph of the Qing as the conquest of fire by water. The name possibly also possessed Buddhist implications of perspicacity and enlightenment, as well as connection with the bodhisattva Manjusri . Early European writers used the term "Tartar" indiscriminately for all

3192-453: Is nothing we lack..." Since China had little demand for European goods, Europe paid in silver for Chinese goods, an imbalance that worried the mercantilist governments of Britain and France. The growing Chinese demand for opium provided the remedy. The British East India Company greatly expanded its production in Bengal. The Daoguang Emperor , concerned both over the outflow of silver and

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3344-626: The Battle of Shanhai Pass on 27 May 1644. The newly allied armies captured Beijing on 6 June. The Shunzhi Emperor was invested as the " Son of Heaven " on 30 October 1644. The Manchus, who had positioned themselves as political heirs to the Ming, held a formal funeral for the Chongzhen Emperor. However, completing the conquest of China proper took another seventeen years of battling Ming loyalists, pretenders and rebels. The last Ming pretender, Prince Gui , sought refuge with Pindale Min ,

3496-870: The Beiyang Army , and the purchase of armament factories from the Europeans. The dynasty gradually lost control of its peripheral territories. In return for promises of support against the British and the French, the Russian Empire took large chunks of territory in the Northeast in 1860. The period of cooperation between the reformers and the European powers ended with the 1870 Tianjin Massacre , which

3648-631: The British Royal Navy . British soldiers, using advanced muskets and artillery, easily outmaneuvered and outgunned Qing forces in ground battles. The Qing surrender in 1842 marked a decisive, humiliating blow. The Treaty of Nanjing , the first of the " unequal treaties ", demanded war reparations, forced China to open up the Treaty Ports of Canton , Amoy , Fuzhou , Ningbo and Shanghai to Western trade and missionaries, and to cede Hong Kong Island to Britain. It revealed weaknesses in

3800-697: The Convention of Tientsin , an agreement to withdraw troops simultaneously, but the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895 was a military humiliation. The Treaty of Shimonoseki recognized Korean independence and ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan. The terms might have been harsher, but when a Japanese citizen attacked and wounded Li Hongzhang, an international outcry shamed the Japanese into revising them. The original agreement stipulated

3952-611: The Dominicans taking a hard-line against foreign " idolatry ". The Dominican position won the support of Pope Clement XI , who in 1705 sent Charles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon as his representative to the Kangxi Emperor, to communicate the ban on Chinese rites. Through de Tournon, the Pope insisted on sending his own representative to Beijing to oversee Jesuit missionaries in China. Kangxi refused, wanting to keep missionary activities in China under his final oversight, managed by one of

4104-487: The Duke of Zhou 's offspring. The contents of the national treasury during the Kangxi Emperor's reign were: The reasons for the declining trend in the later years of the Kangxi Emperor's reign were a huge expenditure on military campaigns and an increase in corruption. To fix the problem, the Kangxi Emperor gave Prince Yong (the future Yongzheng Emperor ) advice on how to make the economy more efficient. During his reign,

4256-687: The Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in western China led to the deaths of over 20 million people, from famine, disease, and war. The Tongzhi Restoration in the 1860s brought vigorous reforms and the introduction of foreign military technology in the Self-Strengthening Movement . Defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 led to loss of suzerainty over Korea and cession of Taiwan to the Empire of Japan . The ambitious Hundred Days' Reform in 1898 proposed fundamental change, but

4408-594: The Dzungars in Outer Mongolia . The Kangxi Emperor expelled Galdan 's invading forces from these regions, which were then incorporated into the empire. In 1683, Qing forces received the surrender of Formosa (Taiwan) from Zheng Keshuang , grandson of Koxinga , who had conquered Taiwan from the Dutch colonists as a base against the Qing. Winning Taiwan freed Kangxi's forces for a series of battles over Albazin ,

4560-669: The Eight Banners as a member of the Han Plain Red Banner . His soldiers—including the rattan-shield troops ( 藤牌營 , tengpaiying )—were similarly entered into the Eight Banners, notably serving against Russian Cossacks at Albazin . A score of Ming princes had joined the Zheng dynasty on Taiwan, including Prince Zhu Shugui of Ningjing and Prince Honghuan ( 朱弘桓 ), the son of Zhu Yihai . The Qing sent most of

4712-707: The Four Regents nominated by his father. After assuming personal rule, Kangxi's attempt to revoke the fiefdoms of feudal princes sparked the Revolt of the Three Feudatories , which he suppressed. He also forced the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan and Mongols in the north and northwest to submit to Qing rule, and launched an expedition that incorporated Tibet into the empire. Domestically, he initially welcomed

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4864-545: The Grand Matsu Temple the next year and, honoring the goddess Mazu for her supposed assistance during the Qing invasion, promoted her to "Empress of Heaven" ( 天后 Tianhou ) from her previous status as a "heavenly consort" ( 天妃 Tianfei ). Belief in Mazu remains so widespread on Taiwan that her annual celebrations can gather hundreds of thousands of people; she is sometimes even syncretized with Guanyin and

5016-646: The Jesuits and the propagation of Catholicism in China, but tolerance came to an end as a result of the Chinese Rites controversy . Later in his reign, Kangxi became embroiled in a prolonged succession dispute. He died in 1722 at the age of 68 and was succeeded by his fourth son, who assumed the throne as the Yongzheng Emperor . The Kangxi Emperor's reign brought about long-term stability and relative wealth after years of war and chaos. He initiated

5168-609: The Jurchen Manchu Tunggiya 佟佳 clan of Jilin , using this false claim to get themselves transferred to a Manchu banner in the reign of Kangxi emperor. The main army of the Qing Empire, the Eight Banners Army, was in decline under the Kangxi Emperor. It was smaller than it had been at its peak under Hong Taiji and in the early reign of the Shunzhi Emperor ; however, it was larger than in

5320-475: The Republic of China . The multi-ethnic Qing dynasty assembled the territorial base for modern China . It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the fourth-largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With over 426 million citizens in 1907 , it was the most populous country in the world at the time. Nurhaci , leader of the House of Aisin-Gioro and vassal of

5472-493: The Revolt of the Three Feudatories , which lasted for eight years. Kangxi was able to unify his forces for a counterattack led by a new generation of Manchu generals. By 1681, the Qing government had established control over a ravaged southern China, which took several decades to recover. To extend and consolidate the dynasty's control in Central Asia, the Kangxi Emperor personally led a series of military campaigns against

5624-584: The Sacred Edict of 1670 effectively extolled Confucian family values. His attempts to discourage Chinese women from foot binding , however, were unsuccessful. The second major source of stability was the Inner Asian aspect of their Manchu identity, which allowed them to appeal to the Mongol, Tibetan and Muslim subjects. The Qianlong Emperor propagated an image of himself as a Buddhist sage ruler ,

5776-626: The Shunzhi Emperor and Empress Xiaokangzhang in Jingren Palace, the Forbidden City , Beijing , the Kangxi Emperor was originally given the Chinese name Xuanye ( Chinese : 玄燁 ; pinyin : Xuanye ; Manchu transliteration : hiowan yei ). He was enthroned at the age of seven (or eight by East Asian age reckoning ), on 7 February 1661. However, his era name "Kangxi", only started to be used on 18   February 1662,

5928-459: The Shunzhi Emperor , with Dorgon as regent and de facto leader of the Manchu nation. Meanwhile, Ming government officials fought against fiscal collapse, against each other, and against a series of peasant rebellions . They were unable to capitalise on the Manchu succession dispute and the resulting boy emperor. In April 1644, Beijing was sacked by a contentious rebel coalition led by Li Zicheng ,

6080-497: The Tsardom of Russia . However, during the 18th century, European empires gradually expanded across the world and developed economies predicated on maritime trade, colonial extraction, and technological advances. The dynasty was confronted with newly developing concepts of the international system and state-to-state relations. European trading posts expanded into territorial control in what is now India and Indonesia. The Qing response

6232-621: The Virgin Mary . The end of the rebel stronghold and capture of the Ming princes allowed the Kangxi Emperor to relax the Sea Ban and permit resettlement of the Fujian and Guangdong coasts. The financial and other incentives to new settlers particularly drew the Hakka , who would have continuous low-level conflict with the returning Punti people for the next few centuries. In the 1650s,

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6384-595: The Xianfeng Emperor agreed to the Treaty of Tientsin , which contained clauses deeply insulting to the Chinese, such as a demand that all official Chinese documents be written in English and a proviso granting British warships unlimited access to all navigable Chinese rivers. Ratification of the treaty in the following year led to a resumption of hostilities. In 1860, with Anglo-French forces marching on Beijing,

6536-617: The Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors' reigns. In addition, the Green Standard Army was still powerful with generals such as Tuhai, Fei Yanggu, Zhang Yong, Zhou Peigong, Shi Lang , Mu Zhan, Shun Shike and Wang Jingbao. The main reason for this decline was a change in system between the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors' reigns. The Kangxi Emperor continued using the traditional military system implemented by his predecessors, which

6688-622: The Yuan dynasty after the defeat of the last Khagan of the Mongols, Hong Taiji renamed his state from "Great Jin" to "Great Qing" and elevated his position from Khan to Emperor , suggesting imperial ambitions beyond unifying the Manchu territories. Hong Taiji then proceeded to invade Korea again in 1636. Meanwhile, Hong Taiji set up a rudimentary bureaucratic system based on the Ming model. He established six boards or executive level ministries in 1631 to oversee finance, personnel, rites, military, punishments, and public works. However, these administrative organs had very little role initially, and it

6840-467: The queue hairstyle which was worn by Manchu men, on pain of death. The popular description of the order was: "To keep the hair, you lose the head; To keep your head, you cut the hair." To the Manchus, this policy was a test of loyalty and an aid in distinguishing friend from foe. For the Han Chinese, however, it was a humiliating reminder of Qing authority that challenged traditional Confucian values. The order triggered strong resistance in Jiangnan . In

6992-449: The 17 Ming princes still living on Taiwan back to mainland China, where they spent the rest of their lives. The Prince of Ningjing and his five concubines, however, committed suicide rather than submit to capture. Their palace was used as Shi Lang's headquarters in 1683, but he memorialized the emperor to convert it into a Mazu temple as a propaganda measure in quieting remaining resistance on Taiwan. The emperor approved its dedication as

7144-418: The 1727 Treaty of Kyakhta to solidify the diplomatic understanding with Russia. In exchange for territory and trading rights, the Qing would have a free hand in dealing with the situation in Mongolia. Yongzheng then turned to that situation, where the Zunghars threatened to re-emerge, and to the southwest, where local Miao chieftains resisted Qing expansion. These campaigns drained the treasury but established

7296-425: The British government, sent a diplomatic mission to China led by Lord Macartney in order to open trade and put relations on a basis of equality. The imperial court viewed trade as of secondary interest, whereas the British saw maritime trade as the key to their economy. The Qianlong Emperor told Macartney "the kings of the myriad nations come by land and sea with all sorts of precious things", and "consequently there

7448-426: The Dalai Lama and that he was plotting to install a Muslim as ruler of China after invading it in a conspiracy with Chinese Muslims. Kangxi also distrusted Muslims of Turfan and Hami. The Kangxi Emperor granted the title of Wujing Boshi ( 五經博士 ; Wǔjīng Bóshì ) to the descendants of Shao Yong , Zhu Xi , Zhuansun Shi , Ran family ( Ran Qiu , Ran Geng , Ran Yong ), Bu Shang , Yan Yan (disciple of Confucius) , and

7600-413: The Eight Banners, giving them social and legal privileges. Han defectors swelled the ranks of the Eight Banners so greatly that ethnic Manchus became a minority – only 16% in 1648, with Han bannermen dominating at 75% and Mongol bannermen making up the rest. Gunpowder weapons like muskets and artillery were wielded by the Chinese Banners. Normally, Han Chinese defector troops were deployed as

7752-432: The French. A French invasion of Taiwan was halted and the French were defeated on land in Tonkin at the Battle of Bang Bo . However Japan threatened to enter the war against China due to the Gapsin Coup and China chose to end the war with negotiations. The war ended in 1885 with the Treaty of Tientsin and the Chinese recognition of the French protectorate in Vietnam. Some Russian and Chinese gold miners also established

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7904-424: The Istituto Orientale and the present day Naples Eastern University . The Kangxi Emperor was also the first Chinese emperor to play a western musical instrument. Thomas Pereira taught him how to play the harpsichord, and he employed Karel Slavíček as court musician. Slavíček was playing Spinet ; later the emperor would play on it himself. China's famed blue and white porcelain probably reached its zenith during

8056-411: The Jesuits who had been living in Beijing for years. On 19 March 1715, Pope Clement XI issued the papal bull Ex illa die , which officially condemned Chinese rites. In response, the Kangxi Emperor officially forbade Christian missions in China, as they were "causing trouble". A prolonged struggle between various princes emerged during the Kangxi Emperor's reign over who should inherit the throne –

8208-410: The Jurchen and Khorchin nobilities, while those who resisted were met with military action. This is a typical example of Nurhaci's initiatives that eventually became official Qing government policy. During most of the Qing period, the Mongols gave military assistance to the Manchus. Nurhaci died in 1626, and was succeeded by his eighth son, Hong Taiji . Although Hong Taiji was an experienced leader and

8360-447: The Jurchen polity as citizens obligated to provide military service. By 1648, less than one-sixth of the bannermen were of Manchu ancestry. Hong Taiji died suddenly in September 1643. As Jurchen leaders were chosen by a council of nobles, there was no clear successor. The leading contenders for power were Hong Taiji's oldest son Hooge and Hong Taiji's half brother Dorgon . A compromise installed Hong Taiji's five-year-old son, Fulin, as

8512-492: The Kangxi Emperor sent a larger expedition force there to defeat the Dzungars. The Kangxi Emperor incited anti-Muslim sentiment among the Mongols of Qinghai (Kokonor) in order to gain support against the Dzungar Oirat Mongol leader Galdan . Kangxi claimed that Chinese Muslims inside China such as Turkic Muslims in Qinghai were plotting with Galdan , who he falsely claimed converted to Islam. Kangxi falsely claimed that Galdan had spurned and turned his back on Buddhism and

8664-424: The Kangxi Emperor ordered the compilation of a dictionary of Chinese characters , which became known as the Kangxi Dictionary . This was seen as an attempt by the emperor to gain support from the Han Chinese scholar-bureaucrats , as many of them initially refused to serve him and remained loyal to the Ming dynasty . However, by persuading the scholars to work on the dictionary without asking them to formally serve

8816-433: The Kangxi Emperor ordered the reconquest of Kangding and other border towns in western Sichuan that had been taken by the Tibetans. The Manchu forces stormed Dartsedo and secured the border with Tibet and the lucrative tea-horse trade . The Tibetan desi (regent) Sangye Gyatso concealed the death of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1682, and only informed the emperor in 1697. He moreover kept relations with Dzungar enemies of

8968-415: The Kangxi Emperor to abdicate when his father returned to Beijing . However, the emperor received news of the planned coup d'etat , and was so angry that he deposed Yinreng and placed him under house arrest again. After the incident, the emperor announced that he would not appoint any of his sons as crown prince for the remainder of his reign. He stated that he would place his Imperial Valedictory Will inside

9120-485: The Kangxi Emperor to suspect that Yinreng might have been framed, so he restored Yinreng as crown prince in 1709, with the support of the 4th and 13th princes, and on the excuse that Yinreng had previously acted under the influence of mental illness. In 1712, during the Kangxi Emperor's last inspection tour of the south, Yinreng, who was put in charge of state affairs during his father's absence, tried to vie for power again with his supporters. He allowed an attempt at forcing

9272-443: The Kangxi Emperor's reign. In the early decades of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, Jesuits played a large role in the imperial court. With their knowledge of astronomy , they ran the imperial observatory. Jean-François Gerbillon and Thomas Pereira served as translators for the negotiations of the Treaty of Nerchinsk . The Kangxi Emperor was grateful to the Jesuits for their contributions, the many languages they could interpret, and

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9424-420: The Korean kingdom of Buyeo. The river was the home to Huining (now Acheng ), the original settlement of the Wanyan clan of the Jurchens . When their chief Aguda declared himself the successor of the Liao c.  1115 , he adopted the dynastic name Jin as a Chinese translation of the river's name. Huining—as Shangjing (the "Upper Capital")—served as the Jin capital until 1234 and later served as

9576-440: The Manchu-ruled empire into a modernised Han Chinese state. The Guangxu Emperor died on 14 November 1908, and Cixi died the following day. Puyi , the oldest son of Zaifeng, Prince Chun , and nephew to the childless Guangxu Emperor, was appointed successor at the age of two, leaving Zaifeng with the regency. Zaifeng forced Yuan Shikai to resign. The Qing dynasty became a constitutional monarchy on 8 May 1911, when Zaifeng created

9728-458: The Manchus had entered "South of the Wall" because Dorgon had responded decisively to Wu Sangui's appeal, then, instead of sacking Beijing as the rebels had done, Dorgon insisted, over the protests of other Manchu princes, on making it the dynastic capital and reappointing most Ming officials. No major Chinese dynasty had directly taken over its immediate predecessor's capital, but keeping the Ming capital and bureaucracy intact helped quickly stabilize

9880-412: The Ming dynasty, unified Jurchen clans (known later as Manchus) and founded the Later Jin dynasty in 1616, renouncing the Ming overlordship. His son Hong Taiji was declared Emperor of the Great Qing in 1636. As Ming control disintegrated, peasant rebels captured the Ming capital Beijing, but the Ming general Wu Sangui opened the Shanhai Pass to the Qing army, which defeated the rebels , seized

10032-416: The Ming emperor. After a series of successful battles, he relocated his capital from Hetu Ala to successively bigger captured Ming cities in Liaodong: first Liaoyang in 1621, then Mukden (Shenyang) in 1625. Furthermore, the Khorchin proved a useful ally in the war, lending the Jurchens their expertise as cavalry archers. To guarantee this new alliance, Nurhaci initiated a policy of inter-marriages between

10184-410: The Ming loyalists on Taiwan —organized under the Zheng dynasty as the Kingdom of Tungning —were defeated off Penghu by 300-odd ships under the Qing admiral Shi Lang . Koxinga 's grandson Zheng Keshuang surrendered Tungning a few days later and Taiwan became part of the Qing Empire. Zheng Keshuang moved to Beijing, joined the Qing nobility as the "Duke Haicheng" ( 海澄公 ), and was inducted into

10336-442: The Nine Lords' War ( 九子奪嫡 ). In 1674 the Kangxi Emperor's first spouse, Empress Xiaochengren , died while giving birth to his second surviving son Yinreng , who at the age of two was named crown prince – a Han Chinese custom, to ensure stability during a time of chaos in the south. Although the Kangxi Emperor left the education of several of his sons to others, he personally oversaw the upbringing of Yinreng, grooming him to be

10488-459: The Qing Empire engaged the Tsardom of Russia in a series of border conflicts along the Amur River region, which concluded with the Qing gaining control of the area after the Siege of Albazin . The Russians invaded the northern frontier again in the 1680s. A series of battles and negotiations culminated in the Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689, by which a border was agreed between Russia and China. The Inner Mongolian Chahar leader Ligdan Khan ,

10640-436: The Qing Empire in return for submission to Qing authority. In 1690, the Dzungars and Qing forces clashed at the Battle of Ulan Butung in Inner Mongolia , in which the Qing eventually emerged as the victor. In 1696 and 1697 the Kangxi Emperor personally led campaigns against the Dzungars in the early Dzungar–Qing War . The western section of the Qing army defeated Galdan's forces at the Battle of Jao Modo and Galdan died in

10792-415: The Qing Empire. However, a conflict between the houses of Jasagtu Khan and Tösheetü Khan led to a dispute between the Khalkha and the Dzungars over the influence of Tibetan Buddhism . In 1688, the Dzungar chief, Galdan Boshugtu Khan , attacked the Khalkha from the west and invaded their territory. The Khalkha royal families and the first Jebtsundamba Khutuktu crossed the Gobi Desert and sought help from

10944-412: The Qing government and provoked rebellions against the regime. The Taiping Rebellion (1849–1864) was the first major anti-Manchu movement . Amid widespread social unrest and worsening famine, the rebellion not only posed the most serious threat to Qing rule, but during its 14-year course, between 20 and 30 million people died. The rebellion began under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan (1814–1864),

11096-598: The Qing imperial court, the Kangxi Emperor led them to gradually taking on greater responsibilities until they were assuming the duties of state officials. In 1700, on the Kangxi Emperor's order, the compilation of a vast encyclopedia known as the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China (completed during the reign of his successor Yongzheng ), and a compilation of Tang poetry , the Complete Tang Poems . The Kangxi Emperor also

11248-693: The Qing leveraged and adapted the tributary system employed by previous dynasties, enabling their continued predominance in affairs with countries on its periphery like Joseon Korea and the Lê dynasty in Vietnam, while extending its control over Inner Asia including Tibet , Mongolia , and Xinjiang . The High Qing era reached its apex during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796), who led Ten Great Campaigns of conquest, and personally supervised Confucian cultural projects . After his death,

11400-790: The Qing, most notably in the Miao Rebellion (1854–1873) in Guizhou , the Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873) in Yunnan , and the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in the northwest. The Western powers, largely unsatisfied with the Treaty of Nanjing, gave grudging support to the Qing government during the Taiping and Nian rebellions. China's income fell sharply during the wars as vast areas of farmland were destroyed, millions of lives were lost, and countless armies were raised and equipped to fight

11552-519: The Qing. All this evoked the great displeasure of the Kangxi Emperor. Eventually Sangye Gyatso was toppled and killed by the Khoshut ruler Lha-bzang Khan in 1705. As a reward for ridding him of his old enemy the Dalai Lama , the Kangxi Emperor appointed Lha-bzang Khan Regent of Tibet ( 翊法恭順汗 ; Yìfǎ Gōngshùn Hán ; 'Buddhism Respecting', 'Deferential Khan'). The Dzungar Khanate ,

11704-611: The Xinhai Revolution. The abdication of the Xuantong Emperor on 12 February 1912 brought the dynasty to an end. Hong Taiji proclaimed the Great Qing dynasty in 1636. There are competing explanations as to the meaning of the Chinese character Qīng ( 清 ; 'clear', 'pure') in this context. One theory posits a purposeful contrast with the Ming: the character Míng ( 明 ; 'bright')

11856-585: The abolition of the imperial examination system. Sun Yat-sen and revolutionaries debated reform officials and constitutional monarchists such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao over how to transform the Manchu-ruled empire into a modernised Han state. After the deaths of the Guangxu Emperor and Cixi in 1908, Manchu conservatives at court blocked reforms and alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on 10 October 1911 led to

12008-450: The capital of Tibet, and installed a Dalai Lama sympathetic to the Qing. The reigns of the Yongzheng Emperor ( r.  1723–1735 ) and his son, the Qianlong Emperor ( r.  1735–1796 ), marked the height of Qing power. However, the historian Jonathan Spence notes that the empire at the end of Qianlong's reign was "like the sun at midday". Despite "many glories", "signs of decay and even collapse were becoming apparent". After

12160-623: The capital, and took over the government in 1644 under the Shunzhi Emperor and his prince regent . Resistance from Ming rump regimes and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories delayed the complete conquest until 1683. As a Manchu emperor, the Kangxi Emperor (1661–1722) consolidated control, relished the role of a Confucian ruler, patronised Buddhism (including Tibetan Buddhism ), encouraged scholarship, population and economic growth. Han officials worked under or in parallel with Manchu officials. To maintain prominence over its neighbors,

12312-549: The cession of Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, but Russia, with its own designs on the territory, along with Germany and France, in the Triple Intervention , successfully put pressure on the Japanese to abandon the peninsula. These years saw the participation of Empress Dowager Cixi in state affairs. Cixi initially entered the imperial palace in the 1850s as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor, and became

12464-469: The commander of two Banners, the Jurchens suffered defeat in 1627, in part due to the Ming's newly acquired Portuguese cannons . To redress the technological and numerical disparity, Hong Taiji in 1634 created his own artillery corps, who cast their own cannons in the European design with the help of defector Chinese metallurgists. One of the defining events of Hong Taiji's reign was the official adoption of

12616-474: The compilation of the Siku Quanshu , the largest collection of books in Chinese history. Nevertheless, Qianlong used the literary inquisition to silence opposition. Beneath outward prosperity and imperial confidence, the later years of Qianlong's reign were marked by rampant corruption and neglect. Heshen , the emperor's handsome young favorite, took advantage of the emperor's indulgence to become one of

12768-536: The conquest. Han bannermen made up the majority of governors during the early Qing, stabilizing their rule. To promote ethnic harmony, a 1648 decree allowed Han Chinese civilian men to marry Manchu women from the Banners with the permission of the Board of Revenue if they were registered daughters of officials or commoners, or with the permission of their banner company captain if they were unregistered commoners. Later in

12920-435: The country for corruption, failing to keep the famine relief granaries full, poor maintenance of roads and waterworks, and bureaucratic factionalism. There soon followed uprisings of "new sect" Muslims against local Muslim officials, and Miao tribesmen in southwest China. The White Lotus Rebellion continued until 1804, when badly run, corrupt, and brutal campaigns finally ended it. During the early Qing, China continued to be

13072-482: The damage that opium smoking was causing to his subjects, ordered Lin Zexu to end the opium trade. Lin confiscated the stocks of opium without compensation in 1839, leading Britain to send a military expedition the following year. The First Opium War revealed the outdated state of the Chinese military. The Qing navy, composed entirely of wooden sailing junks , was severely outclassed by the modern tactics and firepower of

13224-488: The death of the Kangxi Emperor in the winter of 1722, his fourth son, Prince Yong ( 雍親王 ), became the Yongzheng Emperor. He felt a sense of urgency about the problems that had accumulated in his father's later years. In the words of one recent historian, he was "severe, suspicious, and jealous, but extremely capable and resourceful", and in the words of another, he turned out to be an "early modern state-maker of

13376-600: The dynasty back on its feet financially and instituted the Self-Strengthening Movement , which adopted Western military technology in order to preserve Confucian values.Their institutional reforms included China's first unified ministry of foreign affairs in the Zongli Yamen , allowing foreign diplomats to reside in the capital, the establishment of the Imperial Maritime Customs Service , the institution of modern navy and army forces including

13528-635: The dynasty faced internal revolts, economic disruption, official corruption, foreign intrusion, and the reluctance of Confucian elites to change their mindset. With peace and prosperity, the population rose to 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, soon leading to a fiscal crisis. Following China's defeat in the Opium Wars , Western colonial powers forced the Qing government to sign unequal treaties , granting them trading privileges, extraterritoriality and treaty ports under their control. The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) and

13680-419: The dynasty the policies allowing intermarriage were done away with. The first seven years of the young Shunzhi Emperor's reign were dominated by Dorgon's regency. Because of his own political insecurity, Dorgon followed Hong Taiji's example by ruling in the name of the emperor at the expense of rival Manchu princes, many of whom he demoted or imprisoned. Dorgon's precedents and example cast a long shadow. First,

13832-501: The early 17th century. Nurhaci may have spent time in a Han household in his youth, and became fluent in Chinese and Mongolian languages and read the Chinese novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin . As a vassal of the Ming emperors, he officially considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of the Ming dynasty. Nurhaci embarked on an intertribal feud in 1582 that escalated into

13984-409: The eighth prince, Yinsi, and requested his father to order Yinreng's execution. The Kangxi Emperor was enraged and stripped Yinzhi of his titles. The emperor then commanded his subjects to cease debating the succession issue, but despite this and attempts to reduce rumours and speculation as to who the new crown prince might be, the imperial court's daily activities were disrupted. Yinzhi's actions caused

14136-638: The emperor and his court fled the capital for the imperial hunting lodge at Rehe . Once in Beijing, the Anglo-French forces looted and burned the Old Summer Palace and, in an act of revenge for the arrest, torture, and execution of the English diplomatic mission. Prince Gong , a younger half-brother of the emperor, who had been left as his brother's proxy in the capital, was forced to sign the Convention of Beijing . The humiliated emperor died

14288-524: The emperor decided that he could no longer tolerate Yinreng's behavior, which he partially mentioned in the imperial edict as "never obeying ancestors' virtues, never obliged to my order, only doing inhumanity and devilry, only showing maliciousness and lust", and decided to strip Yinreng of his position as crown prince. The Kangxi Emperor placed his oldest surviving son, Yinzhi , in charge of overseeing Yinreng's house arrest . Yinzhi, an unfavored Shu son , knowing he had no chance of being selected, recommended

14440-652: The emperor's control of the military and military finance. When the Yongzheng Emperor died in 1735, his son Prince Bao ( 寶親王 ) became the Qianlong Emperor. Qianlong personally led the Ten Great Campaigns to expand military control into present-day Xinjiang and Mongolia , putting down revolts and uprisings in Sichuan and southern China while expanding control over Tibet. The Qianlong Emperor launched several ambitious cultural projects, including

14592-516: The emperor's de facto cabinet for the rest of the dynasty. He shrewdly filled key positions with Manchu and Han Chinese officials who depended on his patronage. When he began to realize the extent of the financial crisis, Yongzheng rejected his father's lenient approach to local elites and enforced collection of the land tax. The increased revenues were to be used for "money to nourish honesty" among local officials and for local irrigation, schools, roads, and charity. Although these reforms were effective in

14744-665: The empire. He listed three issues of concern: flood control of the Yellow River ; repair of the Grand Canal ; the Revolt of the Three Feudatories in south China. The Grand Empress Dowager influenced him greatly and he took care of her himself in the months leading up to her death in 1688. Kangxi's relatives from the Han Chinese Banner Tong 佟 clan of Fushun in Liaoning falsely claimed to be related to

14896-540: The ensuing unrest, some 100,000 Han were slaughtered. On 31 December 1650, Dorgon died suddenly, marking the start of the Shunzhi Emperor's personal rule. Because the emperor was only 12 years old at that time, most decisions were made on his behalf by his mother, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang , who turned out to be a skilled political operator. Although his support had been essential to Shunzhi's ascent, Dorgon had centralised so much power in his hands as to become

15048-465: The far eastern outpost of the Tsardom of Russia . The 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk was China's first formal treaty with a European power and kept the border peaceful for the better part of two centuries. Galdan was ultimately killed in the Dzungar–Qing War ; after his death, his Tibetan Buddhist followers attempted to control the choice of the next Dalai Lama . Kangxi dispatched two armies to Lhasa ,

15200-445: The feudal princes to give up their lands and retire to Manchuria, sparking a rebellion that lasted eight years. For years afterwards Kangxi ruminated on his mistakes and blamed himself in part for the loss of life during the revolt. Wu Sangui's forces overran most of southwest China and he tried to ally himself with local generals such as Wang Fuchen . The Kangxi Emperor employed generals including Zhou Peigong and Tuhai to suppress

15352-410: The first day of the following lunar year. Sinologist Herbert Giles , drawing on contemporary sources, described the Kangxi Emperor as "fairly tall and well proportioned, he loved all manly exercises, and devoted three months annually to hunting. Large bright eyes lighted up his face, which was pitted with smallpox ." Before the Kangxi Emperor came to the throne, Grand Empress Dowager Zhaosheng (in

15504-445: The first order". First, he promoted Confucian orthodoxy and cracked down on unorthodox sects. In 1723, he outlawed Christianity and expelled most Christian missionaries. He expanded his father's system of Palace Memorials , which brought frank and detailed reports on local conditions directly to the throne without being intercepted by the bureaucracy, and he created a small Grand Council of personal advisors, which eventually grew into

15656-530: The following year at Rehe. Following the death of the Xianfeng Emperor in 1861, and the accession of the 5-year-old Tongzhi Emperor , the Qing rallied. In the Tongzhi Restoration , Han Chinese officials such as Zuo Zongtang stood behind the Manchus and organized provincial troops. Zeng Guofan , in alliance with Prince Gong, sponsored the rise of younger officials such as Li Hongzhang , who put

15808-610: The following year. In 1700, some 20,000 Qiqihar Xibe were resettled in Guisui , modern Inner Mongolia , and 36,000 Songyuan Xibe were resettled in Shenyang , Liaoning . The relocation of the Xibe from Qiqihar is believed by Liliya M. Gorelova to be linked to the Qing's annihilation of the Manchu clan Hoifan (Hoifa) in 1697 and the Manchu tribe Ula in 1703 after they rebelled against the Qing; both Hoifan and Ula were wiped out. In 1701,

15960-623: The foreign community, called for reform proposals, and initiated the Late Qing reforms . Over the next few years the reforms included the restructuring of the national education, judicial, and fiscal systems, the most dramatic of which was the abolition of the imperial examination system in 1905. The court directed a constitution to be drafted , and provincial elections were held, the first in China's history. Sun Yat-sen and revolutionaries debated reform officials and constitutional monarchists such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao over how to transform

16112-916: The goals of reform were implanted. Drought in North China, combined with the imperialist designs of European powers and the instability of the Qing government, created background conditions for the Boxers . In 1900, local groups of Boxers proclaiming support for the Qing dynasty murdered foreign missionaries and large numbers of Chinese Christians, then converged on Beijing to besiege the Foreign Legation Quarter. A coalition of European, Japanese, and Russian armies (the Eight-Nation Alliance ) then entered China without diplomatic notice, much less permission. Cixi declared war on all of these nations, only to lose control of Beijing after

16264-591: The hegemonic imperial power in East Asia. Although there was no formal ministry of foreign relations, the Lifan Yuan was responsible for relations with the Mongols and Tibetans in Inner Asia, while the tributary system , a loose set of institutions and customs taken over from the Ming, in theory governed relations with East and Southeast Asian countries. The 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk stabilized relations with

16416-464: The innovations they offered his military in gun manufacturing and artillery , the latter of which enabled the Qing Empire to conquer the Kingdom of Tungning . The Kangxi Emperor was also fond of the Jesuits' respectful and unobtrusive manner; they spoke the Chinese language well, and wore the silk robes of the elite. In 1692, when Pereira requested tolerance for Christianity , the Kangxi Emperor

16568-449: The installation of the five-year-old Shunzhi Emperor on their throne. By 1661, when the Shunzhi Emperor died and was succeeded by the Kangxi Emperor, the Qing conquest of China proper was almost complete. Leading Manchus were already using Chinese institutions and mastering Confucian ideology, while maintaining Manchu culture among themselves. The Kangxi Emperor completed the conquest, suppressed all significant military threats and revived

16720-442: The king of Burma , but was turned over to a Qing expeditionary army commanded by Wu Sangui, who had him brought back to Yunnan and executed in early 1662. The Qing had taken shrewd advantage of Ming civilian government discrimination against the military and encouraged the Ming military to defect by spreading the message that the Manchus valued their skills. Banners made up of Han Chinese who defected before 1644 were classed among

16872-589: The land does not." The introduction of new crops from the Americas such as the potato and peanut improved nutrition as well, so that the population during the 18th century ballooned from 100 million to 300 million people. Soon farmers were forced to work ever-smaller holdings more intensely. In 1796, the White Lotus Society raised open rebellion, saying "the officials have forced the people to rebel". Others blamed officials in various parts of

17024-519: The lands of the Qing state (including, among other areas, present-day Northeast China, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Tibet) as "China" in both the Chinese and Manchu languages, defining China as a multi-ethnic state, and rejecting the idea that only Han areas were properly part of "China". The government used "China" and "Qing" interchangeably to refer to their state in official documents, including the Chinese-language versions of treaties and maps of

17176-527: The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history . The dynasty, proclaimed in Shenyang in 1636, seized control of Beijing in 1644, which is considered the start of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty lasted until the Xinhai Revolution of October 1911 led to the abdication of the last emperor, February 12, 1912. In Chinese historiography , the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by

17328-500: The most corrupt officials in the history of the dynasty. Qianlong's son, the Jiaqing Emperor ( r.  1796–1820 ), eventually forced Heshen to commit suicide. Population in the first half of the 17th century did not recover from civil wars and epidemics, but the following years of prosperity and stability led to steady growth. The Qianlong Emperor bemoaned the situation by remarking, "The population continues to grow, but

17480-497: The most junior of the four, gradually achieved such dominance as to be a potential threat. In 1669, Kangxi disarmed and imprisoned Oboi through trickery – a significant victory for a fifteen-year-old emperor. The young emperor faced challenges in maintaining control of his kingdom, as well. Three Ming generals singled out for their contributions to the establishment of the dynasty had been granted governorships in southern China. They became increasingly autonomous, leading to

17632-536: The mother of the future Tongzhi Emperor. Following the his accession at the age of five, Cixi, Xianfeng's widow Empress Dowager Ci'an , and Prince Gong (a son of the Daoguang Emperor), staged a coup that ousted several of the Tongzhi Emperor's regents. Between 1861 and 1873, Cixi and Ci'an served as regents together; following the emperor's death in 1875, Cixi's nephew, the Guangxu Emperor , took

17784-917: The murders as a pretext for a naval occupation of Jiaozhou Bay . The occupation prompted a Scramble for China in 1898, which included the German lease of Jiaozhou Bay , the Russian lease of Liaodong , the British lease of the New Territories of Hong Kong , and the French lease of Guangzhouwan . In the wake of these external defeats, the Guangxu Emperor initiated the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898. Newer, more radical advisers such as Kang Youwei were given positions of influence. The emperor issued

17936-582: The name "Manchu" for the united Jurchen people in November 1635. In 1635, the Manchus' Mongol allies were fully incorporated into a separate Banner hierarchy under direct Manchu command. In April 1636, Mongol nobility of Inner Mongolia, Manchu nobility and the Han mandarin recommended that Hong as the khan of Later Jin should be the emperor of the Great Qing. When he was presented with the imperial seal of

18088-420: The name of Shunzhi Emperor ) had appointed the powerful men Sonin , Suksaha , Ebilun , and Oboi as regents . Sonin died after his granddaughter became Empress Xiaochengren , leaving Suksaha at odds with Oboi in politics. In a fierce power struggle, Oboi had Suksaha put to death and seized absolute power as sole regent. The Kangxi Emperor and the rest of the imperial court acquiesced to this arrangement. In

18240-616: The new emperor. Yinzhen ascended to the throne and became known as the Yongzheng Emperor . The Kangxi Emperor was entombed at the Eastern Tombs in Zunhua , Hebei . A legend concerning the Kangxi Emperor's will states that he chose Yinti as his heir, but Yinzhen forged the will in his own favour. It has, however, long been refuted by serious historians. Yinzhen, later the Yongzheng Emperor , has attracted many rumours, and some novel-like private books claim he did not die of illness but

18392-413: The ninth and tenth princes, Yintang and Yin'e, pledged their support to Yinti. In the evening of 20 December 1722, just before his death, the Kangxi Emperor called seven of his sons to assemble at his bedside. They were the third, fourth, eighth, ninth, tenth, sixteenth and seventeenth princes. After the Kangxi Emperor died, Longkodo announced that the emperor had selected the fourth prince, Yinzhen, as

18544-443: The north, in the south and lower Yangtze valley there were long-established networks of officials and landowners. Yongzheng dispatched experienced Manchu commissioners to penetrate the thickets of falsified land registers and coded account books, but they were met with tricks, passivity, and even violence. The fiscal crisis persisted. Yongzheng also inherited diplomatic and strategic problems. A team made up entirely of Manchus drew up

18696-400: The other; one was a Han Chinese peasant army twice his size, but he chose the other. Wu may have resented Li Zicheng's attack on officials and the social order; Li had taken Wu's father hostage and it was said that Li took Wu's concubine for himself. On the other hand, the Manchus had adopted a Chinese-style form of government and promised stability. Wu and Dorgon allied to defeat Li Zicheng in

18848-557: The peoples of Northern Eurasia but in the 17th century Catholic missionary writings established "Tartar" to refer only to the Manchus and " Tartary " for the lands they ruled—i.e. Manchuria and the adjacent parts of Inner Asia , as ruled by the Qing before the Ming–Qing transition . After conquering China proper , the Manchus identified their state as "China", equivalently as Zhōngguó ( 中國 ; 'middle kingdom') in Chinese and Dulimbai Gurun in Manchu. The emperors equated

19000-679: The period known as the High Qing era (or the "Prosperous Era of Kangxi and Qianlong"), spanning the reigns of the Kangxi Emperor, his son Yongzheng, and his grandson Qianlong . His court also accomplished such literary feats as the compilation of the Kangxi Dictionary , the Complete Tang Poems poetry anthology, and the Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China . Born on 4 May 1654 to

19152-412: The political landscape. The 13th prince, Yinxiang , was placed under house arrest as well for cooperating with Yinreng . The eighth prince Yinsi was stripped of all his titles and only had them restored years later. The 14th prince Yinti , whom many considered to be the most likely candidate to succeed the Kangxi Emperor, was sent on a military campaign during the political conflict. Yinsi, along with

19304-433: The purge of his family and associates at court. Shunzhi's promising start was cut short by his early death in 1661 at the age of 24 from smallpox . He was succeeded by his third son Xuanye, who reigned as the Kangxi Emperor . The Manchus sent Han bannermen to fight against Koxinga's Ming loyalists in Fujian. They removed the population from coastal areas in order to deprive Koxinga's Ming loyalists of resources. This led to

19456-468: The rebellion, and also granted clemency to common people caught up in the war. He intended to personally lead the armies to crush the rebels but his subjects advised him against it. The Kangxi Emperor used mainly Han Chinese Green Standard Army soldiers to crush the rebels while the Manchu Banners took a backseat. The revolt ended with victory for Qing forces in 1681. In 1683, the naval forces of

19608-549: The rebels. In 1854, Britain tried to re-negotiate the Treaty of Nanjing, inserting clauses allowing British commercial access to Chinese rivers and the creation of a permanent British embassy at Beijing. In 1856, Qing authorities, in searching for a pirate, boarded a ship, the Arrow , which the British claimed had been flying the British flag, an incident which led to the Second Opium War . In 1858, facing no other options,

19760-422: The regime and sped up the conquest of the rest of the country. Dorgon then drastically reduced the influence of the eunuchs and directed Manchu women not to bind their feet in the Chinese style. However, not all of Dorgon's policies were equally popular or as easy to implement. The controversial July 1645 Queue Order forced adult Han Chinese men to shave the front of their heads and comb the remaining hair into

19912-459: The spring of 1662, the regents ordered a Great Clearance in southern China that evacuated the entire population from the seacoast to counter a resistance movement started by Ming loyalists under the leadership of Taiwan-based Ming general Zheng Chenggong , also titled Koxinga . In 1669, the Kangxi Emperor had Oboi arrested with the help of his grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Zhaosheng , who had raised him. and began taking personal control of

20064-422: The stability of their dynasty. The first was the bureaucratic institutions and the neo-Confucian culture that they adopted from earlier dynasties. Manchu rulers and Han Chinese scholar-official elites gradually came to terms with each other. The examination system offered a path for ethnic Han to become officials. Imperial patronage of the Kangxi Dictionary demonstrated respect for Confucian learning, while

20216-613: The throne in violation of the custom that the new emperor be of the next generation, and another regency began. Ci'an suddenly died in the spring of 1881, leaving Cixi as sole regent. From 1889, when Guangxu began to rule in his own right, until 1898, the Empress Dowager lived in semi-retirement, spending the majority of the year at the Summer Palace . In 1897, two German Roman Catholic missionaries were murdered in southern Shandong province (the Juye Incident ). Germany used

20368-422: The training of the army was deemed less important as compared to during the previous emperors' reigns. After the Qing takeover of China in 1644, large parts of the south and west were given as fiefs to three Ming generals who aided the Qing; in 1673 the three feudatories were controlled by Wu Sangui , Geng Jingzhong , and Shang Zhixin . Going against the advice of most of his advisors, Kangxi attempted to force

20520-406: The vanguard, while Manchu bannermen were used predominantly for quick strikes with maximum impact, so as to minimize ethnic Manchu losses. This multi-ethnic force conquered Ming China for the Qing. The three Liaodong officers who played key roles in the conquest of southern China were Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, and Kong Youde, who governed southern China autonomously as viceroys for the Qing after

20672-410: The world. The term 'Chinese people' ( 中國人 ; Zhōngguórén ; Manchu: ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ ‍ᡳ ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠯᠮᠠ Dulimbai gurun-i niyalma ) referred to all the Han, Manchu, and Mongol subjects of the Qing Empire. When the Qing conquered Dzungaria in 1759 , it proclaimed within a Manchu-language memorial that the new land had been absorbed into "China". The Qing government expounded an ideology that it

20824-493: The worship of idols were all banned. However, success led to internal feuds, defections and corruption. In addition, British and French troops, equipped with modern weapons, had come to the assistance of the Qing army. Nonetheless, it was not until 1864 that Qing forces under Zeng Guofan succeeded in crushing the revolt. After the outbreak of this rebellion, there were also revolts by the Muslims and Miao people of China against

20976-433: The worst slaughter. 400,000 Green Standard Army soldiers were used against the Three Feudatories in addition to the 200,000 bannermen. The 61-year reign of the Kangxi Emperor was the longest of any emperor in Chinese history, and marked the beginning of the High Qing era , the zenith of the dynasty's social, economic and military power. The early Manchu rulers established two foundations of legitimacy that help to explain

21128-561: Was abolished, all Chahar Mongol royal males were executed even if they were born to Manchu Qing princesses, and all Chahar Mongol royal females were sold into slavery except the Manchu Qing princesses. The Chahar Mongols were then put under the direct control of the Qing Emperor unlike the other Inner Mongol leagues which maintained their autonomy. The Outer Khalkha Mongols had preserved their independence, and only paid tribute to

21280-472: Was assassinated by a swordswoman, Lü Siniang ( 呂四娘 ), the granddaughter of Lü Liuliang , though this is never treated seriously by scholars. The Kangxi Emperor was a great consolidator of the Qing dynasty . The transition from the Ming dynasty to the Qing was a cataclysm whose central event was the fall of the capital Beijing to the peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng , then to the Manchus in 1644, and

21432-483: Was bringing the "outer" non-Han peoples—such as various populations of Mongolians, as well as the Tibetans—together with the "inner" Han Chinese into "one family", united within the Qing state. Phraseology like Zhōngwài yījiā ( 中外一家 ) and nèiwài yījiā ( 內外一家 )—both translatable as 'home and abroad as one family'—was employed to convey this idea of Qing-mediated trans-cultural unity. The Qing dynasty

21584-509: Was deemed incest and a capital offence. Yinreng also purchased young children from Jiangsu to satisfy his pedophiliac pleasure. In addition, Yinreng's supporters, led by Songgotu , gradually formed a "Crown Prince Party" (太子黨), that aimed to help Yinreng get the throne as soon as possible, even if it meant using unlawful methods. Over the years, the Kangxi Emperor kept constant watch over Yinreng and became aware of his son's many flaws, while their relationship gradually deteriorated. In 1707,

21736-614: Was founded not by Han Chinese , who constituted a majority of the population, but by Manchus , a sedentary farming people descended from the Jurchens , a Tungusic people who lived in the region now comprising the Chinese provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang . The early form of the Manchu state was founded by Nurhaci , the chieftain of a minor Jurchen tribe – the Aisin-Gioro ;– in Jianzhou in

21888-485: Was incited by the murder of French nuns set off by the belligerence of local French diplomats. Starting with the Cochinchina Campaign in 1858, France expanded control of Indochina. By 1883, France was in full control of the region and had reached the Chinese border. The Sino-French War began with a surprise attack by the French on the Chinese southern fleet at Fuzhou. After that the Chinese declared war on

22040-610: Was interested in Western technology and wanted to import them to China. This was done through Jesuit missionaries , such as Ferdinand Verbiest , whom the Kangxi Emperor frequently summoned for meetings, or Karel Slavíček , who made the first precise map of Beijing on the emperor's order. From 1711 to 1723, Matteo Ripa , an Italian priest sent to China by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples , worked as

22192-409: Was more efficient and stricter. According to the system, a commander who returned from a battle alone (with all his men dead) would be put to death, and likewise for a foot soldier. This was meant to motivate both commanders and soldiers alike to fight valiantly in war because there was no benefit for the sole survivor in a battle. By the Qianlong Emperor's reign, military commanders had become lax and

22344-457: Was not until the eve of completing the conquest ten years later that they fulfilled their government roles. Hong Taiji staffed his bureaucracy with many Han Chinese, including newly surrendered Ming officials, but ensured Manchu dominance by an ethnic quota for top appointments. Hong Taiji's reign also saw a fundamental change of policy towards his Han Chinese subjects. Nurhaci had treated Han in Liaodong according to how much grain they had. Due to

22496-456: Was placed under house arrest in 1669 in Shenyang and the Kangxi Emperor gave his title to his son Borni. Abunai bided his time then, with his brother Lubuzung, revolted against the Qing in 1675 during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories , with 3,000 Chahar Mongol followers joining in on the revolt. The revolt was put down within two months, the Qing defeating the rebels in battle on 20 April 1675, killing Abunai and all his followers. Their title

22648-539: Was poorly executed and terminated by the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908) in the Wuxu Coup . In 1900, anti-foreign Boxers killed many Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries; in retaliation, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China and imposed a punitive indemnity . In response, the government initiated unprecedented fiscal and administrative reforms , including elections, a new legal code, and

22800-425: Was the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty , and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper . His reign of 61 years makes him the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history and one of the longest-reigning rulers in history . He is considered one of China's greatest emperors. The third son of the Shunzhi Emperor , Kangxi was enthroned at the age of seven while actual power was held for six more years by

22952-399: Was to establish the Canton System in 1756, which restricted maritime trade to Guangzhou and gave monopoly trading rights to private Chinese merchants . This was successful for a time, and the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company had long before been granted similar monopoly rights by their governments. In 1793, the British East India Company, with the support of

23104-401: Was willing to oblige, and issued the Edict of Toleration, which recognized Catholicism , barred attacks on their churches, and legalized their missions and the practice of Christianity by the Chinese people . However, controversy arose over whether Chinese Christians could still take part in traditional Confucian ceremonies and ancestor worship , with the Jesuits arguing for tolerance and

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