The
Qing Dynasty, which was founded by the Jurchen (Manchu)
people, was the second ethnic group to rule the whole of
China. It is also the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history.
It was during this period that imperial China reached its
zenith of power and influence.
The Jurchen people, believed to be the ancestors of the
Manchus, had been a nomadic tribe that lived adjacent to
the present Heilongjiang region. In the closing years of
the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), a great leader named
Nurhachi, emerged from the Jurchen tribe. Under his leadership,
the Jurchen people rapidly united and in 1616, established
the Later Jin State which was independent from the Ming.
In 1636, Nurhachi's son Abahai, renamed the dynasty as Qing
in Shenyang while formally declaring war on the Ming.
In 1644, when the peasant army led by Li Zicheng conquered
Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide. Wu Sangui,
a Ming commander stationed in Shanhaiguan Pass, led the
Qing army through the pass. With the assistance of Dorgan,
one of his chancellors, Fulin, son of Abahai, captured Beijing
in the same year and four months later, moved his capital
there. This marked the beginning of the Qing reign over
China. For the next decade or so the Manchu continued to
suppress native resistance, finally destroying the last
Ming pretender in 1659 and gradually unified the whole country.
The Qing Dynasty was very successful as a ethnic group reign
in China. It lasted for almost 300 years and the duration
of the regime was divided into two periods by the Opium
War occurred of 1840.
In its early years, the Qing Dynasty witnessed a flourishing
that was unprecedented by any other age. In order to mitigate
class conflicts, the Qing pursued a policy of rewarding
land cultivation coupled with a reduction or exemption from
taxation. These policies promoted economic growth in the
hinterland and on the frontiers of the country. During the
reigns of Emperors Kangxi (1622-1723), Yongzheng (1723-1736)
and Qianlong (1736-1796) saw the Qing at its heyday. By
the mid-18th century economic development reached a new
height. With this new prosperity power became more centralized,
national strength increased, a well-maintained social order
and a population that amounted to some 300 million by the
end of the century. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi,
Taiwan became part of the country and the Sino-Russian Treaty
of Nerchinsk was signed determining the border between the
two countries. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Xinjiang
was incorporated into China after the Junggars and Uigurs
were defeated. The early Qing emperors not only resolved
the long conflict between nomads and peasants that had plagued
China throughout history, but also took a series of measures
to develop the economy, culture and transportation in the
frontier areas. As a result, they consolidated national
unification and laid the foundation for modern China's territorial
boundaries.
In the realm of literature, during the reigns of Emperors
Kangxi and Qianlong, several large works such as the Encyclopedia
of Chinese Writings (Confucian classics, history, philosophy
and belles-lettres), Kangxi Dictionary, and A Collection
of Books Ancient and Modern, were compiled; which with other
works made an important contribution to Chinese history
and culture.
In spite of these noticeable achievements, the Qing rulers
were autocratic and despotic. The national economy was still
based on agriculture. In the culture and practiced ideology,
feudal ethics and rites continued to dominate society. Worse
still, the Qing rulers persecuted many intellectuals, banning
and destroying works that did not meet with their approval.
The foreign policy of the Qing Empire was one of isolationism.
The government was conservative and arrogant. It failed
to join the industrial revolution that was spreading across
the countries in the West. Sadly, these factors led to China
falling more and more behind the developing world and the
gap between it and Western nations inevitably widened.
After the mid-Qing period, the dynasty failed to adjust
as new problems arose. Rampant corruption, a steady decentralization
of power, warfare, rebellions, overpopulation and economic
disasters plagued the once glorious empire. Rebellions sprouted
like mushrooms after a rain, one of which, the uprising
by the White Lotus Sect, that lasted for nine years, put
an end to the golden age of the Qing. In 1840, the 20th
year of the Daoguang reign, the Opium War, an armed invasion
of China by foreign capitalists, broke out. The Qing government
was forced to sign a series of unreasonable treaties, which
demanded China to cede territories, pay indemnities and/or
open trading ports. Eventually China became a semi-feudal
and semi-colonized country.
At that time, the attitude of the Western powers towards
China was strangely ambivalent. On the one hand, they did
their best to undermine what they considered to be restrictive
trading and governmental regulations. On the other hand,
they did do their best to prop up the ailing Qing, the most
notable example being the crushing of the Boxer Rebellion
in 1900 by foreign troops. What the Western powers were
interested in was the carving up of China for their own
purposes, and that, paradoxically, required keeping China
together.
Through its corrupt politics and conservatism, the Qing
Dynasty rapidly declined. As its legitimacy waned almost
daily, the Qing government imposed more taxes in order to
pay both the expenses of war and the indemnities they had
to bear. This action placed an unbearable burden on the
people, especially the peasants. External aggression and
domestic oppression sparked off a series of anti-feudal
and anti-imperialist movements such as the Taiping Rebellion
and the Nian Army Uprising. Under these circumstances, the
Qing government was forced to introduce reforms, such as
the Self-strengthening Movement and the Hundred-Day Reform,
in effort to save and revitalize China. All measures that
were doomed to fail. In the end the Revolution of 1911,
led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, enabled the Chinese people to overthrow
the Qing imperialists who had ruled China for 268 years.
The Qing Dynasty which from 1644 had lasted 268, with a
total of ten emperors when collapsed. With its demise feudalism,
which had lasted for more than two thousand years, was brought
to a close. The nation had entered a new era - Republic
of China (1911 - 1949). |
