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The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing ([tɕʰíŋ]), was a dynasty in China. It was established in 1636, and ruled China proper from 1644 to 1912. It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Xian dynasty. The multiethnic Qing empire lasted for almost three centuries and formed the territorial base for modern China. It was the fourth largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size.
History[]
The Qing dynasty was founded not by Han Chinese, who constitute the majority of the Chinese population, but by the Manchu, descendants of a sedentary farming people known as the Jurchen, a Tungusic people who lived around the region now comprising the Chinese provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang.
Qing ascension and expansion[]
In the early 17th century, Nurhaci of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan began organizing "Banners", military-social units that included Manchu, Han, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Manchu clans into a unified entity and his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of the Liaodong Peninsula and declared the current imperial dynasty, the Qing.
In 1644, the new dynasty conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. Due to resistance from the Southern Ming and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories led by Wu Sangui, which took nearly four decades, the Qing conquest of China proper was only completed in 1683 under the Kangxi Emperor (1661–1722). The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Inner Asia. During the peak of the Qing dynasty, the empire ruled over the entirety of today's Mainland China, Hainan, Taiwan, Mongolia, Outer Manchuria and Outer Northwest China.
The early Qing rulers maintained their Manchu customs, and while their title was Emperor, they used "Bogd khaan" when dealing with the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of bureaucratic government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the Chinese tributary system in dealing with neighboring territories.
During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796), the dynasty reached its apogee, but then began its initial decline in prosperity and imperial control. The population rose to some 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, virtually guaranteeing eventual fiscal crisis.
Reforms[]
In the 1830s, a revolutionary wave originating from Europe entered China's socio-political scenario. Many envisioned a change of the Qing's old political institution, including a transition to a constitutional monarchy, but any reform was fiercely opposed by the ruling conservative Manchu elites. After China's humiliating defeat in the Opium War (1839–1842) and the "unequal" Treaty of Nanking, the demands intensified and extended to the military and technological sphere as well. Ceding to pressure, the Daoguang Emperor started a series of gradual political reforms taken place over the 1840s and later that modernized China's political system, making it more meritocratic. Emperor Xianfeng, his successor, ascended his his powers reduced and the Grand Council's strengthened.
The reformed government, had to deal with the Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan, a self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ. The rebellion was quenched by the army and ended with Hong's death in 1857, many surviving rebels would flee to Taiwan. Unfortunately, the reforms could not prevent the Second Opium War, which saw Kowloon and Outer Manchuria lost.
With the death of the emperor in 1860, his son Zaichun, the Tongzhi Emperor, would ascend to the throne, but since he was only five years old, the actual ruler was his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi. A strong conservative, Cixi supported reverting the political aspect of the reforms promoted in the previous reign, but with her limited powers and premature death of cholera in 1864, this failed to occur. Zatian, the Guangxu Emperor, would ascend on 1875. After coming of age, he would modernize the army, allowed Han Chinese, and laid the foundations for a constitutional monarchy.
Conflicts and diplomacy with Japan and Mongolian Revolution[]
Between 1894 and 1897, the Chinese and Japanese empires fought a war over influence in Korea. Though costly on both sides, the reformed army managed to beat the Japanese, staving off Japanese imperial. However, later that year the Joseon Kingdom would reorganize itself into the Korean Empire, reducing Chinese influence. Though the Chinese had plans for retaining Korean suzerainty, a change of Imperial Residents caused by an minor uprising (which was condemned for being short sighted), followed by the death of Emperor Guangxu in 1908, put a stop to these plans.
After the death of the Emperor Guangxu, he nephew Puyi was enthroned as Emperor Xuantong. The Grand Council was officially dissolved, and a new cabinet was elected, to be a precursor to a parliament. The cabinet was comprised of 6 Han Chinese and 7 Manchu, and the Prime Minister was Zaifeng, Prince Chun and father of the Emperor. Though criticized for being to slow in the transition, Prince Chun's Cabinet was praised as a first step towards a constitutional monarchy. However, the Cabinet soon became criticized in the following years for centralizing the Government, especially in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Mongolia, where significant minority populations lived.
In 1911, the Qing lost most of its northern territory to the newly independent Mongolia. After the war, the popularity of the Manchu Qing collapsed, which resulted in a powerful General and Marquis by the name of Yuan Shikai staging a coup. Eventually, in 1912, the Qing Dynasty was officially deposed, and a new Han Dynasty was declared by Yuan Shikai.
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