Qing Dynasty

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The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ch'ing ch'ao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing the Empire of the Great Qing (Chinese: 大清國, pinyin: {{unicode|dàqīngguó}}). The Qing was the last imperial dynasty of China. Declared as the Later Jin Dynasty in 1616, it changed its name in 1636 to "Qing", and conquered all of China in 1644, ruling it until 1912. In the aftermath of the 1911 revolution, a new Republic of China was established and the last emperor abdicated.

Related Topics:
Manchu - Chinese - Pinyin - Wade-Giles - Manchu - Aisin Gioro - Northeast China - China proper - Inner Asia - Imperial dynasty of China - 1616 - 1636 - 1644 - 1912 - 1911 revolution - Republic of China - Last emperor

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"Later Jin" is sometimes spelled "Later Jinn" to distinguish from another Later Jin Dynasty (936-946).

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The Qing Dynasty was founded not by the Han Chinese people who form the overwhelming majority of the population of China proper, but by the Manchus, a semi-nomadic people not even known by that name when they first rose to prominence in what is now northeastern China. Taking advantage of the political instability and popular rebellions convulsing the Ming dynasty, the highly organized military forces of the Manchus swept into the Ming capital of Beijing in 1644, and there remained until the Qing dynasty was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, with the last emperor abdicating early in 1912.

Related Topics:
Han Chinese - China proper - Manchu - Ming dynasty - Beijing - 1644 - Xinhai Revolution - 1911 - 1912

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The Manchu rulers antagonised the Han Chinese only as a result of enforcing the "queue order", which forced the Han Chinese to adopt the Manchu hairstyle (the pigtail or the infamous "queue") and Manchu-style clothing. It was designed to massacre both the Han Chinese bodies and their souls, in the physical as well as spiritual sense. During the 268 years of Manchu rule, numerous Chinese rebellions had occurred because of the strict rule of haircutting, which decreed that all Han Chinese males shave off the hair on the front half of the head and braid the remaining hair into a long pigtail. The pigtail story might be related to the early Tobas of the 4th-6th century. The Tobas were called suo lu, namely, pigtail styled robbers. (A better English wording for 'lu' would be enemies or savages.) The Chinese had no choice, either hair or head to be cut. The traditional Chinese clothing, or Hanfu was also replaced by Manchu-style clothing. Qipao (or Chinese dress) and Tangzhuang, which are usually regarded as traditional Chinese clothing nowadays, are actually Manchu-style clothing.

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Manchu edited and forged the history of the former dynasty, Ming Shi (History of Ming Dynasty). One good example would be the claim that Zhang Xianzhong, who was killed in 1646, had made a stone monument entitled "seven killings". Manchu historians tried to cover up their slaughter of Sichuan Chinese as well as to legalize Manchu's rule over China. To be noted would be the dramatic population drop during the Ming-Qing dynastic transition.

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In AD 1620, the first year of Ming Emperor Guangzong's Taichang Era, China boasted of a population of 51.66 million people, but in AD 1651 (8th year of Qing Emperor Shizu's Shunzhi Era), China only had 10.63 million people. However in the year 1741 the official census noted a population 142 million people. This would have meant a population growth rate of 2.9% per year for 90 years! In addition the Ming dynasty averaged approximately 100 million citizens, meaning that by 1620 the Ming dynasty had killed half of its own people. The conclusion is that the political upheaval in China resulted in the inability to produce a marginally accurate census during the collapse of the Ming dynasty. However there were certaintly many deaths attributed to the fighting between bandits, Ming soldiers, and Qing soldiers as well as the destruction caused to the economy.

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To further suppress the Chinese intellectuals, Manchu emperors, like Qianlong emperor, resorted to "literary inquisition" (Wen Zi Yu, "imprisonment due to writings") for controlling the minds and thoughts of Chinese. Wen Zi Yu was the law forbidding people writing any words politically. Many people died from Wen Zi Yu by writing some words which were not even political at all. Manchu forbade the assembly of scholars or intellectuals into societies and moreover advocated "eight-part essay" ("stereotyped essay") as the format for imperial civil service exams.

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Emperor Kangxi commanded the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together at the time, and under Emperor Qianlong, the compilation of a catalogue of the important works on Chinese culture was made. Thousands of books viewed by Manchu rulers as politically unacceptable were destroyed when compiling the catalogue.

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The Manchu also adopted predatory methods of land deprivation. They set up the Eight Banners system in an attempt of avoiding the possibility of being assimilated into the Chinese. Eight Banners were military institutions set up to provide a structure with which the Manchu `bannermen' were meant to identify. Banner membership was to be based on traditional Manchu skills such as archery, horsemanship, and frugality. In addition, they were encouraged to use the Manchu language, rather than Chinese. Bannermen were given economic and legal privileges in Chinese cities, meaning that they could often avoid working because they had an "iron rice bowl of privilege" under a form of "apartheid".

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The Taiping Rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century was the first major instance of anti-Manchu sentiment threatening the stability of the Qing dynasty, a phenomenon that would only increase in the following years. However, the horrific number of casualties of this rebellion - as many as 30 million people may have died - and the complete devastation of a huge area in the south of the country have to a large extent been overshadowed by another significant conflict. Although not nearly as bloody, the outside world and its ideas and technologies had a tremendous and ultimately revolutionary impact on an increasingly weak and uncertain Qing state.

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The 268 years of Qing dynasty China saw glorious successes, humiliating defeats, and profound changes to virtually all aspects of life. Today's China has in many ways been shaped by these experiences. The consolidation of Qing power was accompanied by territorial expansion, and the borders of modern China largely reflect successful Qing military campaigns.

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