Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty, also known as the Manchu or Ch'ing dynasty, Chinese imperial dynasty founded by Dorgon, co-regent of the Jurchen (Manchu) and bearer of the Manchu dynastic title of Qing, following his capture of Beijing in 1644. The Manchu, a Tungusic nomad group, had been invited by China's Ming dynasty to assist in the expulsion of rebels from the capital, but after accomplishing this, Dorgon refused to leave. He died in 1650, and it took his successors over thirty years to subdue the whole of China. Rebels had retreated to the south, and open resistance only ended after the capture of Taiwan in 1683. The Manchu attempted to placate Han Chinese resentment by placing roughly equal numbers of Manchu and Chinese in the major offices in Beijing, but Manchu officials dominated senior military appointments and anti-Manchu feeling could always reappear when the dynasty was in trouble.

The next century, however, brought a peace, prosperity, and place in the world which was unrivalled in Chinese history and admired by Voltaire. By the mid-18th century the population had risen to over 200 million. Agriculture flourished. Maize came to be grown thoughout China, whilst sweet potatoes and tobacco were also major new imported crops. Cotton-growing spread widely. Taxes remained lighter than under the Ming. The Qing extended Chinese control over Tibet and Xinjiang (modern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) to the north-west, deposing hereditary tribal chiefs.

Gradually the Manchu absorbed Chinese culture and Chinese forms of administration. Possibly the greatest emperor of the dynasty, the Qianlong (Ch'ien-lung) Emperor who reigned from 1736 to 1796, studied painting and calligraphy, had numerous Chinese poems attributed to him and became a great patron of the arts.

The 19th century, however, became one of increasing travail. The reasons were both external and internal. Externally, China was forced into increasing contact with the West, and on the West's terms. The challenge was led by Great Britain. During the first quarter of the 19th century Chinese trade surpluses with Britain turned into serious deficits as the British East India Company began to smuggle increasing amounts of opium into China, with the connivance of corrupt officials, to fill ships which had previously been sent empty to carry back exports of Chinese tea, porcelain, and textiles. Chinese attempts to suppress the opium trade led to defeats in the two Opium Wars of 1841-1842 and 1856-1860. The Chinese were forced under a series of unequal treaties, which lasted until 1943, to open their territories increasingly to foreign traders. Hong Kong was ceded to the British, and various other parts of Chinese territory, such as Shanghai, were ruled according to foreign laws. Missionaries proselytized and caused official outrage as well as (indirectly) the disastrous Taiping Rebellion. Later attempts to drive out the foreigners, as in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, only made China's position worse.

Internally China was beset by a series of intractable problems. Partly the dynasty was the victim of its own earlier success. As prosperity grew, it was outstripped by the population, leading to famine and great pressure on resources. More destructive were rebellions provoked both by the government's corruption and increasingly weighty taxes, as well as by defeats at the hands of foreigners. Notable uprisings included the White Lotus revolt (1796-1805) of secret societies professing Daoism, a series of Muslim rebellions in the north-west in the third quarter of the 19th century, and, above all, the Taiping Rebellion from 1853 to 1864. The latter was inspired by a heterodox Christian movement with ambitions to establish a utopian system of land ownership by the state on behalf of God. The resultant fighting ravaged central and southern China, causing up to 20 million deaths. The Taiping rebels were only finally defeated with the assistance of a force of Western soldiers commanded by General Charles Gordon.

These troubles were debilitating for the dynasty and caused popular discontent. Defeats, especially by Japan in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, also led to ferment within the regime and outside it over the best way to deal with the challenges. “Self-strengthening”, reliance upon “foreign learning for use, Chinese learning for essence”, radical political solutions—they all had their adherents. In the latter part of the 19th century the imperial court was dominated by the Empress Dowager, Cixi (Tz'u-hsi), who squandered money and prevented serious reform. Proposed constitutional reforms in 1906 were too little and too late.

In the meantime new economic and social groupings had begun to appear, some with interests in developing China's industries, especially railways. They resented heavy-handed imperial domination. Some provinces created elected assemblies in 1909. Eventually, in 1911, a planned uprising in Hankou was uncovered by the authorities. Rather than wait to be arrested, the plotters advanced their plans and, to everyone's surprise including their own, captured Hankou. Emboldened, they swept on. Within three months the empire had disintegrated, with a republic under Sun Yat-sen declared on January 1, 1912.