The Qing Dynasty ruled from 1644 to 1912 and holds its position as the fourth largest empire. The Qing Empire followed the Ming Dynasty after taking over and was very successful in china. They had a strong social system that kept the rulers in enough control to expand for a while. Through the years of their rule they tripled the size of the empire and grew their population to around 450 million. Problems came with the increased population and rebellions arose quickly. In the time when all this was happening painting and porcelain were able to become more popular art forms. Eventually there were too much problems in the Qing dynasty with many peasant revolt and a civil war, it came to an end. The Qing dynasty has many lasting affects on china and the world today.
The Rise of Power (220-1559)
The Qing dynasty began from The Manchus. These people were originally part of the Jurchen tribes. After the Han dynasty Jurchens ruled as the Jin dynasty. Like many others, they were conquered by the Mongols and driven north when the Ming dynasty expanded.
More on their rise of Power (1559-1624)
Nurhaci, a Jurchen tribal leader that was first a Ming vassal, began arranging military social units that was comprised of Jurchens, Han Chinese, and Mongol peoples. He made the Jurchen tribes a unified group and they called themselves the Manchus.
More on their rise of Power (1625-1644)
Nurhaci took control of Shenyang, a city that was part of the Ming empire and made it the Manchurian capital. When he died, his son Hong Taiji began to take more land from the Ming empire and made his own empire which he called the Qing empire. His son Fulin took over for him after he died. In 1644 Li Zicheng led a rebellion attacking the capital Beijing and Ming dynasty officials desperately sought out the Manchus for help. They took advantage of this opportunity and gained control of the Capital for themselves, thus ending the Ming dynasty. The Qing empire carried on the Ming form of government and continued to involve Ming officials which made the people more happy and at peace.
A painting of the first emperor of china, Shunzhi Emperor
Like many dynasties before it, the Qing assumed themselves to be superior to all other nations. This caused them to have strict foreign policies. Their tributary system required anyone who wanted to trade with them to come "as vassals to the empire." This all means that the empire would only trade at special ports and also pay tribute. It was all to preserve the Chinese culture as the isolationists they were.
1645 Forced Culture
In 1645 the Qing emperor imposed the queue on most of the Han Chinese to make them show their submission to the new rulers. Queue is a male hairstyle featuring a high shaved forehead and a long braided ponytail. Manchu officials carried out their promise to kill those who disobeyed in mass executions This was an attribute to the way their political system would work because it showed the harshness of the empire. It also was an attribute because of the work the empire had to put in to control the rebellions, people were angry because of the new circumstances that came with the new rulers.
Organization of Government
From the Qing dynasty's beginning the government was pretty organized even through the struggles of rebellions. Men who wanted to serve in the bureaucracy had to take tests for either military or civilian postings. There was even a quota system! There were also six ministries that each had their own two presidents and four vice presidents
They Qing dynasty sometimes had very young emperors. One of these emperors was Emperor Shunzhi, a five year old when his father died, who ruled from 1643 to 1661. He didn't rule personally until he was 13 years old and the Regent Dorgon (who was in power on behalf of the shunzhi) died.
Major Historical event The Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673-1681)
Because of the system of government they did have many Han Chinese people in government positions including Wu Sangui, Geng Jingzhong, and Shang Zhixin. They each had military authority over their own province and they ruled them almost as their own domain. When the Qing saw how little power they had over them Emperor Kangxi determined they were a threat. They each then submitted memorials requesting permission to retire designed to test the courts intentions. This came to be known as the Revolt of the Three feudatories.
1680s
The empire had already abolished the Ming dynasty's added taxes on things that were already taxed in the first place while also giving tax exemptions to places hurt by war. Until the 1680s though, tax remissions were limited because they were trying their best to put in money towards the conquest of china.
The currency of the Qing Empire.
Kangxi Rules as Emperor (1661–1722)
Emperor Kangxi impacted the Qing dynasty in huge ways. He was emperor for a while, and was on top of the Qing's social class. It was difficult for the Qing leaders and officials to make China accept them from the get-go. There was a big problem with ethnic division and the Manchus were outsiders ruling and many Chinese didn't like that. Rebellions flared up for a while yet Kangxi's Rule helped the new dynasty to be trusted. He reduced government expenses and lowered taxes. This most of the classes happy from artists and peasants, to the emperor's advisers. Not everyone was happy because there were many slaves and those in servitude at the bottom of the social classes and in the time of the Qing having slaves was important to social advancement.
Gender roles and family life under Qing (late 1600-through 1700s)
During Qing dynasty the use of fertilizer and irrigation increased. Rice and new crops were grown and nutrition was expanding with this so people often had much bigger families. Families favored sons over daughters because just sons could preform religious rituals and a son would raise his own family under his parents roof. This guaranteed aging parents help with farming. Many female infants were killed due to this. Still, women had a lot of responsibilities. They worked the fields and took care of their children's education along with the family finances. Men did have the power over the wives and their household throughout the Qing empire.
Major Historical Event (1722)
The first emperor died in 1661. His son, Kangxi, took over at the age of seven. This began a period of peacefulness in the Qing empire. People were happy and there were many artistic advances. He reigned for 61 years, encouraging painting, porcelain making, and literature. He often toured his empire to make sure things were working smoothly.
Qing women of wealth often bound their feet. It was very appealing in the early 1700s and throughout the time the Qing ruled. Mostly just wealthy women bound their feet and their husbands were respected and looked up to because of it. Women were usually left disabled and it showed that the husbands had a lot of money to be able to marry someone that couldn't help with farming or the children or managing the family's economics like many did in Qing China.