Chinese coin of
<="" font="" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"> Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 A.D.)
<="" font="" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"> Guang Xu , 1875-1908 A.D.
AE Cash 22mm (2.92 grams)
Kaifeng mint, Henan Province
Dot above on reverse
1898-1905
H-22.1343

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The Guangxu Emperor (Kuang-hsu Emperor; 14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), born Aisin-Gioro Zaitian (Aisin-Gioro Tsai-tien; Manchu : Aisin-Gioro Dzai-Tiyan), was the eleventh emperor of the Qing Dynasty , and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, under Empress Dowager Cixi 's influence, only from 1889 to 1898. He initiated the Hundred Days' Reform , but was abruptly stopped when Cixi launched a coup in 1898, after which he was put under house arrest until his death. His regnal name means "glorious succession".

Accession to the throne and upbringing

Zaitian was the second son of Yixuan, Prince Chun , and his primary spouse Yehenara Wanzhen , a younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi . On 12 January 1875, Zaitian's cousin, the Tongzhi Emperor , died without a son. Empress Dowager Ci'an suggested enthroning one of Yixin, Prince Gong 's sons as the next emperor, but she was overruled by Cixi. Instead, breaking the imperial convention that a new emperor must always be of a generation after that of the previous emperor, Cixi nominated her nephew and the imperial family agreed with her choice.

Zaitian was named heir and successor to his uncle, the Xianfeng Emperor , rather than his cousin and predecessor, the Tongzhi Emperor , so as to maintain the father-son succession law. He ascended to the throne at the age of four and used "Guangxu" as his regnal name (or Chinese era name ), therefore he is known as the Guangxu Emperor. He was adopted by Empress Dowager Cixi as a son. For her part, she remained as regent under the title "Holy Mother Empress Dowager".

Beginning in 1876, the Guangxu Emperor was taught by Weng Tonghe , who had also been involved in the disastrous upbringing of Tongzhi, yet, somehow managed to be exonerated of all charges. Weng would instill in the emperor a notion of having to emphasize his filial piety towards the dowager empresses.

In 1881, when the Guangxu Emperor was nine, Dowager Empress Ci'an died unexpectedly, leaving Cixi as sole regent for the boy. However, Cixi had been suffering from long-standing ill-health. During this time, the imperial eunuchs often abused their influence over the boy-emperor. The Guangxu Emperor reportedly also had begun to hold some audiences on his own as an act of necessity.

Guangxu comes of age

In 1887, the Guangxu Emperor would have been old enough to begin to reign in his own right. However, the previous year, several courtiers, including Prince Chun and Weng Tonghe, had petitioned the empress dowager to postpone her retirement from the regency. Despite Cixi's agreement to remain as regent, by 1886 the Guangxu Emperor had begun to write comments on the palace memorials. In the spring of 1887, he partook in his first field plowing ceremony, and by the end of the year, had begun to rule under the supervision of Cixi.

Eventually, in February 1889, in preparation for Cixi's retirement, the Guangxu Emperor was married. As his empress, and much to his disliking, Cixi had selected her own niece, Guangxu's cousin, Jingfen, to become empress, who would be known as Empress Longyu . She also selected, as his two concubines, sisters, who became Consorts Jin and Zhen . The following week, with Guangxu married off, Cixi retired from the regency.

Years in power

Even after Guangxu began formal rule, Empress Dowager Cixi continued to influence his decisions and actions, despite residing several months of the year at the Summer Palace . Weng Tonghe reportedly observed that while the emperor attended to day to day state affairs, in more difficult cases, Guangxu and the Grand Council sought the advice of the empress dowager. In fact, the emperor would quite often journey out to the Summer Palace to pay his respects to his aunt and to discuss state affairs with her.

In March 1891, Guangxu received the foreign ministers to China at an audience in the "Pavilion of Purple Light," in what is now part of Zhongnanhai , repeating something that had also been done by his cousin, Tongzhi, in 1873. That summer, under pressure from the foreign legations and in response to revolts in the Yangtze River valley that were targeting Christian missionaries, Guangxu issued an edict giving Christians imperial protection.

Guangxu, growing up, apparently had been instilled with the notion of the importance of frugality. In this vein, in 1892, he tried to implement a series of draconian measures in order to reduce expenditures by the Imperial Household Department , which proved to be one of his few administrative successes. But, it was only a partial victory, as he nevertheless had to approve higher expenditures than he would have liked, in order to meet the needs of the empress dowager.

1894 saw the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War . During the war, despite being emperor, Guangxu was often by-passed by the courtiers who instead went to the empress dowager. Eventually, two sets of Grand Council memoranda were created, one for the emperor and the other for Cixi, a practice which would continue until it was rendered unnecessary by the events in the fall of 1898. Following China's humiliating defeat and being forced to agree to the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki , Guangxu reportedly expressed his wish to abdicate. Guangxu and the Qing government faced further humiliation in late 1897 when the Germans used the murders of two priests in Shandong Province as a pretext to occupy Jiaozhou Bay , prompting a "scramble for concessions" by the other foreign powers.

Following the war and the scramble for concessions, Guangxu came to believe that by learning from constitutional monarchies like Japan, China would become more politically and economically powerful. In June 1898, Guangxu began the Hundred Days' Reform , aimed at a series of sweeping political, legal, and social changes. For a brief time, after the supposed retirement of Empress Dowager Cixi, Guangxu issued edicts for a massive number of far-reaching modernising reforms with the help of more progressive ministers such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao .

Changes ranged from infrastructure to industry and the civil examination system . Guangxu issued decrees allowing the establishment of a modern university in Beijing, the construction of the Lu-Han railway, and a system of budgets similar to that of the west. The initial goal was to make China a modern, constitutional empire, but still within the traditional framework, as with Japan's Meiji Restoration .

The reforms, however, were not only too sudden for a China still under significant neo-Confucian influence and other elements of traditional culture, but also came into conflict with Cixi, who held real power. Many officials, deemed useless and dismissed by Guangxu, were begging Cixi for help. Although Cixi did nothing to stop the Hundred Days' Reform from taking place, she knew the only way to secure her power base was to stage a military coup. Guangxu was made aware of such a plan, and asked Kang Youwei and his reformist allies to plan his rescue. They decided to use the help of Yuan Shikai , who had a modernised army, albeit only 6,000-strong. Cixi relied on Ronglu 's army in Tianjin.

Ronglu also had an ally, general Dong Fuxiang , who commanded 10,000 Muslim Kansu Braves of the imperial army, including generals such as Ma Fuxiang and Ma Fulu . They were stationed in the Beijing metropolitan area and constantly attacked foreigners and westerners, they were on the side of the conservatives under Cixi during the coup. They were also armed with western rifles and modern artillery, which showed that the conservative faction of Empress Cixi were willing to use western technology.

However, the day before the staged coup was supposed to take place, Yuan Shikai revealed all the plans to Ronglu , exposing the Guangxu Emperor's plans. This gained Yuan Shikai the trust of Cixi, as well as the status of the lifetime enemy of Guangxu, and later, Guangxu's younger half-brother, Prince Chun. Following the exposure of the plot, the emperor and dowager empress met, and the emperor retreated to Yingtai Pavilion, a palace on a lake that's now part of the Zhongnanhai Compound .

Lei Chia-sheng (雷家聖), a professor from Taiwan, proposed the alternative view that Guangxu might have been led into a trap by the reformists led by Kang Youwei , who in his turn was tricked by a certain British missionary and Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi into agreeing to cede Chinese sovereignty to Itō. British ambassador C. MacDonald said that the reformists had actually damaged the modernisation of China. According to Lei Chia-sheng, Empress Dowager Cixi learned of the plot, and decided to put an end to it and save China from coming under foreign control.

Emperor Guangxu after 1898

Emperor Guangxu's duties after 1898 became rather limited, compared to his position prior. While some have argued that the emperor was effectively removed from power as emperor (despite keeping the title) and was placed under house arrest, he actually did retain some status.

He was kept informed of the state affairs, reading them with the Dowager Empress Cixi prior to audiences, and was also present at audiences, sitting on a stool to Cixi’s left hand, while Cixi occupied the main throne. He discharged his ceremonial rules, such as offering up the imperial sacrifices. However, he would never reign alone again.

In 1898, shortly after the collapse of the “Hundred Days Reform,” Emperor Guangxu’s health began to decline, prompting the Dowager Empress to name Pujun, son of Guangxu’s cousin, the reactionary Prince Duan , as heir presumptive (however, both Pujun & his father were removed from their positions following the Boxer Rebellion). He eventually was examined by the doctor at the French Legation, and was diagnosed with chronic nephritis, and it was also found that he was impotent.

On August 14, 1900, Emperor Guangxu, along with his aunt, his empress and some other courtiers, fled Beijing as foreign troops marched on the city to relieve the legations which had been besieged during the Boxer Rebellion .

Returning to the capital in January 1902, after the withdrawal of the allied powers, Guangxu was known to have spent the next few years working in his isolated palace with watches and clocks, which had been a childhood fascination, some say in an effort to pass the time until the death of Empress Dowager Cixi. He also read widely and spent time learning English from Dowager Empress Cixi's western-educated lady-in-waiting, Princess Der Ling .

Death

Guangxu died on 14 November 1908, a day before Empress Dowager Cixi. He died relatively young, at the age of 37. For a long time there were several theories about Guangxu's death, none of which was completely accepted by historians. Most were inclined to maintain that Guangxu was poisoned by Cixi (herself very ill) because she was afraid of Guangxu reversing her policies after her death, and wanted to prevent this from happening. The fact that the two died a day apart is significant. Another possibility is that Guangxu was poisoned by Yuan Shikai , who knew that if Guangxu were to ever come to power again, Yuan would likely be executed for treason. There are no reliable sources to prove who murdered the Guangxu Emperor. In 1911, Cixi's former eunuch Li Lianying was murdered, possibly by Yuan, implying that they had conspired in the emperor's murder. This theory was offered by Puyi in his biography, who claimed he heard it from an old eunuch .

The medical records kept by the Guangxu Emperor's physician indicate the emperor suffered from "spells of violent stomachache", and that his face would turn blue, typical symptoms of arsenic poisoning. To dispel persistent rumours that the emperor had been poisoned, the Qing court produced documents and doctors' records suggesting that Guangxu died from natural causes, but these did not successfully divert suspicion.

On 4 November 2008, forensic tests revealed that the level of arsenic in the Guangxu Emperor's remains was 2,000 times higher than that of ordinary people. Scientists concluded that the poison could only be administered in a high dose one time. China Daily quoted a historian, Dai Yi , who speculated that Cixi may have known of her imminent death and may have worried that Guangxu would continue his reforms after her death.

The Guangxu Emperor was succeeded by Empress Dowager Cixi's choice as heir, his nephew Puyi , who took the regnal name "Xuantong". Guangxu's consort, who became the Empress Dowager Longyu , signed the abdication decree as regent in 1912, ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. Empress Dowager Longyu died childless in 1913.

After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, the new Republic of China funded the construction of Guangxu's mausoleum in the Western Qing Tombs . The tomb was robbed during the Chinese Civil War and the underground palace (burial chamber) is now open to the public.

Historical views

In 1912 Sun Yat-sen praised the Guangxu Emperor for his educational reform package that allowed China to learn more about Western culture. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, historian Fan Wenlan (范文瀾) called the emperor "a Manchu noble who could accept Western ideas". Some historians think that the emperor is the first Chinese leader to implement policies of modernisation and capitalism. The Guangxu Emperor also epitomised the lowest imperial power had come since the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and is the only ruler of the Qing Dynasty to have been put under house arrest during his own reign.

Personal life

 

The wedding of the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Longyu

The Guangxu Emperor had one empress and two consorts in total. His principal spouse was Empress Xiaodingjing , while his two consorts were Consort Jin and Consort Zhen .

Guangxu was forced by Empress Dowager Cixi to marry her niece (his cousin) Jingfen , who was two years his senior. Jingfen's father Guixiang (Cixi's younger brother) and Cixi selected her as Guangxu's Empress Consort in order to strengthen the power of her own family. After the marriage, Jingfen was made empress and was granted the honorific title of "Longyu", meaning "auspicious and prosperous" (Chinese: 隆裕) after the death of her husband. However, Guangxu detested Empress Longyu, and spent most of his time with his favourite concubine Consort Zhen (Chinese: 珍妃), (better known in English as the "Pearl Consort"). Rumours say that in 1900, Consort Zhen was drowned by being thrown into a well on Cixi's order after Consort Zhen begged Empress Dowager Cixi to let the Guangxu Emperor stay in Beijing for negotiations with the foreign powers. That incident happened before Empress Dowager Cixi was preparing to leave the Forbidden City due to the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900. Like his predecessor, the Tongzhi Emperor , Guangxu died without issue. After the Guangxu Emperor's death in 1908, Empress Dowager Longyu reigned in cooperation with Prince Chun .

Honours

• Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle (Kingdom of Prussia, 28 June 1898).
• Knight Grand Cross [in brilliants] of the Order of the Red Eagle (Kingdom of Prussia, 28 June 1898).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I (Kingdom of Hawaii, 1882).
• Knight Grand Collar of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Empire of Japan).

The Qing dynasty, also Empire of the Great Qing, Great Qing or Manchu dynasty, was the last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China . The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the territorial base for the modern Chinese nation.

The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Northeastern China , historically known as Manchuria . In the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci , originally a Ming vassal, began organizing Jurchen clans into "Banners", military-social units and forming a Manchu people . By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of southern Manchuria and declared a new dynasty, the Qing. In 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital Beijing . Rather than serve them, Ming general Wu Sangui made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Banner Armies led by Prince Dorgon , who defeated the rebels and seized Beijing. The conquest of China proper was not completed until 1683 under the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722). The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Central Asia. While the early rulers maintained Manchu culture, they governed using Confucian styles and institutions of bureaucratic government. They retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work in parallel with Manchus. They also adopted the ideals of the tributary system in international relations.

The reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796) saw the apogee and initial decline of 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. Corruption set in, rebels tested government legitimacy, and ruling elites did not change their mindsets in the face of changes in the world system. Following the Opium War , European powers imposed unequal treaties , free trade , extraterritoriality and treaty ports under foreign control. The Taiping Rebellion (1849–60) and Dungan revolt (1862–77) in Central Asia led to the deaths of some 20 million people. In spite of these disasters, in the Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s, Han Chinese elites rallied to the defense of the Confucian order and the Qing rulers. The initial gains in the Self-Strengthening Movement were destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which the Qing lost its influence over Korea and the possession of Taiwan. New Armies were organized, but the ambitious Hundred Days' Reform of 1898 was turned back by Empress Dowager Cixi , a ruthless but capable leader. When, in response to the violently anti-foreign Yihetuan ("Boxers"), foreign powers invaded China, the Empress Dowager declared war on them, leading to disastrous defeat.

The government then initiated unprecedented fiscal and administrative reforms, including elections, a new legal code, and abolition of the examination system. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries competed with reformers such as Liang Qichao and monarchists such as Kang Youwei to transform the Qing empire into a modern nation. After the death of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor in 1908, the hardline Manchu court alienated reformers and local elites alike. Local uprisings starting on October 11, 1911 led to the 1911 Revolution . The last emperor abdicated on February 12, 1912.

Name

Both in honor of the earlier Jurchen Jin dynasty in the 12–13th century and his Aisin Gioro clan (Aisin being the Manchu for the Chinese 金 (jīn, "gold")) Nurhaci originally named his state the Great Jin (lit "Gold") dynasty, afterwards called the Later Jin dynasty by historians. His son Hong Taiji renamed the dynasty Great Qing (lit. "Clarity") in 1636. There are numerous competing explanations on the meaning of "Qing," but none has been entirely accepted. The name Qing may have been selected in reaction to the name of the Ming dynasty (明), which consists of the characters for "sun" (日) and "moon" (月), both associated with the fire element . The character Qing (清) is composed of "water" (氵) and "azure" (青), both associated with the water element. This association would justify the Qing conquest as defeat of fire by water. The water imagery of the new name may also have had Buddhist overtones of perspicacity and enlightenment and connections with the Bodhisattva Manjusri .^[3]

The Manchu name daicing, which sounds like a phonetic rendering of "Da Qing" or "Dai Ching", may in fact have been derived from a Mongolian word that means "warrior". Daicing gurun may therefore have meant "warrior state", a pun that was only intelligible to Manchu and Mongol people. In the later part of the dynasty, however, even the Manchus themselves had forgotten this possible meaning.^[4]

The state was known internationally as China^[5] or the Chinese Empire.^[6] In the Chinese-language versions of its treaties and its maps of the world, the Qing government used "Qing" and "China" (simplified Chinese: 中国; traditional Chinese: 中國; pinyin: Zhōngguó) interchangeably.^[7] Less commonly, it was also known in the romanization of the time as the Ta Tsing Empire^[8][9] from the Chinese for "Empire of the Great Qing" (大清帝国, Dà Qīng Dìguó).

After conquering the Ming, the Qing identified their state as "China" (中國, Zhongguo; "Middle Kingdom"), and referred to it as "Dulimbai Gurun" in Manchu.^[10][11][12] The Qing equated the lands of the Qing state (including present day Manchuria, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet and other areas) as "China" in both the Chinese and Manchu languages, defining China as a multi-ethnic state, rejecting the idea that China only meant Han areas, proclaiming that both Han and non-Han peoples were part of "China", using "China" to refer to the Qing in official documents, international treaties, and foreign affairs, and the "Chinese language" (Dulimbai gurun i bithe) referred to Chinese, Manchu, and Mongol languages, and the term "Chinese people" (中國人 Zhongguo ren; Manchu: Dulimbai gurun i niyalma) referred to all Han, Manchus, and Mongol subjects of the Qing.^[13]

When the Qing conquered Dzungaria in 1759 , they proclaimed that the new land was absorbed into "China" (Dulimbai Gurun) in a Manchu language memorial.^[14][15] The Qing expounded on their ideology that they were bringing together the "outer" non-Han Chinese like the Inner Mongols, Eastern Mongols, Oirat Mongols, and Tibetans together with the "inner" Han Chinese, into "one family" united in the Qing state, showing that the diverse subjects of the Qing were all part of one family, the Qing used the phrase "Zhongwai yijia" 中外一家 or "neiwei yijia" 內外一家 ("interior and exterior as one family"), to convey this idea of "unification" of the different peoples.^[16] The Manchu language version of the Convention of Kyakhta (1768), a treaty with the Russian Empire concerning criminal jurisdiction over bandits, referred to people from the Qing as "people from the Central Kingdom (Dulimbai Gurun)".^[17] In the Manchu official Tulišen 's Manchu language account of his meeting with the Torghut Mongol leader Ayuka Khan , it was mentioned that while the Torghuts were unlike the Russians, the "people of the Central Kingdom" (dulimba-i gurun 中國, Zhongguo) were like the Torghut Mongols, and the "people of the Central Kingdom" referred to the Manchus.^[18]

History

Formation of the Manchu state

An Italian map showing the "Kingdom of the Nüzhen " or the "Jin Tartars", who "have occupied and are at present ruling China", north of Liaodong and Korea , published in 1682

The Qing dynasty was founded not by Han Chinese , who form the majority of the Chinese population, but by a semi-sedentary people known as the Jurchen , a Tungusic people who lived around the region now comprising the Chinese provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang .^[19] What was to become the Manchu state was founded by Nurhaci , the chieftain of a minor Jurchen tribe – the Aisin Gioro  – in Jianzhou in the early 17th century. Originally a vassal of the Ming emperors, Nurhachi embarked on an inter-tribal feud in 1582 that escalated into a campaign to unify the nearby tribes. By 1616, he had sufficiently consolidated Jianzhou so as to be able to proclaim himself Khan of the Great Jin in reference to the previous Jurchen dynasty.^[20]

Two years later, Nurhachi announced the "Seven Grievances" and openly renounced the sovereignty of Ming overlordship in order to complete the unification of those Jurchen tribes still allied with the Ming emperor. After a series of successful battles, he relocated his capital from Hetu Ala to successively bigger captured Ming cities in Liaodong Province: first Liaoyang in 1621, then Shenyang (Mukden) in 1625.^[20]

Relocating his court from Jianzhou to Liaodong provided Nurhachi access to more resources; it also brought him in close contact with the Mongol domains on the plains of Mongolia. Although by this time the once-united Mongol nation had long since fragmented into individual and hostile tribes, these tribes still presented a serious security threat to the Ming borders. Nurhachi's policy towards the Mongols was to seek their friendship and cooperation against the Ming, securing his western border from a powerful potential enemy.^[21]

Furthermore, the Mongols proved a useful ally in the war, lending the Jurchens their expertise as cavalry archers. To cement this new alliance, Nurhachi initiated a policy of inter-marriages between the Jurchen and Mongol nobilities, while those who resisted were met with military action. This is a typical example of Nurhachi's initiatives that eventually became official Qing government policy. During most of the Qing period, the Mongols gave military assistance to the Manchus.^[21]

Some of Nurhaci's other important contributions include ordering the creation of a written Manchu script based on the Mongolian so as to avoid the earlier Jurchen script which had been derived from Khitan and Chinese and the creation of the civil and military administrative system which eventually evolved into the Eight Banners , the defining element of Manchu identity and the foundation for transforming the loosely knitted Jurchen tribes into a nation.

Qing era brush container

Nurhachi's unbroken series of military successes came to an end in January 1626 when he was defeated by Yuan Chonghuan while laying siege to Ningyuan . He died a few months later and was succeeded by his eighth son, Hong Taiji , who emerged after a short political struggle amongst other potential contenders as the new Khan.

Although Hong Taiji was an experienced leader and the commander of two Banners at the time of his succession, his reign did not start well on the military front. The Jurchens suffered yet another defeat in 1627 at the hands of Yuan Chonghuan. As before, this defeat was, in part, due to Ming's newly acquired Portuguese cannons.

To redress the technological and numerical disparity, Hong Taiji in 1634 created his own artillery corps, the ujen chooha, Chinese: 重 軍 from among his existing Han troops who cast their own cannons in the European design with the help of captured Chinese metallurgists. In 1635, the Manchus' Mongol allies were fully incorporated into a separate Banner hierarchy under direct Manchu command. Hong Taiji then proceeded in 1636 to invade Korea again.

This was followed by the creation of the first two Han Banners in 1637 (increasing to eight in 1642). Together these military reforms enabled Hong Taiji to resoundingly defeat Ming forces in a series of battles from 1640 to 1642 for the territories of Songshan and Jinzhou . This final victory resulted in the surrender of many of the Ming dynasty's most battle-hardened troops, the death of Yuan Chonghuan at the hands of the Chongzhen Emperor (who thought Yuan had betrayed him), and the complete and permanent withdrawal of the remaining Ming forces north of the Great Wall .

Meanwhile, Hong Taiji set up a rudimentary bureaucratic system based on the Ming model. He established six boards or executive level ministries in 1631 to oversee finance, personnel, rites, military, punishments, and public works. However, these administrative organs had very little role initially, and it was not until the eve of completing the conquest some ten years later that they filled out their government roles.^[22]

Hong Taiji's bureaucracy was staffed with many Han Chinese, including many newly surrendered Ming officials. The Manchus' continued dominance was ensured by an ethnic quota for top bureaucratic appointments. Hong Taiji's reign also saw a fundamental change of policy towards his Han Chinese subjects. Nurhaci had treated Han in Liaodong differently according to how much grain they had, those with less than 5 to 7 sin were treated like chattel while those with more than that amount were rewarded with property. Due to a revolt by Han in Liaodong in 1623, Nurhachi, who previously gave concessions to conquered Han subjects in Liaodong, turned against them and ordered that they no longer be trusted and enacted discriminatory policies and killings against them, while ordering that Han who assimilated to the Jurchen (in Jilin) before 1619 be treated equally as Jurchens were and not like the conquered Han in Liaodong. Hong Taiji instead incorporated them into the Jurchen "nation" as full (if not first-class) citizens, obligated to provide military service. By 1648, less than one-sixth of the bannermen were of Manchu ancestry.^[23] This change of policy not only increased Hong Taiji's manpower and reduced his military dependence on banners not under his personal control, it also greatly encouraged other Han Chinese subjects of the Ming dynasty to surrender and accept Jurchen rule when they were defeated militarily. Through these and other measures Hong Taiji was able to centralize power unto the office of the Khan, which in the long run prevented the Jurchen federation from fragmenting after his death.

One of the defining events of Hong Taiji's reign was the official adoption of the name "Manchu" for the united Jurchen people in November, 1635. The next year, when he is said to be presented with the imperial seal of the Yuan dynasty after the defeat of the last Khagan of the Mongols, Hong Taiji renamed his state from "Great Jin" to "Great Qing" and elevated his position from Khan to Emperor , suggesting imperial ambitions beyond unifying the Manchu territories.

Claiming the Mandate of Heaven

Dorgon (1612–1650)

Pine, Plum and Cranes, 1759 AD, by Shen Quan (1682–1760). Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk. The Palace Museum , Beijing .

Hong Taiji died suddenly in September 1643 without a designated heir. As the Jurchens had traditionally "elected" their leader through a council of nobles, the Qing state did not have in place a clear succession system until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor . The leading contenders for power at this time were Hong Taiji's oldest son Hooge and Hong Taiji' half brother Dorgon . A compromise candidate in the person of Hong Taiji's five-year-old son, Fulin, was installed as the Shunzhi Emperor , with Dorgon as regent and de facto leader of the Manchu nation.

Ming government officials fought against each other, against fiscal collapse, and against a series of peasant rebellions . They were unable to capitalise on the Manchu succession dispute and installation of a minor as emperor. In April 1644, the capital at Beijing was sacked by a coalition of rebel forces led by Li Zicheng , a former minor Ming official, who established a short-lived Shun dynasty . The last Ming ruler, the Chongzhen Emperor , committed suicide when the city fell, marking the official end of the dynasty.

Li Zicheng then led a coalition of rebel forces numbering 200,000^[a] to confront Wu Sangui , the general commanding the Ming garrison at Shanhai Pass . Shanhai Pass is a pivotal pass of the Great Wall , located fifty miles northeast of Beijing, and for years its defenses were what kept the Manchus from directly raiding the Ming capital. Wu Sangui, caught between a rebel army twice his size and a foreign enemy he had fought for years, decided to cast his lot with the Manchus with whom he was familiar. Wu Sangui may have been influenced by the rebels' mistreatment of his family and other wealthy and cultured officials; it was said that Li also took Wu's concubine Chen Yuanyuan for himself. Wu and Dorgon's armies joined in the name of avenging the death of the Chongzhen Emperor . Together, the two former enemies met and defeated Li Zicheng's rebel forces in battle on May 27, 1644 .^[24]

Wu's armies and the Manchus captured Beijing on June 6. The Shunzhi Emperor was installed as the "Son of Heaven" on October 30. The Manchus who had positioned themselves as political heir to the Ming emperor by defeating the rebel Li Zicheng, completed the symbolic act of transition by holding a formal funeral for the Chongzhen Emperor. However the process of conquering the rest of China took another seventeen years of battling Ming loyalists, pretenders and rebels. The last Ming pretender, Prince Gui , sought refuge with the King of Burma , but was turned over to a Qing expeditionary army commanded by Wu Sangui, who had him brought back to Yunnan province and executed in early 1662.

A Chinese paddle-wheel driven ship from a Qing encyclopedia published in 1726.

The first seven years of the Shunzhi Emperor's reign were dominated by the regent prince Dorgon. Because of his own political insecurity, Dorgon followed Hong Taiji's example by ruling in the name of the emperor at the expense of rival Manchu princes, many of whom he demoted or imprisoned under one pretext or another. Although the period of his regency was relatively short, Dorgon cast a long shadow over the Qing dynasty.

First, the Manchus had entered "China proper" because Dorgon responded decisively to Wu Sangui's appeal. Then, after capturing Beijing, instead of sacking the city as the rebels had done, Dorgon insisted, over the protests of other Manchu princes, on making it the dynastic capital and reappointing most Ming officials. Choosing Beijing as the capital was not a straightforward decision, since no major Chinese dynasty had directly taken over its immediate predecessor's capital. Keeping the Ming capital and bureaucracy intact helped quickly stabilize the regime and sped up the conquest of the rest of the country. However, not all of Dorgon's policies were equally popular nor easily implemented.

Dorgon's controversial July 1645 edict (the "haircutting order") forced adult Han Chinese men to shave the front of their heads and comb the remaining hair into a queue , on pain of death.^[25] The popular description of the order was: "To keep the hair, you lose the head; To keep your head, you cut the hair."^[26] To the Manchus, this policy was a test of loyalty and an aid in distinguishing friend from foe. For the Han Chinese, however, it was a humiliating reminder of Qing authority that challenged traditional Confucian values. The Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing) held that "a person's body and hair, being gifts from one's parents, are not to be damaged." Under the Ming dynasty, adult men did not cut their hair but instead wore it in the form of a top-knot.^[27] The order triggered strong resistance to Qing rule in Jiangnan ^[28] and massive killing of ethnic Han Chinese. Li Chengdong, a Han Chinese general who had served the Ming but surrendered to the Qing,^[29] ordered troops to carry out three separate massacres in the city of Jiading within a month, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. At the end of the third massacre, there was hardly any living person left in this city.^[30]

On December 31, 1650, Dorgon suddenly died during a hunting expedition, marking the official start of the Shunzhi Emperor's personal rule. Because the emperor was only 12 years old at that time, most decisions were made on his behalf by his mother, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang , who turned out to be a skilled political operator.

Although Dorgon's support had been essential to Shunzhi's ascent, Dorgon had through the years centralised so much power in his hands as to become a direct threat to the throne. So much so that upon his death he was extraordinarily bestowed the posthumous title of Emperor Yi (Chinese: 義皇帝), the only instance in Qing history in which a Manchu "prince of the blood" (Chinese: 親王) was so honored. Two months into Shunzhi's personal rule, Dorgon was not only stripped of his titles, but his corpse was disinterred and mutilated.^[b] to atone for multiple "crimes", one of which was persecuting to death Shunzhi’s agnate eldest brother, Hooge . More importantly, Dorgon's symbolic fall from grace also signalled a political purge of his family and associates at court, thus reverting power back to the person of the emperor. After a promising start, Shunzhi's reign was cut short by his early death in 1661 at the age of twenty-four from smallpox . He was succeeded by his third son Xuanye, who reigned as the Kangxi Emperor .

The Kangxi Emperor's reign and consolidation

The Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662–1722)

The sixty-one year reign of the Kangxi Emperor was the longest of any Chinese emperor. Kangxi's reign is also celebrated as the beginning of an era known as "High Qing", during which the dynasty reached the zenith of its social, economic and military power. Kangxi's long reign started when he was eight years old upon the untimely demise of his father. To prevent a repeat of Dorgon 's dictatorial monopolizing of power during the regency, the Shunzhi Emperor, on his deathbed, hastily appointed four senior cabinet ministers to govern on behalf of his young son. The four ministers — Sonin , Ebilun , Suksaha , and Oboi — were chosen for their long service, but also to counteract each other's influences. Most important, the four were not closely related to the imperial family and laid no claim to the throne. However as time passed, through chance and machination, Oboi, the most junior of the four, achieved such political dominance as to be a potential threat. Even though Oboi's loyalty was never an issue, his personal arrogance and political conservatism led him into an escalating conflict with the young emperor. In 1669 Kangxi, through trickery, disarmed and imprisoned Oboi — a significant victory for a fifteen-year-old emperor over a wily politician and experienced commander.

Pilgrim flask, porcelain with underglaze blue and iron-red decoration. Qing dynasty, Qianlong period in the 18th century.

The early Manchu rulers also established two foundations of legitimacy which help to explain the stability of their dynasty. The first was the bureaucratic institutions and the neo-Confucian culture which they adopted from earlier dynasties.^[31] Manchu rulers and Han Chinese scholar-official elites gradually came to terms with each other. The examination system offered a path for ethnic Han to become officials. Imperial patronage of Kangxi Dictionary demonstrated respect for Confucian learning, while the Sacred Edict of 1670 effectively extolled Confucian family values. The second major source of stability was the Central Asian aspect of their Manchu identity which allowed them to appeal to Mongol, Tibetan, Uighur constituents. The Qing rulers were simultaneously emperors of the Han Chinese, Manchu khans , and Buddhist sage rulers , patrons of Tibetan Buddhism , for the newly conquered areas of Central Asia.^[32] The Kangxi Emperor also welcomed to his court Jesuit missionaries, who had first come to China under the Ming. Missionaries including Tomás Pereira , Martino Martini , Johann Adam Schall von Bell , Ferdinand Verbiest and Antoine Thomas held significant positions as military weapons experts, mathematicians, cartographers, astronomers and advisers to the emperor. The relationship of trust was however lost in the later Chinese Rites controversy .

Yet controlling the "Mandate of Heaven" was a daunting task. The vastness of China's territory meant that there were only enough banner troops to garrison key cities forming the backbone of a defence network that relied heavily on surrendered Ming soldiers. In addition, three surrendered Ming generals were singled out for their contributions to the establishment of the Qing dynasty, ennobled as feudal princes (藩王), and given governorships over vast territories in Southern China. The chief of these was Wu Sangui , who was given the provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou , while generals Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong were given Guangdong and Fujian provinces respectively.

As the years went by, the three feudal lords and their extensive territories became increasingly autonomous. Finally, in 1673, Shang Kexi petitioned Kangxi for permission to retire to his hometown in Liaodong province and nominated his son as his successor. The young emperor granted his retirement, but denied the heredity of his fief. In reaction, the two other generals decided to petition for their own retirements to test Kangxi's resolve, thinking that he would not risk offending them. The move backfired as the young emperor called their bluff by accepting their requests and ordering that all three fiefdoms to be reverted to the crown.

Faced with the stripping of their powers, Wu Sangui, later joined by Geng Zhongming and by Shang Kexi's son Shang Zhixin , felt they had no choice but to revolt. The ensuing Revolt of the Three Feudatories lasted for eight years. Wu attempted, ultimately in vain, to fire the embers of south China Ming loyalty by restoring Ming customs, ordering that the resented queues be cut, and declaring himself emperor of a new dynasty. At the peak of the rebels' fortunes, they extended their control as far north as the Yangtze River , nearly establishing a divided China. Wu then hesitated to go further north, not being able to coordinate strategy with his allies, and Kangxi was able to unify his forces for a counterattack led by a new generation of Manchu generals. By 1681, the Qing government had established control over a ravaged southern China which took several decades to recover.^[33]

To extend and consolidate the dynasty's control in Central Asia, the Kangxi Emperor personally led a series of military campaigns against the Dzungars in Outer Mongolia . The Kangxi Emperor was able to successfully expel Galdan 's invading forces from these regions, which were then incorporated into the empire. Galdan was eventually killed in the First Oirat-Manchu War . In 1683, Qing forces took Taiwan from Zheng Keshuang , grandson of Koxinga , who had conquered Taiwan from the Dutch colonists as a base against the Qing. Winning Taiwan freed Kangxi's forces for series of battles over Albazin , the far eastern outpost of Russian Empire . The 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk was China's first formal treaty with a European power and kept the border peaceful for the better part of two centuries. After Galdan's death, his followers, as adherents to Tibetan Buddhism, attempted to control the choice of the next Dalai Lama . Kangxi dispatched two armies to Lhasa , the capital of Tibet, and installed a Dalai Lama sympathetic to the Qing.^[34]

By the end of the 17th century, China was at its greatest height of confidence and political control since the Ming dynasty.

Reigns of the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors

The Putuo Zongcheng Temple of Chengde , built in the 18th century during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor .

The reigns of the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723–1735) and his son, the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796), marked the height of Qing power. During this period, the Qing Empire ruled over 13 million square kilometres of territory.

After the Kangxi Emperor's death in the winter of 1722, his fourth son, Prince Yong (雍親王), became the Yongzheng Emperor. In the later years of Kangxi's reign, Yongzheng and his brothers had fought, and there were rumours that he had usurped the throne, a charge for which there is little evidence. In fact, his father had trusted him with delicate political issues and discussed state policy with him. When Yongzheng came to power at the age of 45, he felt a sense of urgency about the problems which had accumulated in his father's later years and did not need instruction in how to exercise power.^[35] In the words of one recent historian, he was "severe, suspicious, and jealous, but extremely capable and resourceful,"^[36] and in the words of another, turned out to be an "early modern state-maker of the first order."^[37]

He moved rapidly. First, he promoted Confucian orthodoxy and reversed what he saw as his father's laxness by cracking down on unorthodox sects and by decapitating an anti-Manchu writer his father had pardoned. In 1723 he outlawed Christianity and expelled Christian missionaries, though some were allowed to remain in the capital.^[38] Next, he moved to control the government. He expanded his father's system of Palace Memorials which brought frank and detailed reports on local conditions directly to the throne without being intercepted by the bureaucracy, and created a small Grand Council of personal advisors which eventually grew into the emperor's de facto cabinet for the rest of the dynasty. He shrewdly filled key positions with Manchu and Han Chinese officials who depended on his patronage. When he began to realize that the financial crisis was even greater than he had thought, Yongzheng rejected his father's lenient approach to local landowning elites and mounted a campaign to enforce collection of the land tax. The increased revenues were to be used for "money to nourish honesty" among local officials and for local irrigation, schools, roads, and charity. Although these reforms were effective in the north, in the south and lower Yangzi valley, where Kangxi had wooed the elites, there were long established networks of officials and landowners. Yongzheng dispatched experienced Manchu commissioners to penetrate the thickets of falsified land registers and coded account books, but they were met with tricks, passivity, and even violence. The fiscal crisis persisted.^[39]

Yongzheng also inherited diplomatic and strategic problems. A team made up entirely of Manchus drew up the Treaty of Kyakhta (1727) to solidify the diplomatic understanding with Russia. In exchange for territory and trading rights, the Qing would have a free hand dealing with the situation in Mongolia. Yongzheng then turned to that situation, where the Zunghars threatened to re-emerge, and to the southwest, where local Miao chieftains resisted Qing expansion. These campaigns drained the treasury but established the emperor's control of the military and military finance.^[40]

The Yongzheng Emperor died in 1735. His 24-year-old son, Prince Bao (寶親王), then became the Qianlong Emperor. Qianlong personally led military campaigns near Xinjiang and Mongolia , putting down revolts and uprisings in Sichuan and parts of southern China while expanding control over Tibet.

"The reception of the Diplomatique (Macartney) and his suite, at the Court of Pekin". Drawn and engraved by James Gillray , published in September 1792.

Qianlong's reign saw the launch of several ambitious cultural projects, including the compilation of the Siku Quanshu , or Complete Repository of the Four Branches of Literature. With a total of over 3,400 books, 79,000 chapters, and 36,304 volumes, the Siku Quanshu is the largest collection of books in Chinese history. Nevertheless, Qianlong had used Literary Inquisition to silence opposition. The accusation of individuals began with the emperor's own interpretation of the true meaning of the corresponding words. If the emperor decided these were derogatory or cynical towards the dynasty, persecution would begin. Literary inquisition began with isolated cases at the time of Shunzhi and Kangxi, but had become a pattern under Qianlong's rule, during which there were 53 cases of literary persecution.^[41]

Beneath outward prosperity and imperial confidence, the later years of Qianlong's reign saw rampant corruption and neglect. Heshen , the emperor's handsome young favorite, took advantage of the emperor's indulgence to become one of the most corrupt officials in the history of the dynasty.^[42] Qianlong's son, the Jiaqing Emperor (r. 1796–1820), eventually forced Heshen to commit suicide.

China also began suffering from mounting overpopulation during this period. Population growth was stagnant for the first half of the 17th century due to civil wars and epidemics, but prosperity and internal stability gradually reversed this trend. The introduction of new crops by Europeans such as the potato and peanut allowed an improved food supply as well, so that the total population of China during the 18th century ballooned from 100 million to 300 million people. Soon all available farmland was used up, forcing peasants to work ever-smaller and more intensely worked plots. Emperor Qianlong once bemoaned the country's situation by remarking "The population continues to grow, but the land does not." The only remaining part of the empire that had arable farmland was Manchuria , of which the provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang had been walled off as a Manchu homeland where only Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese Bannermen could settle, and which Han Chinese civilians were forbidden to settle in. Overcrowded cities suffered from widespread poverty and became potentially volatile places of social unrest.

In 1796, open rebellion by the White Lotus Society against the Qing government broke out. The White Lotus Rebellion continued for eight years, until 1804, and marked a turning point in the history of the Qing dynasty.^[43]

Rebellion, unrest and external pressure

British Steamship destroying Chinese war junks (E. Duncan) (1843)

At the start of the dynasty, the Chinese empire continued to be the hegemonic power in East Asia. Although there was no formal ministry of foreign relations, the Lifan Yuan was responsible for relations with the Mongol and Tibetans in Central Asia, while the tributary system , a loose set of institutions and customs taken over from the Ming, in theory governed relations with East and Southeast Asian countries. The Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) stabilized relations with Czarist Russia.

However, the 18th century saw the European empires gradually expand across the world, as European states developed economies built on maritime trade. The dynasty was confronted with newly developing concepts of the international system and state to state relations. European trading posts expanded into territorial control in nearby India and on the islands that are now Indonesia . The Qing response, successful for a time, was in 1756 to establish the Canton System , which restricted maritime trade to that city and gave monopoly trading rights to private Chinese merchants . The British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company had long before been granted similar monopoly rights by their governments.

In 1793, the British East India Company, with the support of the British government, sent a delegation to China under Lord George Macartney in order to open Free trade and put relations on a basis of equality. The imperial court viewed trade as unimportant while the British saw maritime trade as the key to their economy. The Qianlong Emperor told Macartney "the kings of the myriad nations come by land and sea with all sorts of precious things," and "consequently there is nothing we lack...."^[44]

Nonetheless, demand in Europe for Chinese goods such as silk, tea, and ceramics could only be met if European companies funneled their limited supplies of silver into China. In the late 1700s, the governments of Great Britain and France were deeply concerned about the imbalance of trade and the drain of silver. To meet the growing Chinese demand for opium the British East India Company greatly expanded its production in Bengal. Since China's economy was essentially self-sufficient, the country had little need to import goods or raw materials from the Europeans, so the usual way of payment was through silver. The Daoguang emperor , concerned both over the outflow of silver and the damage that opium smoking was causing to his subjects, ordered Lin Zexu to end the opium trade. Lin confiscated the stocks of opium without compensation in 1839, leading Great Britain to declare war on China in the following year.

In this political cartoon, the United Kingdom , Germany , Russia , France , and Japan are dividing China

The First Opium War revealed the outdated state of the Chinese military. The Qing navy, composed entirely of wooden sailing junks , was severely outclassed by the modern tactics and firepower of the British Royal Navy . British soldiers, using advanced muskets and artillery, easily outmaneuvered and outgunned Qing forces in ground battles. The Qing surrender in 1842 marked a decisive, humiliating blow to China. The Treaty of Nanjing , the first of the "unequal treaties," demanded war reparations, forced China to open up the five ports of Canton , Amoy , Fuchow , Ningpo and Shanghai to western trade and missionaries, and to cede Hong Kong Island to Great Britain. It revealed many inadequacies in the Qing government and provoked widespread rebellions against the already hugely unpopular regime.

The Taiping Rebellion in the mid-19th century was the first major instance of anti-Manchu sentiment threatening the stability of the dynasty. Hong Xiuquan , a failed civil service candidate, led the Taiping Rebellion, amid widespread social unrest and worsening famine. In 1851 Hong Xiuquan and others launched an uprising in Guizhou province, established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with Hong himself as king, claiming he often had visions of God and that he was the brother of Jesus Christ. Slavery, concubinage, arranged marriage, opium smoking, footbinding, judicial torture, and the worship of idols were all banned. However, success and subsequent authority and power led to internal feuds, defections and corruption. In addition, British and French troops, equipped with modern weapons, had come to the assistance of the Qing imperial army. It was not until 1864 that Qing armies under Zeng Guofan succeeded in crushing the revolt. The rebellion not only posed the most serious threat towards Qing rulers; it was also "bloodiest civil war of all time." Between 20 and 30 million people died during its fourteen-year course from 1850 to 1864.^[45] After the outbreak of this rebellion, there were also revolts by the Muslims and Miao people of China against the Qing dynasty, most notably in the Dungan revolt (1862–77) in the northwest and the Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873) in Yunnan .

A scene of the Taiping Rebellion, 1850–1864

The Western powers, largely unsatisfied with the Treaty of Nanjing, gave grudging support to the Qing government during the Taiping and Nien Rebellions . China's income fell sharply during the wars as vast areas of farmland were destroyed, millions of lives lost, and countless armies raised and equipped to fight the rebels. In 1854, Great Britain tried to re-negotiate the Treaty of Nanjing, inserting clauses allowing British commercial access to Chinese rivers and the creation of a permanent British embassy at Beijing.

In 1856, Qing authorities, in searching for a pirate, boarded a ship, the Arrow, which the British claimed had been flying the British flag, an incident which led to the Second Opium War . In 1858, facing no other options, the Xianfeng Emperor , agreed to the Treaty of Tientsin , which contained clauses deeply insulting to the Chinese, such as a demand that all official Chinese documents be written in English and a proviso granting British warships unlimited access to all navigable Chinese rivers.

Ratification of the treaty the following year led to resumption of hostilities and in 1860, with Anglo-French forces marching on Beijing, the emperor and his court fled the capital for the imperial hunting lodge at Rehe . Once in Beijing, the Anglo-French forces looted the Old Summer Palace , and in an act of revenge for the arrest of several Englishmen, burnt it to the ground. Prince Gong , a younger half-brother of the emperor, who had been left as his brother's proxy in the capital, was forced to sign the Convention of Beijing . Meanwhile, the humiliated emperor died the following year at Rehe.

Self-strengthening and the frustration of reforms

Yet the dynasty rallied. Chinese generals and officials such as Zuo Zongtang had led the suppression of rebellions and stood behind the Manchus. When the Tongzhi Emperor came to the throne at the age of five in 1861, these officials rallied around him in what was called the Tongzhi Restoration . Their aim was to adopt western military technology in order to preserve Confucian values. Zeng Guofan , in alliance with Prince Gong, sponsored the rise of younger officials such as Li Hongzhang who put the dynasty back on its feet financially and instituted the Self-Strengthening Movement . The reformers then proceeded with institutional reforms, including China's first unified ministry of foreign affairs, the Zongli Yamen ; allowing foreign diplomats to reside in the capital; establishment of the Imperial Maritime Customs Service ; the formation of modernized armies, such as the Beiyang Army , as well as a navy; and the purchase from Europeans of armament factories. ^[46]

Imperialism 1900. The bear representing Russia, the lion, the United Kingdom, the frog France, and the eagle the United States.

The dynasty lost control of the periphery bit by bit. In return for promises of support against the British and the French, in 1860 Czarist Russia took large chunks of territory in the Northeast. The period of cooperation between the reformers and the European powers ended with the Tientsin Massacre of 1870, marked by Chinese murders of French nuns set off by the belligerence of local French diplomats. Starting with the Cochinchina Campaign in 1858, France expanded control of Indochina, and by 1883 was in full control and had reached the Chinese border. The Sino-French War over Tonkin , once a Qing tributary state ended in 1885 with French victory and Chinese recognition of all the French claims.^[47]

In 1884, pro-Japanese Koreans in Seoul led the Gapsin Coup . Tensions between China and Japan rose after China intervened to suppress the uprising. Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi and Li Hongzhang signed the Convention of Tientsin , an agreement to simultaneously withdraw troops, but the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895 was a military humiliation. The Treaty of Shimonoseki recognized Korean independence and ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan. The terms might have been harsher, but a Japanese citizen attacked and wounded Li Hongzhang, which led to an international outcry and the shamed Japanese revised the terms. The terms had also included the cession of Liaodong Peninsula to Japan, but Russia, with its own designs on the territory, along with Germany and France, in what was known as the Triple Intervention , successfully put pressure on the Japanese to abandon the peninsula.

Painting of Empress Dowager Cixi by Dutch American artist Hubert Vos circa 1905

These years saw an evolution in the involvement of Empress Dowager Cixi (Wade–Giles: Tz'u-Hsi). She entered the palace in the 1850s as concubine to the Xianfeng Emperor (r. 1850–1861) and came to power in 1861 after her five year-old son, the Tongzhi Emperor ascended the throne. She, the Empress Dowager Ci'an , who had been Xianfeng's empress, and Prince Gong, staged a coup that ousted several regents for the boy emperor. Between 1861 and 1873, she and Ci'an served as regents, choosing the reign title "Tongzhi" (ruling together). Following the emperor's death in 1875, Cixi's nephew, the Guangxu Emperor took the throne, in violation of the dynastic custom that the new emperor be of the next generation, and another regency began. In the spring of 1881, Ci'an suddenly died, aged only forty-three, leaving Cixi as sole regent. ^[48]

From 1889, when Guangxu began to rule in his own right, to 1898, the Empress Dowager lived in semi-retirement, spending the majority of the year at the Summer Palace . On November 1, 1897, two German Roman Catholic missionaries were murdered in the southern part of Shandong Province . In response, Germany used the murders as a pretext for a naval occupation of Jiaozhou Bay . The occupation prompted a "scramble for concessions" in 1898, which included the German lease of Jiazhou Bay , the Russian acquisition of Liaodong , and the British lease of the New Territories of Hong Kong .

In the wake of these external defeats, Emperor Guangxu initiated the Hundred Days' Reform of 1898. Newer, more radical advisers like Kang Youwei were given positions of influence. The emperor issued a series of edicts and plans were made to reorganize the bureaucracy, restructure the school system, and appoint new officials. Opposition from the bureaucracy was immediate and intense. Although she had been involved in the initial reforms, the empress dowager stepped in to call them off, arrest and execute several reformers, and take day to day control of policy. Yet many of the plans stayed in place, and the goals of reform were implanted.^[49]

Widespread drought in North China combined with this pressure from imperialist expansion and instability in the government as background for the emergence of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, or "Boxers." In 1900 local groups of Boxers, in proclaimed support of the dynasty, murdered foreign missionaries and large numbers of Chinese Christians and then converged on Beijing to besiege the Foreign Legation Quarter. A coalition of European, Japanese, and Russian armies then entered China without diplomatic notice, much less permission. Cixi declared war on all of these nations, only to lose control of Beijing after a short but hard fought campaign. She fled to Xi'an . The victorious allies listed scores of demands on the Qing government, including compensation for their expenses in invading China and execution of complicit officials.^[50]

Reform, revolution, collapse

Yuan Shikai

By the early 20th century, mass civil disorder had begun and continuously grown. To overcome such problems, Empress Dowager Cixi issued an imperial edict in 1901 calling for reform proposals from the governors-general and governors and initiated the era of the dynasty's "New Policy", also known as the "Late Qing Reform". The edict paved the way for the most far-reaching reforms in terms of their social consequences, including the creation of a national education system and the abolition of the imperial examinations in 1905.^[51]

The Guangxu Emperor died on November 14, 1908, and on November 15, 1908, Cixi also passed away. Rumors held that she or Yuan Shikai ordered trusted eunuchs to poison the Guangxu Emperor, and an autopsy conducted nearly a century later confirmed lethal levels of arsenic in his corpse.^[52] Puyi, the oldest son of Zaifeng, Prince Chun , and nephew to the childless Guangxu emperor, was appointed successor at the age of two, leaving Zaifeng with the regency. This was followed by the dismissal of General Yuan Shikai from his former positions of power. In April 1911 Zaifeng created a cabinet, in which there were two vice-premiers. Nevertheless, this cabinet was also known by contemporaries as "The Royal Cabinet" because among the thirteen cabinet members, five were members of the imperial family or Aisin Gioro relatives.^[53] This brought a wide range of negative opinions from senior officials like Zhang Zhidong . The Wuchang Uprising succeeded on October 10, 1911, which led to the creation of the new central government, the Republic of China , in Nanjing with Sun Yat-sen as its provisional head. Many provinces began "separating" from Qing control. Seeing a desperate situation unfold, the Qing government brought Yuan Shikai back to military power, taking control of his Beiyang Army to crush the revolution in Wuhan . After taking the position of Prime Minister and creating his own cabinet, Yuan Shikai went as far as to ask for the removal of Zaifeng from the regency. This removal later proceeded with directions from Empress Dowager Longyu .

With Zaifeng gone, Yuan Shikai and his Beiyang commanders effectively dominated Qing politics. He reasoned that going to war would be unreasonable and costly, especially when noting that the Qing government had a goal for constitutional monarchy. Similarly, Sun Yat-sen's government wanted a republican constitutional reform, both aiming for the benefit of China's economy and populace. With permission from Empress Dowager Longyu, Yuan Shikai began negotiating with Sun Yat-sen, who decided that his goal had been achieved in forming a republic, and that therefore he could allow Yuan to step into the position of President of the Republic of China .

On 12 February 1912, after rounds of negotiations, Longyu issued an imperial edict bringing about the abdication of the child emperor Puyi. This brought an end to over 2,000 years of imperial China and began an extended period of instability of warlord factionalism . The unorganized political and economic systems combined with a widespread criticism of Chinese culture led to questioning and doubt about the future. In the 1930s, the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria and founded Manchukuo in 1934, with Puyi, as the nominal regent and emperor. After the invasion by the Soviet Union , Manchukuo collapsed in 1945.

Government

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A Qing dynasty mandarin

The early Qing emperors adopted the bureaucratic structures and institutions from the preceding Ming dynasty but split rule between Han Chinese and Manchus, with some positions also given to Mongols.^[54] Like previous dynasties, the Qing recruited officials via the imperial examination system , until the system was abolished in 1905. The Qing divided the positions into civil and military positions, each having nine grades or ranks, each subdivided into a and b categories. Civil appointments ranged from attendant to the emperor or a Grand Secretary in the Forbidden City (highest) to being a prefectural tax collector, deputy jail warden, deputy police commissioner or tax examiner. Military appointments ranged from being a field marshal or chamberlain of the imperial bodyguard to a third class sergeant, corporal or a first or second class private.^[55]

Central government agencies

The formal structure of the Qing government centered on the Emperor as the absolute ruler, who presided over six Boards (Ministries^[c]), each headed by two presidents^[d] and assisted by four vice presidents.^[e] In contrast to the Ming system, however, Qing ethnic policy dictated that appointments were split between Manchu noblemen and Han officials who had passed the highest levels of the state examinations . The Grand Secretariat,^[f] which had been an important policy-making body under the Ming, lost its importance during the Qing and evolved into an imperial chancery. The institutions which had been inherited from the Ming formed the core of the Qing "Outer Court," which handled routine matters and was located in the southern part of the Forbidden City .

In order not to let the routine administration take over the running of the empire, the Qing emperors made sure that all important matters were decided in the "Inner Court," which was dominated by the imperial family and Manchu nobility and which was located in the northern part of the Forbidden City. The core institution of the inner court was the Grand Council .^[g] It emerged in the 1720s under the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor as a body charged with handling Qing military campaigns against the Mongols, but it soon took over other military and administrative duties and served to centralize authority under the crown.^[56] The Grand Councillors^[h] served as a sort of privy council to the emperor.

The Six Ministries and their respective areas of responsibilities were as follows:

 

2000-cash banknote from 1859

• Board of Civil Appointments^[i]

The personnel administration of all civil officials - including evaluation, promotion, and dismissal. It was also in charge of the "honours list".

• Board of Finance^[j]

The literal translation of the Chinese word hu (户) is "household". For much of Qing history, the government's main source of revenue came from taxation on landownership supplemented by official monopolies on salt , which was an essential household item, and tea. Thus, in the predominantly agrarian Qing dynasty, the "household" was the basis of imperial finance. The department was charged with revenue collection and the financial management of the government.

• Board of Rites^[k]

This board was responsible for all matters concerning court protocol. It organized the periodic worship of ancestors and various gods by the emperor, managed relations with tributary nations , and oversaw the nationwide civil examination system .

• Board of War^[l]

Unlike its Ming predecessor, which had full control over all military matters, the Qing Board of War had very limited powers. First, the Eight Banners were under the direct control of the emperor and hereditary Manchu and Mongol princes, leaving the ministry only with authority over the Green Standard Army . Furthermore, the ministry's functions were purely administrative campaigns and troop movements were monitored and directed by the emperor, first through the Manchu ruling council, and later through the Grand Council.

• Board of Punishments^[m]

The Board of Punishments handled all legal matters, including the supervision of various law courts and prisons. The Qing legal framework was relatively weak compared to modern day legal systems, as there was no separation of executive and legislative branches of government. The legal system could be inconsistent, and, at times, arbitrary, because the emperor ruled by decree and had final say on all judicial outcomes. Emperors could (and did) overturn judgements of lower courts from time to time. Fairness of treatment was also an issue under the apartheid system practised by the Manchu government over the Han Chinese majority. To counter these inadequacies and keep the population in line, the Qing government maintained a very harsh penal code towards the Han populace, but it was no more severe than previous Chinese dynasties.

 

A postage stamp from Yantai (Chefoo) in the Qing dynasty

• Board of Works^[n]

The Board of Works handled all governmental building projects, including palaces, temples and the repairs of waterways and flood canals. It was also in charge of minting coinage.

From the early Qing, the central government was characterized by a system of dual appointments by which each position in the central government had a Manchu and a Han Chinese assigned to it. The Han Chinese appointee was required to do the substantive work and the Manchu to ensure Han loyalty to Qing rule.^[57] The distinction between Han Chinese and Manchus extended to their court costumes. During the Qianlong Emperor 's reign, for example, members of his family were distinguished by garments with a small circular emblem on the back, whereas Han officials wore clothing with a square emblem.

In addition to the six boards, there was a Lifan Yuan unique to the Qing government. This institution was established to supervise the administration of Tibet and the Mongol lands. As the empire expanded, it took over administrative responsibility of all minority ethnic groups living in and around the empire, including early contacts with Russia — then seen as a tribute nation. The office had the status of a full ministry and was headed by officials of equal rank. However, appointees were at first restricted only to candidates of Manchu and Mongol ethnicity, until later open to Han Chinese as well.

Even though the Board of Rites and Lifan Yuan performed some duties of a foreign office, they fell short of developing into a professional foreign service. It was not until 1861 — a year after losing the Second Opium War to the Anglo-French coalition — that the Qing government bowed to foreign pressure and created a proper foreign affairs office known as the Zongli Yamen . The office was originally intended to be temporary and was staffed by officials seconded from the Grand Council. However, as dealings with foreigners became increasingly complicated and frequent, the office grew in size and importance, aided by revenue from customs duties which came under its direct jurisdiction.

There was also another government institution called Imperial Household Department which was unique to the Qing dynasty. It was established before the fall of the Ming, but it became mature only after 1661, following the death of the Shunzhi Emperor and the accession of his son, the Kangxi Emperor .^[58] The department's original purpose was to manage the internal affairs of the imperial family and the activities of the inner palace (in which tasks it largely replaced eunuchs ), but it also played an important role in Qing relations with Tibet and Mongolia , engaged in trading activities (jade, ginseng , salt, furs, etc.), managed textile factories in the Jiangnan region, and even published books.^[59] Relations with the Salt Superintendents and salt merchants , such as those at Yangzhou, were particularly lucrative, especially since they were direct, and did not go through absorptive layers of bureaucracy. The department was manned by booi ,^[o] or "bondservants," from the Upper Three Banners .^[60] By the 19th century, it managed the activities of at least 56 subagencies.^[58][61]

Administrative divisions

 

Qing dynasty in 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange.

 

Qing dynasty in 1833

Qing China reached its largest extent during the 18th century, when it ruled China proper (eighteen provinces) as well as the areas of present day Manchuria (Northeast China), Inner Mongolia , Outer Mongolia , Xinjiang and Tibet , at approximately 13 million km² in size. There were originally 18 provinces, all of which in China proper, but later this number was increased to 22, with Manchuria and Xinjiang being divided or turned into provinces. Taiwan , originally part of Fujian province, became a province of its own in the 19th century, but was ceded to the Empire of Japan following the First Sino-Japanese War by the end of the century. In addition, many surrounding countries, such as Korea (Joseon dynasty), Vietnam were tributary states of China during much of this period. The Katoor dynasty of Afghanistan also paid tribute to the Qing dynasty of China until the mid-19th century.^[62] During the Qing dynasty the Chinese claimed suzerainty over the Taghdumbash Pamir in the south west of Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County but permitted the Mir of Hunza to administer the region in return for a tribute . Until 1937 the inhabitants paid tribute to the Mir of Hunza , who exercised control over the pastures.^[63] Khanate of Kokand were forced to submit as protectorate and pay tribute to the Qing dynasty in China between 1774 and 1798.

1. Northern and southern circuits of Tian Shan (later became Xinjiang province) - including several small semi-autonomous khanates such as Kumul Khanate
2. Outer Mongolia - Khalkha , Kobdo league , Köbsgöl , Tannu Urianha
3. Inner Mongolia - 6 leagues (Jirim, Josotu, Juu Uda, Shilingol, Ulaan Chab, Ihe Juu)
4. Other Mongolian leagues - Alshaa khoshuu (League-level khoshuu), Ejine khoshuu, Ili khoshuu (in Xinjiang ), Köke Nuur league; directly ruled areas: Dariganga (Special region designated as Emperor's pasture), Guihua Tümed , Chakhar , Hulunbuir
5. Tibet (Ü-Tsang and western Kham , approximately the area of present-day Tibet Autonomous Region )
6. Manchuria (Northeast China, later became provinces)

• Eighteen provinces (China proper provinces)

• Additional provinces in the late Qing dynasty

Territorial administration

Qing China in 1892

The Qing organization of provinces was based on the fifteen administrative units set up by the Ming dynasty, later made into eighteen provinces by splitting for example, Huguang into Hubei and Hunan provinces. The provincial bureaucracy continued the Yuan and Ming practice of three parallel lines, civil, military, and censorate , or surveillance. Each province was administered by a governor (巡撫, xunfu) and a provincial military commander (提督, tidu). Below the province were prefectures (府, fu) operating under a prefect (知府, zhīfǔ), followed by subprefectures under a subprefect. The lowest unit was the county , overseen by a magistrate . The eighteen provinces are also known as "China proper". The position of viceroy or governor-general (總督, zongdu) was the highest rank in the provincial administration. There were eight regional viceroys in China proper, each usually took charge of two or three provinces. The Viceroy of Zhili , who was responsible for the area surrounding the capital Beijing , is usually considered as the most honorable and powerful viceroy among the eight.

1. Viceroy of Zhili  – in charge of Zhili
2. Viceroy of Shaan-Gan  – in charge of Shaanxi and Gansu
3. Viceroy of Liangjiang  – in charge of Jiangsu , Jiangxi , and Anhui
4. Viceroy of Huguang  – in charge of Hubei and Hunan
5. Viceroy of Sichuan  – in charge of Sichuan
6. Viceroy of Min-Zhe  – in charge of Fujian , Taiwan , and Zhejiang
7. Viceroy of Liangguang  – in charge of Guangdong and Guangxi
8. Viceroy of Yun-Gui  – in charge of Yunnan and Guizhou

By the mid-18th century, the Qing had successfully put outer regions such as Inner and Outer Mongolia , Tibet and Xinjiang under its control. Imperial commissioners and garrisons were sent to Mongolia and Tibet to oversee their affairs. These territories were also under supervision of a central government institution called Lifan Yuan . Qinghai was also put under direct control of the Qing court. Xinjiang, also known as Chinese Turkestan, was subdivided into the regions north and south of the Tian Shan mountains, also known today as Dzungaria and Tarim Basin respectively, but the post of Ili General was established in 1762 to exercise unified military and administrative jurisdiction over both regions. Likewise, Manchuria was also governed by military generals until its division into provinces, though some areas of Xinjiang and Manchuria were lost to the Russian Empire in the mid-19th century. Manchuria was originally separated from China proper by the Inner Willow Palisade , a ditch and embankment planted with willows intended to restrict the movement of the Han Chinese into Manchuria, as the area was off-limits to the Han Chinese until the Qing government started colonizing the area with them later on in the dynasty's rule, especially since the 1860s.^[64]

With respect to these outer regions, the Qing maintained imperial control, with the emperor acting as Mongol khan, patron of Tibetan Buddhism and protector of Muslims . However, Qing policy changed with the establishment of Xinjiang province in 1884. During The Great Game era, taking advantage of the Dungan revolt in northwest China, Yaqub Beg invaded Xinjiang from Central Asia with support from the Russian Empire, and made himself the ruler of the kingdom of Kashgaria . The Qing court sent forces to defeat Yaqub Beg and Xinjiang was reconquered, and then the political system of China proper was formally applied onto Xinjiang. The Kumul Khanate , which was incorporated into the Qing empire as a vassal after helping Qing defeat the Zunghars in 1757, maintained its status after Xinjiang turned into a province through the end of the dynasty in the Xinhai Revolution up until 1930.^[65] In early 20th century, Great Britain sent an expedition force to Tibet and forced Tibetans to sign a treaty. The Qing court responded by asserting Chinese sovereignty over Tibet,^[66] resulting in the 1906 Anglo-Chinese Convention signed between Britain and China. The British agreed not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet, while China engaged not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet.^[67] Furthermore, similar to Xinjiang which was converted into a province earlier, the Qing government also turned Manchuria into three provinces in the early 20th century, officially known as the "Three Northeast Provinces", and established the post of Viceroy of Three Northeast Provinces to oversee these provinces, making the total number of regional viceroys to nine.