Changes

The Qing brought much of the central and southern parts of China under its control, including [[Hubei province|Hubei]], [[Shaanxi province|Shaanxi]], [[Sichuan province|Sichuan]] and all the coastal provinces,  within two years of taking Beijing, and finally secured control over [[Yunnan province]], on the border with Burma and Vietnam, in [[1659]].<ref name=tignor502>Robert Tignor, Benjamin Elman, et al, ''Worlds Together, Worlds Apart'', vol B, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton & Co (2014), 502.</ref>

The Qing brought much of the central and southern parts of China under its control, including [[Hubei province|Hubei]], [[Shaanxi province|Shaanxi]], [[Sichuan province|Sichuan]] and all the coastal provinces,  within two years of taking Beijing, and finally secured control over [[Yunnan province]], on the border with Burma and Vietnam, in [[1659]].<ref name=tignor502>Robert Tignor, Benjamin Elman, et al, ''Worlds Together, Worlds Apart'', vol B, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton & Co (2014), 502.</ref>

The Qing state, and society, was divided to a certain extent along ethnic lines. Qing leaders, considering the strengths and failures of previous nomadic dynasties, such as the [[Tangut]] [[Xi Xia]], the [[Khitan]] [[Liao Dynasty]], the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, realized the need for a careful balance between Sinicization and maintenance of steppe traditions. The adoption of certain aspects of Chinese culture, especially in terms of the structure of government, was necessary for a strong, stable, well-managed state, and for preventing rebellion amongst the Han Chinese, who greatly outnumbered the Manchus. At the same time, however, a maintenance of nomadic horseriding and martial traditions was necessary to retain the loyalty of Manchu, Jurchen, and Mongol followers, and to ensure that the Qing would be able to defend themselves from attack by other nomadic groups (as the Khitans and Jurchens failed to, in the past).

The Qing state, and society, was divided to a certain extent along ethnic lines. Qing leaders, considering the strengths and failures of previous nomadic dynasties, such as the [[Tangut]] [[Xi Xia]], the [[Khitan]] [[Liao Dynasty]], the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, realized the need for a careful balance between Sinicization and maintenance of steppe traditions. The adoption of certain aspects of Chinese culture, especially in terms of the structure of government, was necessary for a strong, stable, well-managed state, and for preventing rebellion amongst the Han Chinese, who greatly outnumbered the Manchus. At the same time, however, a maintenance of nomadic horseriding and martial traditions was necessary to retain the loyalty of Manchu, Jurchen, and Mongol followers, and to ensure that the Qing would be able to defend themselves from attack by other nomadic groups (as the Khitans and Jurchens failed to, in the past). The Qing Emperors did not officially name their heirs prior to their deaths; instead of any one of the imperial progeny being known as Crown Prince, the Emperor selected his heir secretly (regardless of age), keeping this selection sealed within an imperial vault. Only upon the Emperor's death was the vault opened, and the document naming the heir revealed.<ref name=akazaki628>[[Akazaki Kaimon]] 赤崎海門, ''[[Ryukaku danki|Ryûkaku danki]]'' 「琉客談記」 1796, reprinted in ''Shiseki shûran'' 「史籍集覧」, vol 16, Kyoto: Rinsen shoten (1996), 629.</ref>

Thus, Manchus, Mongols, and so-called "martial" Chinese (漢軍, C: ''Hàn jūn'', descendants of Han Chinese & Korean allies of the Manchus, chiefly from Manchuria and northern China, from prior to the fall of the Ming) were each organized into eight "banners," and were governed and administered not by Han Chinese officials, but by their fellow bannermen. In each of the major provincial cities, bannermen lived in garrisons separated from the other areas of the city, served in a separate administrative hierarchy, and took a separate set of [[Chinese imperial examinations|civil examinations]] to earn those administrative posts. These exams were offered not only in classical Chinese, but alternatively in the Mongol and Manchu languages, incorporated elements of military skill or prowess, and involved somewhat lower requirements for knowledge of Confucian classics, talent at Chinese poetry, and the like, as compared to the exams taken by Han Chinese candidates. In a system not entirely unlike the dyarchy (double rule) system of civil and military governors under the [[Kamakura shogunate|Kamakura]] and [[Muromachi shogunate]]s in Japan, which might be said to have governed the [[samurai]] while leaving civil administration to the Imperial Court, the Qing Court similarly appointed two officials - one from the banners, and one Chinese scholar-bureaucrat - to a great many posts within a government based on that of the Ming, with Six Ministries at its center. The Grand Secretariat was similarly kept in place, albeit with a mix of Manchu and Chinese secretaries.

Thus, Manchus, Mongols, and so-called "martial" Chinese (漢軍, C: ''Hàn jūn'', descendants of Han Chinese & Korean allies of the Manchus, chiefly from Manchuria and northern China, from prior to the fall of the Ming) were each organized into eight "banners," and were governed and administered not by Han Chinese officials, but by their fellow bannermen. No Han Chinese worked within the Imperial Palace; all palace servants and staff otherwise were Manchus.<ref name=akazaki628/> In each of the major provincial cities, bannermen lived in garrisons separated from the other areas of the city, served in a separate administrative hierarchy, and took a separate set of [[Chinese imperial examinations|civil examinations]] to earn those administrative posts. These exams were offered not only in classical Chinese, but alternatively in the Mongol and Manchu languages, incorporated elements of military skill or prowess, and involved somewhat lower requirements for knowledge of Confucian classics, talent at Chinese poetry, and the like, as compared to the exams taken by Han Chinese candidates. In a system not entirely unlike the dyarchy (double rule) system of civil and military governors under the [[Kamakura shogunate|Kamakura]] and [[Muromachi shogunate]]s in Japan, which might be said to have governed the [[samurai]] while leaving civil administration to the Imperial Court, the Qing Court similarly appointed two officials - one from the banners, and one Chinese scholar-bureaucrat - to a great many posts within a government based on that of the Ming, with Six Ministries at its center. The Grand Secretariat was similarly kept in place, albeit with a mix of Manchu and Chinese secretaries.

In Beijing, the various banners were settled in areas directly outside the [[Forbidden City|palace]] walls, thus surrounding the palace with the most loyal warriors, a pattern not entirely dissimilar from the [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] organization of [[Edo]]. Han Chinese were resettled in the southern half of the city only, and while this caused some consternation and economic hardship at first, the Chinese portion of the city quickly grew into a vibrantly active and prosperous commercial zone. Meanwhile, outside of the city, the Qing redistributed Ming Imperial farmland, and many of the estates of other Ming elites, giving roughly six acres apiece to over 40,000 Manchu bannermen, and some larger estates to a small number of senior Manchu officers. Some five million acres of farmland further from the city was similarly confiscated from Chinese farmers, many of whom then became vagabonds or bandits, but many of whom returned to the land as tenant farmers working for Manchu landlords.

In Beijing, the various banners were settled in areas directly outside the [[Forbidden City|palace]] walls, thus surrounding the palace with the most loyal warriors, a pattern not entirely dissimilar from the [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] organization of [[Edo]]. Han Chinese were resettled in the southern half of the city only, and while this caused some consternation and economic hardship at first, the Chinese portion of the city quickly grew into a vibrantly active and prosperous commercial zone. Meanwhile, outside of the city, the Qing redistributed Ming Imperial farmland, and many of the estates of other Ming elites, giving roughly six acres apiece to over 40,000 Manchu bannermen, and some larger estates to a small number of senior Manchu officers. Some five million acres of farmland further from the city was similarly confiscated from Chinese farmers, many of whom then became vagabonds or bandits, but many of whom returned to the land as tenant farmers working for Manchu landlords.

[[File:Ryukyu-qing-seal.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The royal seal of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] during the Qing Dynasty, showing Chinese (琉球國王之印) in [[seal script]] on the right, and an inscription in the [[Manchu language]] on the left. As reproduced in ''Ryûkyû kokuô sappô no zu'', handscroll, date unknown, University of Hawaii Collection.]]

[[File:Ryukyu-qing-seal.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The royal seal of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] during the Qing Dynasty, showing Chinese (琉球國王之印) in [[seal script]] on the right, and an inscription in the [[Manchu language]] on the left. As reproduced in ''Ryûkyû kokuô sappô no zu'', handscroll, date unknown, University of Hawaii Collection.]]

While the Manchu elite absolutely adopted Chinese practices, Confucian political philosophy, and government structures, to a great extent, inserting itself into Chinese systems of governance rather than overthrowing them, they at the same time made great efforts to maintain their martial, equestrian, steppe culture. The Court employed the Manchu language alongside Chinese in most if not all official documents, and powerfully promoted the language otherwise, and maintained complexes of yurts, in the manner of the khans of the steppes, alongside the Chinese-style wooden buildings of the [[Forbidden City|Imperial Palace]]. In addition, the [[Qianlong Emperor]] (r. [[1735]]-[[1796]]) developed strong ties with the [[Dalai Lama]], and built up [[Chengde]] as a religious center of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], a form of Buddhism which had been embraced by the Mongols and Manchus, and which is quite different from Chinese Buddhism in fundamental ways.

While the Manchu elite absolutely adopted Chinese practices, Confucian political philosophy, and government structures, to a great extent, inserting itself into Chinese systems of governance rather than overthrowing them, they at the same time made great efforts to maintain their martial, equestrian, steppe culture. The Court chiefly employed the Chinese language in court business and court ceremonies, but the Manchu language was spoken in more everyday verbal interactions within the Palace.<ref name=akazaki628/> Further, the Court used the Manchu language alongside Chinese in most if not all official documents, and powerfully promoted the language otherwise, and maintained complexes of yurts, in the manner of the khans of the steppes, alongside the Chinese-style wooden buildings of the [[Forbidden City|Imperial Palace]]. In addition, the [[Qianlong Emperor]] (r. [[1735]]-[[1796]]) developed strong ties with the [[Dalai Lama]], and built up [[Chengde]] as a religious center of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], a form of Buddhism which had been embraced by the Mongols and Manchus, and which is quite different from Chinese Buddhism in fundamental ways.

==Consolidation==

==Consolidation==