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[[Footbinding]], meanwhile, was not practiced by the Manchus (at least not initially), and in fact one Qing Emperor attempted to ban the practice, but was unsuccessful, as the custom was widely practiced and well-ingrained among the Han Chinese since the [[Song Dynasty]].<ref name=craig101/>
 
[[Footbinding]], meanwhile, was not practiced by the Manchus (at least not initially), and in fact one Qing Emperor attempted to ban the practice, but was unsuccessful, as the custom was widely practiced and well-ingrained among the Han Chinese since the [[Song Dynasty]].<ref name=craig101/>
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The Qing state, and society, was divided to a certain extent along ethnic lines. Manchus, Mongols, and so-called "military" Chinese (descendants of Han Chinese 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. 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.
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[[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.]]
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While the Manchu elite absolutely "Sinicized" to a great extent, inserting itself into Chinese systems of governance rather than overthrowing them, and otherwise adopting a great many aspects of Chinese culture, 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.
    
*cultural changes - queue, etc.
 
*cultural changes - queue, etc.
*governmental structures - exams, banners, ethnic division
   
*survival of the Ming / destruction of Ming loyalists
 
*survival of the Ming / destruction of Ming loyalists
    
==Demographic & Economic Expansion==
 
==Demographic & Economic Expansion==
The population of China roughly tripled over the course of the Qing Dynasty, going from roughly 125-150 million at the beginning of the period, to around 400-450 million in the 19th century.<ref>Benjamin Elman, ''A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China'', University of California Press (2000), 130.</ref> By the 19th century, there were roughly six times as many farming families in China as in the 14th century. This dramatic population growth was supported in large part, as it was through the Ming Dynasty, by considerable increases in the food supply. In the Qing Dynasty, this came chiefly from expansion of the amount of land under cultivation, and from improvements in fertilizer, irrigation, and strains of plants. The introduction in the late Ming of new crops from the Americas, including maize, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, also contributed to the expansion of the food supply.<ref name=craig101>[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Chinese Civilization'', Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 101-103.</ref>
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The population of China roughly tripled over the course of the Qing Dynasty, going from roughly 125-150 million at the beginning of the period, to around 400-450 million in the 19th century.<ref>Benjamin Elman, ''A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China'', University of California Press (2000), 130.</ref> By the 19th century, there were roughly six times as many farming families in China as in the 14th century. This dramatic population growth was supported in large part, as it was through the Ming Dynasty, by considerable increases in the food supply. In the Qing Dynasty, this came chiefly from expansion of the amount of land under cultivation, and from improvements in fertilizer, irrigation, and strains of plants. The introduction in the late Ming of new crops from the Americas, including maize, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, also contributed to the expansion of the food supply.<ref name=craig101>Craig, 101-103.</ref>
    
The Jiangnan region (south of the Yangzi, and including the cities of [[Hangzhou]], [[Suzhou]], and [[Shanghai]]) continued to grow increasingly densely populated and urbanized over the course of the period. The vast majority of the agricultural land in the region was used for growing cash crops such as silk and cotton, and by the beginning of the 19th century, the region needed to import food in considerable quantities in order to support itself.<ref name=craig101/>
 
The Jiangnan region (south of the Yangzi, and including the cities of [[Hangzhou]], [[Suzhou]], and [[Shanghai]]) continued to grow increasingly densely populated and urbanized over the course of the period. The vast majority of the agricultural land in the region was used for growing cash crops such as silk and cotton, and by the beginning of the 19th century, the region needed to import food in considerable quantities in order to support itself.<ref name=craig101/>
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''Qiānjiè'' policies were instituted in 1657 forcing coastal residents to move further inland, in response to maritime harassment by Ming loyalists; all maritime trade was officially banned in [[1662]], though in truth it continued, illicitly. These policies were lifted following the conquest of Taiwan in 1684, but the Court continued to enforce various maritime prohibitions over the course of the period. Beginning in [[1717]], the Court banned Chinese ships from traveling to Southeast Asia (with the exception of Annam) as part of continued efforts to ensure the coastal security of [[Fujian province]].
 
''Qiānjiè'' policies were instituted in 1657 forcing coastal residents to move further inland, in response to maritime harassment by Ming loyalists; all maritime trade was officially banned in [[1662]], though in truth it continued, illicitly. These policies were lifted following the conquest of Taiwan in 1684, but the Court continued to enforce various maritime prohibitions over the course of the period. Beginning in [[1717]], the Court banned Chinese ships from traveling to Southeast Asia (with the exception of Annam) as part of continued efforts to ensure the coastal security of [[Fujian province]].
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The [[1689]] [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] established agreements as to a key stretch of the Chinese-Russian border; in [[1727]], the [[Treaty of Kiakhta]] arranged for trade without tribute across that border.
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Russian traders and trappers began encroaching further upon Manchu and Chinese territory in the Amur River region in the 1660s, and the [[Kangxi Emperor]] (r. [[1661]]-[[1722]]) responded by establishing military colonies and driving the Russians away. These tensions were resolved to an extent by the [[1689]] [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]], negotiated via [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] translators, which permitted Russian traders to travel through the territory and all the way to Beijing, while forbidding Russian governmental intervention, settlement, or other more permanent activities in Manchuria.  
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Following a series of successful conquests in the west, the Qing consolidated a number of these areas into a "new territory" ([[Xinjiang]]) in [[1768]]. Some of these lands had not been controlled by China since the [[Tang Dynasty]], while others had never previously come under Chinese control. Border disputes between China and Russia over areas of Xinjiang would be settled by a Treaty of St. Petersburg in [[1881]].
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Following a series of successful conquests in which the Qing acquired millions of square miles of new territories in the west, the [[Treaty of Kiakhta]] in [[1727]] similarly arranged for border agreements and trade arrangements between China and Russia in this more western region, where the Qing vied not only with Russia, but also with Tibet and the western Mongols. The Qing consolidated a number of these areas into a "new territory" ([[Xinjiang]]) in [[1768]]. Further border disputes between China and Russia over areas of Xinjiang would be addressed by a Treaty of St. Petersburg in [[1881]]. Some of these lands had not been controlled by China since the [[Tang Dynasty]], while others had never previously come under Chinese control. Nevertheless, all of Xinjiang and Tibet (invaded in the 1720s) are today often claimed by Chinese as integral parts of historical/traditional China.
    
Under the Qianlong Emperor, the Qing Empire engaged in [[Ten Great Campaigns]], including intervention in a succession dispute in Vietnam in [[1789]]; this ended in the expulsion of Chinese (Manchu) military force & civil control from Vietnam. The Chinese would fight for Vietnam again in [[1884]], this time [[Sino-French War|against the French]].
 
Under the Qianlong Emperor, the Qing Empire engaged in [[Ten Great Campaigns]], including intervention in a succession dispute in Vietnam in [[1789]]; this ended in the expulsion of Chinese (Manchu) military force & civil control from Vietnam. The Chinese would fight for Vietnam again in [[1884]], this time [[Sino-French War|against the French]].
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==References==
 
==References==
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*[[Albert M. Craig]], ''The Heritage of Chinese Civilization'', Third Edition, Prentice Hall (2011), 113-124.
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
  
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