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*''Chinese/Japanese'': 清 ''(Qīng / Shin)''
*''Chinese/Japanese'': 清 ''(Qīng / Shin)''
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of Imperial China. Ruled by [[Manchu]] emperors, it began with the fall of the [[Ming Dynasty]] in [[1644]], and ended with the [[Xinhai Revolution]] in [[1911]]. Though not a [[Han Chinese]] dynasty like the Ming which preceded it, due to its time, interactions with the West, and the overwhelming proportion of Qing period buildings, documents, and objects which have survived compared to those from earlier periods, it is the Qing which, perhaps, has most influenced or constituted the image of Imperial China, and of traditional Chinese culture; to name just a few examples of this phenomenon, Imperial [[dragon robes]], men wearing their hair in [[queues]], and men and women both wearing robes or dresses with off-center clasps (e.g. the ''cheongsam'' or ''qipao'', commonly known in the West simply as a "Chinese dress") all derive from Manchu culture, and not from Ming or earlier "native" Chinese traditions.
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of Imperial China. Ruled by [[Manchu]] emperors, it began with the fall of the [[Ming Dynasty]] in [[1644]], and ended with the [[Xinhai Revolution]] in [[1911]]. Though not a [[Han Chinese]] dynasty like the Ming which preceded it, due to its time, interactions with the West, and the overwhelming proportion of Qing period buildings, documents, and objects which have survived compared to those from earlier periods, it is the Qing which, perhaps, has most influenced or constituted the image of Imperial China, and of traditional Chinese culture; to name just a few examples of this phenomenon, men wearing their hair in [[queues]], and men and women both wearing robes or dresses with off-center clasps (e.g. the ''cheongsam'' or ''qipao'', commonly known in the West simply as a "Chinese dress") both derive from Manchu culture, and not from Ming or earlier "native" Chinese traditions.
Though nearly three hundred years in length, and seeing numerous considerable economic, political, social, and cultural developments over the course of those centuries, the Qing Dynasty is perhaps most strongly associated with the circumstances surrounding its decline and fall in the 19th to early 20th centuries, from the [[Opium War]] of the 1840s and the first of the [[Unequal Treaties]] which resulted, to the [[Taiping Rebellion]] of [[1850]]-[[1864]], failed attempts at reform and modernization, the First [[Sino-Japanese War]] in [[1895]]-[[1896]], the [[Boxer Rebellion]] of [[1899]]-[[1901]], and the final fall of the dynasty in 1911.
Though nearly three hundred years in length, and seeing numerous considerable economic, political, social, and cultural developments over the course of those centuries, the Qing Dynasty is perhaps most strongly associated with the circumstances surrounding its decline and fall in the 19th to early 20th centuries, from the [[Opium War]] of the 1840s and the first of the [[Unequal Treaties]] which resulted, to the [[Taiping Rebellion]] of [[1850]]-[[1864]], failed attempts at reform and modernization, the First [[Sino-Japanese War]] in [[1895]]-[[1896]], the [[Boxer Rebellion]] of [[1899]]-[[1901]], and the final fall of the dynasty in 1911.
==Manchu Takeover==
==Manchu Takeover==
The Qing Dynasty has its origins in [[1616]], when [[Nurhachi]], a steppes warlord based to the northeast of China, declared the establishment of the Later Jin Dynasty, a reference to the [[Jurchen]] [[Jin Dynasty]] which conquered the [[Northern Song Dynasty]] in [[1127]].
Nurhachi then established in [[1634]] a system of civil exams in Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese languages, based on the Ming Dynasty model of [[Chinese imperial examinations]]. Two years later, in [[1636]], he formally declared the renaming of the Later Jin as the Qing Dynasty, establishing [[Mukden]] as the formal capital. The Manchus invaded Korea that same year, and secured a treaty the following year reestablishing Korean [[tribute|tributary]] obligations to the Chinese Court.
Beijing fell to the Manchus in [[1644]]. This marks the formal fall of the Ming Dynasty. [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese merchants]] informed [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] authorities in [[Nagasaki]] before the year was out; their requests for Japanese aid against the Manchu invaders come to naught. Following the fall of the Ming, many Chinese fled elsewhere in the region, or else continued to fight. The remainder of mainland China fell to the Manchus by [[1659]], but many Ming loyalists fled to [[Taiwan]] and continued the fight, holding out for forty years. Led by [[Zheng Zhilong]] and his son [[Zheng Chenggong]] (aka Coxinga), they harassed Chinese shipping and coastal communities to such an extent that in [[1657]] the Qing ordered a halt to maritime and coastal activities, and that coastal residents move further inland, in a policy known as ''[[qianjie|qiānjiè]]''. Meanwhile, many in Korea, Japan, and Ryûkyû saw the Chinese center as having fallen to barbarian rule, and saw their own lands or peoples as therefore representing the only surviving outposts of Ming - or true high Chinese - culture.
[[Revolt of the Three Feudatories|Three feudatories]] in southern China rose up in rebellion against the Qing in [[1673]], a rebellion which was not finally suppressed until [[1680]].
The battle with the Ming loyalists finally came to an end in [[1684]], as Qing forces took Taiwan. This represents the first time the central Chinese "state" ever controlled the island. They lifted coastal and maritime restrictions shortly afterwards.
In [[1668]], the Qing built a willow palisade across a section of Manchuria, and banned Han Chinese from crossing into that region.
The Qing began to impose new cultural mandates upon the Chinese in [[1645]], the year after they took Beijing. All men were now required to wear their hair in long ponytails, known as queues. Though initially strongly resisted as a barbarian custom, and as wholly different from Chinese tradition, within a few generations, Han Chinese came to cherish this as part of their own customs and identity. Most if not all Chinese who emigrated to the United States (and elsewhere) in the 19th century wore such queues, as well as adhering to other Manchu-imposed cultural norms, and many found difficulty in abandoning these practices.
*cultural changes - queue, etc.
*cultural changes - queue, etc.
*governmental structures - exams, banners, ethnic division
*governmental structures - exams, banners, ethnic division
==Demographic & Economic Expansion==
==Demographic & Economic Expansion==
The population of China in the 19th century was around 400-450 million.<ref>Benjamin Elman, ''A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China'', University of California Press (2000), 130.</ref>
==Arts & Culture==
==Arts & Culture==
Western styles of painting and architecture were embraced by the [[Qianlong Emperor]] (r. [[1735]]-[[1796]]), who hired [[Society of Jesus|Jesuits]] such as [[Giuseppe Castiglione]] into his court. He commissioned Castiglione to produce a number of oil paintings, as well as designs for Western-style pavilions at the [[Forbidden City]], and Western-style structures which comprised the [[Yuanmingyuan|Yuánmíngyuán]] (also known as the Old Summer Palace).
==Foreign Relations, Decline, and Fall==
==Foreign Relations, Decline, and Fall==
The Qing reestablished relations with the Ryûkyû Kingdom, Korea, and other tributaries quite quickly after the fall of the Ming disrupted them. The Qing received tribute from Korea annually, from Ryûkyû once every two years, from Siam every three years, Annam every four years, and from Laos and Burma once in a decade. Though all of these tributary relationships had ''de facto'' ended by the mid-to-late 19th century, an [[1899]] document still lists all of those polities as tributaries.<ref>Angela Schottenhammer. "The East Asian maritime world, 1400-1800: Its fabrics of power and dynamics of exchanges - China and her neighbors." in Schottenhammer (ed.) ''The East Asian maritime world, 1400-1800: Its fabrics of power and dynamics of exchanges''. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007. p31.</ref> Formal relations with Japan, severed in the 16th century, were not restored until the late 19th century.
Korea sent at least 435 missions to Qing China between [[1637]] and [[1881]], bringing goods such as deer and leopard skins, ox horns, gold, silver, tea, paper, various types of textiles, and rice, along with goods obtained from Southeast Asia or elsewhere, such as sappanwood, pepper, and swords and knives.<ref>Schottenhammer, 55-56.</ref>
''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]].
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.
Following a series of successful conquests in the west, the Qing consolidated a number of these areas into a "new territory" ([[Xinjiang]]) in [[1768]].
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.
Siam's final tribute mission to China took place in [[1853]].
The Taiping Rebellion ended in 1864, and the Imperial Court set in motion the [[Tongzhi Restoration]], a series of reforms aimed at slowing or reversing the dynasty's decline.
In the [[Treaty of Shimonoseki]] which ended the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese exacted considerable indemnities from the Chinese; Japan gained control of Taiwan, as well as the [[Liaodong peninsula]], though Japan was forced to return the peninsula after Russia, France, and Germany objected (an incident known as the [[Triple Intervention]]). China was also obligated to pay sizable monetary reparations to the Japanese government.
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==Emperors of the Qing==
*[[Nurhachi]] ([[1616]]-[[1626]])
*[[Shunzhi Emperor]] ([[1644]]-[[1661]])
*[[Kangxi Emperor]] (1661-
*[[Yongzheng Emperor]] ( -[[1735]])
*[[Qianlong Emperor]] (1735-[[1796]])
==References==
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Historical Periods]]
[[Category:Historical Periods]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
