Changes

*''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]].  

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]]. As such, it is easily seen as both the last period of "traditional" China, and as containing events and developments crucial to understanding modern China.

 

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 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.

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 [[Joseon Dynasty|Korea]] that same year, and secured a treaty the following year reestablishing [[Korean tribute missions to China|Korean tributary obligations]] to the Chinese Court.

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 [[Joseon Dynasty|Korea]] that same year, and secured a treaty the following year reestablishing [[Korean tribute missions to China|Korean tributary obligations]] to the Chinese Court.

Beijing fell to the Manchus in [[1644]]. The Chinese rebel leader [[Li Zicheng]] took Beijing in that year, leading to the [[Chongzhen Emperor]] hanging himself two days later. Hearing of this, the commander of the Ming armies in the northeast, who had been leading the fight against Manchu expansion, enlisted the Manchus' aid against Li Zicheng. Ousting the rebel from the city, the Manchu forces then kept the city for themselves, rather than returning it to the Ming Chinese.<ref>Robert Tignor, [[Benjamin Elman]], et al, ''Worlds Together, Worlds Apart'', vol B, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton & Co (2014), 501.</ref> 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.

Beijing fell to the Manchus in [[1644]]. The Chinese rebel leader [[Li Zicheng]] took Beijing in that year, leading to the [[Chongzhen Emperor]] hanging himself two days later. Hearing of this, the commander of the Ming armies in the northeast, who had been leading the fight against Manchu expansion, enlisted the Manchus' aid against Li Zicheng. Ousting the rebel from the city, the Manchu forces then kept the city for themselves, rather than returning it to the Ming Chinese.<ref>Robert Tignor, [[Benjamin Elman]], et al, ''Worlds Together, Worlds Apart'', vol B, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton & Co (2014), 501.</ref> 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.

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>Tignor, et al., 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>Tignor, et al., 502.</ref>

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.

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.

[[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.]]

[[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.]]

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.  

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.  

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. Outer Mongolia fell to Qing forces in [[1697]], Zungharia (to the west of Mongolia) in [[1757]], and East Turkestan (incl. [[Uighur]] lands and the city of [[Kashgar]]) in [[1759]], with [[Tibet]] becoming a protectorate in [[1751]].<ref name=tignor502/> 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.

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. Outer Mongolia fell to Qing forces in [[1697]], Zungharia (to the west of Mongolia) in [[1757]], and East Turkestan (incl. [[Uighur]] lands and the city of [[Kashgar]]) in [[1759]], with Tibet becoming a protectorate in [[1751]].<ref name=tignor502/> 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.

The Qing administered these western territories loosely for a time, allowing local or native administrative structures to remain in place. Only in the late 19th century did the Court first decide to integrate these regions more fully into "China proper."

The Qing administered these western territories loosely for a time, allowing local or native administrative structures to remain in place. Only in the late 19th century did the Court first decide to integrate these regions more fully into "China proper."