construction
The palace complex was ordered built by the Yongle Emperor (1360-1424). He was crowned emperor in 1402 after forcefully overthrowing his nephew. After his ascension, he decided to move the imperial capital from Nanjing to his power base in what was then called Beiping ("Northern Peace"), renaming the city Beijing “the Northern Capital.” Moving the capital and building a new palace complex was an immense operation that meant expanding China’s canal system and mobilizing about 1 million workers to cut down trees, quarry rocks, make bricks and transport supplies, among the many other necessary activities. Vast numbers of huge stones were mined and transported there for the city's construction in the 15th and 16th centuries. The heaviest of these giant boulders, aptly named the Large Stone Carving, now weighs more than 220 tons (200 metric tons) but once weighed more than 330 tons (300 metric tons). Jiang Li, an engineer at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, recently translated a 500-year-old document, which revealed that an especially large stone — measuring 31 feet (9.5 meters) long and weighing about 135 tons (123 metric tons) — was slid over ice to the Forbidden City on a sledge hauled by a team of men over 28 days in the winter of 1557. This finding supported previously discovered clues suggesting that sleds helped to build the imperial palace. Beijing's builders relied on ice roads centuries ago to transport the massive carved stones of the famed Forbidden City from quarry to construction site, an international engineering team reports. Lubricated with water, the ice roads were built during winter months and extended 43 miles (70 kilometers). EMPERORS
ming dynasty 明朝 |
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The Ming Dynasty (also called The Great Ming Empire) was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, though claims to the Ming throne (now collectively called the Southern Ming) survived until 1662. The dynasty followed the Yuan Dynasty ( a Mongol Dynasty) and preceded the Qing Dynasty.
The Ming dynasty emperors were members of the Zhu family. During the rule of Mongols, there were strong feelings against the rule of "the foreigners" among the populace, which finally led to a peasant revolt that pushed the Yuan dynasty back to the Mongolian steppes. The revolt, led by Zhu Yuanzhang, established the Ming Dynasty in 1368.
During the Ming Dynasty, the development of agriculture and handicraft production brought an expansion to the commodity economy. From the middle of Ming times onward, capitalism began to burgeon in some handicraft industries along the coastal regions. There were enormous construction projects including restoration of the Grand Canal, the Great Wall and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Overseas contracts also greatly increased with the growth of the shipbuilding industry and navigation technology. Zheng He, a famous navigator, travelled to the West in seven epic voyages from 1405 to 1433, visiting more than 30 countries throughout the South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and distant Africa.
There was a great amount of literary achievement during the Ming period. The travel literature author Xu Xiake’s Travel Diaries is of high scientific and literary value. The classic fictional novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Pilgrim to the West and The Golden Lotus (Jin Ping Mei) were very well noticed and received. One of the most famous plays in Chinese history, the Peony Pavilion, was written by the Ming playwright, Tang Xianzu, and is still showing today.
Qing dynasty 清朝
The Qing dynasty, also called 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 state.
The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria. In the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming vassal, began organizing military-social units. Nurhaci formed these clans into a unified entity, the subjects of which became known collectively as the Manchu people. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong 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 (1661–1722).
The early rulers maintained their Manchu ways, and were simultaneously emperors of the Han Chinese, khans of the Mongols, and Buddhist sage rulers, patrons of Tibetan Buddhism, for the newly conquered areas of Central Asia, and governed their Han Chinese subjects using Confucian styles and institutions of bureaucratic government. They retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the tributary system in international relations.
At the beginning, the Qing court carried out a series of policies to revive the social economy and alleviate the class contradiction. In politics, following Ming's ruling pattern, the imperial rulers continued to strengthen the centralized system. By the middle of the 18th century, the feudal economy of the Qing Dynasty reached a zenith, spanning the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng and Emperor Qianlong. So that period was usually called 'the golden age of three emperors'. In that period, both culture and science were much more prosperous than any other periods.
After the middle period, all kinds of social contradictions increasingly surfaced and Qing began to decline. Under the corrupt ruling of the later rulers, various rebellions and uprisings broke out. In 1840 when the Opium War broke out, the Qing court was faced with troubles at home and aggression from abroad. During that period, measures were adopted by imperial rulers and some radical peasants to bolster their power. The Westernization Movement, the Reform Movement of 1898 and the Taiping Rebellion were the most influential ones, but none of them had ever succeeded in saving the dying Qing Dynasty. Finally, the Revolution of 1911 led by Sun Yat-sen broke out and overthrew the Empire of Qing, bringing two thousand years of Chinese feudal monarchy to an end.
main historical events
1368: Foundation
Zhu Yuanzhang, the leader of the Red Turbans, founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368 after leading a successful rebellion against the Yuan dynasty that discriminated and socially excluded the Han ethnicity. Lasting for 276 years, the Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty in China to be ruled by the Han ethnicity. In the early Ming, the nation's economy soon recovered and progressed to its highest level. The Hongwu Emperor's (Zhu Yuanzhang) achievements made him one of the most outstanding statesmen in Chinese history. He also removed the eunuchs from administrative power, forbidding them to learn to read or engage in politics.
When Emperor Yingzong ascended to the throne in 1436, the Ming Dynasty began its decline, mainly due to the monopoly of eunuchs (despite previous efforts by the Hongwu Emperor to keep them out). Corruptive officials levied heavy taxes on peasants, triggering countless uprisings. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty faced the danger of attacks from external forces. The Nüzhen of the northeast (later renamed the Manchu) became powerful and finally overthrew the Ming Dynasty in 1644 during a storm of peasant uprisings.
1405 - AD1433: Zheng He's Expeditions
The golden age of the Ming Dynasty thrived under the Yongle Emperor's reign. During this period, the Chinese presence and foreign relations were further strengthened via Eunuch Zheng He's 7 naval expeditions to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean from 1405 to 1433. Unfortunately, the Vice President of the Ministry of War burnt the court records documenting Zheng He's voyages in 1429; it was one of many events signaling China's shift to an inward foreign policy. The Ming regime also strengthened its relations with ethnic minority groups, promoting economic and cultural exchanges among different nationalities. Its jurisdiction extended to the inside and outside of the Hinggan Mountains, Tianshan Mountains and Tibet.
1581: Christian Missionaries
In 1581, Christian missionaries Matteo Ricci (an Italian Mathematician) and Lazaro Cantteo visit China and were warmly received by Ming court. Ricci was welcomed at the imperial court and he introduced Western learning into China. The Jesuits followed a remarkable and successful policy of accommodation to the traditional Chinese practice of ancestor worship. Eventually, at the prompting of the Jesuits' enemies, this approach was condemned by the Pope and later Catholic missions failed to enjoy the same success.
1581: Single Whip Reform
In the same year, the Single Whip Reform installed by Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng ordered that all land taxes in China to be paid in silver. This change impacted even the lowliest Chinese peasant who could no longer pay his taxes in kind. Instead, he had to purchase silver. This was implemented most because of the large amount of silver pouring into China from the Spanish Empire mines and the resulting domestic need increased silver's global price.
It is worth remembering that under the Song and Yuan Dynasties, China had the world's first functioning paper currency system. Instead of restoring confidence in paper money (after the late Yuan and especially the early Ming destroyed its value by over-printing it), the Ming Dynasty followed the private sector's turn to silver. Had they not done so, Chinese history would have been quite different.
1616: Nanjing Missionary Case
The clash between the Chinese practice of ancestor worship and the Catholic doctrine led to the deportation of foreign missionaries.
Shen Huai, a high ranking official in Nanjing, advised the Wanli Emperor repeatedly that Catholicism should be banned for the following reasons; the Western missionaries were spies; Catholicism taught Chinese not to respect parents and worship ancestors; Western missionaries stole proprietary Chinese knowledge; Catholicism practiced weird customs like baptism, confirmation and allowed male and female followers to study in the same room (forbidden by the conservative Chinese society).
Shen Huai arrested dozens of missionaries in Nanjing, on July 21 and August 14 and questioned them relentlessly. Urged by the Anti-Catholic movement, Emperor Wanli passed a law on December 28, deporting all foreign missionaries back to their homeland.
1644: Fall of the Ming Dynasty
n 1644, General Wu Sangui betrayed the Ming Dynasty by opening the gates of the Great Wall at Shanhai Pass to let the Manchu soldiers through into China. It is commonly believed that he led to the ultimate destruction of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing Empire.
However, Wu Sangui did not side with the Manchurians until after the defensive capability of the Ming Empire had been greatly weakened and the political apparatus destroyed by the rebel armies of Li Zicheng. Wu was about to join the rebel forces of Li, who had already sacked Beijing. Consequently, Wu Sangui is remembered today as a traitor and opportunist by the common Chinese folk.
1616: Nurahchi established late Jin
The Qing Dynasty, also known as the Manchu Dynasty was the last non-Han ruling dynasty of China, reigning from 1644 to 1911. Nurhachi established the Later Jin Dynasty in 1616 and its name was later changed to Qing in 1636 which meant "clear" in Mandarin.
1662-1796: Golden age of the three emperors ( Kangxi, Yongzhen & Qianlong)
Throughout the reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty reached its peak. This was known as the Kang Qian Sheng Shi (meaning the Flourishing Age from Kang to Qian, 1662-1759). During this period, Emperor Kangxi recaptured Taiwan in 1683. With a vast territory, the Qing gradually gained stability, which enabled a steady development of economy, culture, industry and commerce. The Qing Dynasty also became highly integrated with Chinese culture.
Kangxi enjoyed the longest reign of 61 years among all the emperors who had existed in history. Yongzhen's reign as emperor was disputed but during his time, the Manchu Empire because a great power and a peaceful country, further strengthening the Kang Qian Period of Harmony. Great trust was also placed in Chinese officials. He also created a procedure for selecting successor in response to his father's tragedy (who did not name a proper successor).
In the late years of Emperor Qianlong's reign (around 1792), the Qing Dynasty began its decline due to intensified social conflicts and continuous uprisings. The corrupt regime was best illustrated by the deeds of He Shen, who amassed a huge fortune by taking bribes and exploiting people. This led to the Qing's defeat in the Opium Wars.
1757: Closed Door PolicyIn order to limit the spread of Christianity in China.
Qianlong adopted a Closed Door Policy toward the Western World in 1757. Guangzhou became the only trading port in China and merchants were not allowed to land on China soil, but could only trade or stay shortly at sea port under supervision.
Other than the 10 missionaries who stayed in the palace with positions as historians or astronomers, there were only a limited number of missionaries who took care of 300,000 believers in China. This tight situation persisted for 20 years with China lagging behind while Europe was being transformed and invigorated by the rise of rationalism, nationalism, colonialism, and ultimately the industrial revolution.
1839 - 1842: The 1st Opium War and The Treaty of Nanjing
By the early nineteenth century, raw cotton and opium from India had become the staple British imports into China, in spite of the fact that opium was prohibited by imperial decree. The opium traffic was made possible through the connivance of profit-seeking merchants and a corrupt bureaucracy.
In 1839 the Qing government, after a decade of unsuccessful anti-opium campaigns, adopted drastic prohibitory laws against the opium trade. The British retaliated with a punitive expedition, thus initiating the first Anglo-Chinese war. Unprepared for war and grossly underestimating the capabilities of the enemy, the Chinese were disastrously defeated, and their image of their own imperial power was tarnished beyond repair.
The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) was the first of a series of agreements with the Western trading nations later called by the Chinese as the "unequal treaties." Under the Treaty of Nanjing, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British; abolished the licensed monopoly system of trade; opened 5 ports to British residence and foreign trade; limited the tariff on trade to 5 percent ad valorem; granted British nationals extraterritoriality (exemption from Chinese laws); and paid a large indemnity. In addition, Britain was to have most-favored-nation treatment; it would receive whatever trading concessions the Chinese granted other powers then or later. The Treaty of Nanjing set the scope and character of an unequal relationship for the ensuing century of what the Chinese would call "national humiliations."
1850 - 1864: The Taiping Rebellion
During the mid 19th century, China's problems were compounded by natural calamities. The government's neglect of public works was in part responsible for this and other disasters, and the Qing administration did little to relieve the widespread misery caused by them.
The Taiping rebels were led by Hong Xiuquan (1814 - 1864), a village teacher and an unsuccessful imperial examination candidate. He formulated an eclectic ideology combining the ideals of pre-Confucian utopianism with Protestant beliefs. He soon had a following of thousands who were anti-Manchu and anti-establishment. Hong's followers formed a military organization to protect against bandits and recruited troops not only among believers but also from among other armed peasant groups and secret societies.
To defeat the rebellion, the Qing court needed, besides Western help, an army stronger and more popular than the demoralized imperial forces. In 1860, scholar-official Zeng Guofan (1811-72), from Hunan Province, was appointed imperial commissioner and governor-general of the Taiping-controlled territories and placed in command of the war against the rebels. Zeng's Hunan army, created and paid for by local taxes, became a powerful new fighting force under the command of eminent scholar-generals. Zeng's success gave new power to an emerging Han Chinese elite and eroded Qing authority. Simultaneous uprisings in north China (the Nian Rebellion) and southwest China (the Muslim Rebellion) further demonstrated Qing weakness.
1856 - 1860: 2nd Opium War and The Treaties of Tianjing
In the mid-1850s, the European powers and the United States sought to renegotiate their commercial treaties with China. The British who sought the opening of all of China to their merchants, an ambassador in Beijing, legalization of the opium trade, and the exemption of imports from tariffs led this effort. Unwilling to make further concessions to the West, the Qing government of Emperor Xianfeng refused these requests. Tensions were further heightened on October 8, 1856, when Chinese officials boarded the Hong Kong (then British) registered ship Arrow and removed 12 Chinese crewmen.
In response to the Arrow Incident, British diplomats in Canton demanded the release of the prisoners and sought redress. The Chinese refused, stating that Arrow was involved in smuggling and piracy. To aid in dealing with the Chinese, the British contacted France, Russia, and the United States about forming an alliance. The French, angered by the recent execution of missionary August Chapdelaine by the Chinese, joined while the Americans and Russians sent envoys. In Hong Kong, the situation worsened following a failed attempt by the city's Chinese bakers to poison the city's European population.
Treaty of Tianjin: With his military already dealing with the Taiping Rebellion, Emperor Xianfeng was unable to resist the advancing British and French. Seeking peace, the Chinese negotiated the Treaties of Tianjin. As part of the treaties, the British, French, Americans, and Russians were permitted to install legations in Beijing, ten additional ports would be opened to foreign trade, foreigners would be permitted to travel through the interior, and reparations would be paid to Britain and France.
1870: Tianjing Massacre
It started because Catholic nuns made the mistake of offering small payments for orphans brought to their missions. Then, rumors spread that the children were being kidnapped and the sisters were removing their hearts and eyes to make medicine. A mob took the life of the French consulate and 20 other foreigners. 6 Chinese were executed in order to make peace with the foreigners. And this signified the end of the cooperation between the Qing government and the West.
While the incident was truly unfortunate, it also documented a period when a passive China was dominated and literally carved up by foreign powers. Mindful of it not so distant past, it is predictable how China reacts in the political arena today especially with foreign intervention involving its immediate neighbors.
1894 - 1895: 1st Sino-Japanese War
This war was provoked by a dispute over the control of Korea. The Sino-Japanese War came to symbolize the degeneration and enfeeblement of the Qing dynasty. It demonstrated how successful modernization had been in Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with that in China. Since 1875 China had allowed Japan to recognize Korea as an independent state. Then, as China tried to reassert influence over its former tributary, this provoked rivalry with Japan and a split in Korean public opinion between modernizing reformists and inward-looking conservatives.
War was officially declared on August 1, 1894, although land and naval fighting had begun before that. The Chinese were forced to sue for peace and sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895. Though nominally recognized as a sovereign state, Korea effectively became a Japanese protectorate, and China had to cede Taiwan, the Liaodong Peninsula, and the Pescadores to Japan "in perpetuity".
In addition, China had to pay a war indemnity of 200 million tales, and open four more treaty ports to external trade. In the so-called Triple Intervention, Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula, but China was obliged to pay a further 30 million tales.
1861 - 1895: The Self Strengthening Movement
The rude realities of the Opium War, the unequal treaties, and the mid-century mass uprisings caused Qing courtiers and officials to recognize the need to strengthen China. Chinese scholars and officials had been examining and translating "Western learning" since the 1840s. Under the direction of modern-thinking Han officials, Western science and languages were studied, special schools were opened in the larger cities, and arsenals, factories, and shipyards were established according to Western models.
The effort to graft Western technology onto Chinese institutions became known as the Self-Strengthening Movement. The movement was championed by scholar-generals like Li Hongzhang (1823-1901) and Zuo Zongtang (1812-85), who had fought with the government forces in the Taiping Rebellion. From 1861 to 1894, leaders such as these, now turned scholar-administrators, were responsible for establishing modern institutions, developing basic industries, communications, and transportation, and modernizing the military.
The first step in the foreign powers' effort to carve up the empire was taken by Russia, which had been expanding into Central Asia. By the 1850s, tsarist troops also had invaded the Heilong Jiang watershed of Manchuria, from which their countrymen had been ejected under the Treaty of Nerchinsk.
In 1860 Russian diplomats secured the secession of all of Manchuria north of the Heilong Jiang and east of the Wusuli Jiang (Ussuri River). Foreign encroachments increased after 1860 by means of a series of treaties imposed on China on one pretext or another. The foreign stranglehold on the vital sectors of the Chinese economy was reinforced through a lengthening list of concessions.
In 1898 the British acquired a ninety-nine-year lease over the so-called New Territories of Kowloon, which increased the size of their Hong Kong colony. Britain, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, and Belgium each gained spheres of influence in China. The United States, which had not acquired any territorial cessions, proposed in 1899 that there be an "open door" policy in China, whereby all foreign countries would have equal duties and privileges in all treaty ports within and outside the various spheres of influence. All but Russia agreed to the United States overture.
1898 - 1900: The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion saw an uprising in a non-western country against what was seen as the corrupting influence of western practices and ideologies. Basically, a grass roots organization fought what they saw as a holy war against a technologically superior collection of foreign powers to preserve their values and beliefs.
On one side of the rebellion were the so-called Boxers known as the Righteous Harmonious Fists. This was originally a secret society that dated back before 1700 and whose origins are cloaked in myths and legends. What is clear is that in 1747 a group of Jesuits were expelled from China due to Boxer influence. A series of bad harvests, plagues, and harsh sanctions imposed by the Western powers and Japan (after the war of 1894-5) had caused much bad feelings. There was a growing fear that the Chinese would be reduced to servants of the western powers. Into this environment, the Boxers started preaching anti western beliefs. The Boxers saw anything Western as evil and practiced traditional martial arts and used Chinese weapons such as curved halberds and spears.
All foreigners were 1st class devils and Chinese who had converted to Christianity were 2nd class devils, those who worked for the foreigners were 3rd class devils. The Boxers were very superstitious, believing in spells and magic that would mean they were immune to western bullets and such incantations would be used to create a trance like state among the followers. The used printing presses to publish huge numbers of leaflets spreading their propaganda accusing the Catholic Church of abusing Chinese women and children.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the leader of the Red Turbans, founded the Ming Dynasty in 1368 after leading a successful rebellion against the Yuan dynasty that discriminated and socially excluded the Han ethnicity. Lasting for 276 years, the Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty in China to be ruled by the Han ethnicity. In the early Ming, the nation's economy soon recovered and progressed to its highest level. The Hongwu Emperor's (Zhu Yuanzhang) achievements made him one of the most outstanding statesmen in Chinese history. He also removed the eunuchs from administrative power, forbidding them to learn to read or engage in politics.
When Emperor Yingzong ascended to the throne in 1436, the Ming Dynasty began its decline, mainly due to the monopoly of eunuchs (despite previous efforts by the Hongwu Emperor to keep them out). Corruptive officials levied heavy taxes on peasants, triggering countless uprisings. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty faced the danger of attacks from external forces. The Nüzhen of the northeast (later renamed the Manchu) became powerful and finally overthrew the Ming Dynasty in 1644 during a storm of peasant uprisings.
1405 - AD1433: Zheng He's Expeditions
The golden age of the Ming Dynasty thrived under the Yongle Emperor's reign. During this period, the Chinese presence and foreign relations were further strengthened via Eunuch Zheng He's 7 naval expeditions to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean from 1405 to 1433. Unfortunately, the Vice President of the Ministry of War burnt the court records documenting Zheng He's voyages in 1429; it was one of many events signaling China's shift to an inward foreign policy. The Ming regime also strengthened its relations with ethnic minority groups, promoting economic and cultural exchanges among different nationalities. Its jurisdiction extended to the inside and outside of the Hinggan Mountains, Tianshan Mountains and Tibet.
1581: Christian Missionaries
In 1581, Christian missionaries Matteo Ricci (an Italian Mathematician) and Lazaro Cantteo visit China and were warmly received by Ming court. Ricci was welcomed at the imperial court and he introduced Western learning into China. The Jesuits followed a remarkable and successful policy of accommodation to the traditional Chinese practice of ancestor worship. Eventually, at the prompting of the Jesuits' enemies, this approach was condemned by the Pope and later Catholic missions failed to enjoy the same success.
1581: Single Whip Reform
In the same year, the Single Whip Reform installed by Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng ordered that all land taxes in China to be paid in silver. This change impacted even the lowliest Chinese peasant who could no longer pay his taxes in kind. Instead, he had to purchase silver. This was implemented most because of the large amount of silver pouring into China from the Spanish Empire mines and the resulting domestic need increased silver's global price.
It is worth remembering that under the Song and Yuan Dynasties, China had the world's first functioning paper currency system. Instead of restoring confidence in paper money (after the late Yuan and especially the early Ming destroyed its value by over-printing it), the Ming Dynasty followed the private sector's turn to silver. Had they not done so, Chinese history would have been quite different.
1616: Nanjing Missionary Case
The clash between the Chinese practice of ancestor worship and the Catholic doctrine led to the deportation of foreign missionaries.
Shen Huai, a high ranking official in Nanjing, advised the Wanli Emperor repeatedly that Catholicism should be banned for the following reasons; the Western missionaries were spies; Catholicism taught Chinese not to respect parents and worship ancestors; Western missionaries stole proprietary Chinese knowledge; Catholicism practiced weird customs like baptism, confirmation and allowed male and female followers to study in the same room (forbidden by the conservative Chinese society).
Shen Huai arrested dozens of missionaries in Nanjing, on July 21 and August 14 and questioned them relentlessly. Urged by the Anti-Catholic movement, Emperor Wanli passed a law on December 28, deporting all foreign missionaries back to their homeland.
1644: Fall of the Ming Dynasty
n 1644, General Wu Sangui betrayed the Ming Dynasty by opening the gates of the Great Wall at Shanhai Pass to let the Manchu soldiers through into China. It is commonly believed that he led to the ultimate destruction of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing Empire.
However, Wu Sangui did not side with the Manchurians until after the defensive capability of the Ming Empire had been greatly weakened and the political apparatus destroyed by the rebel armies of Li Zicheng. Wu was about to join the rebel forces of Li, who had already sacked Beijing. Consequently, Wu Sangui is remembered today as a traitor and opportunist by the common Chinese folk.
1616: Nurahchi established late Jin
The Qing Dynasty, also known as the Manchu Dynasty was the last non-Han ruling dynasty of China, reigning from 1644 to 1911. Nurhachi established the Later Jin Dynasty in 1616 and its name was later changed to Qing in 1636 which meant "clear" in Mandarin.
1662-1796: Golden age of the three emperors ( Kangxi, Yongzhen & Qianlong)
Throughout the reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty reached its peak. This was known as the Kang Qian Sheng Shi (meaning the Flourishing Age from Kang to Qian, 1662-1759). During this period, Emperor Kangxi recaptured Taiwan in 1683. With a vast territory, the Qing gradually gained stability, which enabled a steady development of economy, culture, industry and commerce. The Qing Dynasty also became highly integrated with Chinese culture.
Kangxi enjoyed the longest reign of 61 years among all the emperors who had existed in history. Yongzhen's reign as emperor was disputed but during his time, the Manchu Empire because a great power and a peaceful country, further strengthening the Kang Qian Period of Harmony. Great trust was also placed in Chinese officials. He also created a procedure for selecting successor in response to his father's tragedy (who did not name a proper successor).
In the late years of Emperor Qianlong's reign (around 1792), the Qing Dynasty began its decline due to intensified social conflicts and continuous uprisings. The corrupt regime was best illustrated by the deeds of He Shen, who amassed a huge fortune by taking bribes and exploiting people. This led to the Qing's defeat in the Opium Wars.
1757: Closed Door PolicyIn order to limit the spread of Christianity in China.
Qianlong adopted a Closed Door Policy toward the Western World in 1757. Guangzhou became the only trading port in China and merchants were not allowed to land on China soil, but could only trade or stay shortly at sea port under supervision.
Other than the 10 missionaries who stayed in the palace with positions as historians or astronomers, there were only a limited number of missionaries who took care of 300,000 believers in China. This tight situation persisted for 20 years with China lagging behind while Europe was being transformed and invigorated by the rise of rationalism, nationalism, colonialism, and ultimately the industrial revolution.
1839 - 1842: The 1st Opium War and The Treaty of Nanjing
By the early nineteenth century, raw cotton and opium from India had become the staple British imports into China, in spite of the fact that opium was prohibited by imperial decree. The opium traffic was made possible through the connivance of profit-seeking merchants and a corrupt bureaucracy.
In 1839 the Qing government, after a decade of unsuccessful anti-opium campaigns, adopted drastic prohibitory laws against the opium trade. The British retaliated with a punitive expedition, thus initiating the first Anglo-Chinese war. Unprepared for war and grossly underestimating the capabilities of the enemy, the Chinese were disastrously defeated, and their image of their own imperial power was tarnished beyond repair.
The Treaty of Nanjing (1842) was the first of a series of agreements with the Western trading nations later called by the Chinese as the "unequal treaties." Under the Treaty of Nanjing, China ceded the island of Hong Kong to the British; abolished the licensed monopoly system of trade; opened 5 ports to British residence and foreign trade; limited the tariff on trade to 5 percent ad valorem; granted British nationals extraterritoriality (exemption from Chinese laws); and paid a large indemnity. In addition, Britain was to have most-favored-nation treatment; it would receive whatever trading concessions the Chinese granted other powers then or later. The Treaty of Nanjing set the scope and character of an unequal relationship for the ensuing century of what the Chinese would call "national humiliations."
1850 - 1864: The Taiping Rebellion
During the mid 19th century, China's problems were compounded by natural calamities. The government's neglect of public works was in part responsible for this and other disasters, and the Qing administration did little to relieve the widespread misery caused by them.
The Taiping rebels were led by Hong Xiuquan (1814 - 1864), a village teacher and an unsuccessful imperial examination candidate. He formulated an eclectic ideology combining the ideals of pre-Confucian utopianism with Protestant beliefs. He soon had a following of thousands who were anti-Manchu and anti-establishment. Hong's followers formed a military organization to protect against bandits and recruited troops not only among believers but also from among other armed peasant groups and secret societies.
To defeat the rebellion, the Qing court needed, besides Western help, an army stronger and more popular than the demoralized imperial forces. In 1860, scholar-official Zeng Guofan (1811-72), from Hunan Province, was appointed imperial commissioner and governor-general of the Taiping-controlled territories and placed in command of the war against the rebels. Zeng's Hunan army, created and paid for by local taxes, became a powerful new fighting force under the command of eminent scholar-generals. Zeng's success gave new power to an emerging Han Chinese elite and eroded Qing authority. Simultaneous uprisings in north China (the Nian Rebellion) and southwest China (the Muslim Rebellion) further demonstrated Qing weakness.
1856 - 1860: 2nd Opium War and The Treaties of Tianjing
In the mid-1850s, the European powers and the United States sought to renegotiate their commercial treaties with China. The British who sought the opening of all of China to their merchants, an ambassador in Beijing, legalization of the opium trade, and the exemption of imports from tariffs led this effort. Unwilling to make further concessions to the West, the Qing government of Emperor Xianfeng refused these requests. Tensions were further heightened on October 8, 1856, when Chinese officials boarded the Hong Kong (then British) registered ship Arrow and removed 12 Chinese crewmen.
In response to the Arrow Incident, British diplomats in Canton demanded the release of the prisoners and sought redress. The Chinese refused, stating that Arrow was involved in smuggling and piracy. To aid in dealing with the Chinese, the British contacted France, Russia, and the United States about forming an alliance. The French, angered by the recent execution of missionary August Chapdelaine by the Chinese, joined while the Americans and Russians sent envoys. In Hong Kong, the situation worsened following a failed attempt by the city's Chinese bakers to poison the city's European population.
Treaty of Tianjin: With his military already dealing with the Taiping Rebellion, Emperor Xianfeng was unable to resist the advancing British and French. Seeking peace, the Chinese negotiated the Treaties of Tianjin. As part of the treaties, the British, French, Americans, and Russians were permitted to install legations in Beijing, ten additional ports would be opened to foreign trade, foreigners would be permitted to travel through the interior, and reparations would be paid to Britain and France.
1870: Tianjing Massacre
It started because Catholic nuns made the mistake of offering small payments for orphans brought to their missions. Then, rumors spread that the children were being kidnapped and the sisters were removing their hearts and eyes to make medicine. A mob took the life of the French consulate and 20 other foreigners. 6 Chinese were executed in order to make peace with the foreigners. And this signified the end of the cooperation between the Qing government and the West.
While the incident was truly unfortunate, it also documented a period when a passive China was dominated and literally carved up by foreign powers. Mindful of it not so distant past, it is predictable how China reacts in the political arena today especially with foreign intervention involving its immediate neighbors.
1894 - 1895: 1st Sino-Japanese War
This war was provoked by a dispute over the control of Korea. The Sino-Japanese War came to symbolize the degeneration and enfeeblement of the Qing dynasty. It demonstrated how successful modernization had been in Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with that in China. Since 1875 China had allowed Japan to recognize Korea as an independent state. Then, as China tried to reassert influence over its former tributary, this provoked rivalry with Japan and a split in Korean public opinion between modernizing reformists and inward-looking conservatives.
War was officially declared on August 1, 1894, although land and naval fighting had begun before that. The Chinese were forced to sue for peace and sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895. Though nominally recognized as a sovereign state, Korea effectively became a Japanese protectorate, and China had to cede Taiwan, the Liaodong Peninsula, and the Pescadores to Japan "in perpetuity".
In addition, China had to pay a war indemnity of 200 million tales, and open four more treaty ports to external trade. In the so-called Triple Intervention, Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula, but China was obliged to pay a further 30 million tales.
1861 - 1895: The Self Strengthening Movement
The rude realities of the Opium War, the unequal treaties, and the mid-century mass uprisings caused Qing courtiers and officials to recognize the need to strengthen China. Chinese scholars and officials had been examining and translating "Western learning" since the 1840s. Under the direction of modern-thinking Han officials, Western science and languages were studied, special schools were opened in the larger cities, and arsenals, factories, and shipyards were established according to Western models.
The effort to graft Western technology onto Chinese institutions became known as the Self-Strengthening Movement. The movement was championed by scholar-generals like Li Hongzhang (1823-1901) and Zuo Zongtang (1812-85), who had fought with the government forces in the Taiping Rebellion. From 1861 to 1894, leaders such as these, now turned scholar-administrators, were responsible for establishing modern institutions, developing basic industries, communications, and transportation, and modernizing the military.
The first step in the foreign powers' effort to carve up the empire was taken by Russia, which had been expanding into Central Asia. By the 1850s, tsarist troops also had invaded the Heilong Jiang watershed of Manchuria, from which their countrymen had been ejected under the Treaty of Nerchinsk.
In 1860 Russian diplomats secured the secession of all of Manchuria north of the Heilong Jiang and east of the Wusuli Jiang (Ussuri River). Foreign encroachments increased after 1860 by means of a series of treaties imposed on China on one pretext or another. The foreign stranglehold on the vital sectors of the Chinese economy was reinforced through a lengthening list of concessions.
In 1898 the British acquired a ninety-nine-year lease over the so-called New Territories of Kowloon, which increased the size of their Hong Kong colony. Britain, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, and Belgium each gained spheres of influence in China. The United States, which had not acquired any territorial cessions, proposed in 1899 that there be an "open door" policy in China, whereby all foreign countries would have equal duties and privileges in all treaty ports within and outside the various spheres of influence. All but Russia agreed to the United States overture.
1898 - 1900: The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion saw an uprising in a non-western country against what was seen as the corrupting influence of western practices and ideologies. Basically, a grass roots organization fought what they saw as a holy war against a technologically superior collection of foreign powers to preserve their values and beliefs.
On one side of the rebellion were the so-called Boxers known as the Righteous Harmonious Fists. This was originally a secret society that dated back before 1700 and whose origins are cloaked in myths and legends. What is clear is that in 1747 a group of Jesuits were expelled from China due to Boxer influence. A series of bad harvests, plagues, and harsh sanctions imposed by the Western powers and Japan (after the war of 1894-5) had caused much bad feelings. There was a growing fear that the Chinese would be reduced to servants of the western powers. Into this environment, the Boxers started preaching anti western beliefs. The Boxers saw anything Western as evil and practiced traditional martial arts and used Chinese weapons such as curved halberds and spears.
All foreigners were 1st class devils and Chinese who had converted to Christianity were 2nd class devils, those who worked for the foreigners were 3rd class devils. The Boxers were very superstitious, believing in spells and magic that would mean they were immune to western bullets and such incantations would be used to create a trance like state among the followers. The used printing presses to publish huge numbers of leaflets spreading their propaganda accusing the Catholic Church of abusing Chinese women and children.