The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was founded after the defeat of the Ming, the last Han Chinese dynasty, by the Manchus . The Manchus were formerly known as the Jurchen and invaded from the north in the late seventeenth century. For many decades, historians did not understand the differences between the Manchu rulers and their Chinese subjects. Even though the Manchus started out as alien conquerors, they quickly adopted the Confucian norms of traditional Chinese government. They eventually ruled in the manner of traditional native dynasties.
The Manchus antagonized the Han Chinese by enforcing the queue order forcing the Han Chinese to adopt the Manchu hairstyle (the pigtail) and Manchu-style clothing. The Manchus had a special hair style: the œqueue. They cut hair off the front of their heads and made the remaining hair into a long pigtail. The penalty for not complying was death. During the 268 years of Manchu rule, numerous Chinese rebellions occurred because of the strict rule of hair cutting. The traditional Chinese clothing, or Hanfu was also replaced by Manchu-style clothing. Qipao (Chinese dress,) and Tangzhuang , usually regarded as traditional Chinese clothing nowadays, are actually Manchu-style clothing.
The Manchus edited the history of the former dynasty, Ming Shi (History of the Ming Dynasty,) to support their legitamacy. One good example would be the claim that Zhang Xianzhong, who was killed in 1646, had made a stone monument entitled œseven killings. The Manchus also covered up the slaughter of Sichuan Chinese. In 1620, the first year of Ming Emperor Guangzongs Taichang Era , China boasted a population of 51.66 million people, but in 1651, the eighth year of Qing Emperor Shizu Shunzhi Era , China had only 10.63 million people. One possible conclusion is that people had died in resistance to the Manchu invasion.
To suppress the Chinese intellectuals, Manchu emperors, like the Qianlong Emperor , resorted to literary inquisition Wen Zi Yu (imprisonment due to writings) for writing against the Manchu governement. Wen Zi Yu forbade political writings. The Manchu forbade the assembly of scholars or intellectuals into societies, and moreover advocated the œeight-part essay [i.e. stereotyped essay] as the format for imperial civil service exams.
Emperor Kangxi ordered the creation of the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together at the time. Under Emperor Qianlong, the compilation of a catalogue of the important works on Chinese culture was made.
The Manchus set up the Eight Banner system in an attempt to avoid the possibility of being assimilated into Chinese society. The Eight Banner were military institutions, set up to provide a structure with which the Manchu annermen were meant to identify. Banner membership was to be based on traditional Manchu skills such as archery, horsemanship, and frugality. In addition, they were encouraged to use the Manchu language, rather than Chinese. Bannermen were given economic and legal privileges in Chinese cities.
Over the next half-century, the Manchus consolidated control of some areas originally under the Ming, including Yunnan . They also stretched their sphere of influence over Xinjiang , Tibet and Mongolia .
During the 19th century, Qing control weakened. China suffered massive social strife, economic stagnation, explosive population growth, and Western penetration and influence. Britain desire to continue its opium trade with China collided with imperial edicts prohibiting the addictive drug, and the First Opium War erupted in 1840. Britain and other Western powers, including the United States, thereupon forcibly occupied concessions and gained special commercial privileges. Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking . In addition, the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) and the Nian Rebellion occurred.
The two Opium wars and the opium trade were costly outcomes for the Qing dynasty and the Chinese people. The Manchu imperial treasury was declared bankrupt twice arising from indemnities incurred in the Opium wars and a large outflow of silver due to opium trade (in tens of billions of ounces) also occurred. China suffered two extreme famines exactly twenty years after each opium war in the 1860s and 1880s, and the Manchu imperial dynasty was ineffective in helping the population. Socially it had been crippling. Of the 400 million in China then, 300 million were children and the remaining 100 million, adults. Fully a third of these adults were serious opium addicts. As result, the country was in a state of turmoil.
The Nian Rebellion (1853-1868), along with Russian-supported Muslim separatist movements in Gansu province and Chinese Turkestan (i.e. Xinjiang province), drained Chinese resources and almost toppled the dynasty. Indeed the largest rebellion, the Taiping Rebellion, involved around a third of China falling under control of the Taiping Tianguo, ruled by the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan. Only after fourteen years were the Taipings finally crushed - the Taiping army was destroyed in the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864. In total between twenty million and fifty million lives were lost, making it the second deadliest war in human history. Imperial unity and strength was seriously impacted, and the decline of the Qing Dynasty towards terminal collapse became inevitable.
China problems were compounded by the Manchu policies of suppressing Han Chinese. Manchu officials were slow to adopt modernity and suspicious of social and technological advances that they viewed as a threat to their absolute control over China. As an example, gunpowder had been widely used by the army of the Song and Ming Dynasties, then was forbidden by the Manchu rulers after they took over China. Therefore, the dynasty was ill-equipped to handle the Western encroachment. Western powers did intervene militarily to quell domestic chaos, such as the Taiping Rebellion and the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion . General Gordon, later killed in the siege of Khartoum, Sudan, was often credited with having saved the Manchu dynasty from the Taiping insurrection.
By the 1860s, the Qing Dynasty had put down the rebellions at enormous cost and loss of life. Further, the suppression of the rebellions was achieved chiefly by armies commanded or advised by western leaders. This undermined the credibility of the Qing regime and, spearheaded by local initiatives by provincial leaders and gentry, contributed to the rise of warlordism in China. The Qing Dynasty proceeded to deal with the problem of modernization through the Self-Strengthening Movement . However, the Empress Dowager , with the help of conservatives, initiated a military coup, effectively removed the young Emperor from power, and overturned most of the more radical reforms. Official corruption, cynicism, and imperial family quarrels made most of the military reforms useless. As a result, the Qing New Armies were soundly defeated in the Sino-French War (1883-1885) and the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895).
At the start of the 20th century, the Qing Dynasty was in shambles. Corruption was rampant and wars had impoverished the people. The Qing court was dominated by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative figure who resisted most efforts at reform. The reformist Emperor Guangxu died one day before the death of Cixi (some believe Guangxu was poisoned by Cixi).