The Qing Dynasty (or Empire of the Great Qing, Great Qing, Manchu Dynasty, Manchus, Jin, Jurchens, Ch’ing Dynasty) was China’s last imperial dynasty. The founders of the Qing were descendants of Jurchen Jin rulers. The dynasty was founded by Nurhaci and then led by his son Huang Taiji, but did not become an imperial Chinese dynasty until after Huang Taiji’s death.
[1]
In 1644 CE, Qing forces captured the Ming capital at Beijing from rebels and held a funeral for the last Ming emperor to symbolize Qing inheritance of the Mandate of Heaven.
[2]
The Qing faced conflict with rebels and loyalist Ming forces for the next two decades.
[1]
Ming generals who surrendered were given power over large territories in southern China in exchange for loyalty to the Qing. In 1673 CE, leaders from three major southern feudatories led by Wu Sangui rebelled against Emperor Kangxi when he tried to reduce their power.
[3]
The Revolt of the Three Feudatories, as this episode is known, lasted eight years.
We divide the Qing Dynasty into two, an Early period (1644-1796 CE) and a Late period (1796-1912 CE). The division is marked by a period of internal turmoil as well as foreign incursions into its territory and economic sphere. In the Early Qing period, China had been prosperous under Kangxi and Qing rule, but by the time of the Opium Wars in the Late Qing, Western technology and industry had surpassed that of China.
[4]
The fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 gave rise to the Republic of China.
From 1850 to 1864 CE, China was racked by the fourteen-year Taiping Rebellion. The rebellion directly caused 30 million deaths and destroyed many regions in the middle and lower Yangtze.
[5]
In 1853, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace established a capital in Nanjing, but the rebellion was defeated by armies led by local governors in 1864.
[6]
A number of serious uprisings followed the Taiping Rebellion, including the Nian Rebellion (1853-1868 CE).
[6]
At the same time, the Qing emperors were facing economic problems due to the actions of foreign powers. In the 1830s, British merchants began illegally importing opium to China, where high demand for the drug led to a large trade imbalance. China’s economy was drained of silver
[7]
and the value of copper coins depreciated.
[6]
The First Opium War broke out in 1839 CE when a Chinese commissioner attempted to block opium trade in Guangzhou harbour.
[6]
The Second Opium War of 1858 CE was a series of military actions by the British and French against the Qing.
[6]
The resulting treaties allowed foreign powers to establish concessions in China, abolished taxes for French and British merchants, and forced the Qing to pay large amounts of silver in damages.
[6]
The 19th century saw increasingly frequent intrusions by foreign powers. Foreign merchants exploited their tax-free status, to the detriment of local Chinese producers. China was forced to cede much of its territory in Vietnam, Burma and elsewhere.
[6]
By the end of the 19th century, a range of foreign powers including Great Britain, Japan, Germany, and France claimed colonial territories in China.
[6]
A peasant uprising known as the Boxer Rebellion targeted foreigners in 1900 CE.
In 1860, the Qing rulers were exiled outside the Great Wall when foreign invaders burned down the Summer Palace.
[8]
The court was restored by the regent Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong in what is known as the Tongzhi restoration.
[8]
However, the dynasty was finally overthrown in the Revolution of 1911 and the Republic of China was founded.
Population and political organization
The Late Qing maintained a traditional imperial-style Chinese government headed by an emperor and central bureaucracy. Provincial government consisted of governors who controlled a hierarchical system of officials, prefects, county chiefs, county magistrates, and clerks.
[9]
The Qing were deeply opposed to modernization: the scholars Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao had to flee after attempting to reform government practices in 1898 CE.
[6]
Rebellions in the 19th century led to the rise of local governors and military commanders, who acted as warlords to control their local regions.
[6]
The period between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries was one of extremely rapid population growth in Late Qing China, and by 1851 the population had reached 431.9 million people.
[10]
However, a number of censuses after that date could not be completed due to the rebellions.
[1]: (San 2014, 337-38) Tan Koon San. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press Sdn. Bhd.
[2]: (San 2014, 338) Tan Koon San. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press Sdn. Bhd.
[3]: (San 2014, 385) Tan Koon San. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press Sdn. Bhd.
[4]: (Mao 2005, 8) Haijin Mao. 2005. The Qing Empire and the Opium War: The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (Rowe 2009, 198) William T. Rowe. 2009. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[6]: (Theobald 2000) Theobald Ulrich. 2000. ’Qing Period Event History’. Chinaknowledge.de. http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-event.html. Accessed 21 March 2017.
[7]: (Rowe 2009, 157) William T. Rowe. 2009. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[8]: (Rowe 2009, 201) William T. Rowe. 2009. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[9]: (Zhang 2011, 63) Wei-Bin Zhang. 2011. The Rise and Fall of China’s Last Dynasty: The Deepening of the Chinese Servility. Hauppage, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
[10]: (Banister 1987, 3-4) Judith Banister. 1987. China’s Changing Population. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
| 50 S |
| Late Qing |
| Beijing |
| Qing dynasty | |
| Qīng Cháo | |
| Ch'ing Ch'ao | |
| Empire of the Great Qing | |
| Great Qing | |
| Manchu dynasty |
| alliance with [---] |
| China |
| Republic of China |
| 11,300,000 km2 |
| continuity |
| Preceding: Early Qing (cn_qing_dyn_1) [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| 890,892 people | 1796 CE |
| 1,039,360 people | 1882 CE |
| 1,104,372 people | 1910 CE |
| 11,300,000 km2 |
| 295,000,000 people | 1800 CE |
| [334,000,000 to 348,000,000] people | 1900 CE |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| [6,259 to 6,700] km |
| Year Range | Late Qing (cn_qing_dyn_2) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1796 CE 1912 CE) | Orkhon Valley Middle Yellow River Valley |
CE (period of greatest population) The peak date of Qing dynasty is generally defined as the period between regime of Kangxi to QinglongTemporal bounds
1796 CE- 1820 CE: Jiaqing Emperor (清仁宗/嘉慶)1820 CE - 1850 CE: Daoguang Emperor (清宣宗/道光)1850 CE - 1861 CE: Xianfeng Emperor (清文宗/咸豐)1861 CE - 1875 CE: Tongzhi Emperor (清穆宗/同治)1875 CE - 1908 CE: Guangxu Emperor (清德宗/光緒)1908 CE - 1912 CE: Puyi (溥儀/宣統)
People
Later Qing has population over 300 million according to The Cambridge History of China
[1]
1812 CE: 361,695,492 people: The census was interrupted due to nature disasters, scattered rebellions, and White Lotus Rebellion occurred in 1794-1804 among impoverished settlers in the mountainous region that separates Sichuan province from Hubei and Shaanxi provinces.
1833 CE: 398,942,036 people:
[2]
1852 CE: 334,403,035 people: (1)
[3]
(2) The census was interrupted due to the outbreak of Nian Rebellion taking place in northern China from 1851 to 1868, and Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) in South China.
1912 CE: 347,902,562 people: The census was conducted since 1910 and completed in 1912.
[4]
Other figures:
[5]
Po-Ju Tuan coded the following estimates--they have been moved to the description field in case this level of detail is useful in the future: 275,662,044: 1796 CE; 271,333,544: 1797 CE; 290,982,980: 1798 CE; 293,283,179: 1799 CE; 295,237,311: 1800 CE; 297,501,548: 1801 CE; 299,749,770: 1802 CE; 302,250,673: 1803 CE; 304,461,284: 1804 CE; 332,181,403: 1805 CE; 335,369,469: 1806 CE; 338,062,439: 1807 CE; 350,291,724: 1808 CE; 352,900,024: 1809 CE; 345,717,214: 1810 CE; 358,610,039: 1811 CE; {333,700,560; 361,695,492; 363,695,492}: 1812 CE; 336,451,672: 1813 CE; 316,574,895: 1814 CE; 326,574,895: 1815 CE; 328,814,957: 1816 CE; 331,330,433: 1817 CE; {301,260,545; 371,580,173}: 1819 CE; {353,377,694; 373,773,394; 383,100,000}: 1820 CE; 355,540,258: 1821 CE; 372,457,539: 1822 CE; {375,153,122; 380,619,569}: 1823 CE; {374,601,132; 382,439,631}: 1824 CE; {379,885,340; 387,026,888}: 1825 CE; {380,287,007; 386,081,958}: 1826 CE; {383,696,095; 388,608,215}: 1827 CE; {386,531,513; 390,755,718}: 1828 CE; 390,500,650: 1829 CE; 394,784,681: 1830 CE; 395,821,092: 1831 CE; 397,132,659: 1832 CE; 398,942,036: 1833 CE; 401,008,574: 1834 CE; {401,767,053; 403,052,086}: 1835 CE; 404,901,448: 1836 CE; {405 923 174; 406 984 114}: 1837 CE; 409,038,799: 1838 CE; 410,850,639: 1839 CE; 412,814,828: 1840 CE; 413,457,311: 1841 CE; {414,686,994; 416,118,189}: 1842 CE; 417,239,097: 1843 CE; 419,441,336: 1844 CE; 421,342,730: 1845 CE; 423,121,129: 1846 CE; {424,938,009; 425,106,201}: 1847 CE; {426,737,016; 426,928,854}: 1848 CE; {412,986,649; 428,420,667}: 1849 CE; {414,493,899; 429,931,034}: 1850 CE; {432,164,047; 431,894,047}: 1851 CE; 334,403,035: 1852 CE; 347,902,565: 1920 CE.
[1]: (Fairbank, 1978, 8)
[2]: (梁方仲, 1985, 10)
[3]: (姜公韜 & 傅樂成, 1988, 122)
[4]: (梁方仲, 1985)
[5]: (姜涛, 1990)
People
Later Qing has population over 300 million according to The Cambridge History of China
[1]
1812 CE: 361,695,492 people: The census was interrupted due to nature disasters, scattered rebellions, and White Lotus Rebellion occurred in 1794-1804 among impoverished settlers in the mountainous region that separates Sichuan province from Hubei and Shaanxi provinces.
1833 CE: 398,942,036 people:
[2]
1852 CE: 334,403,035 people: (1)
[3]
(2) The census was interrupted due to the outbreak of Nian Rebellion taking place in northern China from 1851 to 1868, and Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) in South China.
1912 CE: 347,902,562 people: The census was conducted since 1910 and completed in 1912.
[4]
Other figures:
[5]
Po-Ju Tuan coded the following estimates--they have been moved to the description field in case this level of detail is useful in the future: 275,662,044: 1796 CE; 271,333,544: 1797 CE; 290,982,980: 1798 CE; 293,283,179: 1799 CE; 295,237,311: 1800 CE; 297,501,548: 1801 CE; 299,749,770: 1802 CE; 302,250,673: 1803 CE; 304,461,284: 1804 CE; 332,181,403: 1805 CE; 335,369,469: 1806 CE; 338,062,439: 1807 CE; 350,291,724: 1808 CE; 352,900,024: 1809 CE; 345,717,214: 1810 CE; 358,610,039: 1811 CE; {333,700,560; 361,695,492; 363,695,492}: 1812 CE; 336,451,672: 1813 CE; 316,574,895: 1814 CE; 326,574,895: 1815 CE; 328,814,957: 1816 CE; 331,330,433: 1817 CE; {301,260,545; 371,580,173}: 1819 CE; {353,377,694; 373,773,394; 383,100,000}: 1820 CE; 355,540,258: 1821 CE; 372,457,539: 1822 CE; {375,153,122; 380,619,569}: 1823 CE; {374,601,132; 382,439,631}: 1824 CE; {379,885,340; 387,026,888}: 1825 CE; {380,287,007; 386,081,958}: 1826 CE; {383,696,095; 388,608,215}: 1827 CE; {386,531,513; 390,755,718}: 1828 CE; 390,500,650: 1829 CE; 394,784,681: 1830 CE; 395,821,092: 1831 CE; 397,132,659: 1832 CE; 398,942,036: 1833 CE; 401,008,574: 1834 CE; {401,767,053; 403,052,086}: 1835 CE; 404,901,448: 1836 CE; {405 923 174; 406 984 114}: 1837 CE; 409,038,799: 1838 CE; 410,850,639: 1839 CE; 412,814,828: 1840 CE; 413,457,311: 1841 CE; {414,686,994; 416,118,189}: 1842 CE; 417,239,097: 1843 CE; 419,441,336: 1844 CE; 421,342,730: 1845 CE; 423,121,129: 1846 CE; {424,938,009; 425,106,201}: 1847 CE; {426,737,016; 426,928,854}: 1848 CE; {412,986,649; 428,420,667}: 1849 CE; {414,493,899; 429,931,034}: 1850 CE; {432,164,047; 431,894,047}: 1851 CE; 334,403,035: 1852 CE; 347,902,565: 1920 CE.
[1]: (Fairbank, 1978, 8)
[2]: (梁方仲, 1985, 10)
[3]: (姜公韜 & 傅樂成, 1988, 122)
[4]: (梁方仲, 1985)
[5]: (姜涛, 1990)
levels.
1. Capital City2. Province3. Tao seat inferred4. Prefecture (Fu) seat inferred5. County (Xian) seat inferred6. Town/City (Xiancheng)7. Village
Province: 18 provinces
[1]
Tao: Grouping of two or more prefectures for certain purpose, was interposed between the prefectures and provinces
[2]
Prefecture (Fu): 180 prefectures
[3]
“The Ch’ing judicial system rose upward through a territorial hierarchy of some six different levels. It began with the 1,500 xians or counties (also called districts) and similar regions and then proceeded to the higher levels of the 180 prefectures and the 18 provinces. Thence cases went to the Board of Punishments at the capital and then to a fifth level, the three high courts. The emperor was the top level. He might confirm or reject recommendations concerning capital cases sent up from below.”
[3]
[1]: (J. Zhang, 2011, 237)
[2]: (Zhang, 2011)
[3]: (Fairbank 1978 23)
levels. Inferred from previous polities.
1. Emperor
2. Ministry of Rites
3. Ritual specialists
levels.
1. Commander-in-chief (Emperor)
2. Provincial governor/Governor-general3. Provincial military commander/Provincial commander-in-chief/General-in-chief4. Fu jiang, Deputy General5. Can jiang6. Youji7. Dusi8. Shoubei9. Qianzong10. Bazong, Low-level officer11. Soldier
_1868 CE: Yung-ying (Brave Battalions)_
[1]
4. Army Commanders (t’ung-ling)5. Battalion Commander (ying-kuan)6. Company Officer (Shao-kuan)7. Platoon Officers (Shih-chang)8. Soldiers
_1904 CE: New Army_"The thirty-six divisions of the New Army, each with 12,500 men including officers and soldiers, would total 450,000 men and compose the Regular Army. Besides this, Reserves for the First Call (Hsu-pei chiin) and Reserves for the Second Call (Hou-pei chiin) were to be organized. The term of service in the Regular Army (Ch’ang-pei chiin) was three years, after which men would return home and receive occasional drill and a small stipend for another three years. These men would be the Reserves for the First Call. As Reserves for the Second Call they would then serve another four years, receiving less drill and less salary. On completion of this term, men would return to civilian status released from further military duty."
[2]
[1]: (Ichiko 1980, 202) Chuzo Ichiko. 1980. "Political and Institutional Reform, 1901-11". In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 2: Late Ch’ing, 1800-1911, pt. 2, edited by John K. Fairbank and Kwang-Ching Liu, 375-415. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2]: (Ichiko 1980, 384-5) Chuzo Ichiko. 1980. "Political and Institutional Reform, 1901-11". In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 2: Late Ch’ing, 1800-1911, pt. 2, edited by John K. Fairbank and Kwang-Ching Liu, 375-415. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
levels.
1. Emperor2. Central Government3. Provincial Government-general (Zongdu, viceroy)
3. Provincial Governor (Xunfu)4. Tao governor inferred5. Prefect inferred6. County governor7. District Magistrate
7. Official in charge of Prefecture/ Ting
The yamen of the district magistrate (usually the county magistrate, but sometimes prefecture or ting) was the lowest point in the official hierarchy.
[1]
District Magistrate occupied position 7A in the Qing territorial administrative hierarchy.
[2]
Mostern confirmed that county should be one level above district, since ’xiang’ are subordinate to ’xian,’ which is routinely translated to ’county.’
[3]
There was a prefect level between county magistrates and provincial governors, while district magistrates were too low to be included in a prefecture so they were overseen directly by the provincial governor. Promotion from county magistrate to prefect was possible.
[4]
[1]: ( Zhang, 2011, 63)
[2]: (57, Table 2.3) Guy, K. 2017. Qing Governors and Their Provinces: The Evolution of Territorial Administration in China, 1644-1796. University of Washington Press.
[3]: (Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin, Dan Hoyer, and Jill Levine. April 2020. Email)
[4]: (80-81) Guy, K. 2014. ‘Routine Promotions: Li Hu and the Dusty Byways of Empire. In, The Dynastic Centre and the Provinces: Agents and Interactions. BRILL.
"... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
"In Bejinh, dwellers had, for generations, been using wells to draw groundwater for their daily life. The alleys in Beijing are called ’hutong’ which means ’well’ in Mongolian. [...] When the City was reconstructed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many ’hutongs’ were left without a well. According to contemporary records from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the quality of water in the wells had been low due to salinisation and this led to two results: water was supplied at three levels of quality (for washing, cooking, and drinking tea); and, seling water became a profession in Beijing (Duan, 1989)." [1]
[1]: (Du & Koenig 2012, 187)
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, road systems in China were organized and classified into hierarchies. [1] The Board of Works was responsible for maintaining all official buildings, granaries, official communication routes, dykes, dams, and irrigation systems. [2]
[1]: (Wang 2016, 108)
[2]: (Smith 2015, 103)
Canton, Amoy, Fuchow, Ningpo, Shanghai, Jiaozhou Bay, Dalian, Port Arthur
The most impressive/costly building(s)
e.g. The Grand Canal [1] Overall, the canal systems declined drastically near the end of the Qing with increased silting in the Yellow River. The Board of Works was responsible for maintaining all official buildings, granaries, official communication routes, dykes, dams, and irrigation systems. [2]
[1]: (Wang 2016, 196)
[2]: (Smith 2015, 103)
Qing issued paper currency in both Shunzhi and Xianfeng regime. “Although Chinese had begun using paper money during the Song Dynasty, the Ming had halted the practice in the mid-fifteenth century. Thereafter, except for two brief returns to paper currency by the Qing, in the Xunzhi (1644-61) and the Xianfeng (1851-61) reigns, no Chinese government again issued paper currency until the early twentieth century. The private sector moved to fill the void, and during the 100 or so years before the Opium War, several different instruments of currency, such as bank drafts were used to facilitate currency exchange. True paper money began circulating after various banks and money-changing shops issued paper receipts for deposits for silver and copper; these receipts, backed by a 100 percent reserve, soon began circulating as money” [1]
[1]: (Eastman 1988, 111) Eastman, Lloyd. 1988. Family, Fields and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China’s Social and Economic History 1550-1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bronze and copper coinage, by 1887 a mint established in Guangdong to mint silver coins. [1] Bimetallic system, includes the use of silver taels with copper and bronze coins. When the supply of silver changed as a result of international trade, it caused great financially instability within the system. [2]
[1]: (Zhengping 2014, 21)
[2]: (Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. April 2020. Email)
Grain as tax payment. "The third device was the relative freedom with which local magistrates set the exchange rates between nominal assessments in grain or silver and the number of copper cash per picul of grain or tael of silver which they would accept in full payment of the tax due." [1]
[1]: (Feuerwerker 1980, 61) Albert Feuerwerker. 1980. "Economic Trends in the Late Ch’ing Empire, 1870-1911." In The Cambridge History of China, vol. 2, Late Ch’ing, 1800-1911, pt. 2, edited by John K. Fairbank and Kwang-Ching Liu, 1-69. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[1] 1896 the General Post office set up in the Qing Dynasty constituting the first national postal service in China. [2]
[1]: (http://baike.baidu.com/view/775845.htm)
[2]: (Daoyang Guo et al. 2011, 63)
Beijing had an extensive fortification system, consisting of the Forbidden City, the Imperial city, the Inner city, and the Outer city. Fortifications included gate towers, gates, archways, watchtowers, barbicans, barbican towers, barbican gates, barbican archways, sluice gates, sluice gate towers, enemy sighting towers, corner guard towers, and a moat system. It had the most extensive defence system in Imperial China.
The long reflexed composite bow was introduced by the Manchu of the Qing Dynasty and was capable of propelling heavy arrows with great force. They were not well suited for horseback, but their durability and power ensured that they became the standard bow of China, Manchu-dominated Mongolia and Tibet. Typically made with a bamboo core, horn belly, sinew backing, and wooden tips and handle. [1]
[1]: (Grayson, French and O’Brien 2007, p.11)
Zuo Zongtang used donkeys and camels for military transport, and compared the military cost of horses, camels, and donkeys in order to cut down the military expense.
Zuo Zongtang used donkeys and camels for military transport, and compared the military cost of horses, camels, and donkeys in order to cut down the military expense.
The Qing "imperial vessel" considered a symbol of the Qing military presence in the East Asian Sea, yet the guns, cannons, and soldiers on board these vessels more or less served as precautions against potential danger. With increasing foreign presence, the Manchu continued to build coastal defense and naval power in attempt to match the Western powers.
[1]
Fortifications
[1]: (Po 2018, 76, 90-91)