Great Qing

Great Qing 大清
1636–1936
Flag
Capital	Mukden (1636-1644) Beiging (1644-1930) Sian (1930-1936)
Largest city	Beiging
Official languages	Manchu Standard Chinese
Common languages	Mandarin dialects Cantonese Hakka Hokkien Mongolian Turkic Others
Demonym	Chinese
Government	Monarchy
Establishment	1636
History
• Established	1636
• Disestablished	1936
Currency	Mace (cin, 錢)
Today part of	China Serindia Poeja Corea Tibet Mongolia Russia

The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing (大清, da ćing, /ta.t͡ɕʰiŋ/), was an imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 1636 to 1936. It emerged from the Jurchen Gim state (located in modern Corea) which unified several Manchu tribes and invaded the Ming dynasty, eventually bringing all of China under their control by the 18th century. The country was partitioned in the Canton War, only maintaining control of the northern plains. Thus, the dynasty is often split into two periods: the Western period before 1850, and the Eastern period after. In 1936, the Qing were invaded and annexed by the modern Chinese Republic from the south, putting an end to the three-century old empire.

Etymology

The country was named da ćing 大清 upon its founding, with ćing literally meaning 'pure'. It is often rendered as Qing in English and numerous other European languages, mirroring the empire's preferred romanization since the late 19th century. In modern Standard Chinese romanization, the official name of the country is spelled Da Ćing.

Establishment: 1636—1675

The later years of the Ming dynasty was rife with internal rebellion, military rot, and political factionalism, leading to its inevitable disintegration in the early 17th century. By the start of the century, they had lost their political sway over Manchuria, Mongolia, and Corea. From the north, the Aisin khanate 金, located in modern northwest Corea, increasingly launched attacks through the Great Wall. In 1618, they entered war with China over the Jodong peninsula, leading to the Manchu clans of the khanate declaring the establishment of Qing 大清 in 1636. After the insurgent Śun dynasty 大順 toppled the Ming administration, the Manchu armies invaded and captured the capital city of Beiging months later in the April of 1644. Joining the occupiers was Ming general & Jodong native U Samgwei 吳三桂 and several of his troops, who were sent to quell Ming loyalism and defeat rival rebel armies.

In 1643, founding emperor Hwang Taići 皇太極 died, being succeeded by his son, the Sunzi Emperor 順治帝. As the Emperor was still young, Prince Regent Dorgon ᡩᠣᡵᡤᠣᠨ ruled on his behalf for several years until his sudden death in 1650. As an independent ruler, the Emperor did much to reduce corruption in the imperial bureaucracy, improve the judicial system, and include non-Manchus in government, beginning the process of assimilation into the Chinese 'style of rule'. He became a devout Buddhist in 1657. In November of the same year, Consort Donggo 董鄂 would give birth to a son, who would be made heir apparent and eventually the Kanggwo Emperor. Tragically, a wave of smallpox soon struck Beiging, killing the Consort and severely damaging the Emperor's health, eventually resulting in his death in 1675.

Foreign relations and migration

By the middle of the 1660s, the Qing had gained control over the vast majority of China. In 1663, they had established an amicable relationship with the new Governor-General in Tauland, Jacob van Aertens. Initially, the Dutch had agreed to limit Chinese immigration to Tauland. Despite this, by the 1670s, immigrants from Hokkien province were entering the island in droves. As a result, the imperial government tightened restrictions on freedom of movement and reiterated the ban on migration. However, this attempt was futile, as by the end of Sunzi's reign, thousands of Chinese were illegally emigrating to southeastern Asia every decade.

Domestically, the new government fixated on settling sparsely populated regions, often provinces located in the interior, with migrants from densely populated coastal regions in order to expand farmlands. Manchuria, Mongolia, Sićwan, and Hunam received upwards of a million immigrants by the start of the 1670s.

Ming loyalist campaigns

Based in Hokkien province and Tauland, the loyalist Zeng family 鄭氏 had established a large maritime trading network, stretching to Japan and the Philippines. Other Ming loyalist regimes, up to eleven de jure ruled by various princes from the House of Źu, were set up along the coast and in the southwest. In the 1653 Battle of Giangdong 江東戰役, the young leader Koxinga's fleet was expelled from mainland China by Manchu and supplementary Corean forces, retreating to the Loetsjoe islands and Japan. The Dutch East India Company's hold over much of Asia, and now the Qing conquest, had hampered the businesses of the Zeng family, leading Koxinga to establish himself in his maternal hometown of Hirado, Japan, where he would participate and tragically die in the Omura Rebellion in 1658.

The same year, Governor-General Peter Stuyvesant agreed to cease attacks on Zeng fleets going to and from Japan. The Zeng family had much influence over Chinese merchants in the Dutch East Indies, and had the power to further aggravate rebellions in the area. Following tensions between Qing-aligned Tauland and Japan over the Loetsjoe islands in the 1660s, the Zeng family and its associates began exploiting tensions between the two powers in order to maintain its commercial influence. Their opponents often labeled them with the term 'sea bandits' 倭寇.

Letter sent by Empress Helena Wang to the Pope (c. 1655)

In China, the Jongli Emperor 永曆帝 and children remained the only surviving royal of the main Wanli branch by 1656. Records of this period remain scarce and mainly derive from Jesuit and Zeng private accounts. The Emperor's court was dominated by Catholics, notably the the empress dowagers Helena Wang 王烈纳 and Maria Ma 玛利亚, as well as eunuch Achilleus Pang 庞天寿. One of Jongli's sons was baptized as Constantine 当 定 by missionary Andreas Koffler, and letters requesting help were sent by the empress dowagers to the Pope. The fate of the Emperor and his family remains vague; most historians subscribe to the idea that he, and members of his family, were slain by U Samgwei in the 1660s.

It is postulated that Constantine survived and continued the Wanli line, as was claimed by some imperial family members of the Kingdom of Canton. However, it is mostly accepted that account that the Prince of Ningźing 寧靖王, a prince of the Hongu Emperor's line and close affilaite of the Zeng family, is the ancestor of said imperial house, is true. As his place of burial was discovered in 1968 near Hirado, Japan, the prince would have lived in relative obscurity among the members of the Zeng family, with his fifth-generation descendants eventually returning to the public eye in the 19th century and becoming monarchs after the Canton War.

Antebellum: 1830—1850

Main articles: Canton War and History of China after 1850

List of monarchs

Name		Reign		Lifespan	Notes
Taići	太極	1636	1643	28 November 1592 – 21 September 1643
Sunzi	順治	1643	1675	15 March 1638 – 3 August 1675
Kanggwo	康國	1675	1698	17 November 1657 – 10 January 1698
Kangsi	康熙	1698	1729	4 May 1654 – 11 July 1729
Dawtong	道同	1729	1734	29 January 1700 – 16 March 1767
Gwangzi	光智	1734	1788	1 October 1702 – 27 November 1788
Gaiging	改警	1788	1817	18 June 1757 – 3 February 1817
Wanle	萬樂	1817	1830	16 October 1788 – 22 April 1830
Zawlong	造隆	1830	1858	6 September 1799 – 14 December 1870
Tiansun	天順	1858	1863	14 July 1798 – 6 March 1863
Gianzeng	建禎	1863	1902	20 May 1840 – 30 April 1902
Cengćang	成昌	1902	1936	19 December 1891 – 9 June 1956