Chinese Society in the Late Imperial Period: the Great Qing

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Khan Nurhaci (1559-1626) (founder of the Jin state)

During the 1500's the Ming empire was likely at it's strongest; culturally and economically they outproduced Europe and those around them (paper, porcelain, lacquered paint). The Ming also had a prosperous system of urban and commercial society. They exported their wares to the other Asian countries and the Chinese language was used by scholars and diplomats across Asia. Their government bureaucracy functioned as part of a centralized government and so ensured the stability of the state. These are all things that would carry over to the Qing dynasty.

At around the same time the Ming had established a policy in Manchuria to control the Manchu tribes. They would side with certain tribes and fight other ones and economic control though exports to the tribes. A rival Jurchen Chieftain accused the Aisin Gioro tribe of disloyalty to the Ming and killed Nurhaci's father and grandfather (in 1582). Nurhaci then made war upon the rival tribes and conquered them all by 1616, declaring himself khan. Nurhaci also took the time to create a unified Manchurian language and borrowed the Mongolian script to write Manchurian. This also served as a cultural link to the neighboring Mongol tribes. Until his death in 1626 Nurhaci and his son Hong Taiji made war on the Ming dynasty for control of Manchuria but were not strong enough to attack China itself. Throughout the conquered regions in Manchuria Nurhaci enforced the separation of the Manchu and the Han Chinese as a result of Han Chinese revolts. The Han Chinese had to provide free service to the Manchu , were not allowed to carry weapons, needed to provide the Manchu with food (and so live on rations) and stayed in their own parts of the cities. A second revolt was met by the execution of the educated Chinese scholars that did not support the Manchu government. The Han Chinese were put into registered households with one Chinese leader and a Manchu official for each group. They were allowed to have 100 acres and 7 oxen on the condition that they returned 20% of the grain to the Manchu state. Upon his death his lands and titles were distributed to his most able sons and officers in the Manchu and Mongol custom.


Khan Hong Taiji (1592-1643) (the consolidator of the Jin state)

Hong Taiji became khan after his father's death and preferred to centralize the state for himself and his successors. He had reformed the structure of Manchu society into eight "banners" for the purpose of military organization as well with the most prestigious tribes placed into the first four banners, allied Mongol tribes and Chinese subjects were also given a place in the banner system. Hong Taiji also adopted the Confucian classics and Chinese scholars and artisans into his government and created a council system of ministers. He abolished the restrictions on the Han Chinese and instead instituted the Chinese civil service exams of the Ming. He also defeated the Koreans and received tribute from them as the Ming had done thus keeping Korea politically, economically and culturally within the Chinese sphere of influence.

This had changed by the 1640's however. The Ming Emperors were inactive in the government and much of the power was in the hands of bureaucrats. This led to corruption and failures in tax control which then led to a lack of funds for the military and desertion. Large amounts of Portuguese and Spanish silver entering the country brought inflation to the Chinese economy, making the Chinese economic base unsustainable and the paper money and copper coins worthless. Chinese gold and silver coins also decreased in value. The poor management of grains by the bureaucracies and poor weather together with exploitative contracts caused famines in China. Angered peasants resorted to banditry and became an army of rebels that attacked Beijing. The Ming emperor killed himself and the peasant leader declared himself emperor. The Manchu led by Dorgon (brother of Hong Taiji) invaded China and gained the support of the Ming general Wu Sangui to capture Beijing. Dorgon crowned his very young nephew as Emperor Shunzi of the Qing Dynasty. The Manchu and their Han Chinese allies pursued the Ming loyalists to the south and conquered China by the 1660's.


Prince Regent Dorgon (1612-1650) (the conqueror of Ming)

After conquering China the Manchu needed to administrate China. Dorgon inherited a hybrid system which was a mix of the Chinese government and the Manchu administrative system of the Eight Banners. He needed to adapt this to control of all China. He decreed that all subjects of the empire needed to adopt Manchu clothing and the Queue hairstyle to emphasize loyalty to Qing. Ming style eunuch control of bureaucracies and military offices was also removed and were given to officials instead. The six ministries of the Ming remained (civil affairs, finance, religion, war, justice and public works)and their ministers were appointed from any ethnicity by the civil service exams (Chinese organizations remained) although usually Manchu and Han officials were appointed in charge of these. For military purposes many officers were recruited from the Manchu and still used the Manchu language, although the majority of the army was Han Chinese, not organized into the Eight Banners and had their own officers. The military culture stayed mostly Manchu but these soldiers used the Chinese social customs (as did the Mongol bannermen) and traditional culture.


The Shunzhi Emperor (1638-1661) (the short lived ruler of China)

Early years of Qing had seen anarchy among the social classes; servants rioted against their masters, the townspeople fought peasants, subjects rebelled against the local officials, peasants looted the homes of the rich and the temples, soldiers and peasants mutinied and became bandits or pirates. The hereditary aristocracy was almost non-existent as it was known in feudal Europe (in China it was hereditary in the sense of property but not feudal rights of barons and princes). The upper classes were mostly made up of rich officials and those promoted by the state with money or agricultural land. There also existed those which were given court titles and special privileges and rights as well as money. But the best ways to advance one's position was still by the civil service exams. The Qing government promoted their loyal Han Chinese officials such as general Wu Sangui with titles and given control over southern provinces in order to administer them for the Qing. This system was called the "Three Feudatories". After the death of Emperor Shunzi his heir Kangxi faced a revolt by these three warlords and incorporated these lands into regular control. Kangxi conquered Mongolia, Taiwan and Tibet and were usually governed by local or tribal officials. However some officials stole much of the revenue or increased taxation without the Emperor's notice. Banditry was also a major issue in the rural areas and distant border lands where control could not be implemented fully.


The Kangxi Emperor (1654-1722) (longest reigning of the Qing monarchs)

A new tax system and land distribution helped the government to control revenues while providing the war torn regions with peasants to work the land and ending many of the abuses of the landlords. Taxes were collected and sent to imperial offices rather than remain with the local government, the court would leave enough to pay for the salaries of officials. Instead of raising taxes in relation to an increasing populace, people could register to receive plots of land to grow food and pay some kind of rent to the government in relation to how much they grew, this allowed the sustainability of the growing populace. Kangxi began a system of correspondence with any officials and encouraged them to send him reports of their work as well as any other information he might find helpful such as grain prices or any suggestions they might have in order to keep the Emperor informed and able to find corruption from one of his other officials. Another system of secret correspondence was used where the official sent his own official messengers to give the emperor classified information. Ownership of certain commodities like ginseng, salt and jade allowed for the emperor to personally receive a fortune from these sales. A national survey of all the land holdings in China was abandoned as the territory was too large to survey for personal properties and centralized tax system by the government would become more difficult in later decades because of this.

He was also kept informed about Catholic missionaries in China and had the leading priests sign a contract saying that the Emperor was in charge of what was taught, not the Pope. In exchange the Catholics were allowed to trade in China and create churches in China. The Qing used this as an opportunity to learn about certain scientific advancements put kept some science and philosophy secret from mainstream society. This was one of the first large scale interactions with western nations and foreign cultures within China proper. But it was not these foreigners which the Emperor was required to impress, look after and gain their trust but rather the Han Chinese, especially their intellectuals who could rally towards the Qing banners or turn against them and foment revolt.

to be continued...

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

As a big fan of the Qing Dynasty I always wanted to write something meaningful about them... unfortunately this is not that thing so instead here are some notes that I made from Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China, chapters 2 and 3. I threw in some additional observations but on the whole it was just meant to be a brief introduction into the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. This is basically just information with regards to the creation of the Jin Khanate, the conquest of Ming and its consolidation into the Qing Dynasty.

Can you believe that although I bought China Marches West two years ago I'm still not finished? Though it is like a 500 page book but still.

[LaMuerte]

I'm no connoisseur of Chinese history, more so out of lack of time than out of lack of interest. But I am slowly getting into it. And posts like these are very helpful. Looking forward to reading more.

Just wondering about the Catholic missionaries you mentioned. Was there any particular holy order on the forefront of that effort?

[Roma_Victrix]

Great work as usual, Oda!

The Qing Dynasty seemed to further the Ming legacy in many ways, but without improving it much, especially the economic system and treasury. They did create some fantastic and megalithic architecture, though! And they were powerful enough to basically overwhelm their neighboring foes for centuries, until the 19th century with the double-trouble British onslaught, the Opium Wars, and then the cherry on top: the First Sino-Japanese War. It was one thing to best a bunch of Dzungar Mongols in Xinjiang with superior arms and firepower. It was another thing entirely to butt heads with the British Empire at its peak and then later the post-Meiji industrialized Japanese Empire.

Anyways, I'll shamelessly use this opportunity to plug another thread I made years ago, which you probably remember, about Qing-dynasty architecture.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ngcheng-Temple

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Thanks guys!

There were a series of foreign threats to the Qing Dynasty. The First Opium War (Britain), the Second Opium War (Britain and France), the Sino-French War (France), the Sino-Japanese War (Japan) and the Boxer Rebellion (Eight Nation Alliance). All of those conflicts coincided with some kind of other problem within China itself. Though there were many other conflicts withing the Qing Dynasty at the time, this Dynasty actually had to constantly put down revolts from all sorts of people and groups.

[hellheaven1987]

The Qing Dynasty seemed to further the Ming legacy in many ways, but without improving it much, especially the economic system and treasury.

Yes and no, the biggest contribution Manchus achieve was to vastly simplify the painfully slow bureaucracy process Ming government deliberately deployed (because, as the Manchus declared, they were not ing Han so they did not need those pointless process), speed up the administration process and hence overall governing efficiency. The government also unofficially improve the salary of officer considerably (which in Ming was low enough not able to support a family, hence results the rampage corruption during Ming dynasty), somehow reduce the corruption level in government. However, Qing's weakness was that Manchus' influence could not penetrate into southern China, the economic powerhouse, hence it had to cooperate with Han Chinese in order to maintain control there (and also means it could not efficiently tag that wealth well). This weakness would also become the chief reason of Qing's downfall.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I'm no connoisseur of Chinese history, more so out of lack of time than out of lack of interest. But I am slowly getting into it. And posts like these are very helpful. Looking forward to reading more.

Just wondering about the Catholic missionaries you mentioned. Was there any particular holy order on the forefront of that effort?

Anyone that wants to get a start on Chinese history could check out the Harvard series of books I suppose. Maybe Jonathan Spence could be the right place to start as well.

There was a Jesuit missionary in particular. Johann Adam Schall von Bell, though he started in Macao he eventually made his way to Liaodong and there to the court of Hong Taiji. He was made minister of astronomy by Emperor Shunzhi some decades later.

[hellheaven1987]

Na, Cambridge History of China is best start.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I mean if you can find it then yes. Only downside is that Cambridge history doesn't cover the period between Han and Tang. Harvard has a book on it, not too big and mostly introductory but it is a good start for that point in Chinese history.

[hellheaven1987]

I mean if you can find it then yes. Only downside is that Cambridge history doesn't cover the period between Han and Tang.

Unfortunately that part is China's Dark Age, so it is as confusing as early Middle Age due to lack of reliable writing records. Besides there are considerable stuffs that probably against Chinese propaganda (like how Xiongnu threat was in reality not eliminated by Han Dynasty and even became the first barbarian group successfully invaded and settled on Chinese soil by settling up a barbarian kingdom) so Chinese generally do not want to speak that period. However I do find it quite interesting, largely because it follows a similar pattern as the decline of Roman Empire, except ultimately it was the sinicized barbarians destroyed the remain of Han Chinese state and restored a full Chinese Empire. It does make you wonder if same thing happened in Europe (like Latinized Germans conquered Byzantium militarily and restored Roman Empire), what would history course change (Holy Roman Empire is true Roman Empire!! That probably would just make Greeks cried like pussy).

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

It is a very interesting period nonetheless. Where you can even start it is probably up for debate. I have seen some historians say that this so called Dark Age began with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, others say that it began with the Eastern Jin (the retreat southwards). Though you can really see the seeds of this period being planted in the end of the Han. For example the Xiongnu settled Bing province/Ordos during the time of the Han Dynasty and ultimately became a barbarian puppet state. This is not dissimilar to the barbarians that invaded the Roman Empire and established small polities in the provinces and frontier areas. Naturally the Han drew on these Xiongnu tribes to provide them with cavalry troops where as Bing province was gradually abandoned by the Han Chinese. But these tribes didn't meddle that much within Han affairs, for example the only time that they intervened was when the exiled leader Yufuluo and his followers joined with the Heishan Mountain Bandits to wreak havoc in the 190's. Though ultimately this chieftain died in exile and his usurper brother pledged his loyalty to Cao Cao after the latter conquered Ji, You, Qing and the remnants of Bing that were still under administration. This also coincided with Cao Cao defeating the Wuhuan tribes that supported the Yuan clan in the north east.

But this precedent set by the Xiongnu was not much different from the migrations of the Xianbei, Di and Wuhuan among others. The only difference is that the Xiongnu did not establish their own polity but rather became tributaries to the Han dynasty. Unlike the Qiang and Yuezhi tribes in Liang province, which were conquered and also served as subject tribes. The Xiongnu didn't try to establish their own state in the Chinese fashion until Former Zhao/Han Zhao and that was in 304, collapsing in 329 and being conquered by Jie tribes who created Later Zhao. It was just one tribe coming out of the steppe after the other, reminiscent of the events that destroyed the Roman Empire.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Yes and no, the biggest contribution Manchus achieve was to vastly simplify the painfully slow bureaucracy process Ming government deliberately deployed (because, as the Manchus declared, they were not ing Han so they did not need those pointless process), speed up the administration process and hence overall governing efficiency. The government also unofficially improve the salary of officer considerably (which in Ming was low enough not able to support a family, hence results the rampage corruption during Ming dynasty), somehow reduce the corruption level in government. However, Qing's weakness was that Manchus' influence could not penetrate into southern China, the economic powerhouse, hence it had to cooperate with Han Chinese in order to maintain control there (and also means it could not efficiently tag that wealth well). This weakness would also become the chief reason of Qing's downfall.

Great work as usual, Oda!

The Qing Dynasty seemed to further the Ming legacy in many ways, but without improving it much, especially the economic system and treasury. They did create some fantastic and megalithic architecture, though! And they were powerful enough to basically overwhelm their neighboring foes for centuries, until the 19th century with the double-trouble British onslaught, the Opium Wars, and then the cherry on top: the First Sino-Japanese War. It was one thing to best a bunch of Dzungar Mongols in Xinjiang with superior arms and firepower. It was another thing entirely to butt heads with the British Empire at its peak and then later the post-Meiji industrialized Japanese Empire.

Anyways, I'll shamelessly use this opportunity to plug another thread I made years ago, which you probably remember, about Qing-dynasty architecture.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ngcheng-Temple

Indeed the Qing was largely working off of the Ming. What they did change were minor details to make the government run more efficiently as well as getting rid of the ridiculous bureaucracy run by eunuchs. Instead the system depended on an Emperor managing things directly or if too inept some member of the royal family to act as a regent of sorts.

[hellheaven1987]

But this precedent set by the Xiongnu was not much different from the migrations of the Xianbei, Di and Wuhuan among others.

Yes hence it is interesting; in roughly the same time there were large population migrations from steppe in both East and West, make you wondering why they did this - perhaps the barbarian invasion was the result of climate change in steppe? We never know.

Recently I saw a CNN report about how climate change hit modern Mongolia extremely hard; the report said that due to lost of grassland half of Mongolia population is forced to abandon animal husbandry and move to capital Ulaanbaatar in order to search a job. Yet since the capital cannot provide that many jobs, majority of those new immigrants are living in extreme poverty due to be jobless. I wonder, did similar situation happen in steppe during 4th Century? Perhaps, out of desperation, the leaders of those starving tribes decided they either had to attempt a suicide invasion of China or died on steppe. It is quite obviousely which one is better choice...

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I think that is a possibility. We also saw a similar pattern with the Germanic barbarians at the time. Though the Xiongnu's power had collapsed on the steppe and were forced south into Bing province where they became Han vassals. The Xianbei and Wuhuan among other smaller tribes were largely responsible for pushing the Xiongnu south and west. The ones who remained in Bing province were given nominal protection but became weak and sedentary. Those that stayed in the steppe were fair game for other tribes and pushed away, or went in search of better pastures.