Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Qing: the Path to
Dynastic Dissolution
After conquering just a small part of Ch-
ina and assuming control in the disarray,
the Manchu named their new dynasty
the Qing (1644-1911). Like the Mongols
before them, the conquering Manchu
found themselves in charge of a civilisa-
tion whose government they had de-
feated, but whose cultural power far ex-
ceeded their own. They enforced strict
rules of social separation between the
Han and Manchu, and tried to maintain
- not always very successfully - a cul-
ture that reminded the Manchu of their
nomadic warrior past. The Qing flour-
ished best under three emperors who
ruled for a total of 135 years: Kangxi,
Yongzheng and Qianlong.
Much of the map of China that we
know today derives from the Qing peri-
od. Territorial expansion and expeditions
to regions of Central Asia spread Chinese power and culture further than ever.
Ruins
1 RUINS OF THE CHURCH OF ST
PAUL,
CLICK HERE
4 MING CITY WALL RUINS PARK,
War & Reform
For the Manchu, the single most devastating incident was not the Opium
Wars, but the far more destructive anti-Qing Taiping War of 1856-64, an insur-
gency motivated partly by a foreign credo (Christianity). The Qing eventually
reconquered the Taiping capital at Nanjing, but upwards of 20 million Chinese
died in the uprising.
The events that finally brought the dynasty down, however, came in quick
succession. Foreign imperialist incursions continued and Western powers
nibbled away at China's coastline. Hong Kong was a British colony and Macau
