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China The Rise of the Manchus
Although the Manchus were not Han Chinese and were strongly
resisted, especially in the south, they had assimilated a great
deal of Chinese culture before conquering China Proper. Realizing
that to dominate the empire they would have to do things the
Chinese way, the Manchus retained many institutions of Ming and
earlier Chinese derivation. They continued the Confucian court
practices and temple rituals, over which the emperors had
traditionally presided.
The Manchus continued the Confucian civil service system.
Although Chinese were barred from the highest offices, Chinese
officials predominated over Manchu officeholders outside the
capital, except in military positions. The Neo-Confucian
philosophy, emphasizing the obedience of subject to ruler, was
enforced as the state creed. The Manchu emperors also supported
Chinese literary and historical projects of enormous scope; the
survival of much of China's ancient literature is attributed to
these projects.
Ever suspicious of Han Chinese, the Qing rulers put into effect
measures aimed at preventing the absorption of the Manchus into the
dominant Han Chinese population. Han Chinese were prohibited from
migrating into the Manchu homeland, and Manchus were forbidden to
engage in trade or manual labor. Intermarriage between the two
groups was forbidden. In many government positions a system of dual
appointments was used--the Chinese appointee was required to do the
substantive work and the Manchu to ensure Han loyalty to Qing rule.
The Qing regime was determined to protect itself not only from
internal rebellion but also from foreign invasion. After China
Proper had been subdued, the Manchus conquered Outer Mongolia (now
the Mongolian People's Republic) in the late seventeenth century.
In the eighteenth century they gained control of Central Asia as
far as the Pamir Mountains and established a protectorate over the
area the Chinese call Xizang but commonly known in the West as
Tibet. The Qing thus became the first dynasty to eliminate
successfully all danger to China Proper from across its land
borders. Under Manchu rule the empire grew to include a larger area
than before or since; Taiwan, the last outpost of anti-Manchu
resistance, was also incorporated into China for the first time. In
addition, Qing emperors received tribute from the various border
states.
The chief threat to China's integrity did not come overland, as
it had so often in the past, but by sea, reaching the southern
coastal area first. Western traders, missionaries, and soldiers of
fortune began to arrive in large numbers even before the Qing, in
the sixteenth century. The empire's inability to evaluate correctly
the nature of the new challenge or to respond flexibly to it
resulted in the demise of the Qing and the collapse of the entire
millennia-old framework of dynastic rule.
Data as of July 1987
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