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The Qing Consolidation

Three Active emperors

Names

- Family Name: Aisin Gioro 愛心覺羅

- Given Name:
o Xuanye (1654-1722)
o Yinzhen (1678-1735)
o Hongli (1711-1799)

Kangxi 康熙 (1661-1722)

- Became emperor at 8 years old because he survived through small pox (chosen from his
brothers)
- Power struggle: Stabilizing the empire, gaining control of the aristocracy, crushing Ming
rebellions (three feudatory rebellions: Wu Sangui, and 2 other Ming generals)
- Expanding the empire, and defining its borders
- Passed edicts:
o Froze the number of land, to encourage people to cultivate more land without
having to be taxed more

Legacy: still very much the conquest generation

- Try hard to woo the Chinese literati

- Still a warrior emperor. Loves to hunt, insisted that all Manchus should do that.
Established a summer palace just beyond the great wall so he can hunt. Horseback
riding is very important to preserve its spirit.
- Open minded and curious, welcomed the Jesuits, and had a belief that Algebra was
originally from China and just got brought back by the Jesuits
- Wu Sangui’s Yunnan, 1683 Taiwan and Tibet were brought into the empire

Yongzheng 雍正 (1723-1735)

- Yongzheng’s becoming emperor is still a mystery, because Kangxi did not mention his
name as an heir.
- Devoted his time to make the state more efficient

The Qing Institutional Inventions (Under Yongzheng)

The Tax reform

- Huo Hao Gui Gong 火耗歸功

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- The ultimate struggle between state and society

- Old way of taxing was very inefficient because the tax has to go through many stages
before it reaches central state, which allowed for corruption and local levels
- Yongzheng’s reform allowed the local levels to keep a specified amount of money.
o Yongzheng tested this tax reform in the Northern areas, and it worked well
o When he expanded this reform to the rest of China, the richer areas resisted.
(met resistance from his own bureaucracy, not the people)

The Palace memorial system

- Increasing efficiency of the state administration

- Originally written in Manchu, later transformed into Chinese language
- Letters from officials written in secrecy (directly addressed to the emperor), and then
delivered to the Emperor
- The Grand Council (consisted of his trusted people) read the letters
o The emperor relied on the Grand Council more and more, and they became a
very important part of the central government.

Legacy of Yongzheng: 1723-1735

- Overhaul the tax system and then brought the palace memorial system into maturity
- Not a Manchu emperor (he wasn’t concerned about expanding the empire, but instead
about running the empire)

Qianlong 乾隆 (1736-1795)

- Yongzheng’s favorite son

- Qing empire reached its prosperity under Qianlong
- 1770 Qianlong claimed XinJiang to ensure the western Mongols were under his control
- Under Qianlong, the Qing became a multicultural state (Tibetan, Mongols)

Qianlong’s Legacy

- Qianlong resigned after ruled 60 years, so he would not overpass his grandfather 1736-
1795
- Manchu identity: Horse ride: shoot and hunt
- The cosmopolitism of the Manchu court
- Created the Map that we know of China today: Xinjiang was in. The empire of Qing was
complete.

Qing Style rule in the eyes of the Europeans

- In the 18th century, a group of French political economiss, called the “Physiocrats” used
the Chinese imperial system as a basis for their calls for “enlightened despotism”in
France
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- Headed by Francis Quesnay (1694-1774), a doctor in the French royal court, the
Physiocrats saw much to admire in the Chinese notion of imperial rule
- Quesnay, whose life spanned the rule of both Kangxi and Qianlong emperors in China,
argued for “enlightened despotism” on the part of the ruler and laid out a set of
economic and social laws that formed a “natural order” that should guide the ruler

Issue of Identity: Manchu?