Before Nurhaci unified the Jurchens, the Jurchens were scattered small tribes, living a nomadic life, culturally backward, and lowly productive. Nurhaci was brilliant, and through nearly thirty years, unified the entire Liaodong region and established the Later Jin regime. Nurhaci and his successor, Emperor Taiji, were both founding kings, with great ability and unique vision, and were famous wise emperors in Chinese history.
After the founding of the Jin Dynasty, he studied a lot of culture and system from the Ming Dynasty.
In the early period of Nurhaci's reign, he reused the Ming Dynasty's generals and learned from the advanced management experience of the Ming Dynasty. Driven by the rulers, the people also learned from the Ming Dynasty, so the country became more and more "contaminated with Han customs". By the time of the Emperor Taiji, this trend became more and more pronounced. Huang Taiji was deeply aware of the great righteousness and broad-minded, and fully drew on the culture, especially the political experience, of the Ming Dynasty.
Nurhaci and Huang Taiji both particularly like to read a book, which is "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". In particular, Huang Taiji learned political wisdom and military strategy from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and then integrated them. In our eyes, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a novel, but in the eyes of Huang Taiji, this book is an important reference for his governance.
In addition to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Emperor Taiji also listened to the advice of surrendered Ming officials and translated a large number of ancient classics and historical books. At that time, an official named Wang Wenkui told Emperor Taiji that the ancient emperor's way of governing the country was mainly recorded in the Four Books and the history books left by the dynasties. Another minister, Ning Quan, also said to Emperor Taiji that if you want to learn the way of self-cultivation and governance, you can read the four books, and if you want to learn military warfare, you can read books such as "Sun Tzu's Art of War". Emperor Taiji took their advice and ordered a large-scale translation of various Confucian classics and historical works.
A regime is long-lasting, and the key lies in talent. How to select talents is a headache for successive rulers. Huang Taiji was also faced with the problem of how to effectively select talents, and soon after the founding of the Jin Dynasty, he had not yet explored a suitable system. Therefore, The Emperor Taiji followed the example of the Ming Dynasty and also used the imperial examination system to select talents. In the third year of Tiancong, Hou Jin organized the imperial examination for the first time, and The Emperor Taiji ordered that no matter how noble or lowly, no matter what origin, as long as they are literate and talented, they can participate. Hundreds of people signed up for the exam, including Manchus, Mongols, and Han Chinese. In this examination, more than 200 people were admitted, and the proportion of admissions was very large. Huang Taiji was very satisfied with this fair examination system. In the eighth year of Tiancong, he also ordered that a second imperial examination be organized and two hundred and twenty-eight students were admitted. These readers were selected into the bureaucracy of Houjin and made important contributions to the stability and development of Houjin.
Emperor Taiji himself admired intellectuals, and repeatedly asked Manchu children to study more in the edict. A minister named Hu Gongming told Emperor Taiji that Hou Jin's children were few readers and often regarded reading as a very difficult thing. If they want to ask their own teachers to teach their children, they are more and more reluctant. In the opinion of the courtiers, when the official school is established, all those who have children must study in the official school.
Emperor Taiji agreed to his suggestion and ordered the establishment of the Eight Flags Official School, and all the children of the Eight Flags were required to study in the Official School.
These measures are undoubtedly very beneficial to the development and growth of the Qing Dynasty.
In terms of administrative system, during the Nurhaci period, the eight banner owners jointly discussed politics, which had the characteristics of simple democracy. However, this way of deliberating on government is becoming increasingly inefficient and detrimental to national development. After Emperor Taiji succeeded to the throne, he tried his best to emulate the Ming Dynasty. He set up a literary hall to recruit students who were well read poetry and scholars and bureaucrats who surrendered in the Ming Dynasty, to help him advise and write various documents, similar to his staff. Later, Emperor Taiji simply reorganized the Wenguan into the Inner Three Courts, namely the Inner National History Academy, the Inner Secretarial Academy, and the Inner Hongwen Academy, and specified the duties in detail and approved the official positions. The Inner Three Chambers gradually developed into a central institution and became increasingly important. In the fifth year of Tiancong, Emperor Taiji followed the example of the Ming Dynasty and set up six departments, namely the Official Department, the Household Department, the Ceremonial Department, the Military Department, the Punishment Department, and the Ministry of Works, the main task of which was to carry out the emperor's decrees. The establishment of the three courts and six ministries has made the state administrative organs of Houjin increasingly perfect, strengthening the centralization of power and improving administrative efficiency.
However, in terms of clothing and hairstyles, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were stubborn and unwilling to learn from the Ming Dynasty.
In the early days of the Qing Dynasty, there were five major evil regimes, namely shaving, changing clothes, enclosure, charging, and escaping. When the Qing Dynasty came to Beijing, Dorgon issued the most severe shaving order. He ordered that all people in Beijing must shave their hair within ten days, and if there is any hesitation to resist, and those who do not abide by the system of this dynasty will be killed without forgiveness.
So, the question is, why are the Qing Dynasty willing to learn from the Ming Dynasty in terms of culture and system, but in terms of clothing, head shape and other details, they are not willing to accept the Ming Dynasty, but they want to adhere to the habits of the Manchus?
In fact, this is mainly because daqing wants to maintain its own national habits. The external image of the head shape and clothes, although it is fur, is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and if even these things change, the national habits of the Manchus will be gone. Just as a minister named Sun Zhihuo said in the recital at that time: "Your Majesty has pacified the Central Plains, everything is new, and the system of clothing and hair is unique to the Han and the old, this is Your Majesty from China, not from Your Majesty!" Sun Zhizhu's words speak to the fundamentals. Therefore, after entering the customs, Dorgon spared no effort to shave his hair and change his clothes, even if he made the whole country oppose, he would never let up.
In addition, there is another reason, that is, Huang Taiji died too early. He was only fifty-one years old when he died. Huang Taiji is more enlightened, while Dolgun is inferior to Huang Taiji in all aspects, and has an impetuous temperament and a narrow personality. If it was Huang Taiji who led the Great Clearance into the customs, then the situation might not be the same. In order to maintain the image of the Manchus, huang taiji will also force the shaving of hair and change clothes, but the means will not be so tough, it will ease up a lot, and the situation will not be so tragic.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it basically inherited the ming Dynasty's institutional system, and the official position settings, administrative divisions, fiscal and taxation systems of the imperial court and localities were all inherited, and only modified in some places. However, the Qing Dynasty has always been strictly guarding against the Han people, rarely allowing the Han people to enter the core of power, and "defending the Han" has become the "gene" of the Qing Dynasty. For more than two hundred years in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was like this from beginning to end.
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