overview
The Jurchens have a history of more than 3,000 years. It arose between the White Mountains and Black Water (Changbai Mountain, Heilongjiang) in the northeast. During the Tang Dynasty, it was called the Black Water Jing (mo he), which made a living from fishing and hunting. The "Jurchen" was first seen in the early Tang Dynasty, and the period of basic formation of ethnic forms was around the Time of the Tang Dynasty. Now known as the Manchus.
Development process
The Jurchens established two dynasties, the Jin and the Qing. In this article, we will continue to talk about the second dynasty: the Qing, there are two national names, houjin, and the great Qing.
In 1234, the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty. After the fall of the Jin Dynasty, the Jurchens returned to the land of "White Mountains and Black Water" to wait for the opportunity.
For more than three hundred years since the Yuan Dynasty, the Jurchens have successively been subordinate to the Yuan and Ming monarchs.
A branch of the Jurchens, the Jianzhou Jurchens, migrated several times and settled in the upper reaches of the Hun River (present-day central and eastern Liaoning).
In 1442, the "Jianzhou Sanwei", under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, formed a powerful tribe, marking the formation of the main part of the Manchus.
In 1449, the Mongol army defeated the Ming army at Tumu Fort, and some Jurchens from Jianzhou and Haixi took the opportunity to attack Liaodong. Since then, the ming dynasty's prestige over the Jurchens has begun to decline, and the Jurchen tribes have gradually lost control. The rise of the Jurchens at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
In 1583, Nurhaci, the Jurchen of Jianzhou, raised an army.
In 1616, Nurhaci was called khan in present-day Fushun, Liaoning, with the state name "Dajin", in order to distinguish it from the "Dajin" established by the Yan clan in the same period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the history was called Houjin.
In 1635, Emperor Taiji changed the name of the clan to Jurchen to Manchuria. The following year, the name of the country was changed to Dajin to Daqing. Since then, the name Manchuria has officially appeared.
In 1644, Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng's peasant army fought fiercely at Shanhaiguan. Wu Sangui asked the Qing Dynasty for help, and the Manchurian Qing army entered the guanguan to participate in the war, and officially moved the capital to Beijing, conquered the whole country, and began the qing dynasty's rule for nearly three hundred years. It also became the second dynasty in Chinese history to unify ethnic minorities.
In 1662, Xuan Ye succeeded to the throne, opening the three dynasties of kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, known in history as the "Prosperous Era of Kangqian".
When the Opium War broke out in 1840, the Qing Dynasty gradually degenerated into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The later Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement greatly shook the foundation of Manchu rule. Although attempts were made to strengthen through the Western Affairs Movement, the Penghu Reform Law, and the New Deal after Gengzi (commonly known as the New Deal at the end of the Qing Dynasty), they all failed.
In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out and the Qing government was overthrown, after which the Manchus changed their name to "Manchus". Today, it is mainly concentrated in northeast China and north China, and is scattered throughout the country.
territory
At its peak, the Qing Dynasty reached the Onion Ridge and Lake Balkhash in the west, the Tangnu Wuliang Sea in the northwest, the Mobei and Siberia in the north, the Pacific Ocean (including Sakhalin Island) in the east, and the Nansha Islands in the south. Including more than 50 ethnic groups, the country is unprecedentedly unified.
appraise
In safeguarding the reunification of the motherland and resisting foreign aggression, the achievements of the Qing Dynasty in the early stage cannot be denied.
From the early years of the Kangxi Dynasty to before the Opium War, the reunification of the whole country was achieved by quelling the separatist cliques between the "San Fan" and the Dzungar nobles, as well as the unification of Taiwan and other civil wars;
In particular, through successive wars of self-defense to stop foreign aggression, China's frontiers have been consolidated;
In addition, according to the different conditions of each region, a series of reforms of the local administrative system were carried out, including the large-scale "land reform and return to the southwestern provinces" carried out by the Yongzheng Dynasty of the Central Economics and the Yongzheng Dynasty, and the establishment of the Qianlong Dynasty as ministers stationed in Tibet and general Ili, and the establishment of a local administrative system that directly dispatched personnel from the central authorities to administer all regions of the country and suited the characteristics of each region.
Therefore, a unified multi-ethnic China before the Opium War not only had a clear territorial scope, but also a complete and stable local administrative system, which played a key role in consolidating and establishing China's unification and territorial sovereignty.
Related history
Eight Flags System
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Nurhaci established the Eight Flags system. Originally, the four flags of yellow, white, red and blue were arranged into four flags, and then the four flags of yellow, white, red and blue were added. In 1615, the Eight Flags system was established.
Implement the eight flags system, strong Jurchens, all soldiers in war, and all civilians when not fighting. It greatly improves the rationality and enthusiasm of jurchen combat.
The full eight flags are divided into three flags and five flags below:
The three flags: yellow flag, yellow flag, white flag. The flag bearer is the emperor.
The next five flags: positive red flag, white flag, red flag, blue flag, blue flag. The flag bearer is the prince/king of each county.
Emperor Taiji also incorporated the Han and Mongols of houjin into the eight flags system, creating the Han Army and the Mongolian Eight Banners. Like Manchuria, they are also called flag bearers.
In 1642, after the completion of the formation of the Eight Banners of the Han Army, the Eight Banners system was finally completed.
The three "Eight Banners" are divided into three classes: the highest: the full eight flags; the middle: the Mongolian eight flags; the second: the Han Eight Banners.
In the middle of the 18th century, the Eight Banners were systematically distributed in various military strongholds of the country.
The final outcome of the Eight Flags Army: After entering the customs, the qing army's policy became a large-scale "enclosure", and the flag people, especially the children of the Eight Flags, quickly became rich, and they had no taxes and labor.
Such a preferential national policy has only one result: the flag people are becoming more and more decadent and lazy. Eventually, the Eight Flags system withdrew along with the Qing Dynasty.