The late Qing government ceded land to seek peace, lost power and humiliated the country, and opened the history of humiliation in modern China.
But who could have imagined that the Qing Dynasty also opened a prosperous era and exceeded a hundred years. At the height of the Qing Dynasty, the land area reached 13.16 million square kilometers, and even at the time of the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the mainland still had 11 million square kilometers. As its predecessor, the Ming Dynasty had a land area of only 3.5 million square kilometers when it fell into the country. Therefore, the contribution of the Qing Dynasty to China's territory is unquestionable.
Replacing the Ming Dynasty for "Great Unification"
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang declared himself emperor to establish the Ming Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty withdrew from the Central Plains. At that time, the Yuan Dynasty was the largest dynasty in ancient China, with a land area of 14 million square kilometers. In order to inherit the territory of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di made many efforts.
But most of their efforts can only be satisfied with nominal canonization, and cannot achieve close control in practice. Therefore, from Emperor Ming Zhu Yuanzhang to Emperor Chongzhen, the territory area continued to shrink. Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the rough estimate of the territory was probably only three to four million square kilometers.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, international law and national sovereignty were gradually taking shape. European countries had begun to explore the New World and continue to colonize and expand, and by then India had fallen. Moreover, by that time, Russia had occupied Siberia, invaded the Pacific coast, and gradually began to approach the Buryatia Mongols and even the Heilongjiang River basin. Japanese merchants are also colluding with pirates off the coast of China.
At this time in the interior, Li Zicheng rebelled and destroyed the Ming Dynasty, and after that, the inland groups competed for hegemony, and Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Hongguang, Longwu, Tang Wang, Shaowu and other separatist regimes appeared. They went their separate ways, fought against each other, and divided the warlords, but no one could complete the reunification of the mainland and control the situation in the whole country. It is clear that a divided China is likely to be the target of an invasion by Western colonialists, and the situation in China is already very critical.
But the rapid rise of the Qing dynasty shattered this dangerous situation. Before entering the customs, the Manchus unified the Jurchen tribes and also conquered southern Mongolia. In 1644, Dolgon led the Qing army into the pass and captured the Jing division. After that, in the 20 years after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Qing Dynasty successively leveled the major separatist regimes in the mainland, unified the mainland region, and stabilized the situation.
If it is said that without the unification of the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese regime at that time was divided and dispersed, and it was likely to be occupied by Western countries as a colony, and China was powerless to fight back in the face of modern foreign invaders. And if it only enters the modern era with the territory of the Ming Dynasty, then China's territory will be less than 4 million square kilometers.
A century of conquest to create a territory
After the Qing Dynasty entered Beijing, Li Zicheng retreated one after another, and a large part of the northern territory was quickly occupied by the Manchu Qing, even if the Southern Ming Yongli Dynasty was completely overthrown, the actual control area of the country at that time was only about 6 million square kilometers. In the following hundred years, the Qing government expanded its territory, calmed internal strife, and resisted foreign enemies, and fought intermittently for a hundred years of wars until it pushed the territory of the Qing Dynasty to its peak.
During the Kangxi Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty continued to expand its territory, and the territory of the Qing Dynasty also expanded rapidly. First, Kangxi spent eight years quelling the "San Francisco Rebellion", making the situation on the mainland more stable and avoiding the division of the country. In 1683, Kangxi was ordered by Shi Lang to lead his division into Taiwan. In the end, the Zheng regime in Taiwan was annihilated and Taiwan was officially included in the territory of the Qing Dynasty. At this time, the area of the Qing Dynasty reached about 6.7 million square kilometers.
At the same time, taking advantage of the Qing Dynasty's busy efforts to quell the San Francisco Rebellion and national unity, Russia quickly invaded Nebuchu and Yaksa, and continuously invaded Heilongjiang. After the Qing Dynasty warned Tsarist Russia of its invalidity, it fought two sieges against the Russian army in Yaksa in 1685 and 1688, and finally the two sides signed the Treaty of Nebuchu, demarcating the boundary, and the Qing Dynasty maintained the territorial integrity of Heilongjiang.
During the Sino-Russian negotiations, the northwestern Jungar Khanate continued to expand eastward. In 1690, Kaltan attacked the northern Khalkha Mongols, and the Kangxi Emperor personally conquered Gordan three times, breaking the Gardan, and the Khalkha Mongol region was naturally included in the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1716, the Dzungar army sent troops to occupy Lhasa in an attempt to control the Qinghai-Tibet region. Kangxi sent large armies twice, but it was not until 1720 that the Qing army defeated the Dzungar army and occupied Tibet, marking the complete integration of Tibet and Qinghai into the territory of the Qing Dynasty. The territory of the Qing Dynasty has exceeded 10 million square kilometers so far.
During the Yongzheng period, the Qing dynasty continued to consolidate its country. At the beginning of Yongzheng's succession, the Luobzang Danjin Rebellion broke out in Tibet, and the Yongzheng henchman general Xianyao sent troops to Tibet and quickly quelled the rebellion. In 1727 and 1728, the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia signed the Treaty of Blenschi and the Treaty of Kyakhta respectively, which basically solved the border problem with Tsarist Russia. For the ethnic groups in the southwest region, the Qing Dynasty implemented the reform of the land and the return of the river to strengthen its rule.
As for the resurgent Junger forces, during the eleven years of Yongzheng's reign, the Qing Dynasty had four wars with the Junger forces, and in the end, Junger was greatly injured and unable to fight, so he asked for peace with the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty temporarily lived at peace with the Junger forces.
By the Qianlong period, the Jungar Khanate was in decline. The Qianlong Emperor took the opportunity to send troops to occupy Ili, defeat the Davaqi army, and eliminate the Junger Khanate. Coupled with the later quelling of the Amursana, Daxiaohe and Zhuo rebellions, the Western Regions were eventually re-controlled by the Central Dynasty, and the Western Regions were renamed "Xinjiang". The Western Regions have been separated from the actual rule of the Central Plains since the Tang Dynasty, so the credit of the Qing Dynasty in pacifying Junger and recovering Xinjiang after decades of hardship is great and the greatest contribution to China's territory.
So far, the land area of the Qing Dynasty has exceeded 13 million square kilometers, and through the unremitting efforts of three generations of kings, the Qing Dynasty has expanded the land area to the extreme, achieved the prosperity of the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and maintained this data for a hundred years and is widely recognized.
The territory under actual control lays the map
The border rule of the Qing Dynasty is different from previous dynasties, the Qing Dynasty is basically a stream of officials, under the jurisdiction of the Qing court, rather than the past bondage rule, so the Qing Dynasty's rule over the border areas is also the only one in the previous dynasties, which is why, even if the Qing Dynasty declines at the end of the year, many border areas are still subject to the Manchu Qing Central Court.
In the northeast, the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Kyakhta with the Russians, demarcated the border and determined the territorial belonging. Internally, the military government system is implemented, with provincial generals and both military and civil administration. In addition, many cities were built, general managers and deputy capitals were established, and heavy troops were stationed to achieve direct control.
For the once powerful Mongolia, it was also the most reassuring to the Qing Dynasty in the border areas, and the Qing Dynasty could be described as painstaking, not only Manchu and Mongolian peace, but also through various strict systems and multi-pronged means to completely achieve a stable rule over Mongolia.
First of all, the Qing Dynasty also implemented a military government system for effective management of Mongolia. Second, "divide and rule" was another policy that the Qing Dynasty implemented administratively towards Mongolia. In the central government, a clan court was set up to handle Mongolian affairs, and the local government implemented the alliance flag system, separating and weakening the powerful Mongol forces and exercising effective rule. The alliance flag system is the embodiment of the Qing Dynasty's "rule by customs" in Mongolia, which was first implemented in Mobei Khalkha during the Kangxi Dynasty, and then implemented in Qinghai, Xinjiang and other Mongolian ministries during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods.
"Xinghuang Sect, Soft Mongolian Tibet", using Tibetan Buddhism or Yellow Religion to exercise spiritual rule over Mongolia is the most ruthless system and means. Because the Mongols are a people born of religion, and the rulers of the Qing Dynasty grasped this point, starting from religious beliefs, promoting the Yellow Religion and supporting Lamaism to encircle the Mongolian nobility. During the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, lama temples were widely built in the Mongolian steppe, and the teachings of Lamaism mainly included that Lamaism could not marry and have children, publicized the cycle of life and death, karma, etc., and the Qing Dynasty encouraged Mongols to become monks on the side. So this policy greatly reduced the population of Mongolia and destroyed their fighting spirit.
As for the rule and management of Xinjiang, the Qing Dynasty also adopted a policy of fragmentation and disintegration and adaptation to local conditions, and adopted a flexible management system for residents with complex identities. First of all, the central government set up the clan yuan, and the regions set up generals, metropolitan governors, and ministers to exercise effective rule. Secondly, the alliance flag system is implemented in Mongolian areas, the Berke system is implemented in the Uyghur areas in southern and northern Xinjiang, and the prefecture and county system is implemented in places with a large number of Han people in northern and eastern Xinjiang.
Although Tibet was conquered by the Qing court, some upper forces have always been dissatisfied, so the Qing court stipulated a fixed garrison in Tibet to ensure the stability of the Tibetan region, and the Qing dynasty in addition to delimiting the border between Tibet and the neighboring countries, and clarifying territorial sovereignty. Internally, the canonization system was implemented, and the system of ministers stationed in Tibet and the golden urn was drawn by lot.
The Golden Urn system was created by the Qing Dynasty for the stability of Tibet. It is stipulated that when a golden urn is enshrined in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, and when a "spirit boy is reincarnated," the minister resident in Tibet will write the names and birthdates of several "spirit boys" on the signature in Manchu, Chinese, and Tibetan, transfer them into the golden vase, and then chant the sutra for seven days, and under the supervision of the minister resident in Tibet, draw lots to determine a "spirit child." The system of "drawing lots from the golden urn" made it impossible for powerful serf owners to manipulate the candidates for the soul boys, and also demonstrated the authority of the central government. In this way, the imperial court completely controlled Tibet.
The Qing Dynasty also attached great importance to coastal defense and maritime frontiers. In order to safeguard the integrity of the country's territorial sovereignty, the Qing Dynasty also repeatedly fought back against foreign invaders and conducted border negotiations. The Qianlong Emperor said: "The rulers and lands of the Celestial Empire belong to the territory, and the territory is Senran, that is, the island sandbar, and the border must also be demarcated and divided, and each has its own belonging." Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's management of the sea frontier was to set up a special navy division in the coastal provinces, and there was a strict patrol system to exercise effective jurisdiction.
It was precisely because of its unprecedented sense of territorial security and rational territorial policy management that the Qing Dynasty achieved centralized power and effective control over the border areas. It was also the effective consolidation and domination of the frontiers that laid the foundation for China's existing territory.
The Manchus perished
No matter how powerful the Qing Dynasty is, it cannot escape the law of prosperity and decline. After the Opium War, China entered a century of humiliation in modern history, with foreign invasions, corruption in the imperial court, social unrest, and displacement. Under the coercion of the great powers, the Qing government signed dozens of treaties that humiliated the country, betrayed national interests, and ceded land and paid reparations. According to statistics, more than 3.2 million square kilometers of land were ceded, of which Tsarist Russia, Britain and Japan benefited the most. The Xinxiu Treaty and sky-high reparations completely drained the vitality of the Qing court, and uprisings continued everywhere, and finally in 1912, the Wuchang Uprising sounded the death knell of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Qing government announced the peaceful abdication of the Qing emperor.
Many people say that the Qing Dynasty at that time existed in name only, but I think that although the civil war must be lost, the Qing Dynasty still has the ability to fight a war, Outer Mongolia, the three eastern provinces, northwest, Tibet, and most of northern China still support the Manchu Qing court.
No matter how corrupt and incompetent the late Qing government was, it still could not hide the merits of the early Qing Dynasty in recovering territory and safeguarding territorial sovereignty. Even when it comes to its collapse, it is trying its best to maintain and save its survival, such as recovering Xinjiang, establishing Taiwan as a province, preserving Guchuan, and so on. Even if it is a late Qing land reparation, it can still give us at least more than nine million square kilometers left, and if it were not laid down in the early stage, it would have been divided up in the later stage.
Therefore, today's territory of more than 9.6 million square kilometers was laid down by the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty's contribution to China's territory is huge and undeniable.