The path of national integration in the Qing Dynasty
Manchu and Han are one, hand in hand
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the ruler Nurhachi knew that in order to consolidate power, it was necessary to unite the hearts of the Han people. Therefore, he promulgated the policy of "sweeping away the Qing Dynasty Program", vigorously absorbing Han talents, and enriching government institutions at all levels. At the same time, he also ordered the Han army to enter the customs, organized into the Eight Banners, and served with Manchu officers and soldiers in the emerging Qing Dynasty.
This practice enabled the Manchu and Han ethnic groups to achieve a high degree of integration in the military and political system. In the reigns of subsequent emperors, this path of integration became smoother. Especially in the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, there were many Han talents, such as Qi Jiguang, Zheng Banqiao and others, all of whom were important ministers of the dynasty. Emperor Kangxi personally discussed the way of governing the country with Han scholars, and incorporated Han Confucianism into the ruling philosophy of the Qing Dynasty.
However, the road to Manchu-Han integration was not without its challenges. In the early years of Shunzhi and Kangxi, serious Manchu-Han contradictions broke out. In 1644, Li Zicheng's peasant army captured Beijing, and the Ming Dynasty fell. In order to reunify the Central Plains, the Qing army had to slaughter the city of Beijing, causing a large number of casualties among Han civilians. This massacre of the city left an indelible shadow in the hearts of the Han people.
Later, in order to resolve the grievances of the people, Emperor Kangxi spared no effort to forgive the Han people, and personally paraded around the city of Beijing to show his affinity to the Han people. He also ordered the construction of Confucian temples throughout the country to revive Confucian culture, which won the support of Han Chinese intellectuals. After several generations of hard work, the contradiction between the Manchus and the Han was finally alleviated, and the great cause of the integration of the two ethnic groups was finally completed.
However, despite the achievements of Manchu-Han integration, in the late Qing Dynasty, the Manchu-Han contradictions intensified again due to the rulers' complacency and intensified ethnic discrimination. The existence of this contradiction laid the root cause for the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
The centralized system of the Qing Dynasty
Absolute monarchy, high concentration of power
The rulers of the Qing Dynasty knew that in order to unify this vast territory, it was necessary to concentrate power. As a result, they established a highly centralized system of absolute monarchy. The emperor had supreme power in the Qing Dynasty and was above everything.
This concentration of power manifests itself in many ways. The first is that the position of the emperor is sacrosanct. The Qing Dynasty pursued the idea of "divine authority of the monarch", and regarded the emperor as a son of heaven with the divine right to rule the world. No one is allowed to disobey the emperor's order, otherwise it will be a great rebellion.
Second, the emperor controlled the supreme military, administrative, and judicial power of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty had a cabinet composed of pro-noble ministers who were responsible for assisting the emperor in handling daily state affairs. But regardless of the recommendations of the cabinet members, the final decision-making power remained in the hands of the emperor.
Moreover, the Qing Dynasty practiced a patriarchal autocracy. The emperor is like the head of the family, the old and the young, the noble and the low, must be absolutely obedient. If a subject violates the emperor's orders, he will be severely punished, and even the family will be killed.
This highly centralized system enabled the Qing Dynasty to quickly unify the Central Plains in the early days and extend its rule for 268 years. But at the same time, it also planted the root cause of the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Because of the excessive concentration of power, coupled with the incompetence of the late rulers, the country's decision-making errors were frequent, and eventually led to the catastrophe of the country's demise.
The cabinet system is controlled by the Military Aircraft Department
The cabinet system of the Qing Dynasty was:
An important part of its centralized system. The cabinet consisted of noble ministers who assisted the emperor in day-to-day state affairs. But whatever the cabinet members suggested, the ultimate decision-making power remained in the hands of the emperor.
In the Cabinet, the most important is the Military Aircraft Division. The Military Aircraft Department was in charge of the military power of the Qing Dynasty and was responsible for commanding the military forces of the land and navy of the country. The ministers of the Military Aircraft Department are all capable generals whom the emperor appreciates. They not only commanded the army, but were also responsible for training new soldiers, equipping munitions, defending the frontier, and many other major military affairs.
Due to the high concentration of military power in the Military Aircraft Department, this institution had a transcendent position in the political arena of the Qing Dynasty. In many cases, the power of the Minister of Military Aircraft is even higher than that of the Cabinet. For example, in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Nian Qianyao and Ah Gui were extremely prestigious in the court by virtue of their control of military power, and even the emperor had to be careful not to offend them.
However, there are obvious drawbacks to this highly centralized cabinet system. Once the emperor is incompetent and the cabinet ministers are unable to check and balance, then the fate of the whole country will be in jeopardy. Sure enough, in the late Qing Dynasty, due to the confusion of the rulers for many years, coupled with the treacherous villains of the cabinet ministers, the national strength gradually declined, and finally caused a catastrophe of the country's demise.
The Qing Dynasty's struggle to open up to the outside world
Closed off the country and rejected Western learning
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the ruler Nurhachi knew that in order to consolidate power, it was necessary to unite the hearts of the Han people. Therefore, he vigorously recruited Han talents and incorporated Han culture into his ruling philosophy. However, at the same time, the Qing Dynasty also maintained a wary mentality against foreign nationalities and implemented a policy of closing the country to the outside world.
This idea of closing the country to the outside world stems from the Manchu people's traditional concept of nomadic people. They believe that foreigners are barbaric and uncivilized, and that too much contact with them will inevitably lead to assimilation. Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the country, the Qing Dynasty ordered a ban on Western learning and the expansion of Western culture.
This policy reached its peak in the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties. At that time, the Jesuit Matteo Ricci and others tried to spread Western scientific knowledge, but they were severely suppressed by the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Qianlong was even more outspoken in his contempt for Western culture, believing that Chinese culture was self-sufficient and did not need foreign "heresy".
Under the influence of this ideology, the Qing Dynasty was highly vigilant against the Westernization of Western learning. Even some enlightened officials do not dare to openly advocate learning from Western technology. This policy of closing the country to the outside world made the Qing Dynasty far behind the Western powers in terms of science and technology and culture, and laid the foundation for its future decline.
The Westernization movement barely survived
It was not until the middle of the 19th century, under the threat of guns from foreign powers, that the Qing Dynasty had to start learning the advanced technology of the West. This is the famous "Westernization Movement". The main content of the Westernization Movement was to introduce Western studies for use on the premise of maintaining the Chinese body, in order to revitalize the national strength.
The main promoters of the Westernization Movement were enlightened people such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. They knew that in order to save the Qing Dynasty from danger, they had to learn from the advanced science and technology of the West. As a result, they set up military and civilian industries such as machine bureaus, dockyards, and gunpowder bureaus all over the country, and introduced a large number of Western technicians.
However, the Westernization movement ultimately ended in failure. On the one hand, because the upper rulers of the Qing Dynasty were complacent and still had a conservative attitude towards the Westernization of Western studies, they failed to give sufficient support; on the other hand, the Westernization Movement itself also had many problems, such as bureaucracy and speculation, which caused a large amount of money to be wasted. Therefore, although the Westernization Movement made some achievements, it was not able to completely revitalize the national power of the Qing Dynasty after all.
Reform is powerless
After the defeat of the Westernization Movement, a group of enlightened people put forward the idea of "reforming the law." They believed that it was not enough to simply import Western science and technology, but also to carry out all-round political, economic, and cultural reforms in order to save the Qing Dynasty from danger.
The representative figures of the reform movement include Kang Youwei, Tan Si and others. They actively made suggestions to the Guangxu Emperor, hoping to implement a series of reform measures such as the establishment of a constitution, the revitalization of schools, and the revitalization of industry. At one time, Emperor Guangxu also showed his determination to change the law and promulgated a series of new policies.
However, this reform movement was soon stifled by the old-fashioned Empress Dowager Cixi. In 1898, Cixi launched the famous "Wuxu Coup", expelling Kang Youwei and others from the country, and the reform movement ended abruptly. From then on, the Qing Dynasty was no longer able to carry out fundamental reforms, which accelerated its downfall.
The eventual fall of the Qing Dynasty
Ethnic contradictions have intensified separatism
Although the Qing dynasty made efforts to achieve ethnic integration through the policy of "Manchu and Han integration" in the early years of its rule, the gains of this integration gradually broke down over time. In the late Qing Dynasty, due to the intensification of ethnic discrimination among the rulers, the contradictions between the Manchus and the Han Dynasty intensified again, which became a major bane that led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
The aggravation of this contradiction was due to the contemptuous attitude of the Manchus in the ruling circles at that time towards the Han Chinese. They regarded the Han Chinese as an inferior ethnic group and discriminated against and suppressed them in various fields such as politics, economy, and culture. For example, it is difficult for Han Chinese to obtain important official positions in the court, and even if Han Chinese are recruited, they are rarely promoted to senior positions.
What is more, some narrow-minded Manchus openly advocated the slogan of "preserving the Han and the poor" and advocated the expulsion of the Han people from the customs to ensure the dominance of the Manchus. This extreme nationalist ideology undoubtedly exacerbated the contradictions between the Manchus and the Han and aroused the strong dissatisfaction of the Han people.
In addition to the Manchu-Han contradictions, there were also some other ethnic contradictions in the late Qing Dynasty. In the northwest, for example, the contradictions between the Hui and the Qing government have been acute. Between 1862 and 1877, the famous "Tongzhi Rebellion" occurred, resulting in numerous casualties on both sides. This war not only consumed a lot of national strength of the Qing Dynasty, but also further aggravated the national contradictions.
The peasants revolted, shaking the foundations
In addition to ethnic contradictions, peasant uprisings were also an important cause of the fall of the Qing Dynasty. In the late Qing Dynasty, due to the incompetence of the rulers and the increase in taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the lives of the vast number of peasants fell into misery. As a result, a series of peasant uprisings broke out in various places, shaking the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule.
The most famous of these was the Taiping Rebellion. In 1851, Hong Kong native Hung Xiuquan launched a peasant uprising in Guangxi against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. What began as a small peasant uprising soon turned into a large-scale war that shocked China and the rest of the world.
Relying on the slogan of "all the land is everything, all the people are brothers", the Taiping army quickly occupied Jiangnan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other rich areas, and once threatened Beijing's security. In order to quell this unrest, the Qing Dynasty had to gather the entire army, and after 14 years of difficult campaigns, it finally defeated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
However, the trauma inflicted on the Qing Dynasty by this war was enormous. According to statistics, tens of millions of people died in the war at that time, and the taxes and labor during the war caused the Qing Dynasty's national strength to suffer unprecedented losses. This undoubtedly laid a fatal curse for the final fall of the Qing Dynasty.
The Xinhai Revolution, abdication and abdication
The last battle of the Qing Dynasty was the Xinhai Revolution that broke out in 1911. The trigger for this revolution was the Wuchang Uprising. On October 10 of that year, an anti-Qing riot broke out in the Wuchang New Army, which soon spread throughout the country. In the face of such a surging revolutionary wave, the Qing Dynasty was powerless to resist.
Revolutionary Sun Yat-sen even issued the famous manifesto of "winning the hearts and minds of the people", calling on the people of the whole country to overthrow the Manchu regime. In this situation, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty had no choice but to abdicate. On February 12, 1912, Pu Yi issued a final edict in Zhongnanhai, announcing the abdication of the Qing dynasty, ending 268 years of rule.
In this way, the Qing Dynasty, a once glorious dynasty, finally came to an end. The reason why it collapsed so quickly was largely due to the incompetence of the rulers, coupled with the internal and external troubles such as ethnic contradictions and peasant uprisings, which were no longer able to sustain this huge empire.