Several strange regulations of the Qing Dynasty created the characteristics of the Qing Dynasty. As a regime founded by a small number of foreign races, the Qing Dynasty adopted a series of seemingly bizarre but well-thought-out regulations in the process of ruling the Central Plains. These provisions, while perhaps different from traditional Han Chinese customs, reflect the Qing regime's unique view of consolidating its dominance.
The Manchus, who were already sparsely populated, had to dominate a vast territory with a large population was undoubtedly a great challenge. In order to maintain system governance, the Qing Dynasty formulated some unique regulations in many aspects such as etiquette, personnel, and culture. These regulations may seem strange, but they contain profound intentions and historical lessons. So, what strange regulations did the Qing Dynasty enact?
The banner people were originally the population of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, and later became synonymous with the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was an alien regime established by the Manchu aristocracy, and in order to consolidate its dominance, the Qing court deliberately established a strict rule: harem concubines must come from the family of the banner people.
The reason for this regulation should be started from the beginning of the Manchu people's entry into the Central Plains. At that time, Nurhachi led more than 30,000 men to the west to conquer the Ming Dynasty and establish a new dynasty. It can be said that Yin Jian is not far away, and the Manchus are few and far between. In order to survive and develop, they had to adopt the means of exterminating humanity, bloodbathing millions of people in the Central Plains, and laying the foundation for their rule from the brutal suppression.
As a result, the Manchus were wary of the Han Chinese and never trusted the nation completely. As an anonymous historian put it: "The exclusivity of the banner people was originally a helpless move by a foreign race to enter the Central Plains, and it is not comparable to the complete exclusion of the Han people." Behind any kind of extreme approach is the rationality of its existence.
It is precisely because of this jealousy of the Han nationality that he once consciously wanted to eliminate the Han concubines left over from the previous dynasty, and all the harem concubines whose paternal lines were not Manchu were dismissed. But in the end, out of the consideration of actual rule, it was only compiled into the "subordination" system, which could not give birth, enjoyed the status of a royal relative hand-picked by the emperor, and did not have the cost of living.
It can be seen that although all dynasties have a tradition of choosing concubines, they have never been so strict as the Qing Dynasty. Those who are not from the banner people, although they can serve in the palace, they have no possibility of becoming the prince and mother of the harem. This is undoubtedly a maintenance of the royal blood of the Manchurian people, and it is also a silent warning to the alien guards: power can never be shared by foreigners.
The Qing Dynasty was also unique in dealing with the power of princes. At the beginning of their occupation of the Central Plains, the Manchurians knew very well that it would be difficult to unify the Chinese territory with only 30,000 lone troops. Therefore, after they won the world, they made up their minds that they must not repeat the mistakes of the previous dynasty and make the old Zuo of the division of feudal towns and the struggle for power of the clan reappear.
For this reason, the Qing Dynasty imposed various restrictions on the power of the prince and the title of prince. First of all, the princes and princes have no right to control the military and political power.
According to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, princes were canonized as princes from birth, given knighthoods, and hereditary land. It can be described as the most powerful of the powerful. However, they were kept out of the military and political power.
The Qing Dynasty clearly stipulated that the princes and princes were not allowed to leave the capital for the rest of their lives, except for the power of the canonized palace. This seems to be a rule that goes against common sense, but in fact it is to prevent them from taking root in other places and eventually getting involved in the government and provoking the hidden danger of raising the military flag.
Not only that, but the imperial court also set a strict ban on the control of the army by the princes. Even if it is the imperial army, the princes can only serve as idle posts and have no right to order, and the real command is still in the hands of the emperor's cronies. This undoubtedly further deprived the princes of the possibility of controlling the use of force.
All of this is to prevent royal infighting and clan coups.
The Qing Dynasty knew very well that when it entered the customs and opened the country, it must have relied on the military flag and military power to seize the territory. And the premise of all this is that it is thanks to the accumulation of military affairs and the ability to lead the army and command the army of several generations of the Huang Taiji lineage. Therefore, in order to prevent their own clan relatives from encroaching too much and reaching the point of raising the army and brewing turmoil, the only way to completely separate the military power from them is to completely separate the military power from them.
In addition, the Qing Dynasty also had a system of "reducing the number of lords from generation to generation", which artificially suppressed this special class of clans. The implementation of this system made the descendants of the royal family more and more reduced and simplified, and finally belonged to the ordinary people who had no lords and no honors.
It can be seen that whether it is to prevent armed insurrection or to eliminate the accumulated clan contradictions, the Qing Dynasty was quite far-sighted when it entered the Central Plains. The prince was forbidden to control military power for life, a seemingly absurd rule that maintained the continuity of the entire dynasty.
The most criticized "strange" practice of the Qing Dynasty is its strict etiquette rules. As a dynasty founded by frontier nomads, the Manchus paid surprising importance to etiquette.
The reason why the Qing Dynasty was so obsessed with the ritual system was also rooted in the various difficulties they faced when they first entered the Central Plains. As a group of alien races that occupy a very small minority of the population, how to effectively rule the Han nationality, which has an absolute majority in population, is the biggest problem in front of us. To do so, they had to adhere to a strict hierarchical system of etiquette in order to establish their supremacy.
In fact, in the Eight Banners system established by the Manchus, the characteristics of clear hierarchies have long been seen. Among the eight flags, the yellow flag is the most respected and belongs to the royal family; The iron fan flag is second, and it is regarded as a prince and noble; The yellow and white flags are ordinary people. It can be seen that the tradition of hierarchical division is deeply rooted in the Manchu people's way of life.
By the time the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, this hierarchical concept was infinitely magnified and ran through the overall ruling situation. For example, in the ceremonies of the court, there is a strict hierarchy. Civil and military officials must bow to the ground and submit to the absolute authority of the emperor; The ranking of the participating ministers will also be ranked one by one. Even if it is a prince or a nobleman, he is not allowed to trespass at the court meeting.
In addition to this, the clothing of Qing officials also had complex hierarchical rules. The official uniforms worn by officials of all grades and the collar badges worn by them are all in different styles, which directly reflect the division of rank. Even the children of officials born of Manchu and Han intermarriages were often discriminated against when they were promoted to the rank of official, and were considered "impure" and treated unfairly.
In the Qing Dynasty, the concept of hierarchy was everywhere and all the time. Even some small details of life will be given hierarchical meanings and restricted, such as the upper class is not allowed to keep pets such as cats and dogs in the home. It can be seen from this that the mode of thinking of classifying the noble and the inferior has been deeply rooted in the life of the Manchu people.
As a conquering dynasty based on military exploits, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty had to emphasize the hierarchy of the noble and the lowly in their ruling philosophy in order to maintain their own authority, reflecting the cultural concept of upward and downward efficiency. Through a hierarchical system of etiquette, they could consolidate their position as supreme rulers, while at the same time establishing an unquestionable hierarchy for their subjects, which was conducive to long-term peace and stability.
As a dynasty founded by a small number of foreign races, the Qing Dynasty also took some unusual approaches to cultural domination. One of the most criticized is the vigorous promotion of the Chinese language rather than the Manchu language.
On the face of it, this seems counterintuitive. After all, as a new ruling class, it is supposed to promote its own culture, not to absorb the language of the ruled. However, if we look at this decision from the perspective of the overall situation, we can find that it contains the foresight of the Manchus.
At first, the Qing Empire, which had entered the Central Plains, naturally hoped to promote Manchu in many ways in order to dominate the rule at the cultural level. Therefore, Emperor Shunzhi set up the "Manchu Literature Hall" in Beijing to train Manchu talents, and the children of officials were forcibly included in the tide of learning Manchu. Regrettably, however, the Manchu language did not achieve the desired results in the initial promotion.
The main reason for this is that the degree of systematization and standardization of Manchu is far inferior to that of Chinese. As the language of the Manchu people, Manchu is only a language family used by nomads after all, and it is difficult to compare with the long-standing Chinese in terms of writing system and grammatical norms. Therefore, there are many difficulties and limitations in the process of using and disseminating Manchu.
After learning this, the Qing monarch consciously tilted his focus on the promotion of the Chinese language. Since the Kangxi Dynasty, Chinese education has been widely popular among the government and the opposition, and mastering Chinese has become a necessary skill for the eunuch class. Later, during the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong, the superior position of the Chinese language was completely established, and all official examinations adopted Chinese propositions.
This approach seems to be a reversal, but it is also a historical choice that the Qing Dynasty had to make in practice. After all, Chinese culture has a long history, and its influence on ruling the Central Plains region cannot be ignored by any generation of rulers. If we rest on our laurels and insist on promoting the Manchu language while excluding the Chinese language, it will undoubtedly arouse strong dissatisfaction among the Central Plains writers and the people. At that time, the basis of domination will be in jeopardy.
In contrast, although Han is not the native language, it has been rooted in the Central Plains for thousands of years. The Qing dynasty had to accept this cultural reality and chose to use the influence of the Chinese language to consolidate its cultural dominance. In other words, the vigorous promotion of the Chinese language is not untargeted, but out of a helpless but also deliberate political consideration.
In addition to the above-mentioned "strange" regulations, the most criticized thing about the Qing Dynasty is its policy of "closing the country to the outside world". Once implemented, this policy plunged China, a country that has always been open to the outside world, into centuries of isolation and rigidity.
On the surface, the Qing Dynasty's decision to close the country is indeed incomprehensible. But a closer look at the context reveals that there are legitimate reasons for this decision.
The original reason why the Qing Dynasty decided to close itself off can be traced back to the middle and late Ming Dynasty. At that time, the invasion of the Western powers had already posed a serious threat to China's territory and sovereignty. In the face of foreign invasions, the Ming court's response was so weak that the activities of the Western powers in China became more and more rampant.
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, this dangerous situation was not completely resolved by the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. As the emerging rulers, the Manchus were naturally unable to deal with the advanced military technology of the West. Therefore, when the Kangxi Emperor witnessed the rise of Western clergy in Beijing, he was determined to nip it in the bud.
As a result, the policy of "closing the country to the outside world" came into being. The Kangxi Emperor ordered the expulsion of all Westerners in China and the prohibition of any Chinese from studying or traveling abroad. Since then, the imperial court has issued a series of strict decrees prohibiting overseas trade, and even carried out large-scale internal relocation of coastal populations near the sea.
This kind of practice of closing the country seems extreme, but if you look at the practical predicament faced by the Qing Dynasty at that time, it is also a helpless move to give up. After all, as a new minority regime, the Qing Dynasty was simply powerless to deal with the advanced technology and civilization of the West. In contrast, choosing to temporarily close the country to avoid right and wrong is a helpless way to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Regrettably, however, this policy of seclusion, which was supposed to be a temporary expedient measure, was extended until the middle of the 19th century, as it was later inherited indefinitely. This rigid and backward approach finally laid the bane of China's national crisis in the late Qing Dynasty.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty was defeated by another invasion by the Western powers. In the face of the overall backwardness of military science and technology, the Qing Dynasty was no longer able to resist. In the end, China was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties that humiliated the country, and China was reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
It can be seen that although the Qing Dynasty's original policy of closing the country to the outside world was an expedient measure, it eventually laid the root cause and accelerated the decline of the dynasty. This is undoubtedly a profound warning to future generations, reminding us not to rest on our laurels, but to keep pace with the times, be open and inclusive.