Most people have a feel for the basic timeline of history. Or at least, we think we do. We spend the first 18 years of our lives catching up on everything that has happened until today, and with history (and its vast immensity), events are bound to overlap. For example, when the construction of the Great Pyramids began, nearly 4500 years ago, there were still woolly mammoths living off the coast of Siberia. Closer to home, when Orville Wright (who helped invent the first working airplane) died, Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon), was already 17 years old. In the context of America’s Revolutionary era, not many are quick to think of how our national history intertwines with that of nations other than that of Western Europe.
In China, the imperial system flourished under the Qing dynasty. It was at the center of the world's economy as Europeans and Americans sought Chinese goods, and its commerce thrived, its handicraft industries prospered, and Roman Catholic missionaries were tolerated and employed as astronomers and artists. Additionally, painting, printmaking, and porcelain manufacture flourished, and scientific methods of philology were developed. This era, beginning in 1661 and reaching until 1796, is well known in China as the “Kang-Qian flourishing age.”
Kangxi, who was the first ruler of this period of unprecedented prosperity, had one of the longest reigns in dynastic history. In his ascension to the throne in 1661 (as a 7 year old), the rule of the dynasty was volatile and unstable. Throughout the empire, supporters of the old regime plotted to overthrow the Qing dynasty and restore Ming’s rule. Kangxi promoted a program of Sinicization of his government, which included the institution of Confucianism as the state ideology, appointing Han officials, and promoting Han culture among the ruling Manchu class. He managed to woo the Confucian intelligentsia into cooperating with the Qing government, despite their reservations about Manchu rule and their loyalty to the Ming. For instance, he issued the Sacred Edict in 1670, which consisted of 16 maxims to instruct the average citizen of Confucian orthodoxy. He also proposed to compile the Kangxi Dictionary, which became the standard Chinese dictionary during the 18th and 19th centuries. He attached great importance to the restoration of agricultural production, after its devastation during the years of war. After the Manchu conquest, hostilities scaled down as peace returned to China, and the emperor was able to first make tax remissions, then freeze the land tax and corvée altogether. He also suppressed the Revolt of the Three Feudatories in which three lords of the fiefdoms of Yunnan, Guangdong, and Fujian rebelled against the Qing central government.
Succeeding Emperor Kangxi’s rule was the reign of his son, the Yongzheng Emperor, who ruled from 1723 to 1735. He aimed to create an effective government at a minimal expense, and his rule was known for being despotic, efficient, and vigorous. In order to preserve the Qing Empire’s position in Outer Mongolia, he used military force. For the Tibetan campaign, the emperor sent an army of more than 200,000 men against the Dzungars and their army of 80,000. Unlike his father, the emperor was firmy against Christian Converts among the Manchus, stating that “The Lord of Heaven is Heaven itself… In the empire we have a temple for honouring Heaven and sacrificing to Him… We Manchus have our own particular rites for honouring Heaven; the Mongols, Chinese, Russians, and Europeans also have their own particular rites for honouring Heaven. But I never said that he [Urcen, a son of Sunu] could not honour heaven but that everyone has his way of doing it. As a Manchu, Urcen should do it like us.” In 1724, he issued a degree proscribing Catholicism, and the persecution of Chinese Christians quickly followed.
The Qianlong Emperor, the successor to the Yongzheng Emperor reigned from 1735 to 1796, his rule coinciding with the revolutionary era in America. Although the Kangxi Emperor had the longest reign in China, the Qianlong Emperor had the longest de facto reign, as he retained ultimate power until his death in 1799. A capable and cultured ruler, he inherited a thriving empire, and during his rule the empire reached its most prosperous era. His campaigns expanded the territory controlled by the Qing Empire, made possible by both Qing military might as well as the disunity and declining strength of the Inner Asian peoples. He worked to preserve the Manchu heritage, which he viewed as the basis of moral character of the Manchus (and thus, the dynasty’s power). Under his order, Manchu language genealogies, histories, and ritual handbooks were compiled. He further solidified the dynasty’s culture and religion by ordering a replica of the Potala Palace (the Tibetan temple) to be built in Central Asia, on the grounds of the imperial summer palace in Chengde. His insatiable appetite for collecting and acquiring Chinese art made him a major patron and important “preserver and restorer” of Confucian culture. However, in his later years, the emperor became spoiled with power and glory, disillusioned and complacent in his reign, and started to place his trust in corrupted officials. Due to numerous factors such as long term embezzlement and corruption by government officials, frequent expeditions to the south, huge palace constructions, many war and rebellion campaigns, as well as his own extravagant lifestyle, the treasury was cost more than 150 million silver taels. This, coupled with his senior age and lack of political reform, ushered in the beginning of the gradual decline (and eventual demise) of the Qing Empire.
Elise, I thought your post was so insightful and cool- especially in the way that you tied in Western and Eastern histories. Some of the time period connections that you made were so surprising- esp. in your first paragraph! I really liked how besides giving us the 18th century Chinese history, you also connected the theme of Catholicism in as well. I had no idea that there were movements towards Christianity in imperial China in the first place. Also, your choice to compare "the Mongols, Chinese, Russians, and Europeans'" idea of heaven was so neat, especially in the context of the 1724 "degree proscribing Catholicism, and the persecution of Chinese Christians quickly followed." Do you know which philosophers brought Christianity to China in the first place? What were the results of this persecution?
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