The maps show differences in the shape and size of the country between the time of Qing Dynasty and modern China. During the time of Qing dynasty, China had its territory up north until where Mongolia is now situated, where in the map of modern China, the area in the north that used to be part of China is now a country called Mongolia.
New Anatomy
Wang QingrenWang Qingren (1768-1831) published Yilin Gaicuo (Errors Corrected from the Forest of Physicians) in 1830. His book talked about certain long-held beliefs, such as the claim that urine originated from excrement and that the lungs had 24 holes. From his corpse investigation, he discovered new organs that were not mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine. The organs include: the abdominal aorta, pancreas and diaphragm. He also showed that it was the brain and not the heart, as was previously believed in Chinese medicine that was the seat of thought and memory.
Publishing Boom in Encyclopedias and Medical Books
The encyclopedia was popular in the 1700’s. One Chinese medicine classic during this publishing boom was the Gujin Tushu Jicheng (Collection of Ancient and Modern Works), an encyclopedia of 10,000 chapters which provides background of the history of Chinese medicine. It was published in 1726, about 520 chapters of the encyclopedia focused on medicine. Another famous work was the Yizong Jinjian (Golden Mirror of Medicine) written by Wu Qian in 1742. To this day, this remains an important reference book.
Visitors view a delicate clock at the Liaoning Provincial Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 21, 2006. The clock used to belong to the Royal Palace of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).In category of machinery, during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1735-1796) of the Qing dynasty, the palace also produced a big clock with distinctive Chinese features. Chinese watchmakers produced a lot of novel watches and clocks in the Qing dynasties. Guangzhou in South China, and Suzhou, Nanjing, and Yangzhou of East China were cities famous for their watches at the time.
Astronomical instruments
Celestial Globe
The Celestial Globe was built in 1673 AD. It was a sphere marked with stars, the celestial equator and the ecliptic. This instrument was used to measure time and to show the positions of celestial objects at different times.
Eliciptic Armillary Sphere
The Ecliptic Armillary Sphere was made in 1673 AD. It was the first self-standing observational instrument. It was used to measure solar time and declination of celestial bodies.
Quadrant
The Quadrant was made in 1673 used to measure the altitude of celestial objects from the horizon.
Economy
In the area of trade, Qing dynasty was a time of great expansion. After years of being closed off to the rest of the world, China was finally open again for trade. The spice trade in the East Indies was flourishing. Merchant ships from Portugal, England, and the Netherlands made frequent trips to the Far East to trade western goods for cinnamon, pepper, and nutmeg. However, the most important of the trading items was tea. In the area of agriculture, it was the most important economic activity, which also led to development in trade, since trade was based in agricultural products. In the 18th century, Chinese agriculture was the most advanced in the world. According to Chinese geography, south of China has wet climate made it possible to grow rice, while it was dry in the north, so the main crop in the north was wheat. Some agricultural products are cotton, sugar cane, tea, peanuts, sweet potatoes and maize. In the area of industry, in 1770, peasants’ tax was the lowest in the history of China. The crafts and minor industries in the cities were equally much higher developed in China than in Europe. Textile industry first provided an extra income to the peasant families, but later developed to a separate industrial branch with factory workers, especially in cities that were famous for silk production. Moreover, tea plantation and porcelain were famous in big cities.
Men's style of clothing and hair style during the reign of Manchu Dynasty
The reign of Manchu (Qing) dynasty influenced Chinese society in many ways, such as type of clothing and hair style. It was compulsory that Chinese men to shave off the hair on the front half of the head and braid the remaining hair into a long pigtail (queue). The Manchu also made people wear Manchu clothes instead of the Ming dynasty’s. However, they did not require the Chinese women to change their dress, but they prohibited them to bind their feet. Moreover, Qi pao and Tang Zhuang, which are regarded as traditional Chinese clothing nowadays, were actually Manchu-style. Despite the type of clothes and hair style, the Manchu set up the Eight Banners system to avoid being assimilated into the Chinese. It was a military institution where the Manchu (banner men) were meant to identify. In addition, they were encouraged to use the Manchu language instead of using Chinese.
Government
A general during Qing Dynasty
Manchu rulers used the Chinese government system that existed during the Tang Dynasty, and also added some new elements that would ensure an autocrat type of rule. The Manchu moved the capital from Shenyang to Beijing in 1644. Under this system of government, the male relatives of the Manchu emperor were allowed to take part in the central government. Princes were not sent to govern territories like under Han and Jin Dynasties to prevent rebellion against the emperor. The Censor position (taken from the Ming dynasty); the censor’s job was to maintain discipline of the people over the officialdom. An important office of the empire was a translation bureau, publishing dictionaries for Mongolian, Kalmükian, Manchurian, and Turkish. The territories, the territorial administration was organized in prefectures, departments, and headed by a magistrate. In military, the troops organized in eight Manchu banners, and later increased by eight Mongol and eight Chinese banners. Each banner was commanded by a Commander-in-chief and stayed under the authority of the emperor or one of the princes. There was significance in choosing Chinese officials, the "Green Standards". This standard was a system of competitive examination to find employable officials (Manchu, Mongol and Chinese). The first step was the prefecture examinations. People that passed this examination were allowed to take over lower-rank officials, and people who passed the higher examinations were able to become high-rank officials after studying at the central Hanlin Academy. The examinations took three days, the candidates were asked to interpret Confucian classics and to write essays in prescribed literary forms. All official posts were graded in a nine rank system which was also a system during the Tang Dynasty.
Religion/Philosophy
Shuang Xi - symbol of Confucianism
The important religions of Qing dynasty were Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Confucianism, adopted by the Qing emperor, was the Qing dynasty’s official religion. Confucius was honored as the greatest of the Saints. As a result, it influenced the Qing system of government, for example; it influenced the system of government, the green standard, examination for selecting people to work for the governent, showing that hte goverment concerned for its people's education, the one that they would employ must have high level of education, which was influenced from Confucianism way of finding truth. In contrary, Qing rulers didn’t believe in Taoism, but to win the support of the Han people, the rulers had to turn to Taoism because Taoism had closer relations with underground organizations that were rebellious against governments. Another religion was Buddhism, which influenced the Qing dynasty in the areas of arts.
The Bell of Buddhist Images of the Qing Dynasty. Four relief images of Buddha were cast around the surface of the bell.
Qianlong EmperorQianlong Emperor was born on Sept 25, 1711. He was the fourth Qing emperor. Later in his life, he retired, which actually was a filial act in order not to reign longer than his grandfather, Kang xi. Although he was retired, but his power was retained until his death on Feb 2, 1799. In his time, China was expanded to its greatest extent. It was the time of the greatest prosperity. Part of the reasons why China was very successful at that time was because he used "literary inquisition" to control the Chinese by creating a law to prohibit people writing any words politically. Although, there were many uprisings, but they were all put down eventually. Moreover, he subdued the Turkish and Mongolian threats to northern China, and was a patron of the arts.
Empress Dowager CiXi
Empress Dowager Ci Xi was originally named Xiao Lan (Little Orchid), who was one of the most powerful woman in Chinese history. She was born in noble family in South China in the year 1835. Later in1851, she was chosen to be one of Emperor Xianfeng's concubines and renamed Cixi, which means "Holy Mother". After emperor Xianfeng was dead in1861, her six-year-old son was given the throne in the following year. As a result, she became powerful and seized power over the state of affairs. After her son’s death, the throne was given to her nephew. However, she actually controlled all the state affairs during both reigns of her son and her nephew. Later, she wanted to have all the power over the country, so she poisoned the first wife of Xianfeng. In addition, in 1898 her brutality made her put Emperor in a house arrest, due to his support to the new reform. Before her death at the age of 73, she put Emperor Puyi, 3-year-old child to the throne.
George Washington
George Washington was born on Feb. 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Va. As a militiaman, Washington had been exposed to the arrogance of the British officers. Washington was selected as commander in chief of the Continental Army and took command at Cambridge on July 3, 1775. He conducted the war on the policy of avoiding major engagements with the British and wearing them down by harassing tactics. His able generalship, along with the French alliance and the growing weariness within Britain, brought the war to a conclusion with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va., on Oct. 19, 1781. He presided over the Constitutional Convention and yielded to the universal demand that he serve as first president. He was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, in New York, the first national capital. In office, he sought to unite the nation and establish the authority of the new government at home and abroad. Following his unanimous reelection in 1792, his second term was dominated by the Federalists. He died at Mount Vernon on Dec. 14, 1799.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on 15 August 1769 in Corsica. He studied at military school, and was promoted and in 1796. He was a French commander who fought in order to have peace over Austria and its allies. He later became the emperor of France, and he fought many wars and conquered many countries in Europe. The Peninsular War began in 1808. Costly French defeats over the next five years drained French military resources. Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 resulted in a disastrous retreat. The tide started to turn in favour of the allies and in March 1814, Paris fell. Napoleon went into exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba. In March 1815 he escaped and marched on the French capital. The Battle of Waterloo ended his brief reign. The British imprisoned him on the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena where he died on 5 May 1821.
Others
Opium wars
There were two wars between China and the West in Chinese history. The first was between Great Britain and China. Early in the 19th century (1839–42), British merchants smuggled opium into China to balance their purchases of tea for export to Britain (First China did not import anything from Britain). In 1839, China solved the problem by sending an official to destroy opium in Guangzhou (Canton), as a result large quantity of opium confiscated from British merchants. Great Britain in turn responded by sending gunboats to attack Chinese coastal cities. China was unable to fight against the British gunboats, so China forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and the British Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue (1843). The treaties said the ports of Guangzhou, Jinmen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai should be opened for British. In addition, Hong Kong was given to the British. In 1856 a second war (1856–60) broke out in Guangzhou. British and French armies took Guangzhou and Tianjin. They forced the Chinese to sign the treaty of Tianjin (1858). In this treaty, China was to open more ports, allow Christian missionaries, and make opium trading legal. After that, the British and French took over Beijing and burned the Summer Palace.
Chinese coastguardsforces fought with their bodies against the invaders using muskets.
Summary
- Monglia used to be part of China during the Qing dynasty.
- Technology during Qing dynasty consisted of medical advancement and machinery while the economy was heavily dependent on agriculture and trade.
- Social changes occurred during Qing dynasty were the changes in styles of clothing, hair style, racial division, and language.
- System of government during Qing dynasty was autocratic, the overall power was at the central controlled by the emperor, and people were chosen according to their knowledge and experience.
- Confucianism was the most acceptable among higher- class people while Taoism was accepted more among the lower-class people.
- During Qing dynasty, some of the important leaders of China were Emperor Qianlong and Empress Dowager Cixi while in other civilizations their great leaders were George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.
- Opium was the cause of China losing its territories, ports, money, and people to Britain.
Timeline
“Map of Ancient China.” Chinahighlights.com. China Highlights Travel. 4 February 2007.<http://www.chinahighlights.com/map/map_ancient_china.htm>.
“Chinese History - Qing Dynasty Economy.” Chinaknowledge.de. 5 February 2007. <http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-econ.html>.
“Chinese History - Qing Dynasty government and administration.” Chinaknowledge.de. 5 February 2007. < http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-admin.html>.
Gang, Li. “Daoism during Qing Dynasty.”Taoism.org. 5 February 2007. <http://www.eng.taoism.org.hk/general-daoism/development-of-daoism/pg1-2-6-2.asp>.
“Timepieces of Qing Dynasty shown in NE China.” Peopledaily.com.cn. 22 September 2006. 6 February 2006.<http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200609/22/eng20060922_305346.html>.
“George Washington.” Infoplease.com. 9 February, 2007. 9 February 2007. <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0760587.html>.
“Opium Wars.” Infoplease.com . 9 February, 2007. 9 February 2007. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0836734.html>.
