Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0088/00888.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 38KB | 605 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00888}
$Pretitle{260}
$Title{Chinese History
Chapter 1B.   The Chinese Regain Power}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Rinn-Sup Shinn, Robert L. Worden}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{china
chinese
government
qing
foreign
new
sun
western
beijing
movement}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Country:     Chinese History
Book:        China, A Country Study: China History
Author:      Rinn-Sup Shinn, Robert L. Worden
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1987

Chapter 1B.   The Chinese Regain Power

      Rivalry among the Mongol imperial heirs, natural disasters, and numerous
peasant uprisings led to the collapse of the Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty
(1368-1644) was founded by a Han Chinese peasant and former Buddhist monk
turned rebel army leader. Having its capital first at Nanjing (which means
Southern Capital) and later at Beijing (Northern Capital), the Ming reached
the zenith of power during the first quarter of the fifteenth century. The
Chinese armies reconquered Annam, as northern Vietnam was then known, in
Southeast Asia and kept back the Mongols, while the Chinese fleet sailed the
China seas and the Indian Ocean, cruising as far as the east coast of Africa.
The maritime Asian nations sent envoys with tribute for the Chinese emperor.
Internally, the Grand Canal was expanded to its farthest limits and proved to
be a stimulus to domestic trade.

      The Ming maritime expeditions stopped rather suddenly after 1433, the
date of the last voyage. Historians have given as one of the reasons the great
expense of large-scale expeditions at a time of preoccupation with northern
defenses against the Mongols. Opposition at court also may have been a
contributing factor, as conservative officials found the concept of expansion
and commercial ventures alien to Chinese ideas of government. Pressure from
the powerful Neo-Confucian bureaucracy led to a revival of strict
agrarian-centered society. The stability of the Ming dynasty, which was
without major disruptions of the population (then around 100 million),
economy, arts, society, or politics, promoted a belief among the Chinese that
they had achieved the most satisfactory civilization on earth and that nothing
foreign was needed or welcome.

      Long wars with the Mongols, incursions by the Japanese into Korea, and
harassment of Chinese coastal cities by the Japanese in the sixteenth century
weakened Ming rule, which became, as earlier Chinese dynasties had, ripe for
an alien takeover. In 1644 the Manchus took Beijing from the north and became
masters of north China, establishing the last imperial dynasty, the Qing
(1644-1911).

The Rise of the Manchus

      Although the Manchus were not Han Chinese and were strongly resisted,
especially in the south, they had assimilated a great deal of Chinese culture
before conquering China Proper. Realizing that to dominate the empire they
would have to do things the Chinese way, the Manchus retained many
institutions of Ming and earlier Chinese derivation. They continued the
Confucian court practices and temple rituals, over which the emperors had
traditionally presided.

      The Manchus continued the Confucian civil service system. Although
Chinese were barred from the highest offices, Chinese officials predominated
over Manchu officeholders outside the capital, except in military positions.
The Neo-Confucian philosophy, emphasizing the obedience of subject to ruler,
was enforced as the state creed. The Manchu emperors also supported Chinese
literary and historical projects of enormous scope; the survival of much of
China's ancient literature is attributed to these projects.

      Ever suspicious of Han Chinese, the Qing rulers put into effect measures
aimed at preventing the absorption of the Manchus into the dominant Han
Chinese population. Han Chinese were prohibited from migrating into the Manchu
homeland, and Manchus were forbidden to engage in trade or manual labor.
Intermarriage between the two groups was forbidden. In many government
positions a system of dual appointments was used--the Chinese appointee was
required to do the substantive work and the Manchu to ensure Han loyalty to
Qing rule.

      The Qing regime was determined to protect itself not only from internal
rebellion but also from foreign invasion. After China Proper had been subdued,
the Manchus conquered Outer Mongolia (now the Mongolian People's Republic) in
the late seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, they gained control
of Central Asia as far as the Pamir Mountains and established a protectorate
over the area commonly known in the West as Tibet, but which the Chinese call
Xizang. The Qing thus became the first dynasty to eliminate successfully all
danger to China Proper from across its land borders. Under Manchu rule the
empire grew to include a larger area than before or since; Taiwan, the last
outpost of anti-Manchu resistance, was also incorporated into China for the
first time. In addition, Qing emperors received tribute from the various
border states.

      The chief threat to China's integrity did not come overland, as it had
so often in the past, but by sea, reaching the southern coastal area first.
Western traders, missionaries, and soldiers of fortune began to arrive in
large numbers even before the Qing, in the sixteenth century. The empire's
inability to evaluate correctly the nature of the new challenge or to respond
flexibly to it resulted in the demise of the Qing and the collapse of the
entire millennia-old framework of dynastic rule.

Emergence of Modern China

      The success of the Qing dynasty in maintaining the old order proved a
liability when the empire was confronted with growing challenges from
seafaring Western powers. The centuries of peace and self-satisfaction dating
back to Ming times had encouraged little change in the attitudes of the ruling
elite. The imperial Neo-Confucian scholars accepted as axiomatic the cultural
superiority of Chinese civilization and the position of the empire at the hub
of their perceived world. To question this assumption, to suggest innovation,
or to promote the adoption of foreign ideas was viewed as tantamount to
heresy. Imperial purges dealt severely with those who deviated from orthodoxy.

      By the nineteenth century, China was experiencing growing internal
pressures of economic origin. By the start of the century, there were over 300
million Chinese, but there was no industry or trade of sufficient scope to
absorb the surplus labor. Moreover, the scarcity of land led to widespread
rural discontent and a breakdown in law and order. The weakening through
corruption of the bureaucratic and military systems and mounting urban
pauperism also contributed to these disturbances. Localized revolts erupted in
various parts of the empire in the early nineteenth century. Secret societies,
such as the White Lotus sect in the north and the Triad Society in the south,
gained ground, combining anti-Manchu subversion with banditry.

The Western Powers Arrive

      As elsewhere in Asia, in China the Portuguese were the pioneers,
establishing a foothold at Macao (Aomen in pinyin), from which they
monopolized foreign trade at the Chinese port of Guangzhou (Canton). Soon the
Spanish arrived, followed by the British and the French.

      Trade between China and the West was carried on in the guise of tribute:
foreigners were obliged to follow the elaborate, centuries-old ritual imposed
on envoys from China's tributary states. There was no conception at the
imperial court that the Europeans would expect or deserve to be treated as
cultural or political equals. The sole exception was Russia, the most powerful
inland neighbor.

      The Manchus were sensitive to the need for security along the northern
land frontier and therefore were prepared to be realistic in dealing with
Russia. The Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) with the Russians, drafted to bring to
an end a series of border incidents and to establish a border between Siberia
and Manchuria (nor