The Qing Glory Days

(http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial3.html#qing)

            The Qing are not only famous for their early success in ruling the Chinese through a mixture of benevolence and force, they are also famous for expanding the Chinese empire to its present day boundaries – in some cases, even beyond them. In the 18^th century, the Qing emperors led Chinese expansion into Mongolia, Tibet, and Chinese-Turkestan. (Fairbanks) The Qing also led expeditions north to the Russian borders in the late 17^th century. The impressive Qing forces significantly intimidated Russians, and the result was the 1689 treaty of Nanchinsk. This treaty solidified Russian/Chinese borders, and permitted a few Russian missionaries into Beijing.

            The glory days of any empire are marked by a willingness to exchange ideas and creativity, much like the highly extolled Arab empire in the middle ages, where learning took place despite an aversion to scholarly pursuits in Europe. The Qing dynasty was no different. They allowed Russian Orthodox, Jesuit, Dominican and Franciscan missionaries into Beijing to mildly proselytize, and study Chinese works. Jesuit priests were the first to arrive, and after winning a few converts, they relaxed their rules to allow for a bit of ancestor worship here and there. The Jesuit Matteo Ricci was even supported on an Imperial salary in Beijing. (Fairbanks) Matteo Ricci is pictured at left. (Image taken from http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/images/mricci.gif)

Unfortunately, the Christians took their squabbles to Beijing with them. The Dominican and Franciscan monks were appalled at the Jesuit’s laxity, and accused them of blasphemy. The Pope ended up having to send two envoys to Beijing to explain the structure of the Christian Church. The Yongzheng emperor became so fed up with their fighting that he declared Christianity “dissident” (Fairbanks) and outlawed it everywhere except Beijing where the Christians were allowed to stay.

The Yongzheng emperor’s first contact with the west was culturally instructive, but this did not stop the emperor from reacting defensively to the Christian encroachment on Chinese/Manchu culture. The emperor outlawed the religion because he saw it as a threat to the Qing dynasty. If anything, the Qing emperors were known for their paranoia when it comes to rebellions. Even at the very end of the dynasty, they are terrified that the Chinese will throw them out because the Manchus are “foreign.” The Qing embodied the essence of good foreign rule. They managed to rule China well, but in the end, they were still foreign, and afraid that they would fall because of it – hence the emphasis on Manchu superiority.

It was through religion that the Chinese first truly came into contact with the Western world. The Qing emperors used religion as a medium for communication with foreign powers. We only really start to see problems with western relations when the relationships become secular.

The contact with Jesuit priests was truly helpful though, because it led to high demand for Chinese products in Europe once everyone had heard the remarkable praise the Jesuits had of Chinese culture. “Chinoiserie,” in the form of porcelain, silk and tea, became popular with the elite of Europe. The Jesuits also translated many Chinese texts into European languages.

 The Qing dynasty not only had positive contact with Europeans, it had fairly positive contact within the borders of the empire itself. America is said to be melting pot today, but China under the Manchus was no less a melting pot than America is; the Qing were just a little less tolerant of political dissension. This is seen in their persecution of authors who criticized Qing works. A man named Wang Xihou published a dictionary criticizing a dictionary commissioned by the Kangxi emperor. He also published the full temple names of the Qing emperors – the epitome of taboo. He was executed and his family was enslaved. (Fairbanks)

Imperial regimes have always looked down on dissenters. The Qing emperors were merely keeping up a tradition. The Qing emperors were known for their patronage of arts that supported their reign, and put a lot of money and effort into supporting work they deemed harmless. The Kangxi emperor was well known for the dictionary (encyclopedia) that he published well before the Europeans were compiling their own encyclopedias. In fact, there were quite a few industrial porcelain and textile centers (albeit, a bit less advanced than those of Europe) in China that were very successful during the Qing reign. (Fairbanks) This pattern might have continued had it not been for the imperialist monopolies of the 19^th century. A piece of Qing porcelain is pictured at left. Image found at http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/images.html.

    Under the Qing, the population of china grew rapidly. From 1790 to 1840, the population doubled in size. (Fairbanks) This was due to a combination of factors: peace during the 1700s, disease control, better transportation systems within China, and an increase in foreign trade at Guangzhou. The Qing were the second dynasty to use a vaccination for small pox, and the first to use it enough that the lapse in deaths caused a population boom. The other three factors are all due to the competent emperors who cared what happened to the people they ruled – even if they were an “inferior” race.