The Ching Dynasty, founded
by the Manchu people, who referred to themselves as the Jurchen, was the last
feudal period in Chinese history. The Mongolians were the first to rule
the whole China, but they brutally repressed the Chinese and their reigns lasted
fewer than eighty years because of peasant revolutions. The Manchurians
were the second minority to rule the Han people, and they learned from the
mistakes of the Mongolians. Their government wanted the Manchu and the Han
to live harmoniously together. For example, they encouraged interracial
marriages between the Manchu and the Han. At the beginning of the dynasty,
the imperial China reached its zenith of power. However, unfortunately at
the end, China attained its nadir; European imperialists attacked China, and the
Japanese subsequently waged the Sino-Japanese War.
The Jurchen people lived in the Northeastern region of
the China, their descendents now live along with the Han. The Jurchen was
the former name for the Manchu. During the Early Sung Dynasty, the Jurchen,
who had been under the power of the Khitan, overthrew them and instituted the
Chin government in lieu of the Liao. The Chin Dynasty lasted from 1115 to
1234, and posed as a significant threat in front of the Late Sung Dynasty, which
was bullied by the enormous power of the Nomadic tribe.
In the ending years of the Ming Dynasty, Nurhachi, a great
leader of the Jurchen, emerged and united the separate divisions within the
Jurchen tribe. He first declared the tribe the Late Jin Dynasty, then
later his son, Abahai, changed the name to Ching.
Wu San-kui, who formerly had been a faithful general of the
Ming Dynasty, declared a never-ending vendetta against the Ming emperor for the
sake of his lover. He betrayed his master and led the Ching army through
the Great Wall. Fu-lin succeeded after Abahai's death. Dorgan,
rumored to be the murderer of Abahai, aided Fu-lin the Emperor in defeating the
Ming army and capturing the capital of Ming, Peking. Soon, Fu-lin moved
the capital to Peking, and officially ruled the country, and the rule of Ching
lasted almost three hundred years.