The Ching Dynasty
flourished between 1622 and 1796; its climax took place during the reigns of
three consecutive emperors: Kang-hsi, Yung-cheng, and Chien-lung.
The Emperor Kang-hsi, often acclaimed the most judicious emperor in history,
ruled the country for sixty-one years, longer than any other emperor. He
re-integrated the island Taiwan into China after having defeated the Dutch
Colonists that had occupied the island for many years. He vanquished the
rebellion by three Kings, Wu San-kui, Shang Ko-hsi, and Keng Ching-chung , that
had helped the establishment of the Ching Dynasty. He signed the
Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk, which determined the border between the two
countries; the treaty greatly expanded the land owned by China, although all of
it was later lost to Russia. During the reign of Chien-lung, the emperor
officially incorporated Sinkiang into the map of China after having subdued the
Uygurs.
Although these three emperors brought a climax to the
national history, they also brought about extreme punishment and censorship.
Any poem or literature that criticizes the invasion of the Manchu race was
immediately destroyed, and the author executed. The officers, whose jobs
were to look for these poems and literatures, almost always exaggerated writers'
reluctance to be part of the Manchurian empire; severe cases resulted in the
capital punishment for all in the family.
Arrogance played a huge role during the first few reigns; the
government believed that China was the most powerful nation in the whole world
that it isolated the country. Isolationism made China fall behind the
developed countries in Europe. Insurgents from the White Lotus Sect forced
the Ching dynasty to decline. The Opium War broke out in 1840; the war
deteriorated the relationship between China and western nations. After the
war, the Ching Dynasty was coerced into signing unreasonable treaties. In
the end, China moved into a period in which the country was semi-feudalist and
semi-colonized.
The Ching Dynasty had to reform. Unwillingly, the
Empress Tzu-hsi instituted constitutional monarchy, which did not affect the
power of her reign because of the parameters she had set up. During the
Revolution of 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-sen marched into the Forbidden city and
overthrew the emperor of Ching, who was merely six years old at that time.
The Nationalist Army brought an end to feudalism in China and constructed the
Republican China.