The History Book

187

See also: Marco Polo reaches Shangdu 104–05 ■ Hongwu founds the Ming dynasty 120–27 ■

The Second Opium War 254–55 ■ The Long March 304–05

THE EARLY MODERN ERA

of his two immediate successors,

China enjoyed a golden age of

peace, economic prosperity, and

political stability that lasted until

the late 18th century.

A global superpower

During his 61-year reign, Kangxi

won the cooperation and loyalty of

his native Han Chinese subjects—

who had once viewed the Manchu

as barbarians—by preserving and

honoring China’s cultural heritage.

He also continued the preceeding

dynasty’s form of government, and

allowed Ming officials to retain

their provincial posts alongside

Manchu appointees, although the

latter supervised most of the work.

Qing China became immensely

powerful during the reigns of the

next two emperors—Yongzheng

(1722–35), who also kept a tight

control on government and the

bureaucracy and increased state

revenues by reforming the tax

system, and Qianlong (1735–96),

under whom the empire’s borders

reached their greatest extent and

the population boomed. Qianlong

was an avid patron of the arts who

wrote poetry and sponsored literary

projects that enhanced his people’s

reputation—although at the same

time, he banned or destroyed books

that were judged to be anti-Qing.

Qing society

The era of the Three Emperors

was conservative in many ways:

Han Chinese men were required

to wear the Manchu hairstyle,

in which the front and sides of

the head were shaved, and the

remaining hair plaited into a braid;

society was rigidly hierarchical,

and there were strict conventions

regarding the conduct of women,

laws against homosexuality, and

censorship. Yet the country’s

economy grew substantially in

the early part of the Qing period,

thanks to a strong demand in the

West for luxury products such as

silk, porcelain, and tea.

However, by the beginning

of the 19th century, the regime’s

repressive treatment of the Han

Chinese people, together with

famine and widespread addiction

to opium—which had been brought

into China by European traders—

had sent the country into decline.

These factors sowed the seeds of

rebellions, trading disputes, and

wars with European trading

partners in the mid-19th century. ■

The Revolt of

the Three

Feudatories

fails, marking

the end of

resistance to

Manchu power.

The first three

Qing emperors

legitimize

their foreign

rule by

adopting

Chinese ways.

In the stability

that follows,

China triples

in size and

the economy

expands

rapidly.

In the 18th century, China becomes the biggest

manufacturing power in the world.

The Jesuits in China

In 1540, Ignatius of Loyola, a

Catholic theologian from Spain,

founded the Society of Jesus—

the Jesuits—with the aim of

spreading the faith through the

teachings of Jesus. The Catholic

Church sent Jesuit missionaries

to China during the Ming and

early Qing periods, and initially

they were welcomed. Kangxi

was curious about the Jesuits’

knowledge of science (especially

mathematics and astronomy)

and technology (particularly the

manufacture of weapons and

pumps). He appointed Jesuits to

the imperial board of astronomy,

and it was a Jesuit who made

the first accurate map of Beijing.

Kangxi gave Catholics

freedom of worship in China,

and the Jesuits allowed Chinese

converts to continue their rites

of ancestor worship (they saw

these as commemorations of

the dead rather than true acts

of veneration). However, when

a visiting Vatican envoy ruled

against the ancestral rites, and

the pope followed suit, Kangxi

expelled Jesuit missionaries

who opposed the practice.

By the end of the 19th century, the Qing are a power in name only,

as the pressures of European imperial expansion and

growing internal dissent fatally weaken the regime.

US_186-187_Three_Emperors.indd 187 15/02/2016 16:42