Chinese Culture II – WLC 332

Study Guide – Week 7

Table of Contents
THE END OF THE MING DYNASTY AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE QING DYNASTY...........................................1
THE EAST ASIA SITUATION.............................................................................................................................................2
THE RISE OF THE JURCHEN (女真族)...................................................................................................................................3
AISIN-GIORO NURHACHI (爱新觉罗·努尔哈赤)........................................................................................................................3
THE EIGHT BANNER RULING SYSTEM................................................................................................................................4
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LATER JIN (后金)..........................................................................................................................4
EUNUCHS CONTROLLED POWER OF THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT...........................................................................................5
THE “LITTLE ICE AGE (小冰期)”.........................................................................................................................................5
THE PEASANTS UPRISING............................................................................................................................................... 6
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE QING KINGDOM....................................................................................................................7
THE END OF THE MING DYNASTY....................................................................................................................................7
DORGON DEFEATED LI ZICHENG AND ESTABLISHED THE QING DYNASTY..................................................................................8
THE TABLE OF THE QING DYNASTY EMPERORS TO 1796....................................................................................................10
THE FOURTH UNIFICATION OF CHINA................................................................................................................ 11
DUTCH INVADED TAIWAN............................................................................................................................................11
ZHENG CHENGGONG (郑成功)........................................................................................................................................13
THE DEVELOPMENT AND DECLINE OF TAIWAN..................................................................................................................14
THE QING RECOVERED TAIWAN....................................................................................................................................15
THE QING GOVERNMENT.................................................................................................................................. 16
GOVERNMENT SYSTEM................................................................................................................................................16
Hereditary titles............................................................................................................................................... 16
Cabinet (內阁).....................................................................................................................................................17
the Grand Council (军机处)..................................................................................................................................17
THE MEMORIAL TO THE THRONE (奏折, AS WRITTEN ON PAPER FOLDED IN ACCORDION FORM)...................................................18
GOVERNMENT TAX.....................................................................................................................................................20
Abolish poll tax.................................................................................................................................................20
Land and laborer as one (摊丁入亩)......................................................................................................................21

The End of the Ming Dynasty and the Establishment of the Qing
Dynasty
In 1598, a European missionary named Matteo Ricci visited Peking city of the Ming
Empire for the first time. The city in front of him shocked him. At that time, the famous
European city, Paris, only had a total population slightly greater than 200,000, whereas Beijing
(Peking) was a super city with millions of people. The Ming Empire centered on Peking was one
of the largest civilizations in the world at that time.

1
 Matteo Ricci was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit
China missions. He became the first European to visit the Imperial City in 1601 when he was
invited by the Emperor Wanli (万历皇帝) who sought his services in matters such as court
astronomy and calendrical science.
When Matteo Ricci met the Emperor Wanli he presented to the emperor a "Kunyu
World Map (坤舆万国图)". On this world map, China was drawn in the center, which seemed to hint
that Europe’s yearning to the Ming Dynasty.

Figure 1. Matteo Ricci’s map (Source: [Link], Fair Use Determination)

With the assistance of Western missionaries, the famous Western artillery expert of the
Ming Dynasty, Sun Yuanhua (孙元化), governor on military affair of Shandong province, created a
force with the strongest combat effectiveness in Shandong using Western-style artillery
equipment, and he also hired Western military consultants to personally train soldiers. It
seemed that the power of the Ming Dynasty was beyond doubt. However, why was it destroyed
in only a few decades?

The East Asia situation

At this time when Eastern and Western civilizations began to increase communications,
a series of extraordinary changes were also taking place within the entire East Asian civilization
system, and these changes were concentrated in Northeast Asia.
In 1598, Japan launched an aggressive war against Korea. The Ming Dynasty sent huge
troops and materials to help Korea. Japan was defeated in the war and negotiated peace with
Korea, returned the captives, and withdrew from Korea. During the war, the Ming Empire
consumed huge resources.

2
The rise of the Jurchen (女真族)
In northeastern region of the Ming empire, there were many famous tribes with long
histories. Jurchen was a relatively weak one in that area at that time. In course WLC 331, we
discussed the Western Zhou Dynasty, where the King Zhouwu (周武王) had an alliance of Jurchen
people overthrow the Shang Dynasty. In these hundreds of years, although the Central Plains
Dynasty changed many times, the Jurchen people have maintained close contact with the
Central Plains Dynasty and repeatedly presented tributes to them.
Guangning City (广宁城) in the Ming Dynasty, today’s Beizhen in Jinzhou, Liaoning province
(今天辽宁锦州的北镇), was an important military town in the Eastern Liaoning (辽东). At that time, Li
Chengliang (李成梁), the eastern Liaoning general, led his troops and was stationed here. The
Ming Dynasty’s management of the Jurchen and other tribes had always paid attention to
balance. To balance the various ministries such as Jurchen, Mongols, and Korean tribes, Li
Chengliang led his troops to constantly deal with various forces.

Aisin-Gioro Nurhachi (爱新觉罗·努尔哈赤)

In a battle to attack the Jurchen tribe, Jue Changan (觉昌安) and Tuckeshi (塔克世), his son,
served as the guide for Li Chengliang. Unfortunately, the father and son were mis-killed by Li
Chengliang's sergeant. As compensation, on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, Li Chengliang
appointed Jue Changan’s grandson, Aisin-Gioro Nurhachi, as the commander of Jianzhou (建州) in
the Eastern Liaoning.
As the commander of Jianzhou, from 1583, Nurhaci gathered the strength left by his
grandfathers and began to unify the various ministries of Jianzhou Jurchen. By 1603, Hetuala
city (赫图阿拉城) was built, and Nurhaci quickly realized the importance for unification of all
Jurchen ministries. In one hand, he looked for cooperation with Mongolian and North Korean
tribes, and on another, he expressed obedience to the Ming Dynasty central government, and
condemned the ambassadors every year to pay tribute to them.

The Eight Banner ruling system(八旗制度)

After recruiting a huge number of civilians, Nurhachi created a form of ruling system, in
which people were ruled by their banners, the soldiers were commanded by their banners. In
slack farming season, people prepared for war, and in the busy farming season, people focused
on agriculture. So, the banners were the ruling system that military and social structure of the
people were combined.
At beginning, there were four-color banners, which was yellow, white, red, and blue,
under each banner, there were subordinate units. Later, due to the increase in population, four
more colors of inlay yellow, inlay white, inlay red, and inlay blue were added. So, the Eight-
banners system was established.

3
Establishment of the Later Jin (后金)
In 1599, Nurhachi gave an order to create the Manchu language with the Mongols
alphabet and the Jurchen pronunciation and completed his great cause of unifying Jurchen
tribes. In 1616, Nurhaci traced back the Jurchen regime of his ancestors in the Northern Song
Dynasty, the Jin kingdom, established a new regime, Da Jin, also known as Later Jin in history,
and set Hetuala city as the capital of the Later Jin. He claimed to be ordered by heaven to
nurture the wise khan of the nations and began to learn the political culture of the Central
Plains.
From 1583 to 1616, Nurhaci's power had continued to grow. After more than 30 years,
he was finally able to fight the Ming Dynasty.
In 1619, faced by the rapid rise of the Later Jin in the eastern Liaoning, the Ming dynasty
gathered several armies with a total force of more than 100,000, divided into 4 squads, and
moved toward the capital city of the Later Jin, Hetuala.
Nurhaci had only 10,000 troops. Although was at a disadvantage, he frankly said that “it
did not matter how many troops they had, I would only go all the way (随他几路来，我只一路去)”. This
battle, using the few to defeat the many, made Nurhachi become famous. After this battle, the
balance of power between the Ming and the Later Jin had fundamentally changed.
In 1621, Nurhaci led his army to the Ming again, and successively occupied more than 70
cities east of the Liao River. The overall situation of the east Liao region was increasingly
detrimental to the Ming. However, due to the eunuchs controlling the government, they were
still arguing endlessly about whether to fight or defend.
However, in a battle with the Ming Dynasty in 1626, Nurhachi was defeated. This was a
big shame for him. In October of 1626, Nurhachi died from sickness.

Eunuchs controlled power of the imperial government

The emperor established a cabinet. Although the cabinet's status is very high, in fact,
this is a staff organization without real power. So, it is impossible for the emperor to take care
of everything by himself, and the same is true for major national issues.

Because eunuchs were the people beside the emperor all time, the emperor gave most
of the decision-making power to them. He issued them seals as a symbol of decision-making
power. In the "History of Ming Dynasty", it recorded: "The cabinet's votes needed to be
approved by the eunuch, so, the emperor's right was transferred to the eunuch. (然内阁之拟票，不得
不决于内监之批红，而相权转归之寺人)". This presented a very strange situation, which if the cabinet wants
to complete some government affairs the members of the cabinet must have a good
relationship with the eunuchs, and the emperors did this to avoid the dominance of any party.

4
 There were too many eunuch groups and different levels in these eunuch groups in the
Ming Dynasty. In their heyday, these institutions had more than 100,000 eunuchs.
With such a large scale and complex composition, they have assumed these powers
overall. However, the power in their hands could not be centralized either. If they wanted to
threaten the imperial power the eunuchs had to put aside their core institutions and all stand-
by one person's view. It was completely impossible because if the lower level eunuchs took
down the higher-level eunuchs, they would have the opportunity to rise. So, inside these
eunuch groups it was also filled with conflicts and struggles for power.
In the middle and late Ming dynasty, the struggles between party groups became more
and more fierce, because whether it was the power of the inner court controlled by eunuchs or
the external cabinet members, they had to align all the power within themselves.
Decentralizing the imperial power to eunuchs made it more and more difficult for any singular
party to control the power. Eventually the eunuchs' power felled, and the cabinet's power was
completely enlarged. This situation in the Palace seriously shooke the base of the imperial
power.

The “little ice age (小冰期)”

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the annual average temperature throughout China was
much lower than it is now. In summer, severe droughts and floods occurred one after another,
while the winters were extremely cold. Not only in the North, but also some places in the South
had snowstorms. This natural phenomenon is known as “little ice age”
When the temperature drops, there will be a chain reaction. not only droughts and
floods, also locust and plagues were frequent. In 1580, Datong, Shanxi province (大同， 山西), "a
masterpiece of plague, among ten houses, nine of them became empty spaces".
These natural disasters reached their peak at the end of the Ming Dynasty. From 1627
to 1641, the Yellow River Basin suffered from droughts almost every year. So that there was a
tragedy of people eating each other.

The prevalence of drought, floods, locust, and plagues not only reduced the population,
but also created refugees. The refugees seek survival by fleeing from famine and migrating.
However, where the “migrants” gather there would often be “chaotic people”. People wanted
to survive, so peasant uprisings were triggered.
Many peasant uprisings at the end of the Ming Dynasty were because the people had no
food. In addition, because the eunuchs held the imperial power, many decisions form the
emperor could not be carried out to the localities immediately in dealing with social security.
The officials and the government were unable to respond to the crisis caused by these
disasters. These corrupt behaviors were eroding the government's functions of relief and
disaster relief.
5
 The cold weather also affected the planting industry in North China and Jiangnan and
the animal husbandry in Northeast China. Agriculture in the Northeast has high demand for
heat. When the "little ice age" happened, the cultivated land in the Northeast declined
significantly compared with the period the Song and the Yuan Dynasties. This is due to the lack
of heat due to the arrival of the “Little Ice Age”.
The ethnic minorities in the Northeast and the Jurchens chose to migrate to south. The
hunting people of the northeast moved to the south to establish political power, and they
would inevitably clash with the Ming court.
The peasants uprising
Due to the wars with Japan and Nurhachi, the finances of the Ming government were
low. In 1629, the Ming Court had to cut down the courier station system (驿递系统) by 30% to cut
expenditures. As a result, communications were interrupted. The local governments were not
sure if their information about local status could finally be delivered to the capital.
Li Zicheng, a post man, worked at local courier station lost his job because the system
was cut. With no resources for living he had to join the peasant uprisings and became the
leader of the peasant uprising after the previous leader, Gao Dashing King, died, and came to be
known as Li Dashing King (李闯王).
The establishment of the Qing kingdom
After Nurhachi died, his eighth son, the 34-year-old Abahai (Huang Taiji 皇太极) was
promoted to the position of Khan because of his outstanding talents and first imitated the
system of the Ming Dynasty by setting up a cabinet.
At this time, the Later Jin gradually completed the internal reforms. The Jurchens
formed a new ethnic community after absorbing Han, Korean, Mongols, Daur (达斡尔族), Xibe (锡伯
族) and other ethnic groups.
On November 22, 1635, Abahai officially ordered the name of the clan to be Manchu (满
洲族), so the Manchuria clan was formally formed. In 1636, Abahai proclaimed himself the
Manchuria emperor and announced that the name of his kingdom was changed from the later
Jin to the Qing (清) and moved its capital to today’s Shenyan in the northeast and named it as
Shengjing (盛京). From then on, Abahai placed his main force on attacking the Ming Dynasty.
By then, Abahai, had three sets of troops, the Manchu as infantry, Mongols as cavalry,
and Han as artillery. In each battle, he transferred all the most elite soldiers of Manchuria to
fight a small city of the Ming Dynasty. Since the missionaries from Europe helped the Ming to
build cannons, every city was equipped with artillery. When harvesting a city, Abahai collected
the artillery of the defeated city, and used these artilleries to attack next city.
On August 9, 1643, Abahai died. The Qing suffered serious civil turmoil due to the
succession problem. Finally, Dorgon (多尔衮), Abahai’s youger brother, and Dorgon’s cousin Jier
Harang (济尔哈朗), supported Abahai’s youngest son, Fulin (福临), as the heir. Dorgon and Jier

6
Harang resolved the succession crisis and both held the real power of the Qing as Fulin was only
5 years old then.
In 1644, the Qing began to enter the Central Plains, by then, the Qing had a total of
about 100,000 people with 100 artillery. With this scale, the Qing would not have a chance to
defeat the Ming Dynasty, but in the next short year or two, the Ming Dynasty had 1 million
troops surrendered to the Qing.

The end of the Ming Dynasty

In Spring of 1644, Li Zicheng officially announced the founding of the country, named
Dashun (大顺). In mid-March, his two peasant armies joined forces outside of Beijing and began
to attack the city. In the early morning of March 19, the Emperor Chongzhen (崇祯皇帝) hung
himself on a locust tree at the foot of Mei Mountain (煤山). The Ming dynasty, that ruled China
for 276 years and with 16 emperors, was destroyed.
On the morning of March 19, the peasant army occupied Beijing. Li Zicheng entered the
Imperial Palace. He got his wish and took the dragon chair.

Dorgon defeated Li Zicheng and established the Qing Dynasty

It was almost the same time, in the Northeast the weather had not yet warmed up, and
Dorgon, the regent of the Qing, was preparing to attack the Ming dynasty on a large scale.
However, when heard that Peking was destroyed, he was shocked.
At this time, Wu Sangui (吴三桂), an official of Shanhai Pass (山海关) in the Ming Dynasty,
who oversaw the military, decided not to surrender Li Zicheng. When learned that Wu Sangui
refused to surrender, Li Zicheng, who had just occupied Beijing, led a 200,000 army himself to
attack Shanhai Pass. On April 21st, Li Zicheng’s Dashun Army and Wu Sangui's troops fought at
Shanhai Pass fiercely.
Wu Sangui could not ward off blows and sent message to Dorgon for help. The next day,
the Qing cavalry suddenly entered the battlefield and fought jointly with Wu Sangui's army. Li
Zicheng, who had been exhausted in battle, too, had to rush to deal with the encirclement of
the two enemy forces. He suffered heavy losses and was quickly defeated.
This came to be known as the famous Shanhai Pass Battle that determined the fate of
China in the next 300 years!

7
 Figure 2. Shanhai Pass Gate (Source: [Link], Fair Use Determination )

Figure 3. Shanhai Pass Tower (Source: [Link], Fair Use Determination)

8
 Figure 4. The great wall at Shanhai Pass (Source: [Link], Fair Use Determination)

On April 26, Li Zicheng withdrew his army to Beijing. On the 29th, Li Zicheng led the civil
and military officials of the new government to ascended to the throne hurriedly in the Imperial
Palace. After being an emperor for one night, Li Zicheng evacuated Peking on the 30th.
On the early October 1644, Fulin, the young master of the Qing Dynasty, was introduced
into the Imperial Palace from Shengjing by Dorgon and ascended the throne of the Qing
Dynasty emperor in the Forbidden City. The era name was called as Shunzhi (顺治). From this
time, the Qing Dynasty formally replaced the Ming Dynasty. As a member of the Chinese nation
the Manchu had started the last empire in the history of Chinese civilization.

The table of the Qing Dynasty emperors to 1796

9
 Name Reign Era Name Title

Nurhaci 1559-1526 Taizhu (太祖)

Abakai (Huang Taiji) 1592-1643 Taizong (太宗)

Fulin (福临, Shunzhi Emperor) 1638-1661 Shunzhi (顺治) Shizhu (世祖)

Xuanye (玄烨, Kangxi Emperor) 1661-1722 Kangxi (康熙) Shenzhu (圣宗)

Yinzhen (胤禛, Yongzheng Emperor) 1722-1735 Yongzheng (雍正) Shizong (世宗)

Hongli (弘历, Qianlong Emperor) 1735-1796 Qianlong (乾隆) Gaozong (高宗)

The fourth unification of China

In 1651, the 14-year-old boy emperor Fulin, the Emperor Shunzhi, declared pro-
government in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. Since then, the young
Emperor carried out a series of polices to balance all aspects between Manchu and the Han
including cultures, economy, politics, and military. The Qing Dynasty went on its road
peacefully.
In 1661, the Emperor Shunzhi died from the smallpox virus at the age of 24.
On the third day after the death of the Emperor Shunzhi, Xuan Ye (玄烨), Abahai's third son,
ascended to the throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City when he was 6-
years-old and the era name was reigned as Kangxi (康熙). So, he was known as the Emperor
Kangxi and the longest reigning emperor in Chinese history. He was in power for 61 years and
opened the Kang-Qian heyday (康乾盛世) in Chinese history (“Kang” stands Kangxi and “Qian”
means the Qianlong emperor period (乾隆). We will discuss the Emperor Qianlong later).
After ascending to the throne, Kangxi faced the challenge of how to make the nation stable.
Except dealing with the relationship between the Manchu and Han people, many other ethnic
groups were still out of the control of the Qing Dynasty. Kangxi realized that unifying nation
should be one of important agendas.
Let us watch the animation on the Learning Materials in canvas to learn about the
fourth unification in China’s history. This unification established China’s later territory.

Watch the animation: Unification of China

Dutch invaded Taiwan

Taiwan lies between the East China Sea and the South China Sea and faces the vast
Pacific Ocean on the east. On the west, it faces Fujian province across the Taiwan Strait and the

10
nearest point is only 130 kilometers apart. The total area of Taiwan is about 36,000 square
kilometers, which is long from north to south and narrow from east to west. All ships back and
forth from east to west must pass the Taiwan Strait. Due to the important geographical
location of Taiwan, it was regarded as the key to the southeast and the barrier of several
provinces in the Qing Dynasty.

Figure 5. Taiwan island and Pengfu Island (Source: [Link], Fair Use Determination)

From 1604 to 1622, the Dutch fleet invaded Penghu twice, built castles on Penghu
Island, demanded trade from Fujian local government, and continued to harass coastal areas.
The central government of the Ming Dynasty only considered controlling the Penghu Islands
and ensuring the tranquility of the southeast coast for a while. So, an agreement that let the
Dutch to run Taiwan was signed between the Ming and the Dutch colonists.
In 1624, the Dutch invaded the south of Taiwan (Tainan 台南), built castles such as Jeranja
City (热兰遮城) and Chihkan City (赤嵌城), and gradually expanded their power to the central,
eastern, and northern regions.
Two years later, the Spaniards also invaded the northern part of Taiwan, expanding their
sphere of influence in the same way.

11
 In August 1642, the Dutch launched a military attack on the Spaniards. The Spaniards
were defeated and surrendered. The Dutch monopolized Taiwan. According to the statistics,
during the Dutch’s occupation of Taiwan, the average annual wealth transported back to the
Netherlands from Taiwan was equivalent to four tons of gold.
Zheng Chenggong (郑成功)
Zheng Chenggong (1624－1662), was a military man and national hero in the Late Ming
and the Early Qing. When the Qing replaced the Ming Dynasty, he refused the persuasion of his
father and the Qing court to surrender to the Qing and remained committed to the path of anti-
Qing and recovering the Ming.
Zheng Chenggong had more than 500 warships and more than 30,000 troops at the end
of Ming Dynasty. From 1657 to 1659 AD, Zheng Chenggong, had three northern expeditions, of
which the third expedition came close to Nanjing. However, due to improper deployment and
missed opportunities, Zheng Chenggong was hit hard by the Qing army and had to return to the
base in Fujian province.
From then on Zheng Chenggong was no longer able to launch a strategic offensive. In
order to avoid the misfortune of overturning, Zheng Chenggong decided to enter Taiwan after
obtaining the consent and support of the majority of the generals and the soldiers, so as to
form a favorable situation in which they could fight and return to the Central Plains, and retreat
to maintain without internal worries.
So, he began to actively work out plans to attack Taiwan, train the army, repair, build
ships, and take measures to paralyze the Dutch army occupying Taiwan. After everything was
ready, Zheng Chenggong moved from Xiamen (厦门), Fujian to Kinmen (金门) in February 1661.
On March 23, 1661, Zheng Chenggong commanded the army and set off from Kinmen
Island. In April, Zheng Chenggong successfully landed Taiwan Island by high tide from the north
channel, where the sands and rocks are shallow and the channel was circuitous and not good
for big ships, so the Dutch army did not have defenses there.
After landing, Zheng Chenggong immediately launched a military offensive against the
Dutch army. In order to destroy the Dutch army, Zheng Chenggong first occupied Chihkan City
and blocked the center of Taiwan, Taiwan City (台湾城) ruled by the Dutch colonists
The Dutch authorities pieced together 700 reinforcements from Batavia, which is
today’s Jakarta, in west Indonesia. They reached the Taiwan waters on August 12 and fought
fierce battles with Zheng Jun. In the battle, Zheng used fireboats to burn down the Dutch
battleship Kdenhof (克登霍夫号)and sank the battleship Cochrane (科克伦号) with dense artillery. The
defeated Dutch army fled back to Batavia in a hurry, never daring to approach Taiwan again.

12
After the Dutch reinforcements fled, the Dutch colonists, who had been besieged in Taiwan for
nearly nine months, had no choice but to surrender because the situation was gone, and the
ammunition and food were exhausted.
On February 1, 1662, representatives of both Zheng Chenggong and Holland signed the
"Zheng-Dutch Agreement" at the Municipal Tax Office of Dayuan City (大员市, today's Anping (安平)
Tainan City) and completed the exchange of the agreement. Taiwan Island, that had been
occupied by Dutch colonists for 38 years, was returned to China. Zheng Chenggong has
therefore become a national hero who goes down in history.
After regaining Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong regarded Taiwan as a long-term base for
fighting against the Qing Dynasty. In order to realize his aspirations to fight against the Qing
Dynasty, he began to devote himself to all aspects of construction. In terms of the
administrative system, Zheng Chenggong established the same administrative management
system as in the mainland

The development and decline of Taiwan

When he had just begun to carry out his rule politics, Zheng Chenggong, who was only
thirty-nine years old, died unfortunately in May 1662.
His eldest son, Zheng Jing (郑经), continued to develop Taiwan after Zheng Chenggong
died. He developed wasteland, cultivated land, and agricultural production, and continued to
develop handicraft and trade.
Under the strategy of "ten years of growth, ten years of education, ten years of results,
and thirty years of the same level with the Central Plains”, which was formulated by general
Chen Yonghua (陈永华), the great progress had been made in regime construction, economic
development, and personnel training. Taiwan had shown the momentum of rapid
development.
It is worth mentioning that in the development of Taiwanese culture, the literati and
Confucian Shen Guangwen (沈光文) wrote Taiwan's earliest literary works in the form of
traditional poetry and became the pioneer of Taiwanese culture.
In 1673 the Sanfan riot was outbroken, Zheng Jing believed that it was an opportunity to
oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore Ming Dynasty. In 1674, he led the army himself to the
west. However, the result of the west conquests was a loss of strength and vitality.
From then on, the Zheng regime could only conduct passive defenses, and Zheng Jing no
longer had the will to fight against Qing and recover the Ming, and even had no intention of
interfering with political affairs. In the first month of 1681, Zheng Jing died from a stroke.

After Zheng Jing died, there was turmoil within the Zheng regime due to the struggle for
the right to rule. In the next three years, droughts, floods, and fires followed one after another,

13
Taiwan's economy fell sharply, people's livelihoods were struggling, and Taiwan's future fell
into confusion again.
The Qing recovered Taiwan
The Qing government had been closely watching Zheng's movements in the coastal
areas and Taiwan and had adopted countermeasures. While coaxing Zheng to surrender, Kangxi
also tried his best to carry out military strikes to Taiwan. In November of 1664, provincial
commander-in-chief of the Fujian Navy, Shi Lang (施琅), was ordered to start an expedition to
Taiwan. However, two successive offensives were without success due to hurricanes.
In his early years, Shi Lang was Zheng Zhilong’s subordinate (Zheng Zhilong (郑芝龙) is
Zheng Chenggong's father), and he once surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with Zheng Zhilong.
Later, he followed Zheng Chenggong to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Until 1651, Shi Lang and
Zheng Chenggong turned against each other and once again surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
This caused the Qing court to have doubts about Shi Lang. In 1668, Kangxi removed the
provincial commander-in-chief of the Fujian navy and Shi Lang was summoned to back to the
capital and conferred on the minister.
The provincial commander-in-chief of the Fujian Navy was the core figure in the decision
to regain Taiwan's success or failure. In the Emperor Kangxi's review, the provincial
commander-in-chief of the navy must meet two conditions. One was to be familiar with naval
affairs and to have experience in commanding naval operations; the other was understanding
the situation of the Zheng army.
So, with other ministers’ recommendation, Shi Lang once again became the provincial
commander-in-chief of the Fujian navy.
On June 14, 1683, Shi Lang led more than 30,000 navy men, and more than 300
warships at Tongshan Port (铜山港), they headed for Taiwan's gateway Penghu Island (澎湖岛, see
figure 2).
In May, Zheng General Liu Guoxuan (刘国轩) led his elite troops to station in Penghu. They
had army force of more than 20,000 soldiers. They strengthened their defenses at important
locations where the Qing troops might land.
A total of 14 forts were set up in the coastal zone and built defense fortifications of
more than 10 kilometers. Penghu naval battle was inevitable.
Shi Lang first captured Bazhao Island (八罩岛), which was weakly defended by the Zheng
army, and thus obtained the anchorage of the fleet and the base for attacking Penghu. Under
the correct judgment of the weather and the tide, Shi Lang led the Qing army navy to launch a
full-scale attack on the Zheng army.

After the fierce confrontation, the Qing army won a great victory, while Zheng Jun lost
194 warships, more than 15,000 people, and more than 4,800 people surrendered. Liu Guoxuan

14
only led more than three hundred soldiers fled back to Taiwan in embarrassment from Hou
gate (吼门).
After the end of the Penghu naval battle, the Qing army had formed a favorable
situation for the army to suppress Zheng’s in Taiwan. The Emperor Kangxi insisted on peacefully
recruiting and conciliating. Shi Lang immediately ordered the suspension of military offensives
and developing in the direction of peaceful conciliation.
Shi Lang promulgated the "Announcement to Penghu Residents (晓谕澎湖安民示)",
expressing his sympathy for the poor people in Penghu, and took various measures to treat
prisoners of war, so that the Penghu residents were not surprised after the war. Because Shi
Lang tried his best to forbid killing and robbery when he entered Penghu, the residents back
then had a great affection for him. At the same time, Shi Lang also actively negotiated with the
Zheng's, and finally Zheng's surrender.
On August 13, 1683, Shi Lang led his army landed to Taiwan Island and dealt with the
aftermath. On the 15th, a grand surrender ceremony was held in the Confucian Temple. At this
point, the struggle of against the Qing and recovering the Ming, which lasted for decades in the
early Qing Dynasty came to the end.

The Qing government

When the Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty moved into the Forbidden City, although
they followed most government administration system of the Ming Dynasty, created some
important new titles that rendered the earlier government system more effective based on
the Manchu culture.

Government system
Hereditary titles

Inside emperor’s family and relatives, everybody had a title. The male relatives of the
Manchu emperor were titled as Doloi Beile (多罗贝勒), in Manchu language, or shortly called
Beile. Beile could take part, to a certain extent, in the central government. Brothers and sons
of the emperor were called Imperial Princes (亲王). The rank of Imperial Prince was higher than
Beile. To avoid succession struggles, the successor was nominated before the death of the
emperor.

Cabinet (內阁)

The large imperial household of the imperial palace required a special agency, the
Imperial Household department (內務府). The same as in the Ming Dynasty, most posts of the
imperial household were occupied by eunuchs.

15
 The central government was also led by the Cabinet that was modeled after the Ming
government, with palace academies for the recruitment of highest officials and the translation
of edicts and documents into Chinese and Manchu, etc. The Cabinet was consistent with the
Six Ministries, which were the Personnel (吏部) Revenue(戶部), the Rites (禮部), the war (兵部) the
Justice (刑部 ) and the Public Works (工部); each Ministry was headed by a minister called
Shangshu (尚書), and the Censorate (都察院) was set up to oversee the six ministries. The
functions of the Six Ministries were the same as in the Ming and the Song Dynasties.

the Grand Council (军机处)

At the beginning of the 18th century, the influence of the Cabinet was gradually
reduced, and the institution was reduced to an apparatus of paperwork. Instead, the Grand
Council took over the tasks of government.

The Grand Council was chaired by a prince and led by five Grand Ministers (军机大臣).
The Grand Council was a Manchu invention, the Grand ministers were realized as the
emperor’s left and right hands. The emperor was as the center, they together discussed and
decided the confidential affairs of the government.

The memorial to the throne (奏折, as written on paper folded in accordion form)

Figure 6. A minister’s memorial to the throne to the Emperor Qianlong in June, 1739 (Source: [Link], Fair Use
Determination)

The memorial to the throne just started to be used during the Kangxi period in the Qing
Dynasty. Its biggest feature was that it is fast and confidential. In the past, if a minister wanted

16
to report something to the emperor, his written notice had to pass through different levels of
organizations, so it was slow and not confidential.
The memorial to the throne was handwritten by a minister himself and sent to the
palace by a trusted person. The eunuch in the internal memorial office received it and gave it
directly to the emperor. Meantime it didn't go through anyone else, so it was fast and
confidential.
In 1722, the Emperor Kangxi passed away, his fourth son 胤禛 inherited the throne, the
era name was Yongzheng, and 胤禛 also was called the Emperor Yongzheng.
After Emperor Yongzheng ascended to the throne, he immediately issued an order to
expand the rank of officials with the right to present the memorials to the throne. Officials
inside and outside Beijing, regardless of their official positions, as long as they had the
emperor’s special permission, even those who were low class, or even the abbots in temples.
The Emperor Yongzheng ordered skilled craftsmen to make special memorial boxes to
ensure that the memorial was passed through confidentially. The box had a lock with only two
keys, which one controlled by the emperor and another distributed to the officials who had
obtained the emperor’s permission to fold the memorials.

Figure 7. Memorial box during Yongzheng time, kept in the Palace Museum (Source: [Link], Fair Use
Determination)

The widespread implementation of memorial boxes made the emperor’s eyes and ears
spread all over the country. For officials at all levels, using memorials to speak secretly to the

17
emperor was more like a power granted by the emperor, because no one could know what he
reported to the emperor unless the emperor’s permission was given.
In this way, the public-private events and interpersonal relations between the central
ministry and local officials, regardless of the size of the matter, the emperor could directly know
from the memorial essays.
At the same time, between the provincial governors, the local and the central, the inner
court and the outer court, in addition to the normal relationship between the leader and the
led, a relationship of mutual supervision and restriction had been formed.
When the autocratic monarchy system reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty, it became a
more effective tool to refresh officials and punish corruption. However, this also created a
drawback, in which ministers could peach against each other, and lower-level officials could
bypass the immediate leadership to report grievances.

Government Tax
Look at the vast expanse of the world, there is no place that is not a monarch’s kingdom;
look at the end of the horizon, no one is not the monarch's civilian (普天之下，莫非王土，率土之滨，莫非王
臣). This comes from a part of poetry in the “Classic of Songs” (We had discussed the “Classic of
Songs” in course WLC 331).
It expresses the core ideas of royal power. It not only constructed the overall
development framework of the feudal dynasty in China for thousands of years, but also became
the basis for the legitimacy of the rulers in governing the society.
In the era of the feudal dynasty, the people must bear the obligation to pay taxes and
provide labor and military service. For the traditional agricultural society in China revenue and
labor are particularly important and critical.
The vicious cycle of natural and man-made disasters at the end of the Ming Dynasty
accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Due to natural disasters, the land was not
harvested, and the people were unable to pay the land tax, which caused a huge number of
refugees. The refugees became socially destabilizing factors. They formed the peasant uprisings
and became gravediggers for the Ming Dynasty.
The rulers of the Qing Dynasty, who had just settled in the Central Plains, faced the grim
reality of acres of barren lands and people in exile. The Qing rulers were soberly aware that if
they did not start to rectify the tax and service system and make changes to a lot of the
malpractices accumulated in the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible it would be difficult to
maintain the social stabilization and further expand the rule of the country.

18
Abolish poll tax
In a self-sufficient natural economy before the Qing Dynasty, there were two main
channels for the government to obtain fiscal revenue from farmers, one was land tax based on
lands, the other is poll tax based on capita. Although the poll tax was highly efficient which
meant that more taxes could be collected with a small tax cost it was the most unfair because
the rich with the most income pay the same amount of taxes as the poor with almost no
income.
During the Kangxi period, the Emperor Kangxi recovered most territories of China. Years
of war expended a lot of financial resources; the peoples’ life was very hard. In 1712, Emperor
Kangxi decreed that he would never add more tax if a household increased labor (盛世滋丁, 永不加
赋). This decree made a preliminary preparation for the later "land and laborer as one".
Emperor Kangxi’s exemption of poll tax also included the purpose of restoring the
agricultural economy. The poll tax had been collected in previous dynasties, and when people
could not bear the poll tax people would take their family and leave the area. They would even
go to extremes such as concealing or even drowning a newly born child. The poll tax of the past
dynasties was indeed a disaster to the common people. Until the early years of the Qing
Dynasty a huge number of people left the land to flee, which in the end also seriously affected
the revenue of certain areas.
Land and laborer as one (摊丁入亩)
(Here, laborer (丁) means the men between 16 and 60-years-old).
In 1722, the Emperor Yongzheng formally promoted the policy of “land and laborer as one” on
the base of the Emperor Kangxi's decree of "never adding more tax", which the tax was based
on the land not on the laborers for a family. If a family had extra laborers, they would be
recruited for the services of the government, such as serving for construction or the military.
The taxation system of "Land and Laborer as one" was a major tax reform during the
reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty. The implementation abolished the poll tax
system which lasted for 2,000 years in China's history and, instead, incorporated it into the land
tax.
To a certain extent, the policy of " Land and Laborer as one " is beneficial to the farmers.
It eased social conflicts, stablized population movement and increased populations. It also
promoted economic development and slightly improved in common people's lives. At the same
time, it strengthened the ruler's feudal rule.
The implementation of "Land and Laborer as one" policy directly led to the explosive
growth of the Chinese population. In the sixth year of the Emperor Qianlong (1740), the
population exceeded 100 million, to the 57th year of Qianlong (1790), it exceeded 300 million,
and then in 1834 the national population exceeded 400 million, accounting for more than 40%

19
of the world's population (the world's population was 1 billion in 1830). It laid the foundation
for China becoming most populous country.
Judging from the perspective of the general trend of social development, the policy of
the "Land and Laborer as One" had not eliminated feudal land ownership, but had aggravated it
to a certain extent, and had not eliminated class contradictions in society. In essence, it still
maintained the interests of the ruling class, but instead made feudal rule stronger.

20