Early Qing (1644-1799) Teacher Resource Guide East Asia National Resource Center By Kelly Hammond
The Qing Dynasty The Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) was the last imperial dynasty to rule China. The Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan, later known as the Manchus, founded the dynasty. The Manchus came from beyond the Great Wall, hailing from Manchuria in Northeastern China. By the late sixteenth century, the leader of the Aisin Gioro clan, a man named Nurhachi, was putting together a large army consisting of various semi-nonadic tribes and clans that lived beyond the Great Wall. These groups grew tired of paying tribute to the ailing Ming, who offered them nothing in return for their vassalage. By 1635, Nurhachi’s son, Hong Taiji had united such groups under his leadership. It was only then that these disparate groups of semi-nomadic peoples truly came together under the name Manchu. They began fighting their way south, pushing the Ming army completely out of southern Manchuria.
Map of the Ming Dynasty. Source: The Art of Asia
Map of the Qing Dynasty. Source: The Art of Asia
Some rather fortuitous events paved the way for the Manchus to take control of China and establish the Qing Dynasty. The Manchus were not the only ones who were disgruntled with poor Ming administration at the end of the dynasty. Li Zicheng had also organized a large peasant army that sacked Beijing in 1644 (see the Ming Dynasty resource guide). The Ming emperor Chongzhen hung himself rather than surrendering to the rebels and Li proclaimed the short-lived Shun dynasty. The Manchus seized an opportunity and with the help of Ming general Wu Sangui, they passed through an opening in the Great Wall at Shanhaiguan, quickly taking control of Beijing from Li Zicheng and his undisciplined peasant army. It took a while for the Manchus to consolidate their power, and between 1644 and 1683, the Qing emperors went on numerous pacification campaigns to defeat the Ming
loyalists and incorporate new territories into their empire. Throughout their reign, the Qing integrated and acculturated themselves to the mainstream Chinese culture. Many of the bureaucratic institutions, such as the imperial examination system, were maintained. Yet, the Qing rulers also instituted their own bureaucratic changes to ensure that they stay in power.
The last emperor Puyi. Source: Chinese Culture
The eighteenth century is known as the “High Qing� period. Under the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1795), the dynasty achieved its cultural, diplomatic, and military height. However, corruption, rebellions, and natural disasters, coupled with unprecedented population growth and the arrival of newly aggressive European imperialist powers made it extremely difficult for the Qing to maintain control over their massive empire. By the early twentieth century, the Qing were in a precarious position and in
the end were not able to adapt and reform in a meaningful way. In February 1912, the last emperor of China, the young Puyi, abdicated, bringing an end to imperial rule in China. Because so many changes occurred in China during the Qing Dynasty, the module is broken into two sections: early Qing and late Qing. The first module follows the course of the Qing until the death of the Qianlong Emperor. The second module picks up at the beginning of the tumultuous nineteenth century. Prior to the Ming Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty ruled China. Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, established the Yuan Dynasty in 1271. Yet, most Chinese considered the Mongols to be uncivilized and unfit to govern China. In less than one hundred years, a man named Zhu Yuanzhang led a revolt that put an end to Mongol rule.
The Ming-Qing Transition and the Manchus There were numerous factors that precipitated the Ming-Qing transition. In order to understand the Qing properly, it is important to look not only at when they came to power, but also how they came to power. As noted, the Manchus resembled a confederation in that they were made up of nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who lived beyond the Great Wall were ethically different from the Han Chinese. By 1619, they were discontented with essentially being a vassal state of the Ming.
The Manchus, under the charismatic leadership of a Jurchen clan leader Nurhaci, organized themselves into an effective and loyal military, which then became the Manchu Eight Banner Army (see below). However, the Manchus’ victory over the Ming cannot solely be explained by the former’s military prowess. By the time the Manchus were organizing beyond the Great Wall, Ming China was in economic ruins and plagued by internal rebellions.
Manchu writing system. Source: Chinese Culture
The economic crisis in the last years of the Ming Dynasty was centered on a sudden shortage of silver. As Philip IV of Spain cracked down on illegal smuggling from Mexico and Peru across the Pacific, and Tokugawa Japan slowed their exports of silver to almost a halt, China was in a serious bind. The single-whip tax reform (see the Ming Dynasty resource guide) meant that all taxes were paid in silver, and with no silver flowing into the empire, the price of silver skyrocketed. As this led to serious inflation, people and provinces were unable to pay their taxes to the
central government. The value of copper also plummeted. This had adversely affected peasants, who had to pay their taxes in silver but conducted the majority of their daily business in copper. Peasants became increasingly disgruntled because they could neither pay their taxes nor buy basic necessities for living. The recession was also exacerbated by severe famines that plagued northern China in the seventeenth century. These famines were caused by crop failures owing to unusually dry and cold weather. Historians and scientists now call this ecological event the “Little Ice Age.” Famine, alongside tax increases, widespread military desertions, a declining government supported relief system, and natural disasters such as flooding, caused starvation, destitution, and the loss of normal civility. The central government faced severe shortage of resources and could do very little to mitigate the effects of these calamities. It was in this context that the Manchus rose to power. Nurhaci saw the weakness of the Ming and knew that he could capitalize on it. In 1618, Nurhaci announced his Seven Grievances to the Ming Court and led an attack on a Ming garrison town. The Ming struck back but Nurhaci’s northern armies defeated them. This escalated tensions between the Ming forces and the Manchus, resulting in a series of battles between them over the next ten years. During this time, Nurhaci died and his son Hong Taiji succeeded him. The Manchus also defeated the Ming Dynasty’s long-time ally Joseon Korea and forced the Koreans to renounce their loyalty to the Ming.
The Manchu Qing state under the very capable leadership of Hong Taiji continued their aggressive attacks on the ailing Ming. However, when Hong Taiji died suddenly without having named an heir, the Manchus suffered a temporary setback; a council was convened to decide on a successor and Hong Taiji’s son Fulin was chosen. Because Fulin was only five years old at the time, a popular military leader Dorgon was appointed as regent. Dorgon, who was a very skilled and capable general, eventually led the Manchus to victory over the Ming.
Qing mandated Queue haircut. Source: China Mike
Entering China proper through the Great Wall at Shanhaiguan with the help of Ming general Wu Snagui, the Manchus approached Beijing to capture it from Li Zicheng in June 1644. They easily defeated Li Zicheng’s untrained peasant army. In newly occupied Beijing, Hong Taiji’s young son Fulin was enthroned as the first Qing Emperor Shunzi (r. 1644-1661), with Dorgon continuing to play an important role as regent.
The Southern Ming There were a few problems that plagued the new Qing Dynasty. First, Li Zicheng had escaped, so Wu Sangui was sent out to capture Li and bring him back to Beijing. Nevertheless, Li got away again and made it as far as Xi’an, where he re-established himself as emperor, though it was very short lived. After quelling some smaller rebellions, Dorgon sent a large army to get rid of Li once and for all. In the fall of 1645, Li was killed and his followers dispersed. Second, some remained loyal to the Ming and refused the Qing rule. On hearing the news of the Chongzhen Emperor’s suicide, many Han officials in Nanjing debated over how to handle the crisis. It was decided that a new Ming Emperor should be proclaimed in order to rally support for the Ming. They decided on the young and rather naïve Prince of Fu, who was quickly enthroned as the Hongguang Emperor. However, the prince’s inability to rally supporters, coupled with massive corruption and political bickering, prevented the Ming loyalists from consolidating power in the way that they had hoped. The Qing forces arrived to quash the Southern Ming and the Hongguang Emperor escaped to the south. However, it did not take long for the Qing forces to find and capture him. Slowly, the Qing consolidated their power and began to round up the remaining Ming loyalists and execute them. Wu Sangui caught the final vestiges of the Ming imperial family in Burma in 1662.
The Eight Banners Under the Manchus, China’s military families were administered in military divisions called the Eight Banners. Some of the banners represented old lineage or tribal connections, while others separated and segregated groups that were known to cause trouble. For instance, there were many Mongols in the Banners, but early on they were dispersed among the different banners as the Manchus wished to prevent them from becoming too powerful and mounting a coup. Nurhaci developed the banner system based on old military formations that the Mongols used. Nurhaci reorganized the military into groups that are similar to today’s military units. They are named the “banners” because each unit was associated with a military flag and attire of specific color.
Eight banner flags and regalia. Source: Taipei Times
The banners were unique in that they were ethnically diverse, consisting mostly of Manchus, Mongols, and Han Chinese. Once the Qing defeated the Ming, they created and established four fully Chinese
banners, and then added four more a few years later. The Mongols also joined. When the Qing Dynasty solidified its power, they further institutionalized the Banner system, standardizing ranks and determining salaries. As a result, the Eight Banners became a sort of hereditary military caste. Although the banners were instrumental in the Qing’s victory over the Ming, their military technology began to lag behind western powers in later years. Moreover, since their positions were hereditary and firmly institutionalized, many lost their martial spirit and became lethargic. Some scholars partially blame the inadaptability and laziness of the banners on some of the later losses that the Qing faced, especially in the mid-tolate nineteenth century.
Kangxi’s Consolidation The Kangxi Emperor’s sixty-one year rule (r. 1661-1722) lasted longer than that of any other Chinese emperor. He is also recognized as one of the most talented emperors in Chinese history despite his Manchu origin. Kangxi assumed the throne at the age of eight when his father, the Shunzhi Emperor, died. Unlike the earlier reign of the regent Dorgon, the Shunzhi emperor appointed a four-person council to assist the Kangxi Emperor in his transition to power. However, over time, one of the regents named Oboi gained political strength and his conservative views brought him to blows with the young Kangxi emperor. In 1669, the fifteen-year old Emperor tricked Oboi and
had the regent imprisoned, solidifying his power base and demonstrating to others that he was serious about ruling as well as his authority. Kangxi’s reign brought about long-term stability and relative wealth to the Qing Dynasty after years of chaos.
Manchuria. In these battles, the Qing forces claimed victory against the Russians. However, the Russians attacked the Qing again in the 1680s along China’s northern frontier. After a series of battles, both sides agreed to sign the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, setting fixed borders along the Amur. This was the first Western-style treaty signed by the Qing, and also the first time that they had ever dealt with a foreign power on equal grounds. The treaty was negotiated by the Jesuits and written in Manchu, Chinese, Russian, and Latin.
Palace Memorials. Source: National Palace Museum The Kangxi Emperor. Source: Royal Academy of Arts
As China’s vastness proved difficult to govern, the Qing appointed three Ming generals, including Wu Sangui, to be in charge of the southern provinces. These areas soon turned against the Qing and Kangxi was forced to send armies to suppress rebellions and reclaim the southern provinces. Kangxi’s troops were also caught up in multiple border skirmishes with the expanding Russian Empire along the Amur River in
Kangxi is recognized as not only the great consolidator of the Qing Dynasty, but also as one of China’s most adept emperors. He was a workaholic, rising early and retiring late, and reading and personally responding to important messages submitted by his officials. Furthermore, Kangxi developed a system called palace memorials to hold the Han bureaucrats in check because he considered them to be tedious and inefficient. This system involved the direct transfer of secret messages—sometimes written in
Manchu—between Kangxi and his trusted officials.
The Qianlong Emperor
corruption. The massive construction projects that Qianlong undertook, along with his costly wars to pacify the south and expand the empire into Xinjiang, meant that by the end of his reign the Qing coffers were nearly empty.
The Qianlong Emperor was the grandson of the famous Kangxi Emperor. He reigned from 1735 to 1796, although he did not die until 1799. He abdicated in favor of his son, the Jiaqing Emperor, in a filial gesture so as not to rule longer than his lauded grandfather. Like his grandfather, Qianlong was very capable in marital arts, horseback riding, and was also very interested in literature and cultural activities. He was a major patron of the arts, as both a collector and a funder of massive architectural and artistic projects. Moreover, Qianlong was a passionate poet and a talented essayist. His admiration for the arts and literature led him to assemble a massive collection of Chinese art. Qianlong was also a keen architect and builder. He expanded many of the villas built by his father and grandfather. He was fond of European styles and invited an Italian Jesuit, Guiseppe Castiglione, to paint and help him decorate his palaces. He also had another Jesuit design a series of Western-style fountains for his family. All these projects were not cheap. Additionally, like his grandfather, Qianlong went on expensive and timeconsuming imperial campaigns and tours, leaving palace ministers to deal with the daily affairs of the palace. This led to increased expenditures as well as embezzlement of imperial funds and
The Qianlong Emperor in court dress. Source: Palace Museum, Beijing
Qianlong proved himself as a skilled military leader, successfully suppressing numerous rebellions. He also greatly expanded the territory controlled by the Qing on numerous campaigns that he personally led. His successes were admirable, but were also made easier by the disunity and fragmentation at the time in Central Asia. He was able to play different powers off of each other and completely annihilate the long-time rivals
of the Manchus, the Zhunghar Mongols. He also asserted control over Tibet, sending armies to subdue and assert suzerainty over the region. Qianlong also tried to conquer Burma and Vietnam, though his campaigns in the region were not successful. Overall, Qianlong’s military expansion nearly doubled the size of the already large Chinese empire, bringing many non-Han Chinese, such as the Uyghurs, the Kazakhs, the Mongols, and the Tibetans, into the imperial fold.
Qianlong on a hunting trip. Source: Giuseppe Castiglione
Chengde: Assertions of Imperial Authority The Qianlong Emperor loved to hunt and spent a lot of time north of the Great Wall close to his ancestral homeland in Manchuria. In order to spend more time in the north and to show his imperial prowess, Qianlong ordered the construction of the extended imperial palace at Rehe (now Chengde), which is located about three hours north of Beijing by train. In 1703, the Kangxi Emperor chose Rehe as the location for his summer palace. Since Beijing is extremely hot and humid in the summers, most emperors liked to escape the city and head north. Because the seat of government followed the emperor, Rehe was a political center of the Chinese empire during these times.
Chengde Imperial Palace. Source: CTS China Guide
In 1703, the Qing began to build a massive palatial mountain resort, which was completed in 1790. The whole resort covered an area of approximately
5,640,000 square meters and is considered to be the largest royal garden in China. As Qianlong expanded his imperial authority over the vast territory that came to encompass the Chinese empire, he wanted to show this his power in new ways. At Rehe, the Emperor had a temple, loosely based on the Potala temple in Lhasa, to show his reverence for Tibetan Buddhism but also to show that he had the capabilities to build a temple much like the one in Lhasa. Qianlong also built other temples and a large park complex with man-made lakes and beautiful pagodas. Today, the Imperial Palace at Rehe is a UNESCO world heritage site and a popular tourist destination.
The Xumifushou Temple located north of the Chengde Mountain Resort. Source: China.org.cn
Economy and Society in the Qing One of the most noteworthy social trends in early and mid-Qing history is population growth. The population doubled in China during the eighteenth century and people began to migrate at
unprecedented rates. The dramatic rise in population was due to several reasons: the long period of peace and stability in the eighteenth century and the import of new crops—peanuts, sweet potatoes, and maize—to China from the Americas. It has been reported that the empire's rapidly expanding population was geographically mobile on a scale that was unprecedented in Chinese history. Indeed, the Qing government did far more to encourage mobility than to discourage it. Migration took several different forms, though it could be divided in two varieties: permanent migration for resettlement and relocation conceived by the party (in theory at least) as a temporary sojourn. Parties to the latter included the empire's increasingly large and mobile manual workforce. By the late seventeenth century, the economy that had been in chaos since the end of the Ming Dynasty was beginning to recover. In the centuries that followed, markets continued to expand, but increased trade with different regions resulted in a growing Chinese dependence on overseas markets. In the first half of the seventeenth century, the Qing exported tea, silk, and other manufactured goods while importing little from the West. Yet, during the second half of the eighteenth century, this favorable trade balance for Qing shifted in the opposite direction, as the British began to export the highly addictive drug opium to China (see late Qing module for more information on opium). Finally, the Qing took measures to expand and broaden land ownership, and tried to provide tax
incentives to people who participated in the marketization and commercialization of the economy, mostly by reducing taxes and eliminating the corv茅e labor system.
under the Qing. Although some priests did manage to gain the favor of the new Manchu leaders, others were imprisoned or expelled from Beijing.
Managing Foreigners: Jesuits in the Qing Court Jesuits who played an important role in the Ming court continued to do so in the Qing court. Although the Qing did not let the Jesuits proselytize, they did value them for the scientific and technical knowledge they brought from the West. The Jesuits also spent a lot of time learning Chinese, and by the Qing they were integral members of the court life, bringing information from the West and translating it into Chinese. The Jesuits then transferred information and knowledge about China back to the West. For example, they were the first to translate the Confucian classical texts, as well as books on Chinese medicinal practices, into European languages. The Jesuits acted as the conduit of knowledge being exchanged between the East and the West. In the Qing court, the most influential Jesuit was a German priest named Johann Adam Schall (1591-1666). He taught math and contributed to the development of a more precise Chinese astronomical calendar under the Shunzhi Emperor. The Jesuits were also instrumental in mapping and surveying China, travelling the empire and making maps for the Qing. However, not everything was easy for the Jesuits
Jesuits in China. Source: New World Encyclopedia.
Managing Foreigners: Macartney in the Qing Court Although the Qing allowed certain Jesuits in the court, they were not interested in allowing foreign merchants to trade in the capital. They were satisfied enough with keeping the foreigners in Macao (near Hong Kong) and Canton, and using these southern entrep么ts that were far from the capital for trading. However, under mounting pressures from the West in the mid-eighteenth century, Qianlong faced the ever-persistent Westerners who wished to trade with his large and
burgeoning empire. Yet, Qianlong lacked experience interacting with foreign kingdoms and failed to engage with the Europeans in ways that they wanted him to interact with them. Viewing itself as the Middle Kingdom, the Qing believed that foreigners should pay tribute and obey Chinese protocols if they wanted to trade with the empire. It was in this context that the debacle of the British visit to the Qing court by George Macartney unfolded.
the Qing officials. Regardless, Qianlong agreed to meet with him. The embassy was ultimately not successful in its objective of securing better trade relations with the Qing. Some believe that this was the case because Qianlong was angry at Macartney for not kowtowing (to bow in full prostration) when he met the emperor. However, it was more of a case of two men differing in worldviews and being unable to reach a compromise for a mutually agreeable solution. Some historians argue that the Macartney mission was a massive failure that showed how little the Westerners really understood the Chinese empire and its power in Asia.
Artistic depiction of Qianlong’s first meeting with MacCartney. Source: British Library’s Collection of Western Drawings
Macartney requested an audience with Qianlong as a representative of King George III in the early 1790s to see if they could expand their trading networks in China beyond Canton. Under the Canton System, the Europeans were restricted in their formal trade to an island of Canton and all trade needed to go through appointed Chinese merchants known as Hongs. This system was purposefully restrictive and the Qing wanted it that way. Macartney wanted an audience with Qianlong, but did not observe proper imperial protocol, which baffled some of
Cartoon of the Macartney Mission. Source: James Gillray, 1792
Useful Websites BBC History: The Opium War: when the British invaded China http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/20428167 CCTV 9 English Documentary about Nurhaci http://english.cntv.cn/program/documentary /special/nurhaci/index.shtml
Chinese government source on the Qing Dynasty http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/histo ry/qing.htm Chinese History Library from the Fairbank Center http://www.cnd.org/fairbank/qing.html Explanation about Manchu writing system developed by Nurhaci http://www.omniglot.com/writing/manchu.h tm Eye witness history—a Prisoner of the Boxer Rebellion http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/boxer.h tm Fordham University History Sourcebook: Primary Sources Online http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/eastasia /eastasiasbook.asp#Imperial China Historical maps of China from the University of Texas http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/h istory_china.html List of the Qing Emperor http://web.mit.edu/shou/www/china/qing.ht ml Minneapolis Institute of Art website: Qing Dynasty Art http://www.artsmia.org/art-ofasia/history/dynasty-ching.cfm
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~aycui/manchus. htm Paintings from Qianlong’s Southern Inspection Tours http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/sear ch-the-collections/41493?img=9 Recording the grandeur of the Qing—a site about the Qing from Columbia University http://www.learn.columbia.edu/nanxuntu/ht ml/emperors/ http://www.learn.columbia.edu/nanxuntu/ht ml/other/t_index.htm The first Sino-Japanese War from Princeton University http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/w iki100k/docs/First_Sino-Japanese_War.html The Southern Expeditions of Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/featu res.php?searchterm=009_expeditions.inc&is sue=009
Suggestions for Further Reading Adshead, S.A.M. China in World History. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. Benedict, Carol. Bubonic Plague in Nineteenth-Century China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996.
MIT Visualizing Cultures: The First SinoJapanese War http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/thr owing_off_asia_02/
_________. “Policing the Sick: Plague and the Origins of State Medicine in Late Imperial China,” Late Imperial China 14 (1993): 60-77.
MIT Visualizing Cultures: The First Opium War http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/opi um_wars_01/ow1_essay01.html
Benite, Zvi Ben-Dor. The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
Mount Holyoke Site about the Manchu Dynasty explaining the history of the Dynasty and their relationship to the Mongols
Berger, Patrica. Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist are and political authority in Qing Imperial Institutions. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003.
Bernhardt, Kathryn and Philip Huang. Civil Law in Qing and Republican China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994. Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender: Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997. Chang, Michael. A court on horseback: imperial touring and the construction of Qing rule, 1680-1785. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. Chin Shunshin. The Taiping Rebellion. Trans. Joshua Fogel. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2001. Cohen, Paul A. China and Christianity; the Missionary Movement and the Growth of Chinese Anti-foreignism, 1860-1870. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. Elman, Benjamin. A Cultural History of Modern Science in China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. Fairbank, John K. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1964. Gunder Frank, Andre. ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998. Harrell, Stevan ed. Cultural encounters on China’s Ethnic Frontiers. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. Herman, John E. Amid the Clouds and Mist: China’s Colonization of Guizhou, 12001700. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Crossley, Pamela Kyle. The Wobbling Pivot: China Since 1800, An Interpretive History. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Hostetler, Laura. Qing Colonial Enterprise: Ethnography and Cartography in Early Modern China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Crossley, Pamela Kyle. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999.
Howland, Douglas. Borders of Chinese Civilization: Geography and History at Empire’s End. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996.
Crossley, Pamela, Helen Sui, and Donald Sutton, eds. Empire at the Margins: Culture, Ethnicity and Frontier in Early Modern China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005.
Huang, Philip C. The Peasant Family and Rural Development in the Yangzi Delta, 1350-1988. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990.
Ebrey, Patricia, and James Watson, eds. Kinship Organizations in Late Imperial China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1986.
Judge, Joan. Print and Politics: 'Shibao' and the Culture of Reform in Late Qing China, Studies of the East Asian Institute. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996.
Elliot, Mark. The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000.
Kuhn, Philip A. “Toward a Nineteenth Century.” Late Imperial China. 29 (2008): 1-6.
Elman, Benjamin. A Cultural History of civil Examinations in Late Imperial China.
Kuhn, Philip. Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China, Militarization and Social Structure, 1796-1864. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970.
Kuhn, Philip. Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990. Larsen, Kirk W. Tradition, Treaties, and Trade: Qing Imperialism in Chosŏn Korea, 1850-1910. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. Lee, James and Wang Feng. One Quarter of Humanity: Malthusian Mythology and Chinese Realities, 1700-2000. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. Leibold, James. Reconfiguring Chinese Nationalism: How the Qing Frontier and its Indigenes Became Chinese. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Lipman, Jonathan. Familiar Strangers: A Muslim History in China. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997. Ma Zhao. “’Writing History in a Prosperous Age’: the New Qing History Project.” Late Imperial China 29 (2008): 120145. Man-Cheong, Iona. The Class of 1761: Examinations, State and Elites in Eighteenth-Century China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004. Mann, Susan. Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy, 1750-1950. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987. Marks, Robert. Tigers, Rice, Silk and Silt: Environment and Economy in Late Imperial South China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Millward, James. Beyond the pass: economy, ethnicity and empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998.
_________. Eurasian crossroads: a history of Xinjiang. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Ownby, David. Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Qing China: The Formation of a Tradition. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996. Perdue, Peter C. “Nature and Nurture on Imperial China’s Frontiers.” Modern Asian Studies 43 (2009): 245-267. Perdue, Peter. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. Pomeranz, Kenneth. The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the World Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. Qiang Fang. “Hot Potatoes: Chinese Complaint Systems from Early Times to the Late Qing (1898).” The Journal of Asian Studies 68 (2009): 1105-1135. Rawski, Evelyn S. “Presidential address: reenvisioning the Qing: the significance of the Qing period in Chinese history.” Journal of Asian Studies 55 (1996): 829850. Rawski, Evelyn. The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998. Reed, Bradly W. Talons and Teeth: County Clerks and Runners in the Qing Dynasty. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000. Ropp, Paul S. China in World History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Rowe, William China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2009 Skinner, William G. The City in Late imperial
China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1977. Song Geng. The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2004. Teng, Emma Jinhua. Taiwan’s Imagined Geography: Chinese Colonial Travel Writing and Pictures, 1683-1895. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004. Wakeman, Fredric E. Jr. Telling Chinese History: A Selection of Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. Wong, J.Y. Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism and the Arrow War, 18561860 in China. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Wooldridge, William Charles. “Building and State Building in Nanjing after the Taiping Rebellion.” Late Imperial China. 30 (2009): 84-126.