The Collapse of the Ming and the Rise of the Qing
The mid-17th century witnessed one of the most dramatic transitions in Chinese history as the Ming dynasty collapsed under internal rebellions and external pressures. The Forbidden City’s throne, long coveted by various East Asian powers, unexpectedly fell to the Manchus through a combination of strategic maneuvering and Ming weakness. When rebel leader Li Zicheng captured Beijing in 1644, driving the last Ming emperor Chongzhen to suicide, the Manchus seized their opportunity. Under Prince-Regent Dorgon, they allied with Ming loyalist Wu Sangui to defeat Li’s forces, then occupied Beijing themselves.
This sudden change of power presented the Qing rulers with an immediate challenge: how to govern the vast Han Chinese population that vastly outnumbered their own people. As an ancient Chinese saying warned: “The empire can be conquered on horseback, but it cannot be governed on horseback.” The Manchus quickly realized that military force alone would not sustain their rule – they needed to win hearts and minds.
The Qing Consolidation Strategy
Dorgon implemented a sophisticated political strategy to legitimize Qing rule. He ordered three days of mourning for the deceased Chongzhen Emperor and mandated continued maintenance of the Ming imperial tombs northwest of Beijing. These tombs, with their famous spirit path lined with stone statues, remain a major tourist attraction today thanks to preservation efforts that began under the Qing.
The new regime portrayed themselves as avengers of the Ming against the rebel Li Zicheng rather than conquerors. They abolished unpopular late-Ming taxes like the “Liao饷” military levy and reduced rents in war-torn areas. Most importantly, they targeted the scholar-official class that formed the backbone of Chinese society.
Unlike the Mongols who had ruled China during the Yuan dynasty, the Manchus had already adopted many Chinese governmental structures before taking Beijing. They maintained the Ming bureaucratic system, reemployed Ming officials, and reinstated the civil service examinations within months. The Qing even upheld Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism as state orthodoxy, continuing a Ming policy that lasted until the examination system’s abolition in 1905.
The Queue Controversy and Cultural Resistance
The Manchus showed surprising flexibility in governance but remained uncompromising on one symbolic issue: the queue hairstyle. This practice of shaving the forehead and braiding the back hair represented Manchu identity. Dorgon initially ordered all Han men to adopt it within ten days under penalty of death, famously declaring: “Keep your hair and lose your head, or keep your head and lose your hair.”
Violent resistance erupted, particularly in Jiangnan, China’s cultural heartland. The Qing responded with brutal suppression, dramatically reducing the region’s population. Some intellectuals like Gu Yanwu and Huang Zongxi refused to serve the new dynasty, becoming influential Ming loyalist scholars. Artists like Bada Shanren and Shitao became monks, developing distinctive painting styles that expressed their grief over the Ming collapse.
Even in Qufu, Confucius’s hometown, the Duke Yansheng (a direct descendant) was denied permission to keep traditional Han hairstyles for temple ceremonies. After two and a half centuries of Qing rule, the queue became so normalized that when the Republic abolished it in 1912, some conservatives resisted.
The Southern Ming Resistance
While the Qing occupied Beijing in 1644, Ming loyalists established a series of short-lived regimes in southern China. The first, the Hongguang Emperor’s court in Nanjing, collapsed within a year after failing to negotiate with the Qing. Its defense minister Shi Kefa became a Ming martyr during the brutal Yangzhou massacre memorialized in “The Ten Days of Yangzhou.”
Subsequent Southern Ming regimes included the Longwu Emperor in Fujian, the Shaowu Emperor in Guangzhou (lasting just 40 days), and finally the Yongli Emperor who ruled from 1646-1662. The Yongli court became notable for its Catholic connections – the emperor’s mother, wife, and heir all converted, receiving Christian names like Helena and Constantine. They even sent a plea for help to Pope Innocent X via Jesuit missionary Michael Boym, though the belated papal reply arrived after their demise.
The Three Feudatories and Their Revolt
The Qing relied heavily on Han Chinese generals to suppress remaining resistance. Three former Ming commanders – Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, and Geng Jingzhong – received princely titles and virtual autonomy over southern provinces. By the 1670s, these “Three Feudatories” controlled massive armies and consumed half of imperial revenues.
When Shang Kexi requested retirement in 1673, the young Kangxi Emperor saw an opportunity to centralize power. His acceptance of all three feudatories’ resignations triggered Wu Sangui’s rebellion. The revolt initially succeeded, with Wu declaring himself emperor in 1678, but collapsed after his death. Kangxi’s victory, achieved partly by employing European artillery cast by Ferdinand Verbiest, marked full Qing consolidation.
Zheng Chenggong and the Taiwan Kingdom
The most remarkable Ming loyalist was Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), born to a Chinese pirate father and Japanese mother. After his father surrendered to the Qing, Zheng established a maritime kingdom from Xiamen and Taiwan. In 1661-62, he expelled the Dutch from Taiwan after a nine-month siege of Fort Zeelandia, creating the first Chinese regime to rule the island.
Zheng’s descendants maintained an independent Taiwan until 1683, using Yongli reign years and trading extensively with Japan and Southeast Asia. The Qing finally conquered Taiwan after imposing a devastating “Great Clearance” policy that evacuated China’s entire coast to starve Zheng forces of supplies.
Legacy of the Transition
The Ming-Qing transition reshaped East Asia. Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate closely monitored events through Chinese refugees and traders, compiling the intelligence in “Ka’i hentai.” Ming loyalist scholars like Zhu Shunshui influenced Japanese Confucianism, while monk Yinyuan founded Japan’s Obaku Zen school.
The Qing ultimately succeeded where the Yuan had failed by combining Manchu military power with Confucian governance. Their policies created a stable multi-ethnic empire that lasted until 1912, though tensions over Manchu impositions like the queue hairstyle never fully disappeared. The complex legacy of this turbulent period continues to influence historical memory across East Asia today.