Forces nouvelles

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, during the New Deal, Yuan Shikai formed a new army (i.e., the Beiyang Army) in North China, and Zhang Zhidong formed a self-strengthening army in the south. By the eve of the Qing Dynasty's demise, its army could claim to be 1 million, but it had only about 600,000 combatants, of which only 175,000 were modern regular troops. Not all of the New Army were loyal to the Qing court, and some secretly supported the Revolutionary Army.

navy

In 1651, Emperor Shunzhi ordered the coastal provinces along the river to follow the Ming system, each with a water division, which was the beginning of the Qing Dynasty's water division. The Yangtze River is the main body of inland river defense, and there are water divisions along the coast. During the Westernization Movement, the Qing Dynasty only made the move to build a new navy. In order to establish the self-control ability of ships, in 1866, the Qing court established the Prime Minister's Shipping Affairs Yamen in Mawei, Fuzhou, with Shen Baozhen as the Minister of Shipping. In the same year, Li Hongzhang asked his Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to build a gunboat. In August 1868, the first Chinese-made steam warship, the Tianji, was launched. The subsequent Sino-French War and the Sino-Japanese War destroyed the Nanyang Fleet and the Beiyang Fleet respectively, which also marked the failure of the self-improvement movement.

economy

agriculture

The Qing Dynasty reclaimed wasteland, resettled border areas, and promoted new crops to increase production. Due to the increase in domestic and foreign trade, the economy and agriculture are also relatively developed. In the early Qing Dynasty, in order to alleviate class contradictions, the policy of rewarding land reclamation and reducing or exempting taxes was implemented, and the social economy of the interior and the frontiers developed. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the development of the feudal economy in the Qing Dynasty reached a new peak [14]. There is a theory that the economic and population growth of the Qing Dynasty was mainly attributed to the American crop sweet potato, and the so-called "Kangqian Prosperous Age" was called "Sweet Potato Prosperous Age". [87] As a result, the centralized autocracy system became tighter, the state was strong, and the order was stable. In the early days of the Qing Dynasty, it vigorously promoted evil policies such as land enclosure and confiscation, which greatly damaged the economy of the Central Plains; Emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business restricts the development of the budding capitalism.

Domestic and international trade routes in the middle and early Qing Dynasty

handicraft

In the handicraft industry, the conscription system of craftsmen was changed to a system of tax service. The industry focuses on the textile and porcelain industry, the cotton weaving industry surpasses the silk weaving industry, the porcelain is painted on the porcelain fetus with enamel, and Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province is the porcelain center.

commerce

The Qing Dynasty had a prosperous business and was divided into ten major merchant gangs. Among them, Jin and Hui merchants dominated China's financial industry, and Fujian and Chao merchants controlled overseas trade. The Qing Dynasty implemented a policy of maritime ban, and it was not until the occupation of Taiwan that coastal trade was slightly activated, and the currency adopted a dual standard of silver and copper. In the late Kangxi period, in order to prevent civil uprisings, the mining ban policy was implemented, which hindered the development of industry and commerce to a certain extent.

culture

novel

Qing Dynasty novels are considered to be represented by Cao Xueqin's "Dream of the Red Chamber". "Strange Tales from Liao Zhai", "The Outer History of Confucianism" and the condemnation novels of the late Qing Dynasty all had a great influence.

poetry

Qing Dynasty poetry had little influence on Chinese history. In the early days, Nalan Xingde's "Drinking Water Words" was praised by later generations. Emperor Qianlong loved to compose poetry, but few of them were good. The poetry reform movement, known as the "Poetry Revolution", arose before and after the Wuxu Reform, and its representatives include Huang Zunxian's poems, and others such as Tan Sitong, Tang Caichang, Kang Youwei, Huang Zunxian, Jiang Zhiyou, Qiu Fengjia, and Xia Zengyou all have works.

Beijing opera

Peking Opera originated from the Kunqu Opera and Beijing dialect of the Ming Dynasty, and was formed during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods. The name of Peking Opera began to appear in 1876 in the "Declaration", in history there were Pi Huang, Er Huang, Huang Yan, Beijing Tune, Peking Opera, Ping Opera, National Opera and other titles, the Department of 1790 after the four major Hui troupes entered Beijing and the Beijing opera scene of Kunqu Opera, Han Opera, Yiyang, Rantan and other operas after 50 or 60 years of fusion, evolved into the largest Chinese opera. Its repertoire is the richest in the country, the number of performing artists, the number of troupes, the number of audiences, and the depth of influence.