Qing Dynasty Main Idea: The Qing Dynasty was a powerful government led by the Manchu that dealt with Christian missionaries and trade issues.

The Beginning The Manchu had some resistance when they took over the Ming Dynasty Some rebels seized Taiwan To be able to identify rebels, the Manchu made people follow their dress They had to shave their foreheads and braid their hair into a pigtail The pigtail is called a queue

Government Troubles The Qing kept the Ming political system but had troubles They were ethnically and culturally different than their population Did two things to deal with this problem

Solution One The Manchu were only 2% of the population but wanted to preserve their group Made themselves legally distinct from everyone else Had large landholdings and got money from the state treasury Created a separate military unit that became the chief fighting force Called the banners or bannermen

Solution Two Brought Chinese into the government Chinese held 80% of the lower posts in the government Only held a small portion of the top positions though This method won over the support of many Chinese

Reign of Kangxi Known as possibly the greatest ruler of China He started his reign in his teens and ruled for 61 years He was known for being a hard worker and fair He allowed Christian missionaries in Many leaders and subjects became Catholic When he died, Christianity was suppressed

Qianlong Qianlong was also a great ruler He expanded China to its large size and had great prosperity But the dynasty showed its first signs of decay under Qing There were corrupt officials and high taxes The population grew too much causing economic troubles Peasants led a revolt

Trade Issues Trade was very limited during the Qing Dynasty Trade allowed with Europe only on a small island outside of Guangzhou Only allowed from October to March British and Chinese wanted to be able to trade more The British had an unfavorable balance of trade British requested more trade and the Qing denied it