In general, when talking about Qing Dynasty, people think of cession of land and compensation, loss of power and humiliation of country. Indeed, late Qing Dynasty brought too much shame to China. However, one code counts for one code, and contribution of Qing Dynasty to China cannot be ignored. Past textbooks mostly started with Opium War and rarely mentioned history of early Qing Dynasty, causing many people to know little about early Qing Dynasty. The latest version of high school history textbooks adopts general model of history, from ancient times to present day, so there is more introduction to early Qing Dynasty. Let's see how textbooks present Qing Dynasty.

1. The establishment of Qing dynasty and autocratic monarchy

The history of early Qing Dynasty is found in fourth section of new textbook: "The Establishment of Chinese Territory under Ming and Qing Dynasties and Challenges It Faced." On unit introduction page, text usually introduces world's past and characteristics of Ming and Qing dynasties. In terms of characteristics of times, during Ming and Qing dynasties, “authoritarian centralization was unprecedentedly strengthened, a single multi-ethnic country became more stable, territory of modern China was gradually completed, new developments in economy, culture and international relations took place.” In terms of world background, world has entered a new time, and industrial civilization has replaced agricultural civilization and become world's mainstream. However, due to shackles of traditional economic structure and political system in China, China's development is held back, and industrial civilization will inevitably have an impact on it. Therefore, let's better understand environment of Ming Dynasty China is the representative of an agricultural civilization, and modernization is a historical necessity.

The content of Lesson 13 is "From Founding of Ming Dynasty to Unification of Qing Dynasty", and introduction to Qing Dynasty began with subtitle "Internal Borders and Succession of Ming and Qing Dynasties." The book first begins with relationship between Ming Dynasty and Jurchen tribe and talks about pacification and administration of Jurchen territory at beginning of Ming Dynasty. Chiefs of Jurchen tribes in northeast were widely given official titles. briefly introduced founding process of Qing Dynasty, from Nurhaci's "Houjin" to Huang Taiji's change of country's name to "Great Qing".

The book uses a paragraph to represent coming of Qing Dynasty. The book mentions that political darkness at end of Ming Dynasty and rise of peasant uprisings provided backdrop for entry of Qing Dynasty. In 1644, Li Zicheng overthrew Ming dynasty, so Dorgon took opportunity to go through customs, moved capital to Beijing, and united entire country in 20 years.

Lesson 14 - "The Prosperity and Crisis of Qing Dynasty", which mainly introduces absolute monarchy of Qing Dynasty, contribution of territory and crisis of prosperous era. The book's subtitle, "Absolute Monarchy in Kangxi-Yongqian Period," mainly introduces changes in central system of Qing Dynasty. At beginning, I summed up "Prosperity of Kang-Qian": "During reigns of Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, there was a period of more than 100 years of prosperity, political stability, economic prosperity, territorial expansion and consolidation." Then said absolute monarchy of China also reached its peak.

Then let's talk about indicators of autocratic monarchy. First of all, emperor is known for his industriousness and arbitrariness at court. The "Historical Readings" quote Emperor Qianlong's words: "Qian Gang is arbitrarily determined, which is family law of this dynasty", "Ji Gang of this dynasty is cleared, there are no known officials, and there are no traitors... Qian Gang is at top, so court does not there will be neither famous nor treacherous ministers. Community Blessing. In introductory section of this lesson, there is an introduction to Kangxi Qinzheng. From point of view of system, a secret system and a military aviation department were formed, and emperor monopolized power. These systems "enable emperor to receive information more directly and widely, increase efficiency of decision-making, and increase control over bureaucratic institutions." were implemented, which caused great damage to culture.

In fact, since founding of Qin Dynasty, autocratic monarchy in China has steadily grown stronger. During Qin and Han dynasties, prime minister had a lot of power. In Tang and Song dynasties, power of prime minister was dispersed through a system of three provinces and six ministries and a system of two governments and three departments; in Ming Dynasty, prime minister was abolished, and group of emperor's secretaries became central organization; up.

The Qing Dynasty Inherited Ming Dynasty

2. The Establishment of Qing Dynasty Territory

The subtitle "Creating Territory" presents contribution of Qing Dynasty to territory of China, which is summarized as follows: "During prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong, territory of Qing Dynasty was further developed and consolidated on basis of previous dynasties, and territory of China was established. ." Then they began to briefly introduce position of territory of Qing Dynasty.

First, Taiwan is represented. It can be added here that Yuan Dynasty once established a Penghu Inspection Department in Penghu Islands, but it did not govern island of Taiwan. During Ming Dynasty, Taiwan was called "Little Country of Liuqiu" and "Dongfang", and Zhu Yuanzhang listed it as one of fifteen "unconquered national lands". The book begins with Zheng Chenggong. During late Ming Dynasty, Netherlands and Spain occupied Taiwan. Zheng Chenggong later expelled Netherlands and reclaimed Taiwan. However, Zheng family is just a separatist regime. In 1683, Qing dynasty pacified Taiwan and established a Taiwanese government.

Then Nerchinsk peace treaty is introduced. In fact, at end of Ming Dynasty, Russian influence had already reached Pacific coast and even entered Heilongjiang river basin. During Kangxi period, Battle of Yaksa began, forcing Russia to negotiate, and, finally, Nerchinsk Treaty was signed, delimiting eastern border. The introductory part of figure mentions that “The Treaty determined that basins of Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers, including Sakhalin Island, are territories of China.” It can also be added here that “The Nerchinsk Treaty is first treaty in which “ China" is used as name of country.

Then, tell us about situation in Mongolia. During Ming Dynasty, Mongolia was divided into three parts: Mobei, Monan and Moxi. Before Qing dynasty entered custom, it conquered Monan Mongolia and Mobei and Moxy also surrendered nominally. After Qing Dynasty entered into customs, it waged a long war with Dzungar Khanate and finally completely defeated Dzungar tribe in 1757 and suppressed chaos of size and Zhuo. Since then, three main Mongol tribes have been incorporated into territory of China. The book also talks about how Qing Dynasty ruled Mongolia: “The Qing Dynasty established two levels of units in Mongolian area to rule, and appointed Mongol prince as leader of alliance and banner. In Uyghur region, Xinjiang Court appointed General Ili, who was in charge of political affairs, and local administration appointed Uyghur Burke as manager.

Then imagine Tibet. First of all, in religion, canonization of Dalai Lama and Panchen Erdeni established a nominal government. Then, in 1727, a minister of Tibet was sent to jointly govern Tibet with Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama on behalf of imperial court, which is de facto control. Then, in 1793, "Twenty-nine Articles of Imperial Rules for Rehabilitation in Tibet" were promulgated, which "determined and formalized jurisdiction of Qing government over Tibet in legal form." The last point is easily overlooked in ordinary articles, but it is extremely important, which also indicates that Qing Dynasty's rule of Tibet has reached a new historical height.

Finally, Qing Dynasty Frontier Administration summarizes: “The Qing government specifically established a lifanyuan to handle affairs of Mongolian, Tibetan and other ethnic minorities. Customs and religious beliefs favored supreme. members of class of all ethnic groups and achieved good results in management. The last paragraph summarized territory of Qing Dynasty: “In middle of Qing Dynasty, territory was crossed by Kongling in west, Dabale Kashichi in northwest. , and Siberia in north. It extends to Outer Xing'an Mountains and Sakhalin Island in northeast, Pacific Ocean in east, Taiwan and its associated Diaoyu Islands and Chiwei Island in southeast, and South China Sea Islands in east. in south and Himalayas in southwest. The territory of present-day China was established here.strong>" and mentioned provinces, general districts, and ministerial districts.

3. Economic Culture and Crisis of Qing Dynasty

Lesson 15 is titled "Economics and Culture of Ming and Qing Dynasties", but content of Economics and Culture is taught during Ming and Qing Dynasties at same time and is not listed separately. Its content can be reduced to three aspects: agriculture, craft and trade. In terms of agriculture, agriculture flourished during Ming and Qing dynasties, and high yield crops from Americas were introduced and promoted, increasing food production. The commercialization of agriculture is on rise, and cultivation of cash crops has become commonplace. As for crafts, there were labor relations, craft workshops, etc., but germs of capitalism were no longer mentioned in educational materials. In field of commerce, a large influx of silver made silver main currency, long-distance smuggling trade developed, merchant gangs arose, and urban economy developed.

All these phenomena show that China's economy is in transition to modernity. However, textbook noted very coldly and objectively: “However, from point of view of whole society, self-sufficient traditional small peasant economy with male farmers and female weavers still occupies an overwhelming advantage. and hinders social progress and transformation. While Western countries are making great strides in modern industrial civilization, Chinese society is still stagnant, laying the groundwork for falling behind and defeat.”

Culturally, Cheng-Zhu's Neo-Confucianism is still official thought, and social thought is relatively rigid. At end of Ming and beginning of Qing, critical thinkers such as Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, and Wang Fuzi emerged. They opposed despotism, an emphasis on agriculture, and suppression of business. .

In terms of civil literature, thanks to prosperity of commodity economy, novels and dramas flourished. In terms of novels, "Scientists", "The Dream of Red Mansions", etc. appeared. A famous work." There is Kunqu Opera in plan of drama, and Kong Shangren is a representative character. Peking Opera, established at end of Qing Dynasty, has become most popular drama in country. The book also announces status of official collection of large-format books of Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Qing Dynasty had a "Siku Quanshu" and others noted that "it systematically and comprehensively dealt with ancient Chinese documents, but also observed in accordance with political standards of Qing court. Many forbidden books were destroyed."Finally, influence of Western thought on China was In early Qing Dynasty, missionaries used advanced European surveying and mapping technology to help Qing court map an accurate national map.

The subtitle of Lesson 14, "The Emergence of a Kingship Crisis," represents crisis situation of Qing Dynasty. Among them, decline began at end of Qianlong period, and decline became more evident during reigns of Jiaqing and Daoguang. First, a contradiction is introduced between man and earth. From 1741 to 1840, population of Qing Dynasty increased from 140 million to 400 million. “Rapid population growth has made crisis of resources more and more evident. Combined with accumulation of political corruption and accumulation of conflicts between rich and poor, chaos gradually emerged.” Thus, Qing Dynasty broke out in middle of Peasant Revolts represented by White Lotus Sect's rebellion.

Another aspect is international environment. The book mentions that industrialized nations such as Britain are expanding around world in search of markets and raw materials. Then imagine foreign trade policy of Qing Dynasty: "The Qing Dynasty originally designated 4 cities as foreign trade ports, and then left only 1 city in Guangzhou and provided for thirteen branches chartered by government," and security restrictions on private trade were very strict. “Such a closed-door policy cannot really eliminate potential external threats, but exacerbates alienation and contradictions. The narcissistic mentality of ruler cannot adapt to new external environment, and China is gradually falling behind global trend.” "Text and Expansion" Study, which gives situation of Macartney mission to China and Jiaqing's views on West, so that students can understand relationship of Qing Dynasty to West.

If we systematically study economic, political and cultural systems of Ming and Qing dynasties, we find that China's modern backwardness was not entirely caused by Qing dynasty. The deeper causes already existed, i.e., ingrained subsistence economy, traditional conservative Confucianism, and ever-increasing despotism. The textbooks have already mentioned these aspects, and students can discover laws while they think and think carefully. The Qing Dynasty was last dynasty in China and many of its policies were simply a continuation of history. The difference is that the Qing Dynasty had just experienced "a major change not seen in three thousand years", so it's special.

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