There were many prosperous times in ancient China, such as reign of Chengkang in Western Zhou Dynasty, reign of Wenjing and Zhaoxuan Zhongxing in Western Han Dynasty, and reign of Guangwu Zhongxing and Mingzhang in Eastern Han Dynasty. , reign of Kaihuang in Sui dynasty and reign of Tang dynasty. During reign of Zhengguan and prosperity of Kaiyuan, Ming dynasty had prosperity of Yongxuan, and Qing dynasty had prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong. However, many people question last period of prosperity in history of ancient China, Kangqian Prosperous Age. Some believe that during Qing Dynasty, China was already lagging behind West, so it could not be called an era of prosperity. However, all these flourishing ages are vertical, not horizontal comparisons. The editor uses a number of historical materials to argue that prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong was still pinnacle of development in ancient Chinese history.

1. Economically: The longest period of stability in China

In ancient China, in order to assess whether an era was prosperous or not, we had to look at it from three angles. First, is economy thriving. If dynasty is strengthened over time, if economy is in decline, and people are suffering, it cannot be said that this is an era of prosperity. Second, see if policy is clear. In an era of clear politics, there will be fewer wars and people can live and work in peace and contentment. Third, see if national strength is strong or not. A strong country and a strong national power can expand its territory and increase national prestige, which is also an important factor. As for culture, it is not considered here. Because in history there is often a phenomenon when in troubled times hundreds of schools of thought compete, and in prosperous times tens of thousands of horses are silent.

First, consider economy. In ancient times, looking at economy of dynasty, there was no GDP, and data people estimate today is also unreliable. Therefore, people often judge whether a dynasty's economy is developed by amount of cultivated land, grain production, and population. The reason is very simple: often when era is peaceful, population increases and amount of cultivated land also continues to increase. Combined with economic policy adopted by government at that time, we can judge economic development of that time.

Throughout Chinese history, population has always fluctuated with political stability and economic prosperity. For example, at beginning of Western Han Dynasty, population was reduced to about 10 million due to war. During reign of Wen Jing, as country adopted a policy of recuperation, world was peaceful and population quickly recovered, reaching over 30 million when Emperor Wu came to power. Later, due to Emperor Wu's militarism, population continued to decline. At end of Western Han Dynasty, a policy of rest and recuperation was implemented, which led to a rapid recovery of population, reaching 59 million people. The Western Han Dynasty provides us with a very clear example. In ancient history, population of Western Han Dynasty reached a peak that was not surpassed until Ming Dynasty. There were two periods of prosperity in Western Han Dynasty: Wenjing Zhizhi and Zhaoxuan Zhongxing. The length of a healthy age often affects rate of population growth. It took 70 years to recover in early Han Dynasty, over 100 years from unification of Tang Dynasty to Anshi Rebellion, and 81 years from founding of Ming Dynasty to Civil Fortress. Under Qing Dynasty, from 1664 to 1840, it experienced a total of 180 years of stable development. Among them, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong ruled for over 130 years, undoubtedly longest prosperity in Chinese history.

With advent of Qing Dynasty, Dorgon, Kangxi and Yongzheng adopted an economic recovery policy, implemented "acre division" and abolished poll tax for newly added population. This policy accelerated recovery of economy. Combined with large-scale land development in southwestern highlands and Lingnan region, country's arable land area has reached its peak, and population has also increased dramatically. By Qianlong period, country's population had exceeded 200 million, and by 1840 it had exceeded 400 million. This shows that Qing Dynasty was pinnacle of ancient China's agricultural economy. Of course, population surge led to lowest per capita area of ​​arable land in history, but thanks to introduction of high-yielding crops such as American corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes, a large amount of wasteland has become effectively used. , and grain production in country increased significantly.

Population changes in ancient China

With regard to industry and trade, although government continued to pursue a policy of emphasis on agriculture and suppression of trade and maritime ban, it did not interfere with development of industry and trade. During Qing Dynasty, business made a new breakthrough and business gangs across country were very active, especially Anhui and Shanxi merchants who controlled most of world's wealth. Although China closed country at time, its foreign trade was not interrupted. At that time, Chinese tea, silk and porcelain sold well in Europe, and even Britain, entering industrial age, was in a state of trade deficit with China.

Thirteen trips to Guangzhou

II. Politics in Early Qing Dynasty

It can be said that Qing Dynasty was only dynasty in Chinese history that did not have a weak emperor. From entry of Qing Dynasty to Opium War, there were four generations of rulers, including Dorgon, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, all of whom were benevolent monarchs or holders of power, a rarity in ancient and modern times. Jiaqing can also be considered a skilled ruler of success. Why there was no weak emperor in Qing Dynasty is due to succession system. Regarding appointment of a prince, all dynasties basically followed eldest son succession method, which makes it difficult to guarantee successor's supremacy, and even a crazy person can be appointed emperor. However, Qing dynasty did not implement eldest son succession system, and selection of its princes required strict scrutiny. During Yongzheng period, a secret reserve system was introduced to prevent princes from competing for throne. The Qing Dynasty introduced a very serious prince training system: whether a prince or a mere son, he must receive relatively complete training from an early age. This made emperor of Qing Dynasty very capable of managing state affairs.

In era of a weak king, a weaker monarchy can reduce destructive power; in era of wise monarch, a stronger monarchy can have more influence. The monarchy of Qing Dynasty was just pinnacle of ancient China. At beginning of Qing Dynasty, power of emperor was still restrained by an assembly of kings and ministers who discussed policy, but after Kangxi created Southern Cabinet, assembly of ministers and kings who discussed policy became irrelevant. During Yongzheng period, Department of Military Aviation was established, and only Yongzheng was mainly involved in affairs of national government. It's just that emperor of Qing Dynasty was very hardworking and did not need an cabinet and eunuchs to participate in decision-making. As a result, ministers and eunuchs always had no opportunity to interfere in politics, and country's government orders were unhindered.

Let's take another look at administration of officials. In past, when talking about Qing Dynasty, people always thought of corruption. But this was late Qing Dynasty. Think carefully, what dynasty was not corrupt in late period? Prior to Qing Dynasty, top three eras of formal administration were Qin Dynasty, Zhaoxuan era of Western Han Dynasty, and Zhengguan period. During era of Zhu Yuanzhang, although punishment of corrupt officials was unprecedented, it did not effectively fight corruption. At beginning of Qing Dynasty, government was also very good. Kangxi re-established evaluation systems such as Jingcha and Daji and strictly investigated affairs of local officials. It also conducted six southern inspections, three eastern inspections, one western inspection, and hundreds of inspections in Gyeonggi-do and Mongolia. However, in Kangxi's later years, due to low salaries of officials and his lack of diligence, corruption became serious again. After Yongzheng came to power, espionage activities were introduced on a large scale to spy on officials, a secret system was implemented, all public projects were accountable to central government, and officials' salaries were raised, which made political atmosphere of Qing Dynasty reach a new height comparable to period " Zhaoxuan Zhongxing. In early days of Qianlong's reign, government was governed by "a combination of indulgence and cruelty", and general administration of officials throughout country was clear. During later period of Qianlong's reign, trend towards corruption revived and corrupt officials such as He Shen emerged.

Kangxi South Tour Map

The greatest political criticism in Qing Dynasty was literary inquisition. The purpose of this policy is to prevent and suppress "anti-cinnamon and smoky" forces among people, but it has caused great damage to cultural sphere. According to statistics, Dorgon set up literary prison 7 times, Kangxi Emperor set up literary prison more than 20 times, Yongzheng Emperor set up literary prison more than 20 times, and Qianlong Emperor set up literary prison more than 130 times. However, literary inquisition was not unique to Qing Dynasty. In Qin Dynasty, there was "burning of books and burial of Confucian scholars", and in Eastern Han Dynasty, there was "catastrophe of party imprisonment", and both Zhu Yuanzhang and Yongle Emperor of Ming Dynasty used extensively literary inquisition.

To sum up, although there were many shortcomings in politics of early Qing Dynasty, such as literary inquisition, they were relatively healthy overall. There was no perfect prosperity in ancient China, like reign of Zhengguan, there were still peasant uprisings, unfair, false and incorrectly solved cases, corruption. Therefore, we do not need to look at prosperity of Kangxi and Qianlong with too harsh eyes.

Thirdly, national power of era of Kangxi and Qianlong: laying foundation of territory of China.

During prosperous era before Qing Dynasty, its territory was mostly limited to Han land in Central Plains. During Han and Tang dynasties, her national power was very strong, and she could exercise certain military control over western regions, and she could also defeat nomadic peoples in desert. This is glory of Han people and Tang dynasty. In eyes of many people, Qing Dynasty is a very weak dynasty, only cede land and pay compensation. But if there were only compensation for cession of land, Qing Dynasty would not have such a large territory. Moreover, cession of land and compensation of Qing dynasty took place at end of dynasty, and end of each dynasty was corrupt and incompetent, but enemies faced during Qing dynasty were industrialized Western powers.

The situation at beginning of Qing Dynasty

After Qing Dynasty entered customs, it took 20 years to unify Han mainland, and then crush San Francisco rebellion, unify Taiwan, and defeat Russian invasion. Through efforts of three generations of emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, Qing dynasty defeated Dzungar Khanate many times and included Khalkha Mongolia, Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang into China. By Qianlong period, area of ​​the Qing Dynasty had exceeded 13 million square kilometers. This data was kept for 100 years, and only during Second Opium War, territory of Qing Dynasty was reduced to more than 11 million square kilometers. This is a unique case in history of China. Not only that, Qing Dynasty emperor also broke with traditional "discrimination between Hua and Yi" and established word "China" as common name for five major ethnic groups.

Qing dynasty territory

At beginning of Qing Dynasty, her national power and influence were also very great. In Central Asia, both Kazakhstan and Kokand became vassal states. This is second time that China's sphere of influence penetrated into hinterland of Central Asia after Tang Dynasty. In Southeast Asia, its vassals are Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Luzon and Langfan. In South Asia, China for first time included Nepal, Zhe Mengxiong and Bhutan in vassal system. Of course, Qing Dynasty did not have as many subject states as Ming Dynasty, because this tribute was a formal reward. At that time, Western countries were also very interested in Qing Dynasty and even created a craze for China. Kangxi was also very fond of Western culture and introduced a large number of Western books to China.

Qianlong

At that time, China became strongest traditional country on Eurasian continent, and its national power far surpassed Ottoman Turkish Empire and Mughal Empire. However, it should be noted that at that time, Art Nouveau had already emerged in Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, France, Netherlands and Russia. As a traditional agricultural and civilized country, Qing Dynasty could not compete with these countries that were developing in direction of industrialization. However, Qing Dynasty achieved most excellent results within its capabilities and became largest and longest-running agricultural civilization empire since ancient times.

The World of Qing Dynasty

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