The Great Qing Dynasty - Volume 1, 2, 3, 4

Author: Li Yan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: The rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty; success and failure, ancient insights into the present. Twelve emperors, iron horses and golden weapons; achievements and faults, enlightening the past and warning the future. An imperial era that endured glory and disgrace, prosperity and war, this book chronicles the grand epic of the Qing Dynasty from unification to prosperity, and then to decline and collapse. It tells the complete history of the Qing Dynasty's ten emperors from its establishment to prosperity, and then to decline and collapse.
Magnificent Talent: Shunzhi Dynasty; The Emperor of a Thousand Years: Kangxi Dynasty; Striving for Governance: Yongzheng Dynasty; The Height of Prosperity: Qianlong Dynasty; Diligent Governance: Jiaqing Dynasty; Yearning for Progress: Daoguang Dynasty; High Aspirations but Limited Talent: Xianfeng Dynasty; Tragic and Regrettable: Tongzhi Dynasty; Ill-Fated: Guangxu Dynasty; A Legendary Life: Xuantong Dynasty!
In the nearly six or seven hundred years since the Manchus succeeded the Mongols as the second ethnic group to rule the Central Plains, the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains in 1664 (the first year of the Shunzhi reign) and established its dominance, marking the downfall of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing's unification of China. For two thousand years since the Qin and Han dynasties, especially during the 268 years the Manchus ruled the Central Plains as the Qing Dynasty, with the prosperous reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong (nearly 150 years), not only did the Han and Wu emperors dare not compare to it, even the Tang Dynasty's Zhenguan and Kaiyuan reigns were slightly inferior. The territory of today's New China (People's Republic of China) was also largely established from the middle of the Qianlong reign to the 25th year of the Daoguang reign (1845). Today, none of us can deny the great achievements of our ancestors in the Qing Dynasty's early struggles and hardships. Since the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns, the national strength remained stable, with men farming and women weaving, enjoying abundance and plenty, still a farming kingdom on the vast land of East Asia. Although it did not reach the ideal of "neither picking up stray items on the road nor locking doors at night," it had at least approached the level of a developed country with a peaceful and prosperous society, becoming a common recognition among the knowledgeable people of the world. Only with the Second Opium War (the 21st year of the Daoguang reign, 1841), when British imperialism used its advanced ships and cannons to force open the doors of the Qing Dynasty, did the national strength decline, the sun set at the end of the road, and the country face a precipitous and irreparable situation. There is no other reason but the oppression and deception of British imperialism that led to this. Yet today, some individual Qing history scholars in Europe and America even claim, "Printing in the Song Dynasty and porcelain in the Ming Dynasty were renowned in the world, but after the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns of the Qing Dynasty, the national strength declined, and the people lived in hardship."