Manhu Conquest of China

The Manchu conquest of China was a long period of war between Qing Dynasty in Manchuria and Ming Dynasty in the south; however, Beijing was firstly fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official, who became the leader of the peasant revolt, and then established the Shun Dynasty in Xi’an. Dorgon, who is a Manchu prince, and Wu Sangui fought a bottle of Shanhai Pass against Li Zicheng. After that, Dorgon’s father, Hong Taiji established the Qing Dynasty and became Chongde Emperor. After Hong Taiji’s death in 1643, his ninth son Fulin ascended the throne as the Shunzhi Emperor.

During rule of Wanli Emperor, Ming was in a chaotic state, no matter in politics, military, society, or natural conditions. The centurial governors were corrupt. Being trusted by the Wanli Emperor, eunuchs were extraordinary powerful and; some of them had more influence than the government officials. Some officials wanted to be promoted so that they colluded with eunuchs to let the eunuchs delay, or intercept memorial to the throne, which are deleterious for them so that the emperor failed to know the real situation they were facing. Also, the government was poor after the battles in Ningxia, Korea, and Panzhou; the emperor decided to add the taxes to support financial crisis. Yet, the late Ming Dynasty encountered the extremely cold climate, and drought; there was a lack of food for the huge population from the earlier prosperous generation. It is said in that duration, people had neither food in their mouth, nor cloths on their body. Therefore, many people became bandits to survive and support their family, which became one of the most important problems. Facing such chaos, people, who built up the base of the whole country, gathered. T...

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...zheng, and Qianlong, which was a period of great prosperity of Qing Dynasty.

Nevertheless, the Manchu conquest of China also brought wicked consequence. Centralization was strengthened, especially under the rule of Yongzheng Emperor. Countless people died in the war, and the population declined sharply. In cultural field, Manchus commanded Han Chinese changed their hairstyle. To repress the people, who declared to overturn the Qing Dynasty, and reinstate the Ming Dynasty, Qing Emperors practiced the Literary Inquisition that ruined the trend of ideological enlightenment.

All in all, Li Zicheng usurped, and ruled China for only a year. Known as a “nationality on the horseback”, Manchus defeated Li Zicheng’s army in Shanhai Pass, and established Qing Dynasty. Since then, China retrieved prosperity step by step, although it also fettered citizens’ ideological freedom.