The Qing Dynasty (or Empire of the Great Qing, Great Qing, Manchu Dynasty, Manchus, Jin, Jurchens, Ch’ing Dynasty) was China’s last imperial dynasty. The founders of the Qing were descendants of Jurchen Jin rulers. The dynasty was founded by Nurhaci and then led by his son Huang Taiji, but did not become an imperial Chinese dynasty until after Huang Taiji’s death.
[1]
In 1644 CE, Qing forces captured the Ming capital at Beijing from rebels and held a funeral for the last Ming emperor to symbolize Qing inheritance of the Mandate of Heaven.
[2]
The Qing faced conflict with rebels and loyalist Ming forces for the next two decades.
[1]
Ming generals who surrendered were given power over large territories in southern China in exchange for loyalty to the Qing. In 1673 CE, leaders from three major southern feudatories led by Wu Sangui rebelled against Emperor Kangxi when he tried to reduce their power.
[3]
The Revolt of the Three Feudatories, as this episode is known, lasted eight years.
We divide the Qing Dynasty into two, an Early period (1644-1796 CE) and a Late period (1796-1912 CE). The division is marked by a period of internal turmoil as well as foreign incursions into its territory and economic sphere. In the Early Qing period, China had been prosperous under Kangxi and Qing rule, but by the time of the Opium Wars in the Late Qing, Western technology and industry had surpassed that of China.
[4]
The fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 gave rise to the Republic of China.
Population and political organization
The Qing ruled over an expansive empire, and its bureaucracy was more efficient than that of previous periods.
[5]
Qing rulers adopted the Chinese bureaucratic system first used in the Han and Tang Dynasties.
[6]
Before conquering the Ming, the Qing managed its population through a system of hereditary military organizations called the Eight Banners.
[7]
These became part of the administrative structure of the Qing Dynasty and were only open to those of Manchu descent.
[7]
In the later Qing period, however, the Eight Banners lost some of their political functions and served to enhance the prestige of the top Qing nobility.
[8]
The central government was headed by the emperor and included a ’Grand Council’, created by the Yongzheng emperor and expanded by the Qianlong emperor.
[9]
The Grand Council ruled over the central ministries and provided a way for the emperor to circumvent the official bureaucracy for many decisions.
[9]
The Qing provincial government consisted of governors who controlled a hierarchical system of officials, prefects, county chiefs, country magistrates, and clerks.
[10]
In the early Qing years, provinces were ruled by high ranking officials who were typically of Manchu descent.
[11]
The territory of the Qing empire was more than double that of the Ming.
[5]
Tibetans, Uighurs, Muslims, a number of Mongol groups, Burmese, Thais, and indigenous Taiwanese were incorporated into the Chinese empire.
[5]
Three Qing emperors - Kangxi (1662-1722 CE), Yongzheng (1723-1735 CE), and Qianlong (1736-1795 CE) - are historically known as great rulers. During their reigns, China was extremely prosperous.
[12]
Qianlong is famous for leading ten military expeditions, including campaigns in Taiwan, Burma, Vietnam and Nepal.
[12]
Based on Chinese census and registration counts, the population of China in 1749 CE was about 177.5 million.
[13]
The following century was one of extremely rapid population growth, and by 1851 the population had reached 431.9 million people.
[14]
Historian James Z. Gao writes that the area within the Qing court’s ’sphere of influence’ at its peak was 13.1 million square kilometres’.
[15]
While the Qing period is not well known for poetry, painting and porcelain as previous periods are, print journalism, theatre and novels flourished under the Qing emperors.
[16]
[1]: (San 2014, 337-38) Tan Koon San. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press Sdn. Bhd.
[2]: (San 2014, 338) Tan Koon San. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press Sdn. Bhd.
[3]: (San 2014, 385) Tan Koon San. 2014. Dynastic China: An Elementary History. Malaysia: The Other Press Sdn. Bhd.
[4]: (Mao 2005, 8) Haijin Mao. 2005. The Qing Empire and the Opium War: The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (Rowe 2009, 1) William T. Rowe. 2009. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[6]: (Theobald 2000) Theobald Ulrich. 2000. ’Qing Dynasty Government, Administration and Law’. Chinaknowledge.de. http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-admin.html. Accessed 21 March 2017.
[7]: (Elliot 2011, 39) Mark C. Elliot. 2001. The Manchu Way. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[8]: (Elliot 2011, 40) Mark C. Elliot. 2001. The Manchu Way. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[9]: (Lorge 2005, 173) Peter Lorge. 2005. War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 900-1795. London: Routledge.
[10]: (Zhang 2011, 63) Wei-Bin Zhang. 2011. The Rise and Fall of China’s Last Dynasty: The Deepening of the Chinese Servility. Hauppage, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
[11]: (Hsu 2006, 415) Cho-yun Hsu. 2006. China: A New Cultural History. New York: Columbia University Press.
[12]: (Theobald 2000) Theobald Ulrich. 2000. ’Qing Period Event History’. Chinaknowledge.de. http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-event.html. Accessed 21 March 2017.
[13]: (Banister 1987, 4) Judith Banister. 1987. China’s Changing Population. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
[14]: (Banister 1987, 3-4) Judith Banister. 1987. China’s Changing Population. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
[15]: (Gao 2009, xxxvi) James Z. Gao. 2009. Historical Dictionary of Modern China (1800-1949). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
[16]: (Rowe 2009, 2) William T. Rowe. 2009. China’s Last Empire: The Great Qing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
| 50 S |
| Early Qing |
| Beijing |
| Qing dynasty | |
| Qīng Cháo | |
| Ch'ing Ch'ao | |
| Empire of the Great Qing | |
| Great Qing | |
| Manchu dynasty | |
| Manchus | |
| Jin | |
| Jurchens |
| alliance with [---] |
| China |
| Late Qing |
| 13,100,000 km2 |
| continuity |
| Succeeding: Late Qing (cn_qing_dyn_2) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Great Ming (cn_ming_dyn) [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| [668,200 to 822,600] people | 1700 CE |
| 13,100,000 km2 |
| [100,000,000 to 140,000,000] people | 1700 CE |
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| [6,259 to 6,700] km |
| inferred absent |
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| Year Range | Early Qing (cn_qing_dyn_1) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1644 CE 1795 CE) | Middle Yellow River Valley |
1. Population of 1794 CE: About [313,281,795 ; 313,281,295] people2. The peak of Early Qing dynasty is generally defined as the period between regime of Kangxi to Qinglong
"Even during the Kangxi reign period the Manchus’ military prowess was declining rapidly. As they settled into a peaceful empire, the skills of riding and shooting were hard to maintain."
[1]
"China at the end of the eighteenth century was a vast, wealthy empire led by an assured and generally competent ruler. It was not well-integrated, however, making its whole actually less than the sum of its parts."
[2]
"Conquest was primarily about the Qianlong emperor’s personal power, not the state’s, and so the heights of power he attained did not continue for long after he died. With the retrospective decline of Qing power from the Qianlong emperor’s peak,it seems as if the longest-ruling emperor in Chinese history took his power with him to the grave."
[3]
Temporal bounds
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 159)
[2]: (Lorge 2005, 163)
[3]: (Lorge 2005, 173)
[Reign Title: English Reign Title/ English Personal Name (Chinese Reign Title/ Chinese Personal Name/ Chinese Temple name)]1644 CE- 1661 CE: Shunzhi/Fulin Emperor (順治/福臨/清世祖)1662 CE - 1722 CE: Kangxi/Xuanye Emperor (康熙/玄燁/清聖祖)1723 CE - 1735 CE: Yongzheng/Yinzhen Emperor (雍正/胤禛/清世宗)1736 CE - 1795 CE: Qinglong/Hongli Emperor (乾隆/弘曆/清高宗)1796 CE- 1820 CE: Jiaqing/Yongyan Emperor (嘉慶/顒琰/清仁宗)
"The Qianlong emperor ruled for the longest period in Chinese history. He "retired" as emperor in 1796 so as officially not to exceed the length of his grandfather’s 61-year reign, but continued to rule in fact until his death in 1799."
[1]
"In the 1580s power began to shift among the Jurchen tribes, moving away from confederation under the leadership of the chieftain sanctioned by the Ming. A Ming force intervened to attack that chieftain’s rival and restore the status quo, in the process also killing a father and son of the Aisin Gioro lieage. The Ming recognized Nurhaci, the eldest male orphan of the son, as the legitimate inheritor of his father’s title. Nurhaci immediately set out to revenge himself upon the man who had advised the Ming commander to intervene, effecting his death three years later and establishing himself as a successful leader. In 1589 the Ming officially designated him comander-in-chief of the Yalu region, acknowledging his actual strength. His rise to power did no go unchallenged. A two-year conflict with other Jurchen tribes concluded with Nurhaci’s decisive victory at Jaka on the Hun River in 1593. After allying with the Western Mongols, he destroyed or incorporated most of the remaining Jurchen tribes over a 20-year-period."
[2]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 163)
[2]: (Lorge 2005, 141)
Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet were under the Qing dynasty domination. Qing also had tributary states including Nepal, Burma, Siam, Laos, Tonking, and Korea.
Supra-cultural relations
People
143,411,559: 1741 CE; 159,801,551: 1742 CE; 164,454,416: 1743 CE; 166,808,604: 1744 CE; 169,922,127: 1745 CE; 171,896,773: 1746 CE; 171,896,773: 1747CE; 177,495,039: 1748 CE; {177,495,039; 177,538,796}: 1749CE; 179,538,540: 1750 CE; 181,811,359: 1751 CE; 182,857,277: 1752 CE; 183,678,259: 1753 CE; 184,504,493: 1754 CE; 185,612,881: 1755 CE; 186,615,514: 1756 CE; 190,348,328: 1757 CE; 191,672,808: 1758 CE; 194,791,859: 1759 CE; 196,837,977: 1760 CE; {198,214,555; 198,214,553}: 1761 CE; {200,472,461; 201,013,344}: 1762 CE; 204,299,828: 1763 CE; 205,591,017: 1764 CE; 206,993,224: 1765 CE; 208,095,796: 1766 CE; {209,839,546; 209,749,547}: 1767 CE; 210,837,502: 1768 CE; 212,023,042: 1769 CE; 213,613,163: 1770 CE; {214,600,356; 214,647,251}: 1771 CE; 216,467,258: 1772 CE; 218,743,315: 1773 CE; 221,027,224: 1774 CE; 264,561,355: 1775 CE; {268,238,181; 268,238,182}: 1776 CE; 270,863,760: 1777 CE; 242,965,618: 1778 CE; 275,042,916: 1779 CE; 277,554,431: 1780 CE; 279,816,070: 1781 CE; 281,822,675: 1782 CE; {284,033,785; 284,033,805}: 1783 CE; 286,331,307: 1784 CE; 288,863,974: 1785 CE; 291,102,486: 1786 CE; 292,429,018: 1787 CE; {294,852,089; 294,852,189}: 1788 CE; 297,717,496: 1789 CE; {301,487,115; 301,487,114}: 1790 CE; {304,354,110; 304,354,160}: 1791 CE; 307,467,279: 1792 CE; 310,497,210: 1793 CE; {313,281,795; 313,281,295}: 1794 CE; 296,968,968: 1795 CE; 275,662,044: 1796 CE
[1]
"300 million in 1795"
[2]
[1]: (姜涛, 1990)
[2]: (Lorge 2015, 182)
levels.
1. Capital
2. Province seat
3. Tao seat
4. Prefecture seat
5. County seat
6. Town
7. Village
Province: 18 provinces
[1]
Tao: Grouping of two or more prefectures for certain purpose, was interposed between the prefectures and provinces
[2]
Prefecture (Fu): 180 prefectures
[3]
"The Ch’ing judicial system rose upward through a territorial hierarchy of some six different levels. It began with the 1,500 xians or counties (also called districts) and similar regions and then proceeded to the higher levels of the 180 prefectures and the 18 provinces. Thence cases went to the Board of Punishments at the capital and then to a fifth level, the three high courts. The emperor was the top level. He might confirm or reject recommendations concerning capital cases sent up from below.”
[3]
[1]: (J. Zhang, 2011, 237)
[2]: (Zhang, 2011)
[3]: (Fairbank 1978 23)
levels. Inferred from previous polities.
1. Emperor
2. Ministry of Rites
3. Ritual specialists
levels.
1. Commander-in-chief (Emperor)2. Provincial governor/Governor-general3. Provincial military commander/Provincial commander-in-chief/General-in-chief4. 副將5. 參將6. 游擊7. 都司8. 守備9.千總10. 把總
"Most Chinese troops were incorporated into Green Standard armies that restored order in the countryside. These forces were under the command of provincial governors and tightly constrained in the ambit of their activities. After peace was restored most of these ad hoc measures solidified into regular practice."
[1]
One army unit 35,000 men?
1695 CE at Kerulen and Tula rivers. "The Kangxi emperor seized the opportunity to pounce upon Galdan’s 20,000 men, sending three armies of 35,000 men each some 700 miles into the steppe. Just as before, he was lucky that as Galdan fled one army he ran into another. Galdan’s army was decisively crushed at Jaomodo on 12 June 1696, though he escaped."
[2]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 151)
[2]: (Lorge 2005, 161)
levels. This number equivalent to the number of levels in the provincial government, plus the Emperor.
1. Emperor"During the Qing conquest of Ming China, the Manchus struck a deal with local elites that allowed them to rule the empire in return for non-interference in local affairs."
[1]
_Central government_
2. Grand Councilcreated by the Yongzheng emperor
[2]
"the Qianlong emperor’s reign saw the expansion of the Grand Council system begun by his father during the war against the Zunghars. The Grand Council was a tool of imperial centralization that allowed the emperor to bypass the official bureaucracy for many decisions, particularly in prosecuting wars."
[3]
3. Ministries
_Provincial government_
3. Zongdu (viceroy, governor general) or Xunfu (governor)In charge of provinces.
4. Officials in charge of taos5. PrefectsIn charge of prefectures.
6. County chiefs7. County magistrates8. Clerks to the above offices
The yamen of the district magistrate (usually the county magistrate, but sometimes prefecture or ting) was the lowest point in the official hierarchy.
[4]
District Magistrate occupied position 7A in the Qing territorial administrative hierarchy.
[5]
Mostern confirmed that county should be one level above district, since ’xiang’ are subordinate to ’xian,’ which is routinely translated to ’county.’
[6]
There was a prefect level between county magistrates and provincial governors, while district magistrates were too low to be included in a prefecture so they were overseen directly by the provincial governor. Promotion from county magistrate to prefect was possible.
[7]
"Western Sichuan was controlled by hereditary chieftains with only the vaguest connections to the Qing government. These non-Han peoples were widely dispersed in mountainous terrain, where one of their main distinguishing features from the Qing court’s perspective was their constant internecine fighting."
[8]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 172)
[2]: (Lorge 2005, 173)
[3]: (Lorge 2005, 164)
[4]: ( Zhang, 2011, 63)
[5]: (57, Table 2.3) Guy, K. 2017. Qing Governors and Their Provinces: The Evolution of Territorial Administration in China, 1644-1796. University of Washington Press.
[6]: (Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Peter Turchin, Dan Hoyer, and Jill Levine. April 2020. Email)
[7]: (80-81) Guy, K. 2014. ‘Routine Promotions: Li Hu and the Dusty Byways of Empire. In, The Dynastic Centre and the Provinces: Agents and Interactions. BRILL.
[8]: (Lorge 2005, 166)
"... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
The number of both clerks and secretaries grew dramatically over the course of the Qing dynasty in response to the growing complexity of governmental tasks. Rowe refers to the "empire-wide clerical diaspora" of literate males part of the state and local level administrative apparatus. [1]
[1]: (Rowe, 2010, p.51-52)
Qing territorial administration at both the provincial and county levels included functional specialists such as provincial judges and treasurers. In later years, regional satraps assumed unprecedented discretion over the appointments of provincial treasurers and judges, prefects and county magistrates. [1]
[1]: (Rowe 2010, p.38, 207)
The ’standard marketing community,’ comprising an area of around 20 square miles allowed all villagers within two or three miles of the town access to its periodic markets held every three days. In contrast to officially registered, licensed, and taxed markets at higher levels, these lower-level markets supported unlicensed petty brokers who were self-regulated and self-taxed. Most sellers at any standard market (including peasants) were likely to be itinerants and the standard market town usually possessed certain permanent facilities including eating places, teahouses, wine shops and other shops selling basic items. [1]
[1]: (Smith 2015, p.160)
[1] [2] the Qing regime extended irrigation infrastructure into new areas, and the long- or short-term community enterprises like irrigation systems and other various civil construction projects offered sources of income through their management. [3]
[1]: (Yi 2011, 45-52)
[2]: (Zhang 2011, 286-292)
[3]: (Rowe 2010, p.55, 113)
The period of most rapid population growth (1749-1851) was more than a doubling of China’s population. The Qing dynasty had to come up with solutions to increase food production and feed the growing population. High-yielding rice seeds were imported, new crops were introduced from the Americas, grain storage was emphasized, and irrigation works were expanded [1]
[1]: (Zhang, 2011, p.131-132)
"In Beijing, dwellers had, for generations, been using wells to draw groundwater for their daily life. The alleys in Beijing are called ’hutong’ which means ’well’ in Mongolian. [...] When the City was reconstructed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many ’hutongs’ were left without a well. According to contemporary records from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the quality of water in the wells had been low due to salinisation and this led to two results: water was supplied at three levels of quality (for washing, cooking, and drinking tea); and, seling water became a profession in Beijing (Duan, 1989)." [1]
[1]: (Du & Koenig 2012, 187)
e.g. The Grand Canal. Canal-transport continued to play an important economic role in the link between north and south China, and the upkeep and expansion undertaken during the Ming dynasty was continued under the Qing in varying degrees. [1] At the end of the Grand Canal was Hangzhou, connected with Ningbo port through the Eastern Zhejiang Canal, which served as the economic lifeline of the development of Hangzhou. The key to this development was the connection between the water system in the city and the outside through canals and irrigation networks. [2]
[1]: (Smith, 2015, p.83, 216)
[2]: (Fu and Cao 2019, p.329)
During the early Qing, the development of Hangzhou involved the digging and dredging of rivers in the city as well as the river outside Zhangyang Gate, the river from Mija Bridge to Guojun Bridge, the river from Jionglong Bridge to Zhongguan Bridge, the river from Houchou Watergate to Guojun Bridge, and up to the river from Pocang Bridge to Gonguandong Bridge. This project led to an expansion of the rivers which had become clean and clear, flowing smoothly, allowing an increase in boat traffic. [1]
[1]: (Fu and Cao 2019, p.329)
e.g. continuation of producing official versions of history inherited from the Ming. A textual research method known as Jia Qian Pu Xue evolved during the early Qing and involved the comprehensive and spirited research of documents, texts, and records ranging from history to geography and Confucian Classics. [1]
[1]: (Zhang 2015, p.380)
In 1708 CE, the Kangxi Emperor ordered the compilation to astronomical observations and astrological triangulation manner, using drawing trapezoidal projection method with ratio of 1/400000. Maps depicting the range to the northeast of Sakhalin, southeast to Taiwan, west to the Ili River, north to the North Sea (Lake Baikal), south cliff (now Hainan Island). [1]
[1]: (Lingfeng 2007, p.134)
e.g. The Transformations of Wenchang, an influential text for understanding of the god, who had become important enough to be honored in official sacrifices on par with Confucius. According to Woolley, most religious texts of the Chinese tradition are regarded as having been brought into the world through divine intervention at appropriate times in order to enlighten humanity and save it from ill. This highly influential work was reproduced up until the end of the Qing. [1]
[1]: (Woolley 2016, p. 73)
e.g. Records of Everyday Learning, including details of the organizational structure of political powers and their advantages or disadvantages, information of the selection of government officials, and the function of social customs, as well as raised suggestions about the political issues that plagued the late Ming Dynasty. [1]
[1]: (Zheng 2015, p.380)
e.g. Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢), Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (聊齋志異), The Scholars (儒林外史)
Money
Qing issued paper currency in both Shunzhi and Xianfeng regime. “Although Chinese had begun using paper money during the Song Dynasty, the Ming had halted the practice in the mid-fifteenth century. Thereafter, except for two brief returns to paper currency by the Qing, in the Xunzhi (1644-61) and the Xianfeng (1851-61) reigns, no Chinese government again issued paper currency until the early twentieth century. The private sector moved to fill the void, and during the 100 or so years before the Opium War, several different instruments of currency, such as bank drafts were used to facilitate currency exchange. True paper money began circulating after various banks and money-changing shops issued paper receipts for deposits for silver and copper; these receipts, backed by a 100 percent reserve, soon began circulating as money.” [1]
[1]: (Eastman 1988, 111) Eastman, Lloyd. 1988. Family, Fields and Ancestors: Constancy and Change in China’s Social and Economic History 1550-1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bronze coin for everyday use. In the early Qing, as in the late Ming, the state treated coinage more as a source of revenue than an instrument of sovereign control over the economy. However, the growth of the commercial economy in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries rekindled market demand for coin. [1] Bimetallic system, includes the use of silver taels with copper and bronze coins. When the supply of silver changed as a result of international trade, it caused great financially instability within the system. [2]
[1]: (von Glahn 1996, p.252)
[2]: (Mostern, Ruth. Personal Communication to Jill Levine, Dan Hoyer, and Peter Turchin. April 2020. Email)
Postal stations suffered greatly from warfare during the early Qing dynasty, however the reign of emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng saw great improvements to the postal service with the reconstruction of post offices and the establishment of new courier stations in remote and border areas. [1]
[1]: (Ma et al. 2016, p. 307)
Postal service improved by the government from 1662 to 1735 [1] However, it was not until 1896 that the Great Qing Imperial Post Office was established, providing the first ever national postal service for the general public, which allowed for greater contact with the rest of the world. [2]
[1]: (Ma et al. 2016, p. 307)
[2]: (Tsai 2015, p.895-896)
Armed land and coastal forts, paotai, first built in the 1650s under Emperor Kangxi’s reign. "In keeping with Kangxi’s emphasis on coastal fortifications, the Yongzheng and the Qianlong emperors both considered a network of forts to be a vital component of the empire’s defense network along its maritime frontier." [1]
[1]: (Po 2018, 135)
The long reflexed composite bow was introduced by the Manchu of the Qing Dynasty and was capable of propelling heavy arrows with great force. They were not well suited for horseback, but their durability and power ensured that they became the standard bow of China, Manchu-dominated Mongolia and Tibet. Typically made with a bamboo core, horn belly, sinew backing, and wooden tips and handle. [1]
[1]: (Grayson, French and O’Brien 2007, p.11)
coded inferred present for Ming. For high-ranking officers; "copper gilt plates alternating with brocade and copper studs." A lower-ranking soldier wore a long coat of quilted nankeen cotton or a thickly wadded jacket of bark-pulp paper "covered with thin plates of metal surrounded by brass studs." [1]
[1]: (Garrett, 2007, 28)
present at least as legacy armour. For high-ranking officers; "copper gilt plates alternating with brocade and copper studs." A lower-ranking soldier wore a long coat of quilted nankeen cotton or a thickly wadded jacket of bark-pulp paper "covered with thin plates of metal surrounded by brass studs." [1]
[1]: (Garrett, 2007, 28)
"The pitiful state of the Chinese navy can be attributed to the fact that from the conquest of Taiwan in 1683 until the mid-nineteenth century, China was not faced by any serious threats from the sea." [1] Qing sent several hundred ships to Taiwan in the Battle of Penghu in 1683. Qing policies did not require a strong navy, "so the Chinese navy gradually atrophied over time. [2]
[1]: (Lococo, 2002, 125)
[2]: (Erickson and Goldstein 2009, 289)