1. Qing Dynasty –

2. Fall of Ming
While the Ming initially maintained the sea-trade and naval emphasis (Zheng He) of the
Song Dynasty before the Mongols, they soon changed their focus and spending
Instead of focusing on world influence, the Ming focused internally,
largely ignoring the outside world and focusing on defense
With a disastrous silver-only tax policy, and loss of economic
output, the also focused primarily on northern defense
By 1644, the slipping Ming Dynasty lost out to northern invaders from Manchuria
Known as the Manchu people, the invaders quickly took over and adopted much of
the already-established Chinese culture and political systems, starting the Qing Dynasty

3. Qing Dynasty ( )
One aspect the Manchu adopted from the Han Chinese
Ming Dynasty was the Confucian Examination System
Essentially, to participate in the government, one had to pass a
rigorous amount of test based on Classical China and Confucianism
This left gov. slots only open to elites who could afford to
send their male sons to study for years and complete the tests
While leaving many gov. officials untrained for actual gov./econ rule, it
provided China with a solid, unified culture and helped maintain social harmony
Wanting to maintain this harmony and tradition, the Qing Dynasty kept the Confucian
Examination system as a means to appease and control the Han Chinese, and keep them stable

4. Max Extent of Qing Dynasty -18th century

5. Qing Expansion and Power
Once in power, the Qing Dynasty continued to expand China’s land
borders, as Europeans continued to control maritime trade and coasts
Taking territories from the weakening khanates and areas of Southeast
Asia, Emperor Kangxi ( ) created the largest Chinese empire
Like Louis XIV, Peter the Great, the Ottoman sultans, and Mughal
emperors, the Qing Dynasty too demonstrated power through culture
Qing Emperors often comissioned the painting of life-size
portraits of their emperors to demonstrate power and influence

6. Emperor Kangxi

7. Domestic Policies
While examination systems were used by the Qing to maintain
Han social harmony, many other policies were outright oppressive
One particular oppressive policy was the banning
of all marriage between Manchu and Han people
This was done to maintain Manchu identity and dominance over the Han
Lastly, the Manchu hairstyle the queue was made
official for males, and punishable, eventually, by death
Again, the Manchu imposed this cultural aspect on the Han to demonstrate
their dominance over the Han Chinese, and, somewhat, to their culture