Literature (optional)

    The emperor Kangxi ruled during the Qing Dynasty. He loved Literature and wrote lots of poems. Most emperors also do, and wrie essays and more. The Qing emperors thought of themselves as patrons of artists and writers. Many thinkers and philosophers criticized all sorts of things not only in the Qing Dynasty in other dynasties as well. Not all scholars, officials and writers were conformists with the Qing regime. Most of the novels though, were very popular and were traded all  over.

Bibliography

Chines History- Qing Dynasty- religion

          http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-religion.html

 Holidays in China

          http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/public-holiday.htm

Event History

            http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-event.html

Emperors of Qing Dynasty

            http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/qing.htm

Emperor Xuantong

           http://www.gochinatravel.com/n243c147.aspx
                                                              Literature
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-literature.html
          Bo, Zhiyue. The History of Modern China. New Jersey, 2006. 

 

Religion/Culture

       Confucianism was the main belief in the Qing Dynasty. The Confucius Temple was built in 1302 and additions were made during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Confucius is a man who lived very long ago and believed that all things should be calm and supportive. He believed that there was no good without evil, no love without hate, etc. Confucianism is the teachings of emphasizing love for humanity. It was adopted as the official religion during the Qing Dynasty by the rulers of the cultural superior realm of China.

Inventions

Printing in the Qing Dynasty was a big deal at the time. China's printing productions expanded in other places then the capital, it also went on in centres of China. Contemporary works were printed in huge quantities at first but then became more used. There were lots of places to print, both private and public. This led to all printing techniques known and continued to be used and new kinds were devised.

Exclusive Interview with Emperor Xuantong

Question: Do you know why you were emperor at such a young age?
Answer: Well, in the time i was throned, the dynasty was in trouble, due to Westerners. The country was ruled by Dowager Empress Cixi, who had imprisoned the nominal emperor, Guangxu, for conspiring against her. Before she died she named me to succeed her because I was the son of the imprisoned emperor's brother. Also because I was to make sure Guangxu didn't interfere in her plans, it is said, she had him poisoned.

Question: Do you think you were ready/qualified to become the emperor?
Answer: Well, first, i was almost 3, and second throughout my learning experience when I got older, even though I did not rule, I had an uneven education. I studied classics, history and poetry, but no math, geography or science. I know 2 languages, Chinese and Manchu.

Question: How come you were over throned so fast?
Answer: Well, I remember a man named Zhang Xun came with an army and surrounded Peking. After that I was still emperor, but a few days later, three bombs were dropped in the Forbidden city. That was the first  air raid in Chinese history.

Question: Do you think it is disappointing that you are the last emperor of China?
Answer: Yes I do, because it shows that I failed and after me there was no ruler.

Question: Why were you imprisoned in Shenyang till 1959?
Answer: Well, I fled the Empire and came back in 1950, then was put into a prison camp because I was in house arrest when I was staying with my family. Then I was released 9 years later.

Map of the Qing Dynasty

This is a map of the Qing Dynasty in 1644-1911. As you can see most of the cities in China are all in the same places as they are now. Beijing is one of those cities. Today, China has gotten a lot bigger than it was during the Qing Dynasty. The reason for that is because China had lots of different Dynasties that conquered territories in the past, and had invasions, but now, it is stable. The country is surrounded by other empires in this map, but currently bordered by Russia, Korea, and more. The great wall is also still bordering china currently and during the Qing Dynasty. Something that changed is, on the map, there are empires around China here, that no longer exist anymore. The map of the Qing Dynasty and the map of China now has changed dramatically.

Editorial

    The Opium War, was one of the most humiliating thing that happened to China and it all started  because of Lin Tse-hsü. He started thinking about it and decided he wanted to stop the trading of opium from the British and he also believed that trading was to benefit the country and the people instead of the opposite. Lin's belief was right, but what he did was wrong. He took it far and signed a lot of treaties and that is how he failed. Fortunately the last treaty he signed helped him and China but the damage was too high of a cost and they were to blame.
   The reason of the whole war to start was because the British didn't stop the trade for some reason. They didn't want to stop the trading because they didn't want to close down the stores and places they grew Opium and the places they sold Opium. So they allied with the French and started the war which happened twice during the Qing Dynasty, which was the last dynasty in Chinese history because of other fails throughout history.

The War Has Ended!

    As you all know, the first opium war ended in 1842, and 14 years later, the second one began. Today is the day that we can say, the war has officially ended. A new Treaty was signed by the government, but that didn't help the damage that it cost us, which was a lot. The new Treaty that was signed was the Beijing Treaty, but before that the French army invaded Beijing and burned down our emperors' summer residence in the Yuanmingyuan Garden while the court had fled to Jehol in Manchuria during the second war unfortunately.

   The damage was done and the government were blamed.  “Damages of 16 million silver bars were added by the cession of the Kowloon Peninsula opposite to Hong Kong to Great Britain. British and French were subject only to their own jurisdiction, and the two countries were diplomatically recognized by the Qing government and the first real foreign ministry.”-said anonymous. Qing has to pay for all the mess and the French and the British were allies and they only paid their damage to their own property and tools. Qings' empire was the first real foreign government.

   A little known secret was revealed yesterday that was dated back in the 1842. The government was signing different treaties and one of them was the Nanjing Treaty. That was the beginning of the mistake.  That was the beginning of the shameful treaties that came later on, we call this “unequal treaties”.

  Right now China is humiliated because of her losing. Now we have lost our sovereignty over the import taxes and our large income. Even though this war is over, we had still lost. It all started because of Lin Tse-hsü who is a disgrace to us and wishing that the trade of the drug opium, never existed.