The Qing dynasty was a Manchu-led imperial Chinese dynasty and last imperial dynasty in Chinese history. The administrative system of the Qing dynasty was based on the idea of "adapting to the times and the place, and making adjustments according to circumstances". [1]
Initially, the Qing dynasty expanded the Ming province system from 15 to 18 provinces, with the interior of the Qing dynasty comprising Beijing (the capital city) and these eighteen provinces (also known as China proper).
During the late Qing dynasty, there were efforts to extend the province system of China proper to the rest of the empire. Xinjiang was reorganized into a province in 1884 and later Manchuria was split into the three provinces of Fengtian, Jilin and Heilongjiang in 1907. Taiwan was converted into a separate province in 1885, but was then ceded to Japan in 1895 following the First Sino-Japanese War.
There was discussion to do the same in Inner and Outer Mongolia and Tibet-Qinghai, but these proposals were not put to practice, and these areas remained outside the provincial system of China proper when the Qing dynasty fell.
Unlike the Ming provincial administration which consisted of three governors the Qing provinces were governed by a single Governor or "Xunfu (巡抚)" who held substantial power. Although all provincial agencies communicated with the central government through him, he himself was subordinate to a Governors-general "Zongdu (总督)". While nominally superior to a Governor, usually the Governors-general cooperated closely with the Governor and acted jointly in reporting to the central government. [2]
Under the authority of the Governors were two types of agencies: the Provincial Administration Commissions and the Provincial Surveillance Commissions. The Provincial Administration Commissioner, acting as a lieutenant-general, handled financial duties. The Provincial Surveillance Commissioner managed judicial and oversight functions. Additionally, each province had an unofficial Provincial Education Commissioner who oversaw educational institutions and certified candidates for the civil service exams. Circuit Intendants, known as "Daotai (道臺)" operated within the provincial administration as liaisons between the prefectures and the provincial authorities. [3]
China in the Qing dynasty was divided into five major regions: The Interior (Beijing and eighteen provinces), Guandong (Three Eastern Provinces), Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan), the Mongolian steppe (Inner and Outer Mongolia), Qinghai and Tibet. [4] The Qing government agency known as Lifan Yuan oversaw the administrations of the empire's Inner Asian territories, which were also collectively known as Chinese Tartary by contemporary Europeans.
The Qing dynasty had a total of approximately 19 tributary states and a few vassals (not all at the same time) under the traditional tributary system of China. [5]
| State | Start of Tribute/Vassalage | End of Tribute/Vassalage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseon | since the Ming | 1895 | The Qing had a laissez-faire policy towards them. [6] Japanese occupied by 1894, later annexed by Japan. |
| Ryukyu | 1646 | 1875 | Incorporated into Okinawa Prefecture in 1879, thus all relations to China ended. Last tribute sent in 1875. |
| Sulu | 1726 | 1733 | Was a Tributary state of the Ming around 300 years before restarting Tributary relations with China. [7] |
| Vietnam | between the Tang & Song | 1885 | |
| Luang Prabang | 1730 | 1893 | |
| Thailand | since the Sui | 1852 | |
| Konbaung | 1770 | 1885 | Konbaung fought four wars successfully against the Qing, despite victory they sued for peace with China in 1770. |
| Sikkim | 1720 | 1890 | Sikkim became a protectorate of Tibet in 1670, which itself became a part of Qing China (and with it Sikkim) in 1720. |
| Nepal | 1791 | 1908 | |
| Hunza | 1761 | 1892 | |
| Kokand | 1774 | 1798 | Forced into being a protectorate of, and pay tribute to, the Qing dynasty. [8] |
| Kazakhstan | Unknown | 1847 |
The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history. The dynasty, proclaimed in Shenyang in 1636, seized control of Beijing in 1644, which is considered the start of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty lasted until 1912, when it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. In Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multi-ethnic Qing dynasty assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the fourth-largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With over 426 million citizens in 1907, it was the most populous country in the world at the time.
China proper, also called Inner China are terms used primarily in the West in reference to the traditional "core" regions of China centered in the southeast. The term was first used by Westerners during the Manchu-led Qing dynasty to describe the distinction between the historical "Han lands" (漢地)—i.e. regions long dominated by the majority Han population—and the "frontier" regions of China where more non-Han ethnic groups and new foreign immigrants reside, sometimes known as "Outer China". There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative, cultural, and linguistic shifts have occurred in Chinese history. One definition refers to the original area of Chinese civilization, the Central Plain ; another to the Eighteen Provinces of the Qing dynasty. There was no direct translation for "China proper" in the Chinese language at the time due to differences in terminology used by the Qing to refer to the regions. Even to today, the expression is controversial among scholars, particularly in mainland China, due to issues pertaining to contemporary territorial claim and ethnic politics.
The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there are five levels of local government; the provincial, prefecture, county, township, and village.
Inner Asia refers to the northern and landlocked regions spanning North, Central and East Asia. It includes parts of western and northeast China, as well as southern Siberia. The area overlaps with some definitions of "Central Asia", mostly the historical ones, but certain regions that are often included in Inner Asia, such as Manchuria, are not a part of Central Asia by any of its definitions. Inner Asia may be regarded as the western and northern "frontier" of China proper and as being bounded by East Asia proper, which consists of China proper, Japan and Korea.
Amdo is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Ü-Tsang in the west and Dotoe also known as Kham in the east. Ngari in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Domey. Amdo is also the birthplace of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu to the Drichu (Yangtze). Amdo is mostly coterminous with China's present-day Qinghai province, but also includes small portions of Sichuan and Gansu provinces.
Amban is a Manchu language term meaning "high official", corresponding to a number of different official titles in the imperial government of Qing China. For instance, members of the Grand Council were called Coohai nashūn-i amban in the Manchu language and Qing governor-generals were called Uheri kadalara amban.
The Lifan Yuan was an agency in the government of the Qing dynasty of China which administered the empire's Inner Asian territories such as Mongolia and oversaw the appointments of Ambans in Tibet. Until the 1860s, it was also responsible for the Qing's relations with the Russian Empire.
Tusi, often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain ethnic minorities in central China, western China, southwestern China, and the Indochinese peninsula nominally on behalf of the central government. As succession to the Tusi position was hereditary, these regimes effectively formed numerous autonomous petty dynasties under the suzerainty of the central court. This arrangement is known as the Tusi System or the Native Chieftain System. It should not be confused with the Chinese tributary system or the Jimi system.
Mongolia under Qing rule was the rule of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China over the Mongolian Plateau, including the four Outer Mongolian aimags and the six Inner Mongolian aimags from the 17th century to the end of the dynasty. The term "Mongolia" is used here in the broader historical sense, and includes an area much larger than the modern-day state of Mongolia. By the early 1630s Ligdan Khan saw much of his power weakened due to the disunity of the Mongol tribes. He was subsequently defeated by the Later Jin dynasty and died soon afterwards. His son Ejei handed the Yuan imperial seal over to Hong Taiji in 1635, thus ending the rule of the Northern Yuan dynasty in Inner Mongolia. However, the Khalkha Mongols in Outer Mongolia continued to rule until they were overrun by the Dzungar Khanate in 1690, and they submitted to the Qing dynasty in 1691.
The administrative divisions of China between 1912 and 1949 were established under the regime of the Republic of China government.
A xunfu was an important imperial Chinese provincial office under both the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, the purview of the office under the two dynasties differed markedly. Under the Ming dynasty, the post originated around 1430 as a kind of inspector-general and ad hoc provincial-level administrator; such a xunfu is usually translated as a grand coordinator. However, since the mid-17th century, xunfu became the title of a regular provincial governor overseeing civil administration in the Qing dynasty.
Late Qing reforms, commonly known as New Policies of the late Qing dynasty, or New Deal of the late Qing dynasty, simply referred to as New Policies, were a series of cultural, economic, educational, military, diplomatic, and political reforms implemented in the last decade of the Qing dynasty to keep the dynasty in power after the invasions of the great powers of the Eight Nation Alliance in league with the ten provinces of the Southeast Mutual Protection during the Boxer Rebellion.
The Qing dynasty in Inner Asia was the expansion of the Qing dynasty's realm in Inner Asia in the 17th and the 18th century AD, including both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, both Manchuria and Outer Manchuria, Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang.
The Yuan dynasty was a Mongol-led imperial Chinese dynasty. During its existence, its territory was divided into the Central Region (腹裏) governed by the Central Secretariat and places under control of various provinces (行省) or Branch Secretariats (行中書省), as well as the region under the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs. In addition, the Yuan emperors held nominal suzerainty over the western Mongol khanates, but in reality none of them were governed by the Yuan dynasty due to the division of the Mongol Empire.
The Yuan dynasty in Inner Asia was the domination of the Yuan dynasty in Inner Asia in the 13th and the 14th centuries. The Borjigin rulers of the Yuan came from the Mongolian steppe, and the Mongols under Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) based in Khanbaliq. The Yuan was a dynasty that incorporated many aspects of Mongol and Chinese political and military institutions.
Manchuria under Qing rule was the rule of the Qing dynasty of China over the greater region of Manchuria, including today's Northeast China and Outer Manchuria, although Outer Manchuria was lost to the Russian Empire after the Amur Annexation. The Qing dynasty itself was established by the Manchus, a Tungusic people from Manchuria, who later replaced the Ming dynasty as the ruling dynasty of China. Thus, the region is often seen to have had a special status during the Qing and was not governed as regular provinces until the late Qing dynasty, although the name "Manchuria" itself is an exonym of Japanese origin and was not used by the Qing dynasty in Chinese or Manchu.
The political systems of Imperial China can be divided into a state administrative body, provincial administrations, and a system for official selection. The three notable tendencies in the history of Chinese politics includes, the convergence of unity, the capital priority of absolute monarchy, and the standardization of official selection. Moreover, there were early supervisory systems that were originated by local factions, as well as other political systems worthy of mention.
The administration of territory in dynastic China is the history of practices involved in governing the land from the Qin dynasty to the Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) was the last imperial dynasty of China. The early Qing emperors adopted the bureaucratic structures and institutions from the preceding Ming dynasty but split rule between the Han and Manchus with some positions also given to Mongols. Like previous dynasties, the Qing recruited officials via the imperial examination system until the system was abolished in 1905. The Qing divided the positions into civil and military positions, each having nine grades or ranks, each subdivided into a and b categories. Civil appointments ranged from an attendant to the emperor or a grand secretary in the Forbidden City (highest) to being a prefectural tax collector, deputy jail warden, deputy police commissioner, or tax examiner. Military appointments ranged from being a field marshal or chamberlain of the imperial bodyguard to a third class sergeant, corporal or a first or second class private.
The Ming dynasty in Inner Asia was the expansion of the Ming dynasty's realm and influence in Inner Asia between the 14th and the 16th centuries. The Ming dynasty overthrew and succeeded the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and sought to avert further incursions by a regime originating from Inner Asia. Wars were fought against the Northern Yuan, which existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, but also against other states in Inner Asia including the Oirat Confederation and Moghulistan. As a result, Ming China at the height incorporated Manchuria, much of the regions of Inner Mongolia and Qinghai, and parts of Xinjiang into its realm, and also had some degree of influence in Tibet especially during the reign of the Yongle Emperor.