Early Modern China Final Review

Fairbank’s Western Impact Thesis

Claims modern Chinese history begins with the Opium War and Western intrusion shaping Qing decline.

Critique of Fairbank

Argues Fairbank overemphasizes Western impact and ignores internal dynamics like population growth and commercialization.

Naito Konan Thesis

Proposes China became early modern in the Tang-Song era via bureaucratic expansion and decline of aristocracy.

Kyoto vs Tokyo School Debate

Historiographical conflict over whether China entered early modernity in Song (Kyoto) or retained traditional continuity (Tokyo).

Late Ming–Qing Early Modernity

Defined by commercialization, monetization, population growth, and integration into global silver flows.

Yellow River Significance

Unstable northern river whose flooding shaped state hydraulic burdens and regional famine.

Yangtze River Economic Role

Major axis of commercial integration linking Lower Yangzi prosperity to interior markets.

Skinner Macro-Regions

Concept that China’s economy functioned in self-contained regional systems structured by market hierarchies.

Regional Economic Variation

Lower Yangzi highly commercialized; North China agrarian and famine-prone; Southwest frontier governed via tusi.

Tian in Confucianism

Cosmic moral order legitimizing political authority through virtuous rule.

Filial Piety (Xiao)

Foundational Confucian value structuring family hierarchy and political obedience.

Mandate of Heaven

Qing political legitimacy based on Heaven’s approval withdrawn after misrule or disaster.

Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism

Orthodox philosophy shaping exam curriculum emphasizing li-qi metaphysics and moral self-cultivation.

Wang Yangming’s Thought

Doctrine of innate knowing and unity of knowledge-action popular in late Ming activism.

Two Logics of the State

Bureaucratic meritocracy coexisting with patrimonial household logic in imperial governance.

Grand Secretariat

Elite drafting office with symbolic prestige but limited policy power under Qing.

Grand Council

Top Qing executive body handling military intelligence and confidential decisions.

Six Boards

Administrative ministries governing Personnel Revenue Rites War Punishment and Works.

Censorate

SUPERVISORY institution impeaching officials and monitoring bureaucratic behavior.

County Magistrate

“Parent official” administering local justice taxation and ritual life; lowest formal state representative.

Yamen Clerks

Hereditary local staff controlling paperwork and procedures often beyond magistrate’s direct control.

Private Secretaries (Muyou)

Advisers hired by magistrates to navigate law finance and administration.

Local Gentry Role

Mediators assisting state with education relief taxation and community governance.

Baojia System

Mutual-responsibility system for local surveillance policing and household registration.

Exam Degree Hierarchy

Progression from shengyuan to juren to jinshi determining elite status and office access.

Philological Turn in Exams

Qing-era focus on classical precision favoring resource-rich Lower Yangzi candidates.

Exam Migration

Strategy where students took exams in easier provinces to increase chances of success.

Eight-Legged Essay

Highly formulaic exam format symbolizing late imperial scholastic rigidity.

Gentry Definition

Landowning literati distinguished by degree status lifestyle and community authority.

Permanent Tenancy

System granting hereditary tenant rights prevalent in Jiangnan’s dense agricultural markets.

Sharecropping

Common tenancy arrangement with rents paid in crops especially in poorer interior regions.

Sojourning Merchants

Merchants living outside home regions maintaining lineage ties; vital in salt and finance networks.

Ming Decline Factors

Eunuch power factionalism fiscal strain Little Ice Age climate stress and hydraulic failures.

Li Zicheng’s Rebellion

Peasant revolt that captured Beijing in 1644 ending Ming rule.

Fall of 1644

Wu Sangui’s defection enabled Manchu entry establishing Qing rule in Beijing.

Eight Banner System

Manchu military-social organization structuring conquest and identity.

Nurhaci

Manchu leader who formed banners and initiated Qing unification of Manchuria.

War of the Three Feudatories

Early Qing civil war against semi-independent regional commanders 1673–1681.

Taiwan 1683

Qing naval conquest of Zheng regime integrating Taiwan into empire.

Kangxi Emperor

Consolidated Qing rule defeated Zunghars supported Jesuit science and stabilized fiscal governance.

Yongzheng Emperor

Centralizing reformer who regularized taxes and expanded Palace Memorial system.

Qianlong Emperor

Ruler during empire’s territorial peak whose late reign saw bureaucratic corruption under Heshen.

Qing Population Boom

Demographic surge from 1600–1800 driven by peace and New World crops.

Agricultural Involution

Philip Huang’s idea that rural labor intensified without productivity growth absorbing surplus labor.

Qing Fiscal Stagnation

Result of tax freeze inflation corruption and under-reported acreage limiting state revenue.

Zunghar Genocide

18th-century Qing annihilation of Zunghars securing Xinjiang and altering Central Asian history.

Tusi System

Frontier administration using native chieftains in Southwest later replaced via gaitu guiliu.

Qing-Tibet Relations

Protectorate system cemented with Amban oversight after 1720s.

Heshen

Qianlong favorite whose corruption drained state resources and weakened late-18th-century governance.

White Lotus Rebellion

Long anti-tax uprising (1796–1804) revealing rural fiscal strain and military weaknesses.

Grand Canal Crisis

Early 19th-c. silt and flooding disrupting grain shipments and destabilizing Qing finances.

Canton System

Pre-1842 trade regime restricting Europeans to Canton via Cohong merchants.

Lin Zexu

Imperial commissioner whose seizure of opium precipitated the First Opium War.

Treaty of Nanjing

First unequal treaty opening ports granting indemnity and ceding Hong Kong.

Unequal Treaties

System of foreign privileges including extraterritoriality and tariff restrictions weakening Qing sovereignty.

Tongzhi Restoration

Post-Taiping effort reviving Confucian governance and administrative orthodoxy.

Self-Strengthening Movement

Reforms promoting “Chinese learning for essence Western learning for utility.”

Zongli Yamen

Qing foreign affairs office established in 1861 as part of modernization.

Regional Armies

Xiang Huai and other provincial forces loyal to commanders not central court.

Sino-French War

Conflict over Vietnam exposing Qing military limits and resulting in loss of influence.

Fuzhou Dockyard

Key industrial yard destroyed by France in 1884 symbolizing failed military modernization.

Sino-Japanese War

Turning-point conflict where Japan’s modern military defeated Qing over Korea.

Treaty of Shimonoseki

1895 treaty ceding Taiwan opening factories to Japan and signaling Qing decline.

Scramble for Concessions

1890s partition attempts by foreign powers carving spheres of influence in China.

Absentee Landlordism

Rise of landowners living away from estates relying on agents exacerbating rural exploitation.

Treaty-Port System

Urban enclaves under foreign jurisdiction fostering industry and capitalist growth.

Industrialization in China

Limited to coastal treaty ports combining foreign technology and Chinese capital.

New Qing History

Historiography interpreting Qing as multiethnic empire with distinct Manchu institutions.

Philip Kuhn Thesis

Argues local militarization and elite activism reshaped late Qing state dynamics.

Madeleine Zelin’s Argument

Shows Qing commercial law and merchant institutions were flexible and sophisticated.

Pomeranz’s Great Divergence

Claims China and Europe were comparable until 1800 when Europe’s access to coal and colonies drove divergence.

Commercialization’s Impact

Shifted production to markets empowered merchants and altered social hierarchies.

Late Industrialization Causes

Weak transport network foreign constraints and capital scarcity limited Qing modernization.

Causes of Qing Decline

Combination of demographic pressure corruption fiscal strain and external imperialism.

Lower Yangzi Regional Dominance

Region’s commercialization literacy and exam success shaped Qing elite composition.

North China Vulnerability

Drought-prone wheat economy dependent on canal grain creating political instability.

Southwest Frontier Governance

Use of tusi chieftains rebellions and costly military integration campaigns.

Manchu Identity Policies

Banner system segregation and ritual practices maintaining ethnic distinction.

Global Silver Economy

American and Japanese silver flows underpinning Ming–Qing monetization.