Asian Studies

    China is one of the oldest countries. It has featured in its colorful history the reign of many different emperors and rulers under its series of dynasties. For a long period of time, it was the dynasties of families and monarchs that ruled China, and like any other thing, brought both good things and bad things to the people. In the normal way of things, these regimes have their beginning, their apex and epoch of significance, power and influence, and eventually decline. The many different dynasties that China has been placed under possess different stories. Perhaps, some of the important stories are found in the Qing Dynasty, which ruled for several hundred years. It was witness to many important events in the history of China from its beginning to its end  from the revolution that introduced to the new political system and changed Chinas history forever to the rise of the man who would be important in Chinese history. The collapse of the Qing Dynasty has been attributed to many different reasons. These reasons will be discussed as the key focus of the paper.


A. Qing Dynasty An Overview
    History will remember the Qing Dynasty as the last of the long line of Chinese dynasties that ruled this vast country for a long period of time. Before that, Qing Dynasty was also a proud and glorious era in Chinese history. The Qing Dynasty has made significant contribution to Chinese culture. Many art forms in the form of paintings, wood engravings, porcelain, etc., from the Qing Dynasty, have survived today to act as testament to the level of aethetics achieved during that dynasty. There were also remaining architectural works found in China today which were important establishments during the Qing Dynasty. Other dynasties were responsible in some of the positive aspects that China has managed to enjoy and is still enjoying today. History will look at the Qing Dynasty as one of the more prosperous, if not the most prosperous, among the dynasties. This is largely because of the fact that during this particular era which began in 1644 and ended in 1911 (Wang, 1997, p. 1), China was politically strong and stable internally and externally (save for the problems that will bring down the dynasty in the later years). Economically, China was able, capable and sufficient, which is why many historians believe that China was able to reach its epoch of power during this dynasty.

    There were many things that the Qing Dynasty managed to accomplish during its nearly 300 years of reign over China. For example, it was through the leadership of the Qing Dynasty that China was able to extend its geographic and territorial borders farther and outward. Another important accomplishment of the Qing Dynasty is its ability to fully utilize and render efficient the imperial system of governance. The very organized Chinese governance system even earned praises from its contemporaries in Europe. If the 19th century saw its downturn, it was during the 18th century that Qing Dynasty and China prospered and flourished. This is largely because the governance exerted control during that time, but was hardly changed to adapt to the changing socio economic and socio political conditions that an outdated governance and system was poised to collapse during the next century.

B. The Fall of the Qing Dynasty
    What would be known in history as the fall of the Qing Dynasty is characterized by the victory of the rebellion and uprising efforts inside China, geared at overthrowing the government. The people believed that the government is not capable of providing for the needs and looking after the welfare of the people anymore. Unlike other uprisings in the past that removed previous rulers in place of a new dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was not replaced by another dynasty. Instead, it was replaced by a new form of leadership which will hold China for the next several years. The Qing Dynastys long rule was being attacked for several years by many different problems and issues. In its fall, what would be mirrored is the fact that all of the problems and issues were successful in weakening the dynasty slowly. By the time it collapsed, it showed that it was not able to recover from the onslaught and was weakened beyond recovery enough to save the dynasty. Internal, as well as external factors will be at play and would contribute to the fall of the Qing Dynasty. To its credit, the Qing Dynasty was able to hold steadfast and steady the country for a long time. Its collapse was not a result of single event only, but long years of problems that compounded the socio economic and socio political condition in the country.

    i. Timeline - Many of the reasons why the Qing Dynasty fell was hinged on the long standing problems and burdens of the citizens. Politically, the timeline of the collapse was located in the early part of the twentieth century, starting from the death of Empress Dowager Cixi and the death of the Guangxu emperor as well in 1908. These two individuals are important in the stability and strength of the Chinese government during the Qing Dynasty. With them both gone, there were no capable leaders to take over the mantle of leadership, provide continuity to the programs of the previous rulers and effectively address and control present problems (Farah, Karls, 2001, p. 243).

    There were changes in the political landscape which weakened all the more Qing Dynastys leadership, like the removal of an influential soldier and political leader in General Yuan Shikai, and the creation of a ruling council comprised of relatives tracing their roots to the Aisin Gioro. This was a development that many politicians strongly disagreed and disapproved. The dissatisfaction led to the Wuchang Uprising in 1911, followed by the different rebellions. Territories of the Qing Dynasty were detaching itself from the rule of the monarch, and the one that Sun Yat Sen would lead would be known as Republic of China. Qing Dynasty leaders realized their mistakes and tried to arrest the situation by bringing in General Yuan again, whose main role was in negotiating with Sun Yat Sen with regards to the new direction of China politically. By 1912, the collapse of Qing Dynasty was complete with the declaration of the abdication of the throne by Puyi, the child emperor. China was on its way to a new form of government  republicanism (Farah, Karls, 2001, p. 243).

    ii. Reasons for the collapse - The Qing Dynasty led China for a long period of time. During those many years of rule, the Qing Dynasty featured many great rulers. It has also shown the world that it is capable of ruling a large mass of land and territory with efficiency as it did in the past. Like many other cases of the collapse of the political leadership, the case of the Qing Dynastys collapse is not a simple case of black-and-white analysis. Rather, it is a complex scenario that involved many different aspects. There is the absence of a continuity of good leaders resulting to inept leaders that people distrusted and hated. This often makes people poorer and their living conditions worse. There is the factor of internal and external politics and balancing them together, not to mention the hidden agenda of many countries that have vested interest in China and its territories and resources. More important of all is the sentiment of the public. There is the strong problem of corruption and the persistent rebellions and uprisings and revolutions (Farah, Karls, 2001, p. 243. Corruption and internal rebellions forced the Qing dynasty into a slow decline (Farah, Karls, 2001, p. 243).

    Like in all other successful uprisings in the history of mankind that changed political leadership, the most powerful force was the sentiment of the people. By the start of the twentieth century, many people are unhappy with the way the Qing Dynasty is governing the country and handling the affairs of the country, including basic social welfare issues and needs. The collective dissatisfaction binds the people together because they all want something in common change. When a leader that they could trust assumes leadership, this is a very strong and potent social condition that could threaten the existing leadership. All of these things are in play and are important reasons that should be discussed and analyzed in regarding the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

    a. Corruption - One of the problems of the Qing Dynasty that led to other problems and the dissatisfaction of the people is corruption. Communist historians identify corruption as one of the main reasons for the collapse of the Qing Dynasty (Vernoff, Seybolt, 2007, p. 284). This is not surprising at all. At one point, Qing Dynasty was enjoying economic success and the leaders were those who enjoyed the material benefits of such abundance. Lower echelon leaders are enticed with the same prospect and wanting something like that for themselves too. They used whatever power and influence they can for corruption.

    Many political leaders during the Qing Dynasty were looking after their own financial and material gain and were using their clout and power to achieve that. The central government had a difficult time knowing about this. People did not directly report this in fear of repercussion and the central leaders trusted their subordinates enough to suspect of the problem of corruption. Nonetheless, it still persisted.  More and more people became hungry. These people saw that the quality of governance and leadership is not something that can help them get out of their problem. They were more angry with the political system and the corruption that was embedded in the system of governance of the Qing Dynasty.

    b. Weakness of government - As mentioned earlier in the paper, the Qing Dynasty saw regimes of effective, efficient and dependable rulers. The problem is that there were also times wherein the ruler in the central government and in the local government were weak, resulting to the weak government that was incapable of addressing the problem of the people. Poverty and starvation in many places were not alleviated. The leadership was not knowledgeable and capable enough to design plans and programs that could answer the problem of starvation and poverty. The weakness in the government was also the reason why the country fell at odds with other countries that resulted to war and other political and economic repercussions that made the condition inside China worse than before.

    During the times when Qing Dynasty leadership was in control, they were able to keep foreign powers at bay and controlled them via political or economic ways. At the rule of the weak leaders and weak governments, foreign countries like the UK were able to take advantage of the inability of the leadership to rule efficiently and effectively, resulting to political, economic and military incursions which made life worse for ordinary Chinese people. The weak government was also responsible why relationship with other countries deteriorated and corruption and poor local internal governance was left unchecked.

    c. The conservative ideas of the Chinese - One of the problems of political leadership is its inability to change its mindset in favor of what is amenable to the present political conditions. For the Qing Dynasty who ruled for hundreds of years, their strong adherence to conservative ideas and their inability to negotiate with modern, liberal ideas affecting politics, governance and economics became a hindrance for the leadership to move forward. They were straddled by the limitations of conservative, and in some aspects, outdated, set of beliefs, attitudes and perspectives. It is true that the use of such conservative beliefs were important in the success of the Qing Dynasty in the past. The leadership failed to see the importance of making room for change in belief, mindset and approach. Using purely conservative thinking in the age of modernism and liberalism in politics and economics, the Qing Dynasty was led by a set of beliefs that is not suitable anymore in the present time. Thus, it resulted to actions and developments that seem to fail to answer or remedy the problem at hand.

    The conservative Chinese beliefs are not wrong. It is merely unsuitable and limits the abilities of the government to negotiate and act upon internal and external problems that are strongly affected by modern conditions, to which conservative ideas are nothing more than anachronistic set of beliefs that should be revised to suit better to the changing time. No member of the Qing Dynasty royalty and rulers showed the level of progressive thinking and forward movement when they needed it the most, especially during the era wherein the world was transitioning from the old to the new, like the changes happening in the twentieth century. The rule of the monarchy is being replaced by a new form of government wherein the people is more involved. The Qing Dynastys conservative beliefs made them hold on to this old form of governance which resulted to uprisings and revolutions and ultimately the fall of the Qing Dynasty. This is one of proofs and manifestations on how the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese are tied to conservative ideas that eventually crippled them and led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty.

    d. Rebellions, revolutions and uprisings that weakened Qing control - One of the serious problems that the Qing Dynasty had to face were the cases of rebellions and uprisings that happened especially close to the collapse and fall of the Qing Dynasty. Some of these uprisings and rebellions included the Taiping Rebellion and the Wuchang Uprisings. These two events were critical in the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Beginning less than a decade after the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty faced some of the most destructive rebellions in world history. The bloodiest was the Taiping Rebellion (Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, 2008, p. 308).

    The Taiping Rebellion was a long rebellion that featured rebel leader Hong Xiuquan who was able to engage the army of the Qing Dynasty for several years before being defeated eventually in 1864 only through the assistance of foreign armies from France and Great Britain. The losses of Qing Dynasty in this battle were something that took a while for them to recover from, while at the same time, being indebted to France and UK. This gave these armies ideas on how to defeat Qing Dynasty if this becomes necessary in the future. Equally important, if not more important, was the Wuchang Uprising. This was the beginning of the Xinhai Revolution that resulted in the collapse of Qing Dynasty. There were also other forms of unrest during the Qing Dynasty, like the Dungan revolt and the rebellion of Panthay. There was also the Nien Rebellion.

    e. Agricultural problems - The Qing Dynasty eventually collapsed because it was having agricultural problems. As a country that leans strongly on agricultural products to sustain itself and for export purposes, the country was besieged with problems when agricultural problems set in. Poor harvests made people hungry and starving. Trade was affected as well. People had no means to live. They had nothing to trade or sell. They could not recover from the initial problem. They were merely relying on the results of the harvests for money and profit. This problem highlighted Chinas poor irrigation and agricultural programs, the lack of leadership and monitoring of government agencies and appointed leaders in this sector. It lead to the deterioration of agricultural practices that led to poor harvests and widespread agricultural problems throughout China.

    f. Population boom and resulting starvation - The hunger and starvation was more pronounced because there was a significant increase in population in China during the Qing Dynasty. As more people lived in China, socio economic problems resulted to more hungry mouths, and more able bodied men that leaders could use for revolution. The dissatisfaction of the people to the government was reinforced by the problems of hunger and starvation of more people, and without any population control paradigms to use during that time, the Qing Dynasty was unaware that population boom is one of its problems.

    g. Sun Yat Sen - Sun Yat Sen can be considered as the single individual influential in the fall of the Qing Dynasty. He was the leader that the people looked for direction and followed in the battlefield. His military tactics enabled his army, and his politics, to victory. Prior to the revolution, Wuchang was an important manufacturing base for modern weapons for the Qing Dynastys new army. It was Sun Yat Sen who convinced the military leaders in control of the Wuchang plants to be his ally in the battle to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, which he successfully accomplished (Elleman, 2001, p. 138). The Wuchang Uprising, led by officers and soldiers of New Army in Hubei Province, defied Beijing and called for the end of the Qing Dynasty (Elleman, 2001, p. 138). Sun Yat Sen was the intelligent, charismatic, man-of-the-masses kind of individual that kings and dictators were afraid of. He and his type were the ones who, in history, had shown how they can be capable in leading a revolution and seeing it into its victory and completion. If there was one man that represented the reason for the fall of the Qing Dynasty, it was Sun Yat sen (Elleman, 2001, p. 138).

    h. Western imperialism - The reason for the collapse of the Qing Dynasty was not just internal reasons, but external reasons as well. Similar to the problems of other kingdoms and dynasties and in consideration that other societies would always make incursions inside foreign and alien societies for political, military and trade reasons, the Qing Dynasty and China was never an exemption to this case. With booming economics and superior trade relations with foreign countries particularly the British, there came a time when Britain had to find a way to make sure that they are the superior supplier in the China-UK relationship. The British needed the tea coming from China. There was nothing from Britain that made China interested. This resulted in an imbalance and debt by UK in these trade relations. UK found a way to address this imbalance and return the upper hand on their side by introducing a drug called opium in China. It became an instant hit in the country and was very much sought after by many people which resulted to a new demand that can allow British traders generate profit (Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, 2008, p. 308).

    Chinas disapproval of such trade led to the Opium Wars, where China was eventually defeated by the British largely because of the more superior military resources of the British. This resulted to more than what China has expected and what Britain wanted. The Qing government had no choice but to capitulate and its representatives signed a treaty on board a British naval vessel. The 1842 Treaty of Nanjing...was concluded at gunpoint and provided benefits for Britain but not for China (Ebrey, Walthall, Palais, 2008, p. 308). Because of the victory and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing, ports in China came under the control of the British. The British had the power to load Chinese ports with British trade materials and goods. The entry of foreign goods also resulted to the entry of foreign ideas, foreign culture and foreign influence which worsened the deteriorating hold of the Qing Dynasty over its people.

    With the defeat in the Opium Wars, the low morale of starving soldiers and the worsening plight of many other Chinese people because of the falling economics, the Qing Dynasty was doomed to collapse and fall any time soon. The fall of the Qing Dynasty was one of the manifestations of the effects of the imperialism of the west. Before Qing Dynasty and after it, there were many kingdoms and regimes that would crumble and fall because of the intervention of and actions by the western imperialist entities and powers like Great Britain, and later, the United states. The final years of the Qing dynasty witnessed either the end of old moribund tradition or a transition that contained early signs of western influence (Wang, 1997, p. 1).

    The only thing that is constant in the world is change. Change can only happen when something comes to an end, so that a new beginning can take place. This was the predicament of the Qing Dynasty. Despite the fact that the Qing dynasty has been one of the strongest and most powerful dynasties in the history of China, still, there would come a time when all of this comes to an end. In the case of the Qing dynasty, end came because of many different reasons reasons what made the Qing government weak and unable to move forward and lead China in the future. There were rebellions and uprisings and revolutions as well as the need for a new form of government and leadership that should answer the problems of the people. There were internal and external problems. There were problems among the people and problems among the members of the Qing Dynasty. Eventually, all of these problems compounded and exacerbated the situation, leading to the eventual collapse and fall of the Qing Dynasty.