Qing Dynasty

D

Economy

The early Qing rulers endorsed policies that stimulated agriculture and favored the small farmers, who made up 80 percent of the population. To benefit those poor peasants who owned only small plots of land, the Yongzheng Emperor changed the tax system. Previously, taxes had been based on the number of male residents in each household. After Yongzheng’s reform, they were based on the amount of land owned.

Whenever harvests were bad, the early Qing rulers reduced taxes or allowed the peasants to skip payments. Also with poor peasants in mind, the Qing rulers ordered that “ever-normal” granaries be established in each of the 1282 districts of China. These granaries were used to stabilize prices, that is, to keep them “normal forever.” When crops were abundant, the government bought grain so that peasants would continue to get good prices. When harvests were bad, and during famines, the government distributed grain from the granaries to bring prices down, supply food kitchens, and make inexpensive loans.

The Qing rulers also encouraged the reclamation of land. Everywhere, areas that had never before been cultivated were made productive. Marshes were drained, hillsides were terraced and irrigated, and the southwestern frontier was cleared.

Farmers expanded the cultivation of new crops that had begun to trickle into China from the Americas toward the end of the Ming dynasty. These included corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts (which were pressed for oil), and tobacco. Some of these crops thrive in poor soils and were especially suitable for planting in the marginal reclaimed land.

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During the early Qing period, foreign demand for Chinese goods grew, causing huge amounts of silver to flow into China from the Americas via the Philippines and Japan. Gradually, peasants were drawn into a money economy. They supplemented the cultivation of basic grains—millet and wheat in the north, and rice in the south—by producing cotton cloth, porcelain, silk, and tea. Some abandoned planting grain altogether for such profitable cash crops as cotton, peanuts, tobacco, or even the highly addictive drug opium, which, though illegal, had been smuggled by Portuguese and British traders into China since the 1700s. Although peasants profited from these new opportunities, they also became dependent on the whims of the economy and lost their self-sufficiency.

With the growth of commerce, a banking system developed. Rather than risking travel with large amounts of cash, merchants deposited money in one city and then used a bill of credit to obtain funds in another city.

Cities and towns became lively and busy. Huiguan (merchant lodges), which provided storage facilities and meeting rooms as well as room and board, sprang up. Each lodge represented a specific region and served the needs of merchants and officials from that region. In time, some of these huiguan evolved into specialized guilds serving not travelers from a particular region, but members of a particular trade, such as paper or textile merchants. The proliferation of such guilds suggests the beginnings of a more complex economy.

E

Society

In terms of status and prestige, the social hierarchy under the emperor, who was at the top, was divided into four levels. Immediately below the emperor, the elite, who made up 10 to 15 percent of the population, consisted of, in descending order, the imperial clansmen, a small number of officials who had hereditary titles; the civil bureaucrats (sometimes called scholar-officials or mandarins) who had earned their positions by passing a sequence of civil service examinations; and well-to-do educated men who had passed or hoped to pass some of the civil service examinations but had no official position. Beneath the elite were the farmers, or peasants, who made up roughly 80 or 90 percent of the population. The lowest 10 percent of the hierarchy included artisans and merchants, and at the bottom, prostitutes, actors, beggars, and butchers.

This was the hierarchy in theory. In actuality, the picture was more complex. Merchants ranged from peddlers who lived on the margins of poverty to powerful brokers who resided in urban mansions, socialized with officials, and collected fine art. Many elite families prospered by following the strategy of having one son enter the bureaucracy to bring the family prestige and power and another son engage in commerce to bring in money.

At every level of society, women were considered subordinate to men. As was often stated, women, when young, should obey their fathers; when married, should obey their husbands; and when old, should obey their sons. It was also widely believed that “only women who lacked literary talent were virtuous.” To encourage widows to remain chaste and loyal to their deceased husbands, men routinely built monuments to widows who had chosen to commit suicide rather than remarry.

Nonetheless, there were signs that attitudes toward women were changing. A famous 18th-century poet, Yuan Mei, taught women to write verse and published their works. The official Chen Hongmou (Ch’en Hung-mou) believed that women should be taught to read so that they might in turn help to educate their children.

F

Education

About 45 percent of the male population was partially literate. This percentage, which is remarkably high for a preindustrial country, was achieved because the Chinese greatly valued education. They believed that learning, not family background, was the basis for becoming a government official. In theory, anyone who had mastered the classics of Confucius could take the civil service examinations, earn office, and achieve honor and prestige. In practice, however, members of wealthy families had the best opportunities to prepare for and pass the civil service examinations. Few peasant boys could afford time away from work to study. Nevertheless, the educational ideal had for centuries inspired Chinese emperors and local communities to sponsor education for the poor. In 1713 the Yongzheng Emperor specifically ordered that elementary schools for poor boys be established throughout the empire.

Education was also an instrument of socialization. In the southwestern frontier province of Yunnan, where most residents were non-Chinese ethnic minorities, one Qing official renovated or established nearly 700 elementary schools for the poor. He hoped to “transform the customs”—in other words, civilize—the inhabitants.

However, there were no schools for girls. It was unthinkable that girls should leave their homes to study or should prepare for the civil service examinations. Some girls, however, did find ways to learn to read. Especially in elite households, they learned from the tutors who taught their brothers. About 10 percent of females were partially literate.

G

Daily Life

With the expansion of commerce, the quality of daily life changed for the peasants. They increasingly had spare money to spend on entertainment. On market days they visited tea houses and gambled. They also listened to storytellers or watched open-air operatic performances. Through this entertainment, peasants acquired much information. They learned legends about historical heroes and villains, and about religious gods.

Members of the elite used their surplus wealth to collect art, build up libraries, construct gardens, and participate in poetry societies. Merchants and gentry who had a social conscience spent their free time and surplus resources on community projects. They financed and supervised the construction of city walls, orphanages, poorhouses, and firefighting associations, and established food kitchens and medical clinics for the poor.

H

Artistic and Cultural Developments

Under the conditions of peace and prosperity, many art forms grew more elaborate and luxurious. Porcelains lost the stately elegance of their Ming predecessors and became ornate and colorful, even gaudy. Western art and designs began to influence Chinese artists and artisans. Manufacturers of Chinese export porcelains satisfied foreign tastes by copying designs from European paintings. These designs in turn influenced domestic porcelains as well. Qing painters who saw European art experimented with such Western techniques of representation as perspective, shading, and aerial views.

One bridge between Western and Chinese art was the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione. He hoped to spread Christianity to China but ended up working as a painter and craftsman for the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors. When Qianlong saw fountains in a European painting, he asked Castiglione and a Jesuit engineer to design several European-style buildings for the Summer Palace outside Beijing. These constructions included fountains and Western-style landscaping, with topiaries and a huge maze formed by shrubs. Few Chinese saw the Summer Palace, however, and outside the imperial court Chinese architecture and landscaping generally remained untouched by Western influence.

Fiction writing flourished. One mid-Qing novel, often called China’s greatest, is Hong lou meng (1792; The Dream of the Red Chamber, 1929), by Cao Zhan (also known as Cao Xueqin). It portrays the decline of an elite family and shows keen psychological insight into its numerous characters. Another well-known work is Ru lin wai shi (1768; The Unofficial History of the Literati, also translated as The Scholars, 1957) by Wu Jingzi (Wu Ching-tzu), a satire that pokes fun at the civil service examination system and many social customs.