HIST 218 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Yongzheng Emperor, Qianlong Emperor, Meritocracy
Document Summary
Conference question: why did qing china and great britain not come to an agreement in the 1790"s? (no lectures, just readings on my reader!!) Kangxi (1654-1722): very tough and able leader, he drew chinese people into the service. He reinstitutes the imperial powers, he reinstates the examination system. Numerous discoveries of cheating scandals but in general, the meritocracy worked. There is a rewriting of chinese history under this leader, he purged of any references of negativity to northern chinese. This project took up most of his reign. He also realized that these newly acquired territories would be difficult to run, not just occupy. So, the bureaucracy was very small, but he left the elites who had run the country before occupancy in power. He realized that any migration of chinese people into this area would only eliminate. At the same time, he engaged in a marriage policy, he had 54 children.