Characteristics of Chinese society in late modern times. The development of the Chinese state in modern times. Chinese state and law in modern times

By the 16th century under the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese Empire covered the territory of the modern interior provinces of China and part of Manchuria (the present Dongbei - Northeast). China's vassals were Korea, Vietnam and Tibet. The country was divided into 15 large administrative divisions. They were ruled by officials appointed by the central government. In the XVI-XVII centuries. The growth of the productive forces in China was reflected in the development of handicrafts, the improvement of agricultural techniques, and the further development of commodity production and monetary relations. In the feudal Minsk Empire, elements of new, capitalist production relations appeared (manufactory was born and developed). At the same time, reasons were at work that hindered China's social development. These primarily include the high rate of feudal exploitation, which led to the poverty of the peasants, as well as the existence of closed rural communities, where agriculture was combined with home crafts. On the other hand, the invasion in the XVII century. The Manchus and their seizure of power in China, accompanied by a long war and the destruction of the productive forces, led to "barbaric and hermetic isolation" (K. Marx) of the country from the outside world, which could not but have a sharp negative impact on the pace of China's progressive development.

1. Agrarian relations

Agrarian relations in the XVI-XVII centuries. Forms of land tenure

In the period under review, the previously established feudal forms of land ownership and exploitation continued to develop. However, at that time, some new features also appeared: an unprecedentedly high degree of concentration of land in the hands of the feudal lords, the mass dispossession of peasants and their transformation into sharecroppers, the further penetration of commodity-money relations into the countryside and the emergence of monetary rent. A specific feature of this period is also the widespread use of hired labor on the lands of large landowners.

Forms of peasant dependence were different. Serfdom did not formally exist, the peasant was legally personally free, but this freedom was actually limited. The existence of a system of mutual responsibility, which provided for a strict accounting of the population and control over it by creating ten yards headed by the headman (ten), the obligation of the peasantry to perform hard work in favor of the state or feudal lords - all this greatly limited the personal freedom of the peasants. Sharecroppers, who cultivated the land of the feudal lords on the terms of feudal lease, were even more dependent. Finally, those direct producers, whose lands were transferred to the so-called patronage of large feudal lords, actually approached the position of serfs.

According to the classification adopted by Chinese sources, all the lands in the Ming Empire were divided into state (state) and "people's", or private. The state lands included: state lands preserved from the previous periods of the Song and Yuan (X-XIV centuries); lands confiscated from persons who committed crimes; pastures; empty public fields; suburban lands; land belonging to the imperial house (the so-called royal estates); lands granted to princes of various degrees, honored officials, Taoist and Buddhist temples; lands of military settlements, etc. All other lands were considered "people's fields." In essence, the latter were understood as lands that were privately owned by both the feudal lords and the peasants.

Forms of state ownership of land

The largest landowners in the XVI-XVII centuries. were the emperors of the Ming dynasty. Back in the 16th century the first imperial estates in the Ming period were created, the number of which subsequently grew continuously. By the beginning of the XVI century. only in the metropolitan area (on the territory of modern Hebei province) there were 36 estates with a total area of ​​​​more than 37 thousand qing. During the XVI - early XVII century. the growth of imperial land ownership continued due to the seizure of private lands, mainly the lands of peasants.

As a rule, the lands of these estates were cultivated by quitrent peasants attached to them. The quitrent nominally amounted to about 1/10 of the harvest. But in fact, much more was charged. Here is how one of the sources characterizes the excesses and arbitrariness of the rulers of the imperial estates at the beginning of the 16th century: “Officers, like hungry jackals and wolves, cause great harm to the people. It comes to the point that ruined families sell their property, sons and daughters, the people grumble everywhere, the runaways fill the roads ... ".

Representatives of various groups of the feudal nobility were among the large landowners. The lands granted to them were considered hereditary.

The land holdings of the titled nobility were huge, and the source of their growth was not only grants, but also direct seizures of pastures, abandoned lands, wastelands, as well as the lands of peasants and small feudal lords. In 1561, the Jinggong prince Zai seized several tens of thousands of qings of land in the Huguang province (now the provinces of Hubei and Hunan) and began to collect land tax from the population. In 1589 Lusk prince I-liu received the former land possessions of the Ching prince in the amount of 40 thousand qing. Other princes had several thousand qing of land.

Large landowners were also representatives of the upper strata of the service nobility, according to the terminology of Chinese sources - "honored dignitaries", and relatives of empresses who had titles granted for service. But not being members of the royal family, they stood one step below the latter.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. the landownership of this group of feudal lords expanded considerably, mainly due to the seizure of peasant and vacant state lands.

Powerful eunuchs, representatives of the court bureaucracy, who then enjoyed great influence at the court, were especially distinguished in the seizure of lands.

At the beginning of the XVI century. one of the high-ranking eunuchs Gu Da-yong captured over 10 thousand qing of the "people's fields".

The expansion of the land holdings of the service nobility also took place by annexing the lands of those persons who sought her patronage. Chinese sources cite numerous data that small landowners, seeking to get rid of taxation and arbitrariness on the part of the authorities, came under the protection of powerful feudal lords, transferring their lands to them or fictitiously recording them in the name of feudal lords. Such a transition under “protection”, corresponding to the European command, and in connection with it, the appropriation of the land of the “protected” by large feudal lords took place as early as the 15th century, they were not widely used in the 16th century. The ruling dynasty tried to intervene in this spontaneous process of transition under "protection", even to suspend it, since it led to a reduction in tax revenues, because the feudal nobility was exempted from paying taxes. Persons who came under “protection” began to be branded as “traitors”, “scoundrels”, and imperial decrees were issued against them. So, for example, during the reign of Xiaozong (1488 - 1505), it was decided to send to the border for military service, that is, in essence to exile, those who transferred the land under the "protection" of the princes.

However, these measures could not destroy the institute of commendation, since a significant part of the nobility was interested in its preservation and, taking advantage of the weakening of the central government, sabotaged the activities of the latter in every possible way. As a result, at the end of the XVI and at the beginning of the XVII century. the practice of commendation became even more widespread.

A special category of landownership was state lands, which were transferred to officials who did not have titles of nobility for service in the state apparatus. These lands, called "official fields", were transferred into possession for a period of service, and upon dismissal or voluntary resignation from service, they were returned to the treasury.

The same group of lands included the so-called "fields for maintaining the disinterestedness of border officials", which were transferred to officials of individual localities in addition to a monthly allowance in kind. It was assumed that poorly paid officials in the distant periphery would not take bribes if they received additional income from the land. Hence the name of this category of land.

Military agricultural settlements, established in the early 70s of the XIV century, were a peculiar form of state land ownership. on state lands in the border and inland regions (in the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Shensi, Shchapsi, etc.). For each military settler, they were given 50 mu of land. The authorities released working livestock and agricultural implements to the settlers. In the border areas, military settlers devoted 30% of their time to military training and 70% to cultivating the land; in the interior, 20% and 80%, respectively.

During the first three years, no land tax was collected from the settlers. In the future, those settlers who used state-owned livestock and seeds paid rent-tax in the amount of 50% of the crop, and those who made do with their own tools of production and seeds gave 30% of the crop.

If in the fifteenth century land holdings of military settlements amounted to 900 thousand qing, about 1/9 of the sown area of ​​the whole country, then by the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. the sown areas of these settlements decreased by more than 25%, amounting to only 644 thousand qing, which was explained by the seizure of the lands of military settlements by various groups of feudal lords.

private land ownership

The category of private, or "people's" fields covered both the lands of feudal lords and the lands of small owners who cultivated their fields by personal labor. These lands, regardless of who they belonged to, were taxed by the state.

The feudal lords, who owned land on the rights of private feudal property, included, in addition to part of the nobility, rich people from among merchants and people engaged in various crafts, shenshi - holders of academic degrees and rights to government posts, as well as petty officials, village elders, etc. Many of them possessed a significant land area. At the end of the XVI - beginning of the XVII century. in a number of provinces (Hebei ( The names of the provinces of China are given in this chapter according to the current administrative division (Ed.).), Shaanxi, Henan, in the Yangtze River basin) were large feudal lords who privately owned tens of thousands and even over 100 thousand mu of land. In Fynhua County (Zhejiang Province), for example, the family of feudal lord Dai Ao, a village official, owned a large part of the land in this county, he paid almost half of all taxes that fell on the county.

The fields of such feudal lords, as a rule, were cultivated by tenants for a fixed share of the harvest. Part of the land of feudal owners - those who ran their own economy - was cultivated by hired workers. Sources testifying to the widespread use of the labor of hired workers, most of all survived from the second half of the 16th century. for Shaanxi Province.

Peasant land ownership and land use

Peasant land use was small, parcel. Even at the beginning of the reign of the Minsk dynasty, which came to power as a result of a popular uprising, the peasantry achieved some redistribution of land: some of the landless peasants received abandoned wastelands or virgin lands for cultivation, as well as working cattle. The land was transferred to the peasants in hereditary possession, over time it became their property and could be freely sold. The size of peasant holdings was not the same, they depended on the population and the availability of free land in a particular area. In the north, for example, near cities where there was a lot of abandoned land, the peasants received 15 mu of arable land and 2 mu of garden land per person, and for three years they were exempt from tax. In other parts of the country, the maximum size of a peasant landholding was 100 mu. These lands, as well as the lands of feudal owners, were considered "people's", that is, private.

Peasants - the owners of the land were, apparently, not numerous. Most of the peasants remained landless and were holders of state lands or feudal lands. One of the Chinese sources of the XVII century. notes that in the Taihu Lake basin, only 1/10 of the population owned their own land, and 9/10 cultivated other people's fields. Probably the same was the case in other areas.

The holders of state land constituted the second group of peasants. In terms of numbers, they exceeded the peasants - small owners and differed from them in that they were more dependent on the feudal state apparatus and the class of feudal lords as a whole.

The third group of peasants, the most numerous, were the holders or tenants of private lands, that is, lands that were in the full ownership of the feudal lords.

All these groups of the peasantry were not fenced off from each other by an insurmountable wall. There were constant changes in their position: small owners turned into holders of state land or tenants of private, "people's" fields in connection with the continuous absorption of peasant lands by feudal lords. On the other hand, tenants of private lands could turn into holders of state land in the event of confiscation of the lands of petty feudal lords by the state or seizure by the feudal nobility, the bureaucracy.

The general trend in the development of agrarian relations in the XVI-XVII centuries. there was the growth of large-scale private feudal landownership, the reduction of state landownership and, in particular, the absorption of small peasant landownership. A significant part of the peasant lands was captured by the feudal lords. Many peasants, having lost all or part of their land, became sharecroppers.

rural community. Taxes and duties

In the Minsk Empire, a thorough accounting of the population was carried out in order to impose taxes and duties on it. Every 10 years, the so-called yellow lists (registers) were compiled, where taxable persons were entered by profession and class. The accounting of the population was greatly facilitated by the existence of rural communities and the ten-yard system - the so-called lizia system. The community acted as an administrative unit and was used for fiscal purposes. In rural areas, 100 households made up a village (rural community), headed by a headman. The community was divided into 10 ten houses, each of which was headed by a tenth. Such a system of administrative division facilitated the collection of taxes and taxes, and at the same time allowed the authorities to monitor the trustworthiness of the population.

Until the second half of the XVI century. the dominant form of exploitation was rent in products: it was levied by the state power in the form of a tax from the peasants who cultivated state lands, as well as from the peasants who cultivated their own small plots. The feudal lords, who acted as private owners of the land, collected rent from the peasants who used this land. This type of rent often greatly exceeded taxes, usually accounting for half of the harvest.

Taxes, levied twice a year, in summer and autumn, included grain (rice and wheat), raw silk or silk fabrics, cotton or cotton fabrics, and money. At the end of the XV - beginning of the XVI century. the summer tax included up to 20 different items of agricultural products and home crafts, and the autumn tax included up to 10 items. The main type of taxes was grain, and auxiliary taxes were raw silk, fabrics and money. The rent tax was officially set at 1/10 of the crop, but in fact it was levied on a much larger scale. The peasants themselves were obliged to deliver grain to state barns, and the delivery costs often exceeded the amount of tax by 2-3 times. Sometimes the rent-tax from state lands did not differ in size from the rent paid by the peasant to the feudal owner. In the basin of Lake Taihu, after the confiscation of the lands of large feudal lords who fought against the founder of the Ming dynasty, the peasants - land holders paid the state the same rent-tax that the former tenants paid to the feudal lords. The rate of exploitation in this area can be judged from the remark of a 17th-century Chinese source, indicating that the peasants "today will pay the rent in full, and tomorrow they will ask for a loan."

In 1581, the rent in kind was replaced by a money tax, levied in silver according to the number of mu of land. Subsequently, taxes on private lands paid by landowners to the state, as well as rents, were paid in cash. Undoubtedly, this fact testified to the significant development of commodity-money relations.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. There was also labor rent. It was expressed both in the form of various kinds of work off on the lands of the feudal lords, and mainly in the form of state duties, which were essentially state corvee. These duties were performed by adult males aged 16 to 60 years. The feudal lords of various groups, including large landowners, who did not even belong to the nobility, and wealthy townspeople were exempted from duties. According to the law issued by the founder of the Ming Empire, Zhu Yuan-zhang in 1368, in areas located not far from the capital - Nanjing, landowners who had 100 mu of land allocated one adult to perform duties in the capital for 30 days a year in their free time from agricultural work.

Duties were performed both in the capital and at the place of residence. There were permanent and temporary or, as they were called, different duties. The most difficult duties for the peasants were those that took workers' hands away from the economy for a long time - in the construction of cities, palaces, canals, dams, in the transportation of grain to remote, border areas, in postal services, etc. It was possible to pay off state duties or hire someone instead of yourself. But it was only for rich people. The working population suffered from the severity of ever-increasing feudal duties. In an effort to get rid of them, the peasants often left their homes, abandoned their homes and families, and sometimes even rebelled against feudal exploitation with weapons in their hands.

The peasants, forced to give most of their harvest to the feudal lords, eked out a miserable, beggarly life. They often had to ask for loans from usurers, who often acted as the same landowners. The position of the working people became especially difficult during periods of natural disasters (floods, droughts, locust raids), which were so frequent in feudal China. By lending grain or money to the peasants, the feudal lords charged high usurious interest. Thus, in the first years of the Qing Dynasty (40 years of the 17th century) in the province of Shaanxi, moneylenders took 400% per year for a loan. Probably, the same high percentage was charged in the last period of the Ming Empire.

Not only the peasants, but also the urban population, mainly artisans, suffered from usurious exploitation.

2. Crafts, manufactory, cities and domestic trade

Craft Development

In the XVI century. handicraft production in China has reached a high level. By this time, in a number of branches of production, there were large state workshops based mainly on serf labor, and private enterprises where the labor of hired workers was used.

In the Ming Empire, such branches of production as the manufacture of silk and cotton fabrics, porcelain production, shipbuilding, paper production, metal smelting, mining (extraction of gold, silver, copper, iron ore), salt extraction, and glass processing were further developed. They began to use water energy for the production of paper, adapting water rice makers for this purpose, which were especially widespread in Fujian province.

The construction of cities, palaces, temples, bridges, canals, and arches gained wide scope, especially in the southern and northern capitals - Nanjing and Beijing. The scale of construction was significant. As a rule, the number of people employed in the state corvee annually reached 100 thousand, and up to 200 thousand workers of various specialties were serving their duties in the construction of palaces in Nanjing. In the construction of large structures, lifting mechanisms were used, however, very primitive ones.

Lacquer products, famous for their high quality, were widely used in China. Significant progress has been made in the manufacture of firearms. The printing industry also developed.

The central government of the Minsk Empire paid great attention to the cultivation of cotton and the dressing of cotton fabrics. The rural population was obliged to allocate part of the land for mulberry trees, hemp and cotton. According to Spafarius, who headed the Russian embassy in China (1675-1676), only in Shanghai in the 17th century. 200 thousand people were engaged in the dressing of cotton fabrics.

Shipbuilding received significant development in connection with the struggle against European colonialists (the Portuguese, Spaniards and Dutch), as well as the growth of domestic and foreign trade and the expansion of river and sea connections. In the province of Fujian, large sea ships were built, each of which could accommodate several hundred passengers and a significant cargo.

Porcelain production has long been widespread in China. In the XVI-XVII centuries. it was concentrated in the provinces of Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang. Large porcelain workshops were only state-owned, they mainly used serf labor. In the 15th century, there was also a private production of porcelain products. But the government of the Ming dynasty issued a decree prohibiting the private production of porcelain of all colors. Violation of this prohibition was punishable by death. Subsequently, strict state control over the production of porcelain was established. Officials were sent from the capital to manage the state workshops. The volume of production was determined by the government. For example, during the reign of Long-qing (1567-1572), an imperial decree set the volume of porcelain production in Jiangxi province in the amount of 100 thousand pieces, and in 1591 - 159 thousand. The largest center of porcelain production was the city of Jingdezhep, which occupied an area of ​​10 square meters. km. About 3 thousand small and large workshops were concentrated here. Jingdezhen porcelain products were distributed throughout the country.

Forms of organization of the craft. State enterprises

In terms of its organization and social essence, handicraft and manufacturing production in the 16th-17th centuries. divided into 4 types: 1) rural home craft; it served not only the domestic, but also the foreign market; it was mainly women who were engaged in it; it was most widespread in the southeastern regions; 2) urban small craft; small workshops included, as a rule, the head of the family - the master, family members and sometimes a small number of students; 3) state, or state, enterprises and 4) private manufactory.

State production covered the main branches of the economy, in particular porcelain production, shipbuilding, salt, mining and foundry industries, coal mining, etc. Among state enterprises there were also large types of manufactories, for example, workshops for the production of porcelain in Jingdezhen, etc.

State production played almost the main role, being predominant in its scope and significance. In the state enterprises of that time, craftsmen of 188 specialties were represented.

In state workshops and manufactories, mainly feudal dependents worked, essentially serfs, obliged by law to perform labor duties, to serve the state corvée. They were divided into several groups, military (junfu), artisans (jianghu) and salt-workers. The artisans, in turn, were divided into two categories - some of them served their duty monthly for 10 days, others served their duty in turn for 3 months a year, but could pay off from its implementation by contributing 6 qian of silver per month, so they were called "paying for a shift (queue)". All these groups of corvée workers were included in the registration lists forever: their descendants were obliged to inherit the duties of their ancestors and perform, in fact, compulsory corvée. The number of corvee workers increased as production expanded. For example, during the period of the greatest increase in salt production (XVI - early XVII century), the number of salt workers reached over 155 thousand people.

In addition to the aforementioned categories of corvee workers, convicted criminals and partly slaves were also used in state enterprises.

Hard, essentially hard labor at state enterprises, especially in mining, forced the population to evade duties, to flee from their homes. As a result, the number of registered corvee workers by the second half of the 16th century. decreased sharply. For example, if during the reign of the first Ming emperor, i.e., at the end of the 14th century, there were more than 232,000 artisans (jianghu) on the lists, by 1562 there were a little more than 142,000 people.

The "History of Ming" testifies to the plight of state-dependent workers who were used in mining, and the high mortality among them, which reports that in 1465-1487. at 21 mines in the province of Huguang, "... 550 thousand people served their service every year, died without counting, and only 53 liang mined gold." No less difficult and life-threatening was the extraction of pearls. It was mined in the south, mainly in Guangdong. The size of the prey was constantly changing, and sometimes it was extremely insignificant. So, in 1526, only 80 liang were mined, while 50 people died.

As in earlier times, in the Minsk period, the central government carried out a number of measures in order to control the corvée artisans and preserve the labor force for state workshops. These include strict accounting of artisans, including them in special lists and prohibiting them from changing their profession. Evasion of registration or exclusion from the registration lists in collusion with officials was punishable by severe punishment, and officials guilty of this were also punished.

Handicraft workers were also controlled through the creation of special administrative organizations that had an outward resemblance to the medieval workshops of Europe. But their main goal was not to protect the interests of artisans, but to supervise them by representatives of state power.

One of the measures used to secure artisans to state enterprises was to provide the latter with land for cultivation. So, for example, salt workers were allowed to raise virgin soil near salt mines. At shipbuilding enterprises in Longjiang, state-owned lands were leased to craftsmen.

However, the further growth of commodity-money relations and the ever-deepening separation of handicrafts from agriculture disintegrated the system of corvee labor, gave rise to new forms of labor at state-owned enterprises of the handicraft and manufacturing type, and contributed to the development of private manufactory.

The use of hired labor in handicraft production took place in China several hundred years earlier, but in the 16th-17th centuries. artisan labor was already widely used in many state-controlled industries and was paid according to the work performed or the time spent. So, for example, during the reign of Wan-li (1573-1620), the Chamber of Labor developed rules for paying various categories of workers: masons, diggers, engravers, miners, steelworkers, gunsmiths, carpenters. Stonecutters who worked a certain amount of stone received 7 fen of silver. Carpenters were paid from 3.5 fen to 6 fen for repairing barns, apparently depending on the hours worked. Although these conditions resemble a form of payment for hired workers who receive wages, however, the “hired” artisans of the Ming period were not yet free workers who sold their labor power. Firstly, they were feudally dependent, obliged to serve their duties, although they received compensation for their work. Secondly, they differed significantly from the workers of the era of capitalism also in that they had their own means of production. But at the same time they differed from ordinary corvee workers. The appearance of these craftsmen, who were called "zhao-mu", i.e., "conscripted" (mobilized), marked the further development of commodity production, the decomposition of the labour-service system in state production and the transition to a new type of exploitation.

Private manufactories

Along with state handicraft production and state manufactory in the XVI-XVII centuries. there were also large private enterprises, which by their nature approached Western European manufactories. Unfortunately, the issue of manufactory production in China in the 16th-17th centuries, especially private manufactory, has not yet been studied properly. Some data are available on private weaving workshops. One of the Chinese sources gives the story of a major official of the late 16th - early 17th centuries. Zhang Han about how one of his ancestors at the end of the 15th century. organized weaving production, starting with one loom, and, gradually enriching himself and receiving a 20% return on invested capital, became the owner of over 20 looms and the owner of significant funds. Another Chinese source tells how a certain Shi Fu, who lived in the 16th century, significantly expanded his weaving workshop over the course of 10 years and brought the number of machines in it from 1 to 40.

Such phenomena were not isolated, they testified to the transformation of a small artisan into the owner of a manufactory.

The center of silk weaving, including private production, was the city of Suzhou. Here, according to the description of sources, during the reign of Wan-li, the northeastern part of the city consisted entirely of handicraft workshops and manufactories. “The owners of the machines give (their) funds, and the weavers give their power (labor),” says a Chinese source. There were several thousand weavers and dyers of fabrics in the city, who sold their labor power, they were divided into temporary (daily) and permanent ones. There were also private manufactories in other branches of production. It is known, for example, about the private smelting of iron by merchants in Longmen (Guangdong Province) in the second decade of the 17th century. Source data dating back to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty testify to the existence of powerful metal smelting furnaces in Guangdong province, each of which was serviced by hundreds of workers and produced more than 6 thousand jin (i.e., more than 3 tons) of metal per day.

The development of private manufactory in the XVI-XVII centuries. took place in adverse conditions, meeting obstacles from the feudal state. Thus, in Chinese sources there are often indications of prohibitions for private individuals to engage in the extraction of coal, iron ore, and other industries. Despite these prohibitions, private manufacturing developed, a sign of the emergence of capitalist elements in the feudal economy of the time.

Growth of cities. Development of domestic trade

The development of crafts and manufactory in the Minsk period led to the expansion of old and the emergence of new cities, which became in the XVI-XVII centuries. centers of handicraft production and trade.

The largest cities, which were both administrative, political and economic centers, were Nanjing and Beijing. Beijing at the beginning of the 16th century. the population reached 660 thousand people.

In these cities, where handicrafts and trade were highly developed, there were special areas in which quarters, lanes, streets and markets bore special names associated with a particular branch of craft or trade. So, in Nanking there were quarters of copper workers, locksmiths, weavers, etc. At the same time, Nanjing was an important trading center. Beijing had coal, hay, grain and pottery markets.

Beijing, having become the capital at the beginning of the 15th century, also developed as a major commercial and industrial city. This is evidenced by a Chinese source, indicating that in the 16th century, merchants from Huaian, Jining, Dongchang, Linqing and Dezhou came to Beijing, there were twice as many goods as before.

In addition to Nanjing and Beijing, there were 33 more large trading cities and craft centers in China - such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Wuchang, Canton, Jingdezhen and others. Most of them were famous before, but most of all they developed in the Ming period due to the growth of the craft of domestic and foreign trade. Trade was most developed in the three southeastern provinces - Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, where there were 12 large cities.

The largest and most famous trading cities were located along the Grand Canal, which was the most important means of communication and trade between the north and south of the country. The great rivers of China, the Huang He and the Yangtze, facilitated the penetration of goods into remote areas of the country. Jingdezhen porcelain products spread throughout China. The southeastern region was famous for the production of silk fabrics, which were exported for sale to the northwest, where home weaving was poorly developed in rural areas. Cotton fabrics from the provinces of Henan and Hubei were also delivered there. From north to south, merchants exported cotton for textile enterprises.

Despite the taxation, the existence of customs gates in many areas and the restriction of the private sale of salt, tea, coal, iron, trade in the XVI-XVII centuries. continued to expand. The development of trade can be judged from the following indirect evidence: after 1511, state revenues from taxation of merchants increased by 4 times compared to the previous period in bank notes, in silver - by 300 thousand qian.

The turnover of merchants was considerable. According to a Chinese source, rich merchants who came to the market had large sums with them: “The silver that they put into circulation amounts to several tens of thousands, the largest is hundreds of thousands of liang, the smallest is ten thousand.”

An increase in the taxation of trade and an increase in the arbitrariness of the feudal authorities caused sharp discontent among the merchants and their active participation in urban movements.

3. Trade and foreign relations of China

International trade

China had extensive ties with both the Central Asian states and the countries of the Pacific Ocean. The Ming emperors considered most of these states as vassals of China.

Often, economic ties - mainly trade - took the form of "tribute" received by the Chinese emperors from the rulers of "vassal" countries, and Chinese gifts in return, equivalent in value. Initially, this was a sign of the real power of China. However, over time, this power became more and more illusory, and the preservation of trade in the form of tribute was a relic that hindered the development of commodity-money relations.

In essence, it was a trade exchange of goods of equal value. Numerous embassies of the Central Asian states and the countries of the South Seas brought various goods to China, mainly luxury items. Part of the brought goods-gifts were rejected by Chinese officials. Recognized fit was recorded as a "tribute", the rest of the goods could be sold on the market. After the “tribute” was presented to the Chinese emperor in the capital, those who brought it received gifts in return.

The embassies that brought "tribute" were very numerous, which testified to the great development of foreign trade relations. It is known, for example, that in 1536 the ambassadors of 150 rulers of various domains, who called themselves "kings" (wang), arrived in the capital of China. Each such embassy consisted of several dozens, and sometimes hundreds of representatives, who, according to Chinese tradition, were kept at the expense of the treasury. A large influx of foreigners forced the Minsk government to limit the number of arrivals with "tribute" and the number of their visits (for example, no more than once every 3-5 years).

In addition to the above form of a kind of state trade, private trade relations with foreign merchants also developed. However, private trade was also under the control of the state, regulated by it. The feudal authorities charged in the commercial ports of the Minsk Empire, where foreign goods arrived, significant customs duties, reaching up to 30% of the cost of goods. Local officials took bribes from merchants, forced merchants to sell goods to them at low prices. All this hindered the development of foreign trade.

China exported mainly porcelain, silk and metal products, but imported perfumes, paints, medicines, silver, pearls and other valuables.

Foreign maritime trade was conducted through the ports of Southeast and South China - Quanzhou, Ningbo and especially Canton. In the XVI-XVII centuries. acquired the importance of the port of Zhangzhou.

Until the 16th century the center of the greatest concentration of maritime trade was the region of the South Seas. In the XVI-XVII centuries. trade with the countries of the South Seas was sharply reduced due to the invasion of the area by European colonizers and merchants. The center of gravity of China's foreign trade is gradually shifting towards Portugal, Spain and Holland.

Japan was also in the orbit of Chinese influence. In the XVI century. Between Japan and the Ming Empire, a relatively wide trade was conducted, in which the shogun, the largest feudal lords, the Buddhist church and private merchants participated. This trade also had an external form of presenting "tribute" and receiving "gifts" in return. The Japanese brought sulfur, iron, copper, art products, various types of weapons to the Minsk Empire, among which Japanese swords were especially famous, etc. The Japanese exported silver, copper coins, fabrics, and silk from China.

Trade with Japan in the form of "tributary" relations continued until 1547. Its termination was associated with the predatory actions of Japanese pirates, which led to an aggravation of relations between China and Japan.

China's political and cultural influence on neighboring countries

China in the XVI-XVII centuries. extended its political and cultural influence to a number of East Asian countries. But it had a special influence on the countries of the South Seas, which was associated with the extensive Chinese colonization in this area, which began long before the 16th century.

Chinese settlers penetrated the Philippines, Japan, the coast of Java, the eastern part of Sumatra, Siam, Malacca and Burma, but Chinese emigration was especially widespread in the northern part of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The rulers of these countries regularly sent "tribute" to the Ming emperors. The Chinese colonization was so strong that in some cases it led to the seizure of power by immigrants from China. This was the case in Palembang (the island of Sumatra). In the Principality of Pali in Borneo, the political influence of immigrants from China was very strong, here power repeatedly passed into their hands. In Annam, one of the ruling dynasties was ethnically Chinese. The impact of Chinese colonization on the economies of all these countries was significant.

The cultural influence of China on the countries of the South Seas was also enormous, as evidenced by the widespread use of Chinese writing, literature and philosophical teachings here.

The fight against Japanese raids in the XVI century.

Japanese attacks on the east coast of China took place as early as the 14th-15th centuries, but they assumed menacing proportions in the 16th century, when the coastal provinces of China began to be subjected to frequent and devastating raids. In 1549, the Japanese inflicted great damage on the provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian. The fight against the Japanese invasion was hampered by the fact that the Japanese found allies in the person of corrupt Chinese officials - the rulers of regions and provinces. Only in 1563 did the Chinese army under the command of General Qi Ji-guang succeed in inflicting a severe defeat on the Japanese in Fujian Province and driving them out of there.

Thirty years later, in 1592, Japanese troops invaded Korea. The Minsk Empire provided assistance to Korea, as a result of which it was drawn into the war, which continued intermittently until 1598. The military operations that took place on the territory of Korea alternated with diplomatic negotiations and attempts to bribe Japanese military leaders. In 1598, Japanese troops were finally ousted from Korea.

The first clashes with the Western European colonialists

In the XVI century. Europeans made a number of attempts to penetrate China. The first were the Portuguese. In 1511, they captured Malacca, which was the center of Chinese trade in Southeast Asia, and from there they gradually extended their control to the entire South Seas region, partially ousting the Chinese.

In 1516, the Portuguese from Malacca arrived in China. By bribing local officials, they obtained permission to settle in Canton. Portuguese merchants behaved like invaders on Chinese territory: they did not allow junks with goods arriving from Siam (Thai) and Cambodia to be unloaded until they themselves sold their goods. Moreover, in 1522 they attacked Chinese territory and plundered the Chinese population of Xinhui Xian County (Guangdong Province). The refusal of the Portuguese merchants to leave the Chinese territory led to an armed clash.

Despite the availability of guns from the Portuguese, the latter were defeated in the battle with the Chinese troops, losing several guns in battle, and were forced to leave the territory of China. However, the Ming Empire was not able to continue the fight against the Portuguese outside of China. The Portuguese remained in Malacca, and for the next 30+ years, despite the ban, they continued to trade with the Chinese. But now it was no longer the Minsk Empire and its envoys who dictated the terms in trade relations, but the Portuguese established control over them, holding in their hands all China's trade in this vast area. At the same time, in the countries of the South Seas, in connection with the strengthening of the positions of the Portuguese, the political influence of the Minsk Empire was also undermined.

Since 1554, trade with the Portuguese resumed in China itself, they were allowed to settle in Macau, where they created their own trading colony, numbering up to 1000 people. In 1557, having bribed a major representative of the bureaucracy of the Ming Empire, the Portuguese secured a concession for Macau, for which an annual fee of 20,000 silver liang was set. Thus, for the first time, European colonialists acquired a concession on Chinese territory.

In the second half of the XVI century. The Spaniards captured and made their stronghold an archipelago off the coast of China, named after the Spanish king of the Philippines. After the capture of the Philippines (1565-1571), the Spaniards began to rob and kill local indigenous people and Chinese merchant colonists who settled in the archipelago during the 10th-13th centuries. As a result of the unsuccessful uprising of the Chinese in the Philippines in 1574, Chinese merchants were completely expelled from the archipelago. True, since 1575, trade relations between the Spaniards in the Philippines and the Ming Empire were again established. However, the local Spanish authorities created all sorts of obstacles to Chinese merchants, imposing high taxes on them and restricting their admission to the Philippines.

The Dutch appeared off the coast of China in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At first they made an attempt to oust the Portuguese from Macau, but they did not succeed. In 1622, the Dutch fleet appeared in the Amoi area, but was rebuffed by the naval forces of China. The following year, the Dutch attacked the Penhuledao Islands, robbed and burned a number of settlements, captured and sold into slavery over 1,000 people from the local population. In 1624, the Dutch colonialists were forced out by Chinese troops from Penghuledao, but in the same year, the Dutch managed to capture part of the island of Taiwan, the original Chinese territory, and hold it for 40 years. In 1661, they were ousted from there by the famous Chinese patriot Zheng Cheng-gun (known in European literature as Koxinga), who subsequently turned Taiwan into a base for the struggle against the Manchu conquerors.

The British made an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate China at the end of the 16th century. Later, in 1637, English armed merchant ships tried to approach Macau, but they were prevented by the Portuguese. Then they went to Canton, where they were allowed to trade.

From the second half of the XVI century. European Jesuit missionaries entered China. Having won the confidence of the Chinese authorities, the missionaries began to engage not only in the spread of Christianity, but also in the collection of extensive information about China on behalf of their governments. The most active missionary activity dates back to the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries.

European invasion of China in the XVI-XVII centuries. This resulted in the weakening of China's economic and political positions in the South Seas, as well as a sharp reduction in the maritime trade of the Ming Empire due to its loss of control over the southern sea routes.

Relations with the Mongols

After the destruction of the Mongol domination in China in the late 60s of the XIV century. and the creation of the Minsk Empire, the latter had to fight against the Mongol feudal lords for a long time.

In the 16th century, during the period of strengthening the power of Dayan Khan in Mongolia, the attacks of the Mongols on Chinese territory became systematic, with Shanxi, the capital district (now Hebei province) and partly Gansu suffering the most. Dayan Khan made the largest campaign in 1532, when he invaded China at the head of a large army and captured a lot of booty. After the death of Dayan Khan, his grandson Altan Khan tried in 1541 to restore trade relations with the Minsk Empire, but his proposals were not accepted. Subsequently, there were constant attacks by Altan Khan on Chinese territory. Only in 1570 was a peace treaty officially signed. For trade with the Mongols, markets were opened at the border points. In addition, the Mongols were allowed to send 500 horses to the capital every year under the guise of "tribute" to be exchanged for gifts, and the composition of the embassy should not exceed 150 people. In addition to horses, the Mongols drove cattle to the markets, brought skins and horsehair, sometimes gold and silver seized from the Chinese. Chinese merchants sold cotton fabrics, silks and cooking pots, which were in great demand among the Mongols.

The unification of the Jurchen (Manchu) tribes and their struggle with the Ming Empire

At the end of the XVI century. on the northeastern borders of China, there was a danger of an invasion by the Jurchens, who from 1636 adopted the name of the Manchus. By this time, the Ming Empire had extended its political influence to the southern part and some other regions of Manchuria (today's Dongbei). The rest of Manchuria was inhabited by various independent nomadic and semi-nomadic Jurchen tribes. The Jurchens were divided mainly into three large tribal associations, which in turn were divided into smaller groups.

In the XVI century. they already had a hereditary nobility - khans and princes who exploited their fellow tribesmen. Between the individual khans there was a fierce struggle for dominance over the tribes. At the end of the XVI century. Nurkhatsi (1575-1626) advanced among the Jurchen khans, and in 1582 he headed one of the groups of tribal unification. The Chinese government considered Nurhatsi a vassal of the empire and repeatedly involved him in military operations, in particular in the fight against Japanese troops.

For two decades, Nurkhatsi fought for the unification of the Jurchen tribes and ultimately created a single khanate that dominated a large territory. It was an early feudal state with significant remnants of the tribal system. The military organization played a big role in it.

In 1601, Nurkhatsi created an army, which initially consisted of four military units, and later, due to an increase in the number of troops, of 8 units. Each military unit had its own banner of a certain color. This is where the name "eight banner troops" comes from. Each "banner" included not only warriors, but also members of their families. In peacetime, the men and women of the "banners" were engaged in agriculture and crafts. Under Nurkhatsi in 1599, a new script was introduced, known as Manchurian, replacing the previously used Jurchen and Mongolian scripts.

Since 1609, Nurkhatsi stopped sending tribute to the Ming Empire, and in 1616 he proclaimed himself a khan, calling his dynasty "Golden" (Jin). This was the name of the Jurchen state in the past. Therefore, taking this name, Nurkhatsi emphasized the continuity of his power from the former rulers of Manchuria and Northern China. Two years later, the Manchus invaded the territory of the Ming Empire - in Liaodong, captured the city of Fushun. The Chinese army sent the following year, led by Yang Hao, was defeated, and about 50 thousand soldiers died.

By 1620, almost all of Liaodong was in the hands of Nurhaci. In the same year, the Manchus conquered a number of Mongol principalities, and in 1627, under Khan Abakhai, they invaded Korea with a large army, forcing it to conclude a treaty. However, Korea did not stop its ties with China and assisted it in the fight against the Manchus. The following years are spent in the wars of the Manchus on the territory of the Ming Empire and partly in Korea.

Nurkhatsi's successor Abakhai (1626-1643) continued the war with China. In 1636, Abahai proclaimed himself emperor (huangdi) and renamed his dynasty, calling it Qing ("bright"). Under this name, the Manchurian dynasty is known, which later subjugated all of China to its power.

In the following years after the capture of Inner Mongolia and the final subjugation of Korea (1637), the Manchus attacked with impunity the provinces of Zhili (present-day Hebei), Shandong and Henan, plundered them, captured cities and threatened even the capital.

The resistance of the Chinese people to the Manchus was paralyzed by the inaction of the government, the collapse of the military apparatus, mediocrity, cowardice and venality of many military leaders. Part of the ruling class went to treacherous deals with the Manchus.

4. Exacerbation of class contradictions and anti-feudal movements in the 16th - early 17th centuries.

Peasant uprisings in the 16th century

Feudal exploitation gave rise to sharp discontent among the broad peasant masses and the urban lower classes. Minsk History reports that by the end of the first decade of the 16th century, peasant uprisings arose simultaneously in different parts of the country. The largest of these was the uprising in the capital region, in the counties of Bazhou and Ben'an. Here, by the beginning of the 16th century. the seizures of peasant lands and their annexation to the imperial estates intensified. The peasants tried to resist the lawlessness of the authorities and in 1509 raised an uprising, which at first had a local character. The brutal reprisal against the rebels and the provocative behavior of the local authorities, who accused even those who did not participate in the protests, but only refused to satisfy the harassment of the officials, of "banditry", led to the expansion of the uprising and the addition of representatives of the Shenyn - petty officials and the intelligentsia.

The uprising was led by two brothers - Liu Chong (Liu the sixth) and Liu Chen (Liu the seventh) and their colleague Yang Hu.

In the spring of 1511, Zhao Sui, a Shenyn representative, joined the uprising and played an important role in the peasant movement. He introduced some elements of organization into the spontaneous movement and created rebel military detachments. All sources note the discipline of the rebels, their benevolent attitude towards the intelligentsia and petty officials. The broad peasant masses assisted the rebels by supplying them with food and horses. This allowed the detachments of the rebels to move quickly and unexpectedly attack government troops.

Divided into several columns, the rebels penetrated the provinces of Henan, Shandong and Shanxi, where they were joined by local peasants. In 1512, the uprising assumed even greater scope, also covering the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei. The rebels threatened the capital three times, causing panic in the ruling circles.

Like many participants in the peasant movements of the feudal era, the rebels believed in a "good king." The leader of the uprising, Zhao Sui, in a letter addressed to the emperor, expressed the hope that the emperor would independently make decisions and execute the immoral dignitaries surrounding him. The rebels turned all their anger against large feudal lords, representatives of local authorities and harbored the illusion that the emperor, if he complained, would restore order and punish his subordinates who mocked the peasants.

Despite the fact that the rebels managed to defeat the government troops in a number of battles, the uprising was suppressed in 1512 by the combined forces of the provincial and metropolitan troops, as well as border armies.

Almost simultaneously with this peasant movement, peasant uprisings took place in the provinces of Jiangxi and Sichuan. A distinctive feature in the actions of the peasant rebels in Jiangxi was that they fought mainly in well-fortified points, using natural lines in the north of the province for defense. The unwillingness of the peasants to leave their native places limited the scope of the movement, did not allow them to establish contact with neighboring provinces.

Another feature of the uprising in Jiangxi was the strong influence of tribal and religious traditions on the rebels.

Government troops initially used units manned by representatives of non-Chinese peoples from neighboring provinces. It was an attempt to set one nation against another. Such tactics temporarily brought success to the government troops, and in 1513 they suppressed the uprising. But the brutal massacre, wholesale robberies and violence carried out by punishers led in 1517 to a new outbreak: peasants rose up in the southern part of Jiangxi province, in areas bordering the provinces of Huguang and Guangdong.

Here, the punitive troops were led by the philosopher Wang Shou-jen (Wang Yang-ming), who at that time held the post of xunfu in South Jiangxi (a government-appointed military official who was entrusted with the "pacification" of a particular area). He pursued tactics that were different from those used by the punishers in the northern part of this province. Wang Shou-jen used detachments organized by local feudal lords, seeking to split tribal and religious organizations, set various social groups of the village against each other, and blow up the rebel camp from the inside. At the same time, he widely resorted to mutual responsibility, forcing the peasants to keep an eye on each other. The use of these measures, along with the use of armed force, made it possible for Wang Shou-jen to completely suppress the uprising in Jiangxi within two years.

At the end of 1509, an uprising that arose in the province of Shaanxi spread to vast areas in the northern part of Sichuan, where the rebels used natural frontiers convenient for fighting - the Khanynui River and the Dabashan Range. The uprising was led by Lan Ting-rui, Liao Hui and others. Over 100 thousand rebels were subordinate to them. Lan Ting-rui and other leaders took the titles of vans ("kings"), created their own governing bodies.

Another group of rebels operated in the south of Sichuan, but it was less powerful and its area of ​​operations was not as extensive as in the north. In the south, the uprising was first led by a resident of Chongqing - Cao Bi, then he was joined by Cao Fu with his group of rebels. After their deaths, leadership passed to Fang Si, a landless peasant who worked for hire on the lands of the feudal lords. He was a staunch fighter for the interests of the peasantry. All attempts by the authorities to persuade him to submission failed. The arrest of his family members did not influence Fang Si either. Under his leadership, the rebels operated not only in southern Sichuan, but also made relatively long campaigns to the south - to Guizhou province, to the north - along the Tojiang and Jialingyan rivers, reaching the northern part of Sichuan province.

In the fight against peasant rebels in Sichuan, the Ming authorities used local non-Chinese peoples. By bribery, deceit and coercion, they managed to win over to their side some of the elders and part of the population of these nationalities, especially to suppress the uprising in the north of Sichuan. However, in the south, Fang Si managed to establish contact with the Miao people and, together with them, resisted the punitive troops. This was perhaps the first association of the forces of the rebellious Chinese peasantry with the oppressed small nationalities in the struggle against a common enemy - the Chinese feudal lords.

In 1514, the uprising in Sichuan was crushed. However, the struggle of the peasantry continued in other parts of the country.

Soon, however, almost the entire country was again engulfed in mass peasant uprisings. The capital of the empire repeatedly had to be declared under a state of siege. The rebellious peasants managed to temporarily free not only the countryside, but also the cities from the rule of the feudal lords. For example, in Shan-tung they captured 90 cities.

During the uprising, the peasant masses killed the most hated exploiters, local officials, burned their estates, seized land, and destroyed tax registers, freeing themselves from feudal exploitation for a while. It was not only the peasants who rebelled. Sometimes soldiers also opposed the feudal authorities (in 1533-1535 in Datong and Liaodong) due to the fact that they were not paid salaries and were treated inhumanly. Chinese feudal lords in the late thirties of the XVI century. managed to suppress the main centers of the uprising in various parts of the country.

By the end of the XVI century. a new wave of peasant uprisings rises, which later develop into a peasant war.

Struggle of workers of state and private manufactories. City traffic

Simultaneously with the peasant uprisings, the workers of state enterprises struggled against feudal exploitation. This struggle took various forms: the workers consciously lowered the quality of their products (in arms production, shipbuilding, etc.), and ran away from the trades. The highest form was an active struggle against the officials who managed state enterprises - a struggle that sometimes spilled over into armed uprisings. It reached its peak in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The struggle of employees of state enterprises was sometimes accompanied by the action of broader sections of the urban population (merchants, artisans, hired workers of private factories), and the reason for these actions was usually increased tax oppression, arbitrariness and lawlessness on the part of representatives of the authorities.

The difficult conditions in the state mines and the plight of the corvee workers who worked there were the main reasons for the flight of the latter, and sometimes their attacks on the heads of the mines and overseers. One of the officials of the late XVI century. in his report, drawing the state of the mining industry, he noted that “the people, working in the mines, are abandoning agriculture and sericulture”; “the population hired (for work) is starving due to lack of food...”; “officials are self-willed, they abuse punishments, which incite them to protests ... Miners mutilate themselves, die ...”. The report notes that riots can easily arise at the call of fugitive "robbers from the mines".

Sources often report performances in the mines, calling them robberies, robbery. They note such "robbery" in the mines in the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi during the reign of Shizong (1522-1566) and give a brief account of an earlier uprising in 1504 in the province of Guangdong in foundries led by Tang Da-bin. The most frequent and major performances, in which artisans of state and private enterprises participated, took place at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries.

The largest and most organized was the uprising of the weavers of private workshops and manufactories in the city of Suzhou in 1601. The following is known about the circumstances that caused the performance of the weavers. On the fifth moon of 1601, the eunuch Sun Long, who was in charge of weaving in Suzhou, Hangzhou and other cities, decided to impose an additional tax on private weaving workshops, charging 3 qian from each loom. Workshop owners closed their businesses; hired workers were out of work and were doomed to starvation.

With the introduction of the new tax, “dye shops closed and several thousand workers were laid off. Weaving workshops closed, and several thousand more weavers were laid off. All this was a reliable population, fed by their labor, which suddenly found itself on the verge of death.

At the call of a resident of Suzhou - Ge Xian, the weavers rose, they surrounded the premises where the management of the weaving production was located, and demanded the abolition of taxes. Then the weavers seized 6-7 tax-collecting officials and threw them into the river, killed Huang Chien-chie, one of Sun Lung's mercenaries, and burned the house of another official hated by the population. The rebellious weavers cracked down on representatives of the feudal authorities who directly oppressed the people. But they, according to the source, were condescending to those petty officials who did not oppress the population. At the same time, the weavers were distinguished by their organization and discipline. They were incorruptible, fought marauders. Even the Ming emperor was forced to admit that the weavers "ruined only families that caused discord, but did not touch a single innocent person."

The leader of the weavers, Ge Xian, was an honest, noble and determined man, capable of self-sacrifice. After the weavers achieved success in the struggle, having dealt with the hated feudal officials, Ge Xian, in an effort to save the participants in the movement from repression by the authorities, voluntarily turned himself in, taking all the blame. The movement of weavers in Suzhou was the first major movement of wage-workers in China.

In 1602, the townspeople of a large center of porcelain production - Jingdezhen, took place against Pan Xiang, who was in charge of production in Jiangxi province. There is reason to believe that this was a performance of artisans, supported by other sections of the urban population.

In close connection with the struggle of workers in public and private workshops, there was a movement of broad sections of the population in many cities, which was of a more moderate character.

It took place mainly under the slogan of the struggle against the intensified tax oppression. The largest movement of this kind was the struggle of the merchants and artisans in the cities of the Huguang province, directed against the local dignitary Chen Feng. In 1599, Chen Feng arrived in the city of Jingzhou (in present-day Hubei Province) to collect taxes and manage the mines at the same time. With his arrival, exactions and arbitrariness intensified, which caused sharp discontent among the population, in particular the merchants. As a result, according to the source, “several thousand excited people gathered on the road, began to collect tiles and stones and throw them at Chen Feng. The latter escaped." Following this, the struggle spread to other cities - Wuchang, Hankou, Huangzhou. Xiangyang, Baoqing, Dean and Xiangtan. The fight went on for over two years. In Wuchang, where Chen Feng arrived in 1601, over 10 thousand citizens surrounded his residence, seized 16 people from Chen Feng's close associates and threw them into the Yangtze. Chen Feng managed to escape.

In the city of Linqing, where the tax inspector Ma Tang was engaged in extortions, over 10 thousand local residents also rose up, burned the premises of the tax inspector and killed 37 people of his subordinates.

Similar actions took place in 1606 in Yunnan province, where the urban population suffered greatly from the arbitrariness of the tax inspector Yang Rong, who not only openly robbed the population, but also made arbitrary arrests and even murdered petty officials and other townspeople. Outraged, the townspeople burned the premises of the tax office and killed a number of sent officials. After Yang Rong severely avenged this by exterminating several thousand people, an uprising broke out, in which more than 10 thousand people participated under the leadership of He Shi-xun. The rebels killed Yang Rong by throwing him into the fire, burned his younger brother and more than 200 of his minions.

So, urban movements, the main content of which was the demand for tax cuts and the elimination of the arbitrariness of the feudal authorities, embraced at the beginning of the 17th century. many areas of the country. These movements testified to the emergence of new forces that challenged the feudal lords.

Struggle within the ruling class

Simultaneously with the intensification of the class struggle between the feudal lords and peasants, contradictions within the ruling class grew. These contradictions were based on the struggle for a share in the distribution of feudal income, expressed in the desire of certain groups of feudal lords to strengthen their positions in the state apparatus.

Palace eunuchs, who first emerged as a political force in the Ming Empire in the 15th century, took an active part in the struggle. They were large feudal lords who occupied a high position in the state apparatus.

The great influence exerted by this grouping of court dignitaries on the foreign and domestic policy of the emperors caused acute discontent among other groups of feudal lords - from the highest (ranking) officials and representatives of the learned class (shenshi) - candidates for government posts, closely associated with land ownership. These groups of feudal lords saw in the power of the eunuchs a constant threat to their own position, since, according to the slanderous denunciation of the eunuchs, one could lose not only their position, but also their lives. The struggle between the feudal cliques was long and very fierce.

In 1506-1521, when the power was in the hands of the eunuchs and their opponents were imprisoned or executed, the emperor turned into a simple puppet of the eunuchs who created their own organization. Eight of them, the most powerful, received the nickname "eight tigers." They actually ruled the country. However, soon a struggle arose on the basis of rivalry between them, which ended in the defeat in 1510 of the all-powerful temporary worker Liu Jing, who was accused of preparing a rebellion, arrested and executed. During the confiscation of his property, huge wealth was discovered, which, according to the source, amounted to "80 bundles of large jasper, 2,500 thousand lans of yellow gold, 50 million lans of silver, and other jewelry - without an account."

The struggle among various groups of feudal lords escalated in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, shaking the already weakened feudal empire of the Ming.

Donglin Organization

The struggle between the big feudal lords and the prosperous urban strata, supported by the progressive part of the Shenyn, also intensified. This struggle was reflected in the creation of the Donglin organization and in its protests against the feudal order.

The Donglin organization was formed at the end of the 16th century. Its leader was a major palace official and scholar Gu Xian-cheng, who retired due to the intrigues of the eunuchs. Returning to his homeland in Wuxi, he began to lecture at the local academy "Donglin Shuuan", criticizing the methods of governing the country used by representatives of the feudal cliques. Therefore, Gu Hsien-chna and his supporters began to be called "Tung Liners", "Tonglin Organization".

Supporters of Donglin demanded more opportunities for private entrepreneurship in trade and handicraft production, as well as mitigation of feudal exploitation (tax cuts, exemption of peasants from certain duties), the fight against bureaucratic corruption, bringing order to the army, strengthening border protection, etc.

Although the Donglin organization was created by the most advanced representatives of the shenshi, it objectively reflected the interests of not only those shenshi groups that were closely connected with the market and urban crafts, but also the merchants, owners of large craft workshops and manufactories. In other words, Donglin represented an opposition grouping of the wealthy urban strata and the shenshi associated with them.

Donglin became active in the 17th century. For some time, its supporters were able to hold major government posts. But as soon as temporary eunuchs increased at the court, Donglin was persecuted. Heavy blows fell on the supporters of this organization in the 20s of the 17th century, when the power in the country was actually in the hands of the eunuch Wei Zhong-hsien. Many of them were blacklisted, accused on false denunciations and executed.

5. Peasant war of the XVII century. The overthrow of the Ming dynasty

Deterioration of the internal and external situation of the Minsk Empire

In the 20s of the XVII century. the internal and external situation of the Minsk Empire deteriorated sharply. At the top, among various groups of feudal lords, a sharp struggle for power continued. The army was falling apart as a result of a poor supply of food and weapons. The invasions of the Western European colonialists and the piratical attacks of the Japanese led to the loss of control over the sea routes and the loss of economic and political positions in the countries of the South Seas. In the northeast, the Ming Empire lost a significant territory captured by the Manchus.

The seizure of peasant lands by feudal lords continued on a larger scale than in the 16th century, and feudal exploitation intensified. Taxes and requisitions grew, caused by an increase in military spending. In 1592, over 10 million lans of silver were spent on three campaigns - to Ningxia (against the Mongols), Korea (against the Japanese) and Guizhou province (against local rebels). During the 10 years of the struggle against the Manchus (from 1618 to 1627), more than 60 million lans of silver were spent, in addition to the usual appropriations for the army.

Great were the expenses of the imperial family, which fell heavily on the shoulders of the masses. For example, in 1599, 24 million lans of silver were taken from the state treasury to cover expenses related to the marriage of the emperor's sons. Enormous funds were spent on the construction of palaces. In 1627, the cost of building palaces amounted to about 6 million lan.

In 1618, an additional land tax was introduced to "supply the army in Liaodong", which increased significantly in subsequent years. In 1620, this additional land tax alone amounted to a huge sum of 5,200,000 lans of silver. In the future, the government introduces new customs duties, a salt tax, etc. These new taxes amounted to almost 7,500 thousand lans of silver. The general taxation of the population has increased by 50% in one decade.

The masses also suffered from constant natural disasters, especially frequent in the 17th century. The lack of concern on the part of the state authorities and the feudal lords about the maintenance of old and the construction of new dams and irrigation canals in due order led to floods and drought, and consequently to starvation and high mortality among the population. The pages of the Minsk History and other Chinese chronicles are full of reports of these facts.

The situation of the popular masses in Shaanxi province was especially difficult. Chronic hunger and high mortality were commonplace here. Here is what one official says in his report of 1629 on the situation in this province: “... There was no rain in Yan'an County during the year. In August-September, people ate wormwood in the cities, in October they began to eat bark from trees, by the end of the year all the bark was peeled - they began to eat chalk. A few days later, their bellies swelled, people fell and were doomed to death ... In all counties - outside the city, large pits were dug, in each of which several hundred people were buried. In general, to the north of Qingyang and Yan'an - the famine is very strong ... ".

Under such conditions, the peasant masses again rise to the struggle.

Uprising in Shaanxi

The peasant movement reached its greatest upsurge in the 20-30s of the 17th century. It began in Shaanxi province, where the peasant masses were in worse conditions than in other areas, and then spread to a significant part of the country. In its scope, breadth, comparative organization, this movement represented a genuine peasant war. The rebels were supported by local troops.

The first outbreaks of an uprising in Shaanxi took place as early as 1626. In 1627, the peasantry responded to the attempts of the newly appointed governor of Shaanxi province to collect taxes by force with a wider uprising.

At first, detachments of peasants acted alone, in isolation, then there was a merger of several detachments. A number of rebel leaders declared themselves "kings". Capable organizers emerged among them, such as Gao Ying-hsiang, Chang Hsien-chung, and Li Tzu-cheng, who later became commanders of the peasant troops.

Li Zi-cheng was born in 1606 into a poor peasant family in Mizhi County (Shaanxi Province). His father had his own piece of land, which he cultivated himself. His father was ruined by taxes and duties, and in his youth, Li Zi-cheng had to work as a shepherd in the household of an official. Later, he went to the post office. Li Tzu-cheng harbored a deep hatred for the exploiters. He saw how his father went bankrupt, how the destitute workers of the earth were dying. In anger, he killed one of the oppressors. He had to flee to the neighboring province of Gansu, where he became a soldier. In 1629, he took part in the uprising, first as a private, and then from 1631 he led a detachment, being subordinate to Gao Ying-hsiang. Li Zi-cheng was distinguished by natural intelligence, perseverance and purposefulness.

Another leader of the uprising, Zhang Xian-chung, a resident of Yan'an, was also born in 1606. Together with his father, a traveling merchant who sold dates, Zhang Hsien-chung traveled around Shaanxi in his youth. After the ruin of the family, Zhang Hsien-zhong became a soldier. Subsequently, on a false charge, he was thrown into prison, and he was awaiting the death penalty. Fleeing thanks to the assistance of one of the prison guards, he devoted himself to the fight against the hated feudal system. In 1630, he joined the Shaanxi uprising, capturing a number of strongholds in Mizhi County. By his nature, Chang Hsien-chung was uncompromising, quick-tempered and, to a certain extent, ambitious. His anger against the exploiters and his difficult character sometimes prevented him from pursuing more flexible tactics in relation to petty officials and impoverished feudal lords. This circumstance repeatedly caused disagreements between him and Li Tzu-cheng.

In 1631, when the entire Shaanxi province was engulfed in revolt and reinforcements from other provinces were sent to suppress the peasant movement by order of the emperor, 36 detachments of the rebels united under the general leadership of Wang Zi-yong. In terms of their numbers, the detachments were not the same, the largest of them covered up to 10 thousand people. The total number of rebels at the time of unification was at least 200 thousand people. The main forces under the command of Wang Tzu-yong, after the unification, moved to Shanxi, which became the center of the movement in 1631. In contrast to the first period of the movement, here in Shanxi, the rebels are fighting under the general leadership. However, as the scope of the uprising expanded, a unified leadership was not fully implemented, especially after the death in 1633 of Wang Zi-yong. Part of the detachments after the defeat in Shanxi goes to the provinces of Henan and Hebei, then Hubei and Sichuan. In 1635, peasant uprisings engulfed several provinces.

Meeting in Henan

In 1635, a council of leaders of peasant detachments was convened in Henan, which was attended by 13 major peasant leaders representing 72 detachments. By this time, many of the former commanders died in unequal battles with government troops. But the dead were replaced by new people, the detachments were replenished by rebellious peasants everywhere, their numbers increased.

At a meeting in Henan, where issues of tactics were discussed, at the suggestion of Li Tzu-cheng (who was then the leader of one of the detachments and directly subordinated to Gao Ying-hsiang), a plan was adopted for further struggle against government troops. All rebel forces were divided into 4 large formations, each of which acted in a certain direction. At the same time, defense tasks were pursued in three directions (western, northern and southern), and offensive operations were planned in the fourth - eastern. A large detachment was assigned as a reserve. He had to have good maneuverability and provide assistance to those who find themselves in a difficult situation. At the end of the meeting, bulls and horses were sacrificed to heaven and an oath of allegiance to the common cause was given.

The Henan meeting was of great importance. It made it possible to plan the operations of the insurgent peasants and coordinate the actions of the leaders of large detachments. For the first time in the peasant movement, the unification of forces and the desire to conduct organized and coordinated operations were manifested, which testified to a new stage in the uprising.

Among the numerous peasant insurgents who at that time held the provinces of Heian, Hubei, Hunan and Shonsi in their hands, the strongest were 13 detachments operating in Henan, and among them the best units were concentrated under the command of Gao Ying-hsiang, Li Tzu-cheng and Chang Hsien-chung. These were the main forces of the rebels.

The conference in Henan strengthened the ranks of the rebels and inspired them to fight decisively against the feudal lords. The rebels are moving from defense to attack. They manage to capture not only the countryside, but also the cities, where they are doing justice and reprisal against the hated feudal lords. In the cities, small artisans, apprentices and hired workers join the rebels.

Differences in the camp of the rebels. Their temporary defeat

However, there was no complete unanimity in the camp of the insurgent peasants. Disagreements soon arose between Li Tzu-cheng and Chang Hsien-chung, which resulted in the departure of Li Tzu-cheng together with Gao Ying-hsiang to Shaanxi Province. The disagreements were partly caused by Zhang Hsien-zhong's unwillingness to reach an agreement with the ruined feudal lords and shenshi, and partly they were explained by his desire for independent action. This weakened the forces of the rebels in Henan and led to the ousting of the peasant detachments (Chang Hsien-chung, Cao Cao, and others) by the government troops from there. Subsequently, the rebels, divided into 13 detachments, again entered Henan, capturing districts and counties. Gao Ying-hsiang and Li Tzu-cheng did not take part in this campaign, remaining to act in Shaanxi.

The fragmentation of the forces of the rebels was one of the reasons for their temporary defeat. In the summer of 16136, a detachment of Gao Ying-hsiang was surrounded in Shaanxi. The leader of the detachment was captured, brought to the capital and executed. The military leaders of the Ming Empire rightfully considered Gao Ying-hsiang the soul of the uprising and the most powerful figure among its leaders. One of the suppressors said about Gao Ying-hsiang: "... It is necessary to get his head, then the rest of the rebels, of course, will be easy to pacify."

And, indeed, after the capture and execution of Gao Ying-hsiang, the uprising is on the wane; the troops he led were partially exterminated or captured. Only a small part came under the leadership of Li Zi-cheng, who took the title "chuan-wang" ("chuan king"), which had previously belonged to Gao Ying-hsiang. The rebels acted in small groups, many of them hiding in the mountains. Li Zi-cheng with his detachment made his way to Sichuan (1637), laid siege to its capital, the city of Chengdu, but a week later was forced to lift the siege. Retreating from there, he was soon defeated by government troops. With great difficulty, he managed to escape from the encirclement. With 18 horsemen, he broke through to Shaanxi, where he hid in the mountains for some time.

In 1638, having suffered a serious defeat, Zhang Xian-chzhong confessed to the Ming commanders. Following him, 13 leaders of large peasant detachments submitted.

New upsurge of the peasant movement

In 1639-1640. a new upsurge of the peasant movement begins. Zhang Hsien-zhong rises again. Together with others, he establishes his base in the city of Gucheng (Khuboy Province). Descends from the mountains, joining the fight, and Li Tzu-cheng. In 1640, he was surrounded by Ming troops, which greatly outnumbered his forces. The situation seemed hopeless, but the steadfastness of Li Tzu-cheng and those around him, those who came from the people like himself, their devotion to the cause of the people and faith in it, saved the situation. Li Zi-cheng breaks out of the encirclement with light cavalry, flees to Henan, where, having met the support of the peasant masses and replenished the forces of his detachment, he captures one city after another. At this time, representatives of the shenshi join Li Zi-cheng. One of them, the poet Li Yan, later became the closest adviser to Li Zi-cheng.

The appearance of the poet Li Yan (his real name is Li Xin) is evidenced by his advice to Li Zi-cheng: "Do not allow the killing of innocent people, distribute all the captured wealth to help the starving people." Li Yan composed a song in which Li Tzu-cheng's justice and his desire to help the peasantry were sung. This song contained the following words: “Whoever accepts the “brave wang” (i.e., Li Zi-cheng), he will not pay dues and will be relieved of duties:”. The song called for liberation from feudal oppression, it was understandable to the peasant masses and found a lively response among them. Other slogans of the insurgents were just as understandable and close to the masses of the people: "Equation of the lands," i.e., equal distribution of land; "Fair Trade", i.e. buying and selling goods at fair prices. This slogan attracted citizens. After the occupation of a particular area, the lands of large feudal lords were confiscated, and wealth was distributed to needy peasants. At the same time, orders were issued for exemption from taxes and duties for three years or five years.

Such a policy of the rebels was welcomed by the broad sections of the population of the village and city and led to the replenishment of their ranks by peasants, artisans, apprentices and hired workers.

In 1641, Li Zi-cheng achieves major successes in the province of Henan. Having captured the city of Luoyang, he seized the lands of Prince Chang Xun (Fu-wang), executed him, burned the palace, and distributed wealth to the starving. The rebels did the same with other feudal lords. Subsequently, peasant detachments under the leadership of Li Tszy-cheng, advancing along Henan, defeated government troops sent to help the provincial authorities, and laid siege to the city of Kaifeng. The city was well fortified and stubbornly defended. The siege took a lot of time and effort. The besieged blew up a dam on the Yellow River to flood Li Tzu-cheng's camp.

Detachments that had previously followed Chang Hsien-chung join Li Tzu-cheng one by one. The forces of Li Tzu-cheng are growing stronger, he becomes the generally recognized leader of the uprising.

From Henan, Li Tzu-cheng enters Hubei, where he captures a significant territory, including the large city of Xiangyang. At this time, Zhang Hsien-chung, who was also in the province of Hubei with his detachment, again submitted to Li Tzu-cheng. However, growing disagreements between them led to Chang Hsien-chung leaving for Hunan Province, where he occupied the main city of Changsha and a number of other major centers. By this time, Li Tzu-cheng is heading for the capture of large cities and the creation of a new state power. They put forward the task of overthrowing the rotten Minsk monarchy.

State apparatus and organization of troops among the insurgent peasants

The central apparatus of the rebels consisted of the supreme body - the state council (it included three people) and six administrative departments: ranks, finances, rituals, military, construction and criminal affairs (punishments). In essence, six chambers that existed in the Minsk Empire served as models for them. Local self-government was also created in districts and counties. Former officials were everywhere displaced. The administrative bodies of the rebels were recruited mainly from peasants who had taken part in the uprising from the very beginning, as well as artisans, but in some places they used the former Ming shenshi officials, if they did not compromise themselves in the eyes of the people.

The rebellious peasants created their own military organization. The entire army consisted of five large formations. They were headed by 20 senior commanders. The largest connection was the central one. It consisted of 100 divisions (detachments) and was headed by 8 senior commanders, while the rest of the formations had more than 30 detachments and 3 senior commanders. Each detachment included infantrymen (100-150 people), cavalrymen (50 people) and service personnel (porters, cooks, etc.). In total, there were about 60 thousand cavalry and infantrymen in five formations. These were the best forces, recruited from men from 15 to 40 years old. 2-4 horses and 10 people were attached to each such warrior - to care for horses, carry weights and cook food. The total number of service personnel reached 500-600 thousand people, who also sometimes took part in the battles.

The high command of the five formations consisted of persons closest to Li Tzu-cheng who showed their abilities and devotion to the peasant masses: the former blacksmith Liu Tsung-min, the poet Li Yan, two close relatives of Li Tzu-cheng (Chang Xing and Li Shuang-hsi), and others. They formed something like a military council to discuss the most important military issues.

Strict discipline was maintained in the rebel units. Usually, the movement of troops took place in strict secrecy; even many commanders did not know about the direction of the strike. The decision taken by the military council was implicitly carried out by subordinates. In the campaign, the central unit was the guide, all the rest followed him. The rebels did not have a heavy convoy, they did not even take stocks of food and provisions, being supplied mainly by taxing the feudal lords.

During the battles, riders were lined up in front in three rows, with a triple wall. If the front row retreated, the rear ones crushed and even stabbed the retreating ones, preventing them from escaping. If the battle dragged on, they resorted to tricks: the cavalrymen, pretending to be defeated, retreated, ambushed the enemy troops, and at this time, significant forces of infantrymen armed with long spears attacked the enemy and destroyed him, after which the cavalry reappeared, helping to complete the defeat of the enemy.

Usually, during the siege of cities, the rebel infantry took up positions near the very city walls, and the cavalry made detours, preventing the besieged from escaping the city. Other military tricks were also used: scouts disguised as merchants, in the uniform of government soldiers, etc., were sent into cities occupied by the enemy.

Privates and commanders of peasant detachments behaved very modestly in everyday life. They were forbidden to have gold and silver in private ownership. It was allowed to own only a small amount of money received in the form of a reward. The captured trophies were usually distributed to the population, and the rest was distributed in the formations in the form of awards - according to merit and position. The highest award was a horse or a mule, followed by a bow and arrow, firearms, clothing and money. Wives were allowed to follow their husbands-warriors, it was forbidden to take other women with them. Li Zi-cheng in everyday life did not differ from an ordinary soldier. He executed some of the leaders of large detachments who joined him for unworthy behavior and money-grubbing.

The rebels willingly accepted into their ranks the exploited population of the areas liberated by them, creating detachments on a professional basis - tailors, musicians, grain growers (this detachment included those who did not have any special specialty), grooms, etc. Those who were distinguished by physical strength and ability for military affairs were given horses, weapons and enlisted in the troops.

Northern hike. Occupation of Beijing

In 1643, in Xiangyang, at a meeting of the council of rebel leaders, it was decided to conduct a campaign in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi and further attack on the capital - Beijing. A new trip has begun. At the end of 1643, large rebel forces entered Henan, defeating General Sun Chuan-ting's army here, captured Tunguan, and then entered Xi'an, the main city of Shaanxi. Another column of Li Tzu-cheng's troops successfully operated in the provinces of Ningxia and Gansu.

Further operations of Li Tzu-cheng's considerably grown army were carried out on the territory of Shanxi Province. Then, with the main forces, he entered the capital district. At the same time (1644) Zhang Hsien-zhong smashed the troops of the feudal lords in Sichuan.

When Li Tzu-cheng's army approached the capital, the troops defending it, not wanting to fight, fired into the air, part of the troops revolted and went over to Li Tzu-cheng's side. Artillery fell into the hands of the attackers. On April 25, 1644, the peasant army led by Li Tzu-cheng entered the capital of the Ming Empire. Emperor Zhu Yu-jian (1628-1644) hanged himself before the rebels entered the city.

Having occupied the capital, Li Tzu-cheng dealt harshly with representatives of the nobility and the feudal bureaucracy. Many feudal lords were executed, their property was confiscated. However, officials below the fourth rank (there were nine ranks in total) were pardoned and even admitted to the state apparatus.

The position of the peasants was alleviated, they were not taxed, the maintenance of the army and the state apparatus was carried out by taxing the feudal lords and wealthy city dwellers.

Union of part of the Chinese feudal lords with the Manchu feudal lords. End of the Ming dynasty

The detachments of Li Tzu-cheng occupied the capital for only 42 days. The further course of events forced them to leave Beijing. The Chinese feudal lords, frightened by the victory of the rebels, made a deal with external enemies - the Manchu feudal lords. One of the Ming generals, Wu San-gui, a major feudal lord who defended the Shanhaiguan fortress from the Manchus, asked the Manchus for help to fight the rebels; he received this help. A huge army of the Manchus, led by Prince Dorgunsm (regent for the young Manchu emperor) opposed the rebels. Wu San-gui's troops helped the Manchus. The 200,000-strong army of Li Tzu-cheng, not stopping in the capital, moved towards the united forces of the enemies.

In a bloody battle, the army of the rebels was defeated and was forced to retreat. Despite this, Li Zi-cheng accepted the title of emperor. Intending to leave for his native places, to the northwest, he believed that the title of Chinese emperor would allow him to successfully organize the fight against the Manchus.

The next day after the coronation, Li Zi-cheng left Peking with the troops, having previously sent to Xi'an a significant amount of gold and silver confiscated from the feudal nobility and bureaucracy, on June 6, 1644, the Manchu army, together with the troops of the traitor Wu San-gui, entered Peking. This event is the end of the Ming dynasty. From this year, Chinese historiography begins the history of the Qing dynasty, that is, the history of China under the rule of the Manchu conquerors.

The last period of the uprising

It took the Manchus and their accomplices, the Chinese feudal lords, however, another forty years to finally crush the resistance of the Chinese people. In 1645, Li Zi-cheng was overtaken and killed, but one of his comrades-in-arms, Li Guo, led the remaining rebel forces and, joining the Ming troops who resisted the Manchus, continued to fight the conquerors for some time.

In 1646, Zhang Hsien-zhong was killed, whose base was the province of Sichuan. One of Zhang's comrades-in-arms, Li Ding-kuo, having united with the Ming troops in the south, fought the Manchu conquerors in Hunan, Yunnan and Guizhou for 15 years. It was not until 1683 that the last pockets of Chinese patriot resistance were crushed.

Thus, as a result of the betrayal of the feudal lords and the intervention of a foreign force, and also to a certain extent and in connection with internal contradictions in the camp of the rebels, the great popular movement was defeated. The Manchurian conquerors established in the country a regime of feudal reaction combined with national enslavement.

6. Development of culture

During the Ming period, Chinese culture continued to develop, enriched with new achievements. Literature received further development; mainly extensive historical works were published, new encyclopedias appeared in their completeness that surpassed any publications of this kind in other countries. Chinese art was also enriched, especially architecture. A significant step in its development was made by varnishing and the production of the finest porcelain.

Social thought and science developed despite the fact that they were limited and fettered by the framework of medieval Confucian scholasticism.

The science

In the XVI-XVII centuries. interest in China in technology, natural and mathematical sciences has increased markedly. At the end of the Minsk period, an improved water-lifting wheel appeared for irrigating fields, and bellows were used more widely than before in metal smelting. Shipbuilding is developing, a vivid indicator of this was the sea expeditions of the 15th century, headed by Zheng He. On one of these expeditions, 62 large sea ships were simultaneously poisoned, carrying about 28 thousand people and a significant cargo. All these ships, which were distinguished by their large carrying capacity, were built in China.

The first Italian missionary Matteo Ricci and Xu Guang-chi. Contemporary drawing.

In the XVI century. a multi-volume work on pharmacology appeared - "A Treatise on Trees and Plants" (author Li Shi-zhen). This essay contained a description of not only medicinal herbs, but also minerals, as well as the animal world. The work on medicine by the scientist Zhang Zhong-jing (“On Typhus”) was very popular.

In the 17th century A large agricultural encyclopedia compiled by the scientist Xu Guang-qi was published. She covered the development of agriculture and agricultural technology not only in China, but also partly in Europe. In the 30s of the XVII century. The scholar Sun Ying-sin wrote a work called "Tian gong kai wu", which was a kind of technical encyclopedia that covered the development of handicraft production in China at various times, including the Ming period.

Philology and history received special development. Chinese linguistics focused on the study of the living northern dialects of the Chinese language. Gu Yan-wu (1613-1683) was the greatest scientist-encyclopedist of the 17th century, in particular a philologist, he owns the Pentateuch on Phonetics, a classic work on historical and modern phonetics, as well as other works on history, economics, philosophy, philology, etc. Gu Yan-wu was not only a scientist, but also a politician, a patriot who took an active part in the fight against the Manchus ami.

Official historiography continued to develop: dynastic histories were published, and continuations of the chronicle "The Universal Mirror Helping Management", begun in the 11th century, were compiled.

Other genres of historical literature also developed in the Minsk Empire, for example, works that described events not in chronological order, but in plot order (the so-called “Description of events from beginning to end”), the compilation of which was first started back in the 11th-12th centuries. Geographical works were published, not without reason attributed by the medieval tradition to historical ones: these multi-volume publications provide data on administrative division in various periods, geographical and economic information on individual provinces, counties, cities, as well as a brief history of their formation, a description of historical monuments of the area, biographies of major local figures are reproduced, etc. the benefit of regions and destinies in the Celestial Empire. This work gives not only a geographical description of the country, but also illuminates the socio-economic situation of China. Various collections, collections such as encyclopedias, also belonged to historical works.

Philosophy. Development of social thought

The most famous Chinese philosopher of the early 16th century. was Wang Yang-ming (or Wang Shou-jen, 1472-1528). Wang Yang-ming argued that the real world does not exist outside of our consciousness, that the whole world, all things are the product of the spirit or heart. “There are no things outside the mind, and there is no mind outside of things,” Wang Yang-ming said, “nothing exists outside our mind”; "The heart, consciousness is the root and source of everything." According to Wang Yangming, the criterion of truth is subjective consciousness, a person has innate knowledge, intuition, which helps to know the truth. Wang Yangming's idealism and intuitionism had numerous followers not only in China, but also in Japan, where this teaching has been popular since the 17th century. became one of the main philosophical currents.

The philosophical views of Wang Yang-ming and his followers at one time brought a certain benefit to the cause of the struggle against the neo-Confucian philosophy that took shape in the Sung era and turned into scholasticism by its later representatives.

However, Wang Yang-ming's political views reflected the interests of the feudal class, which was frightened by the powerful peasant movement of that time. Wang Yang-ming defended the policy of curbing the peasantry, strengthening the positions of the feudal lords, and led punitive expeditions against the peasants. He put forward proposals for the introduction of the “Law on Ten Yards”, the “Law on Headmen of Ten Yards”, etc. All these proposals were aimed at strengthening control over the rural population, strengthening the institution of mutual responsibility, strengthening police power in the villages, regulating the life and behavior of peasants in public and private life. Wang Yang-ming's proposals were aimed at creating conditions under which any possibility of protest against feudal exploitation would be excluded.

The sharp struggle between the feudal lords and dependent peasants, the aggravation of contradictions within the ruling class were also reflected in the field of ideology: in the 16th-17th centuries. progressive thought developed, struggling with neo-Confucian scholasticism. Its development was facilitated by the emergence of new social forces associated with the growth of cities, commodity-money relations and the emergence of manufactory.

Representatives of the most progressive currents came from the working strata of the people, as well as from the environment of wealthy citizens. Wang Yang-ming's contemporary, Wang Xin-zhai (1483-1541), his followers Yan Shan-nong, Liang Zhu-yuan (aka He Xin-yin), and others, who were persecuted by the authorities, should be referred to the nervous ones. Their philosophical views did not sharply differ from the idealism and intuitionism of Wang Yang-ming. In his ethical views, Wang Xin-zhai approached the ancient Chinese philosopher Mo Di (5th-4th centuries BC) with his doctrine of "universal love." Wang Xin-zhai and his followers put forward the utopian idea in those conditions of creating a society in which there would be no rich and poor, everyone would be equal. Li Zhi (or Li Zhuo-wu, 1527-1602) should also be included in this group of progressive thinkers. He, like other progressive figures of his time mentioned above, was persecuted by the Ming dynasty. His teaching was declared heretical, as it was directed against the dominant ideology of Confucianism. Li Zhi opposed unconditionally recognizing everything that Confucius claimed as true, he stated: "We cannot consider the truth or untruth of Confucius to be true or false." Li Zhi's writings were repeatedly burned, and he himself was tortured.

Literature

During the period of the Ming Dynasty, the most important phenomenon in the field of literature was the continued development of folk literature in a living, folk language - stories, dramas and novels. The most striking examples of the short story are given in the collection "Amazing stories of our time and antiquity", which appeared in the 30-40s of the 17th century.

Dramaturgy was enriched with a new genre, the so-called local provincial, or "southern" play, distinguished by its simplicity of presentation. Such dramatic works include "Lute", "Moon Arbor", "The Legend of the White Hare" - plays of the 14th century, often performed even now in China. From the dramatic works of the XVI century. of great interest is the play of Tang Xian-zu (1550-1617) - "Pion Arbor", in which the old moral principles were challenged. Many playwrights were at the same time the performers of the role of the heroes of their plays. Although the profession of an actor was considered humiliating, theatrical art gained wide popularity due to the existence of numerous home theaters.

The first novels - "The Three Kingdoms", "River Backwaters", written in a living, colloquial language, date back to the 14th century, but later on they appeared in new and new revisions.

In addition to the historical novel, fantasy and everyday novels appeared during the period of the Ming dynasty. "Journey to the West" - a fantasy novel by Wu Cheng-en (1500-1582) - is built on the legends about a journey to India by a famous Buddhist pilgrim of the 7th century. n. e. Xuan Zang. The household novel "Plum in a Golden Vase", apparently, was created at the end of the 16th century. Its authorship is attributed to the Minsk scholar Wang Shi zhen (1526-1593), who rose to the post of head of the chamber of punishment, which roughly corresponds to the position of the Minister of Justice at the present time.

Art

Period of the XVI-XVII centuries. the most richly represented by architectural monuments. Pagodas, tombs, palaces, temples, triumphal gates, various public buildings and, finally, residential buildings of this period have survived to our time. From the 16th century the architectural style changes to replace the former rigor and monumentality with subtle grace. It manifests itself in the widespread ornamentation of roofs, cornices, in the appearance of carved balustrades of marble bridges in the development of the architectural ensemble. The Chinese building, as a rule, is a one-story quadrangular pavilion, divided by columns. It was distinguished by the original high roof, curved at the corners and resting on pillars. The roof, covered with brilliant colored tiles, the whiteness of the terraces and the bright painting of the wooden parts, gave the building an extraordinary brilliance and elegance.

Vivid examples of the architectural ensemble characteristic of the Ming period are the Forbidden City (or the City of Imperial Palaces) in the northern part of Beijing, built in the 15th century. and consisting of a number of palaces located along the axis, as well as the temple ensemble "Temple of Heaven", located in the southern part of Beijing. This ensemble consists of several temples built in the period of the 15th-16th centuries.

Painting of the XVI-XVII centuries. did not take a big step forward - the old traditions were preserved in it. The works of well-known artists of that time (Lu Chi, Bian Wen-jing, and others), although distinguished by considerable skill, were an imitation of old models. Engraving was widely used to illustrate books. Colored woodcuts first appeared in the world in the Ming Empire.

Great development in the XVI-XVII centuries. received applied art: the production of porcelain, the dressing of silk fabrics and lacquer products. New in porcelain production were the introduction of underglaze painting with cobalt blue, red glaze and the transition from the second half of the 15th century. from single-color to multi-color porcelain painting.

In the Ming period, works of European art penetrate China, but the influence of the latter on Chinese art was then insignificant. On the other hand, in the 17th century Chinese art penetrates into Europe, its influence is reflected in ornamentation; in the future, imitation of the Chinese style takes on a wider dimension.

The transformation of feudal China into a semi-colony of Western powers began in the middle of the 19th century. The invasion of foreign capital accelerated the disintegration of subsistence economy, contributed to the expansion of the labor market, and led to the creation of large-scale industry in the country. However, foreign investors were not interested in China's economic development, but sought to use it as a sales market, a source of raw materials, and a sphere for capital investment.

In China, the process of concentration of land ownership and the dispossession of the peasantry was actively proceeding. The common people were under the yoke of Chinese and Manchu feudal lords, merchants and usurers, as well as foreign bourgeois. The traditional division of Chinese subjects into "noble", "kind", "vile" is supplemented by the emergence of new strata of society - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

In 1840-1843. The Opium War began between England and China. The British imported opium into the country in exchange for silver. Attempts by the Chinese government to stop such "trade" were not successful. Moreover, on August 29, 1842, the Nanjing Treaty of Trade was signed aboard an English warship, according to which China was obliged to open five seaports for foreign ships, and Hong Kong was ceded to England. Moreover, goods imported by England were subject to low customs tariffs. As a result of the unequal treaty, the Chinese monopoly in foreign trade was abolished. In addition to the Nanjing Treaty, a protocol was signed, according to which foreign powers received the right to establish their own authorities and administrations on the territory of Chinese ports, to keep their own police and military contingent. According to the protocol, foreigners became outside the jurisdiction of Chinese justice. In 1844, the United States and France also enter into unequal "cooperation agreements" with China.

Simultaneously with the invasion of China by foreign "patrons", a comprador bourgeoisie is developing. With the help of compradors, foreign monopolies penetrated into the countryside, which became one of the staring targets of imperialist exploitation.

The dominance of foreigners turned formally independent China into a semi-colony. Along with the creation of foreign and national industrial enterprises, the working class of China was formed. The degree of exploitation of workers was the highest in the world.

Feudal relations of production continued to dominate in the Chinese countryside. The landlords and kulaks owned 80% of all land, which was leased to the peasants on extortionate terms. The Qing dynasty was in decline.

In 1851, under the slogans of fighting the Manchus, for the abolition of private property and the establishment of social equality, the Taiping peasant uprising took place. The leaders of the rebels were the village teacher Hong Xiu-quan and his relative Hong Ren-gan, and the coal miner Yang Xiu-qing. During the struggle, the "Heavenly Welfare State" (Taiping Tianguo) was created with a monarchical form of government. In practice, the leaders of Taiping China returned to the well-known patriarchal state model. The "Heavenly State" was headed by tian-wang - the heavenly king, five vans - kings were recognized as his closest assistants. The Taipings managed to create a combat-ready, disciplined army and successfully resisted government troops. There was strict discipline in the army. Warriors were forbidden to smoke opium, drink wine, and gamble. The main military unit was the military-religious cells of 25 families. The rebels were bound by a single ideology, common property, barracks life. The Taipings were able to develop the production of firearms. In 1853, the rebels took Nanjing and promulgated the decree "Land system of the heavenly dynasty." The decree introduced a system of egalitarian distribution of material wealth and proclaimed the idea of ​​creating a patriarchal society with features of paramilitary egalitarian communism.

The Taiping state fell in 1864, but for another 2 years, separate detachments resisted the Chinese authorities. The fall of the state was accelerated by the military intervention of England and France.

In the 60-80s of the XIX century. China's ruling circles proclaim a policy of "self-strengthening the state" and active cooperation with the outside world. As a result of the current course, foreign capital has captured the most important positions in the economy. England controlled the southern provinces and the Yangtze River basin, France - the southwestern regions, Germany - the Shandong Peninsula, Japan - the island of Taiwan (Formosa), Russia - the territory of Manchuria. In 1897, there were 50 thousand foreigners in the country, 600 foreign firms and companies.

In 1861, Empress Cixi, the late emperor's eldest wife, came to power. After the defeat of China in the Franco-Chinese (1884-85) and Japanese-Chinese (1894-95) wars, there is a rise in national self-consciousness, which leads to the activation of patriotic forces.

The reform movement was led by the Confucian scholar Kang Youwei (1858-1927). In memorandums, he and his supporters denounced the existing order, arbitrariness, corruption, and spoke out in defense of the working masses. In 1895, the "Association for the Strengthening of the State" was created, and the program memorandum of the reformers was published. It contained provisions on the introduction of a constitutional monarchy, on the strengthening of state power, a call for resistance to foreign invasion, and the reform of education and the army. Kang Yuwei insisted on the introduction of political rights and freedoms for subjects.

On June 11, 1898, a decree “On the plans of the state” was issued, then a series of decrees on the reorganization of the state apparatus, on the reduction of the army, on the appointment of “talented people from the people” to positions. The construction of railways, factories, plants, and the development of crafts were encouraged. The progressive ideas set forth in legal acts were not put into practice, since the reformers did not have sufficient power and experienced opposition from the empress and her officials. The reformers planned in October 1898 to carry out a coup d'état. However, General Yuan Shikai, who participated in the conspiracy, betrayed the plans of the conspirators to Empress Cixi. Six reformers were executed, Kang Youwei and some of his supporters fled abroad. Repressions began against the reforms supporting the course.

A difficult economic and political situation is developing in the country. In 1898-1900. under anti-foreign slogans (“Support the Qing, destroy the foreigners!”), the Yihetuan uprising began. In the European press, it was called the Boxer Rebellion. The rebels received this name due to the fact that in their ranks there were many supporters of the Buddhist persuasion, owning the techniques of wu-shu (kung fu).

The rebels expelled foreign missionaries, sacked factories, shops of foreign merchants, consulates of England, France, and the USA. The European powers demanded in an ultimatum from Empress Cixi to restore order in the country and sent additional military contingents to the territories under their jurisdiction. Eight Western powers sent a 20,000-strong expeditionary force to crush the rebels. The ruling circles of China were frightened by the current situation in the country. Empress Cixi issued a decree accusing the Yihetuan of riots and bloodshed. Chinese troops were ordered to take the side of the foreign expeditionary force. A year after the massacre of the Yihetuans, the Final Protocol was signed. Under the terms of the protocol of September 7, 1901, the Chinese government apologized to foreign powers for the damage caused, established a number of benefits and privileges for Western European countries and paid them an indemnity of 450 million liang (ounces) of silver.

In 1906, a decree was issued to prepare for constitutional government. In 1907, a bureau for drafting a constitution was established, as well as a bureau for legislative reforms. The people announced the introduction of constitutional government in 9 years.

Xinhai Revolution and Proclamation of the Republic

After the suppression of the Boxer uprising, the actions of the peasants and workers did not stop, the number of underground revolutionary organizations increased.

Under the influence of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and the Russian Revolution (1905-1907), revolutionary organizations in China are united into the "Union League", the core of which is the "China Revival Society". Sun Yat-sen was elected leader of the Society. It was he who developed the three principles that became the banner of the struggle: nationalism (the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, the restoration of independence); democracy (establishment of a republic); national prosperity (equal land tenure).

In 1906-1908. a new revolutionary upsurge of the masses is noted. The "Union League" is gaining new supporters among soldiers and officers. After the death of Empress Cixi (1908), the question of a successor to power and further state reforms openly arose. Revolted military units in Guangdong province.

In January 1911, the headquarters of the revolutionary uprising was set up in Hong Kong. In April, an attempt was made to rouse the masses to the revolutionary struggle. The defeat of the supporters of the "Union League" leads to the temporary emigration of Sun Yat-sen and his assistants.

On October 10, 1911, the military came out against the existing Qing regime in Wuchang. The flames of the uprising engulfed the provinces of southern and central China. The north, less industrialized, remained in the hands of the supporters of the qin (Manchus). Yuan Shikai was appointed Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Armed Forces.

In the south, a Provisional Revolutionary Government was formed, and a Conference of Provincial Representatives (later changed to the National Assembly) was convened. At the congress of representatives, China was proclaimed a republic, and Sun Yat-sen, who had returned from exile, was elected provisional president. The driving forces of the revolution were the liberal bourgeoisie, the peasantry, soldiers and officers.

On March 10, 1911, the Provisional Constitution of China was adopted. The Basic Law set out the democratic principles for building a new society and state, proclaimed political rights (freedom of speech, assembly, press) and personal immunity. Legislative power was exercised by a bicameral parliament. Executive - the president and the government.

The revolutionary situation in the country led to the removal of power from the Qing dynasty (this event took place on the day of Xin Hai, hence the name of the revolution) and the convening of a temporary all-China parliament. In order to unify China, an agreement was reached between Sun Yat-sen and Yuan Shikai. In the name of the unification of the country, and guided by the desire to end the confrontation between the North and the South, Sun Yat-sen resigned the presidency in favor of Yuan Shikai.

Popular unrest in the country continued. Yuan Shikai responded with reprisals. In December 1912 - February 1913, elections to the permanent parliament were held on the basis of high qualifications: age (a citizen must be over 21 years old), property (a citizen owned private property or paid a direct tax), residency (you must live in the constituency for at least 2 years), literacy.

Yuan Shikai strengthened his sole power and unleashed terror in the country. Sun Yat-sen was forced to emigrate. On May 1, 1914, a new Constitution is introduced, according to which the president is elected for 10 years and actually becomes a dictator. The Cabinet of Ministers is responsible to the president, and not to the parliament, positions, titles, and titles are introduced along the lines of the Qing empire.

The liberal bourgeoisie agreed to an alliance with Yuan Shikai. She sought to complete the revolution in this way. In response to this, Sun Yat-sen organized a political party - the Kuomintang (National Party). The Kuomintang revolted against the Yuan Shikai clique. After crushing this uprising, Yuan Shikai banned the activities of the Kuomintang.

In January 1915, Japan sends troops into Shandong (the territory previously belonged to Germany) and strengthens its dominance in China. Yuan Shikai is forced to accept Japan's 21 demands. The country actually becomes a colony of Japan. The comprador bourgeoisie tried to restore the monarchy. Yuan Shikai's death thwarted their plans. In periods of serious crisis, as happened more than once in the history of China, the military took power. The Chinese Parliament was dissolved, then met again. His powers were reduced to advisory. A military dictatorship was formed in the north of the country under Duan Qi-rui.

Soon Sun Yat-sen returned from exile to revolutionary China. In the south of the country, under his leadership, in September 1917, a military government was created to protect the republic (the capital is the city of Canton).

After the Xinhai Revolution, which abolished the monarchy, Republican China remained politically fragmented. The Beijing government was only nominally considered "national". His power extended to the capital and a number of provinces. In some areas, military governors dominated, more precisely feudal-militarist cliques with their troops. The wars that the local authorities waged among themselves increased the fragmentation of the country, made China especially vulnerable to imperialist predators.

The revolutionary transformations in China were unfinished. The overthrow of the monarchy and the proclamation of the republic led to a change in the state system. However, China remained a semi-colony of foreign states.

At the beginning of the XX century. China stood on the threshold of new battles for social justice and national liberation.

Right

The most important role in the law of China continued to play two systematized sets of laws of the empire. The first set contained the norms of state and administrative law, the second of civil, family and criminal law. Both sets of laws supplemented medieval law, but did not fundamentally change it. The codification commission created by the emperor's decree worked on the systematization of the norms of law from 1644 to 1646. As a result of the commission's activities, the laws of the Ming dynasty and new decrees of the Qing dynasty were included in the Qing code. Legal prescriptions were presented in a casuistic form.

In 1647, a code called "Da qing lu li" (Basic Laws and Ordinances of the Great Qing Dynasty) was published. Structurally, the code consisted of seven sections. The first section included legal material on penalties and the circumstances under which penalties may be mitigated. The remaining six sections consisted of compositions, beating with bamboo sticks, hard labor, exile, branding, etc. Children from the age of 7 were criminally liable. Punishments were applied to both criminals and members of their families.

Civil law, marriage and family and inheritance relations were regulated by the "Da qing lu li" code, customary law. With the development of markets, the activities of trading agents, banks, trade partnerships, joint-stock companies, international treaties, charters of shop, trade and manufacturing organizations began to play an important role in regulating civil law relations.

The need of the ruling circles to stabilize the situation in the country after the Xinhai Revolution is expressed in the adoption of a new Criminal Code, which was in force from 1911 to 1931.

The code was a step forward from the Qing code of laws. It was divided into General and Special parts, its material was systematized, included articles on criminal conviction and early release. Corporal punishment was excluded from the code. Many articles provided for penalties.

Ever since the 15th century. In China, crisis phenomena began to grow, which led to a deep decline in the country. Dissatisfaction with the ruling Ming dynasty resulted in one of the longest popular uprisings in the history of the country (1628-1644) led by Li Tzu-chyn. The Minsk government unsuccessfully tried to stop the advance of the rebels towards Beijing. In the spring of 1644, Li's troops occupied Beijing, and he himself was declared emperor.

However, the Chinese aristocracy called for help from the Manchus, who in 1644 entered Beijing and proclaimed the Manchu Qing (pure) dynasty. But only by 1683 did the Manchus subjugate all of China, and after their conquests in the 17th-18th centuries. a huge empire arose, surpassing the size of the modern PRC. Thus, many years of internal struggle led to the establishment of foreign domination, which lasted until 1911, i.e. over two and a half centuries. The long reign of the Qings is explained, first of all, by the fact that they took political power into their own hands, but completely preserved the traditional Chinese orders in the economic and social sphere. The Manchus adopted Chinese culture, and by the 19th century. they even forgot their own language.

In China, there was individual ownership of land, but due to the high population, large-scale land ownership did not develop. The average size of landed estates was 3-6 hectares, and peasant allotments - 0.3-0.6 hectares. Many peasants rented land from landlords, giving up to 70% of their crops as rent.

The basis of the social and economic life of China was the community, which was made up of kindred families. Communal lands were divided into collective and individual. The income from the collective lands went to the maintenance of the village school, temple and other charitable purposes. Lands that were in individual use could be sold and leased. A smaller part of the cultivated land belonged to the state.

In China, there was no clear class division. The only privileged stratum that stood above all classes of Chinese society were the Manchu conquerors. At the next hierarchical step were shenshi (scholars), from whom officials were recruited. Any Chinese who successfully passed the exam for a scientific degree could become a shenshi. At the same time, landlords and peasants were one class of landowners, were obliged to perform labor duties. Craftsmen and merchants united in one estate. Outside the class system were beggars, gunsmiths, slaves.

According to the political system, Qing China was an unlimited monarchy. The emperor, as in the Middle Ages, was considered a divine person and concentrated all power in his hands. There was a system of ceremonies that emphasized the supremacy of the emperor over his subjects. Under pain of death, it was forbidden to see the face of the emperor and even to pronounce his name.

During the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Chinese government pursued an aggressive foreign policy. Lands were conquered in the West and North-West: Mongolia, the Dzungar Khanate and Kashgaria in East Turkestan. In the southwest, Tibet became an object of interest for the Qing rulers, which was forcibly incorporated into the Qing Empire (late 18th century). However, in the countries of Indochina - - Burma and Vietnam, the conquerors met stubborn resistance and could not overcome it.

As a result of the aggressive policy, the territory of China was significantly expanded. At the same time, it required huge expenses. The conquest of Central Asia alone cost an amount equal to the income of the treasury for two years. Approximately one third of tax revenues went to the protection of the borders of the Qing Empire.

As a result, already in the last quarter of the XVIII century. signs of crisis and growing social tension became noticeable. The tax burden on landowners and artisans increased. There was an acute shortage of land, and lease conditions worsened. The village lower classes became impoverished, turned into landless workers, and even simply into bandits.

The central government could not stop this process of impoverishment and dispossession of land, since the state apparatus by this time turned out to be corrupt. Anti-government and anti-Manchu sentiments intensified, at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries. a wave of peasant uprisings swept the country. With great difficulty, the emperor managed to suppress these uprisings, but they further weakened China (Table 56).

Table 56

In 1644, the Manchu Qing dynasty came to power in China. Under the Qing dynasty, which relied on large Manchu and Chinese feudal lords, a despotic monarchy was created.

Chinese Emperor - - Bogdykhan - - concentrated in his hands the supreme legislative, judicial and administrative power, and also had the exclusive right to offer sacrifices and prayers to the "Supreme Heaven".

A characteristic feature of the Qing Dynasty was the policy of isolating the country from the outside world. However, from the end of the XVIII century. the capitalist states of Europe increased pressure on China, seeking to penetrate its market at any cost. Great Britain, first of all, made attempts to get new markets and sources of raw materials. Since 1839, the British launched military operations against China, which marked the beginning of the "opium wars" of 1840-1842. It should be noted that the state bureaucracy of the Qing Empire was greatly weakened due to corruption and bribery. The army, equipped with obsolete weapons and having poor training and skills, was not able to effectively defend the empire that had grown as a result of wars of conquest, could not resist the first-class armed ground forces and fleet of England.

As a result of hostilities, in August 1842, an unequal treaty between China and England was signed in Nanjing, and in 1844 similar treaties with China were concluded by the United States and France. Under these agreements, the Qing government undertook to open five ports for English trade, pay a huge indemnity, establish preferential customs tariffs, and also grant foreigners a number of privileges, such as the right of extraterritoriality, the right to concessions, and the principle of most favored nation.

In fact, the defeat of China meant its transformation into a semi-colonial country. Foreign goods undermined handicraft production, the tax burden increased, and arbitrary levies were introduced.

One of the consequences of the Opium War was Taiping rebellion, which in 1850 was organized by the Taiping religious sect (a legal Christian organization). During the uprising, a disciplined rebel army was created and the creation of the "Heavenly Welfare State" was proclaimed. After a series of major military successes, the Taipings captured Nanjing in March 1853, which was renamed the Heavenly Capital.

The leaders of the uprising in Nanjing published the Land System of the Heavenly Dynasty, which was a program document for the transformation of Chinese society and the state. It was based on the ideas of "peasant communism", ie. on the basis of equality of all members of society and provided for the distribution of land on an equal footing, the release of peasants from rent to landlords, the provision of equal rights to women, the state maintenance of the disabled, the fight against corruption, etc. Land and the main means of production were nationalized; to have significant sums of money or other large property was prohibited.

The policy of the Taipings in practice came down to reducing the rent for land from the peasants and shifting a significant part of the tax burden to the landowners and the rich. However, in 1856 strife broke out among the Taiping leadership, and in 1857 part of the rebels left for the southwestern provinces. Then, from 1862, the Anglo-French interventionists took an active part in the civil war on the side of the Qing government, and in July 1864 the capital of the Taipings, Nanjing, was taken by the Qing troops. With the capture of the capital and the death of the main leaders, the Taiping state also ceased to exist.

The Opium Wars and the Taiping Rebellion shocked Qing China and pushed the ruling circles to recognize the need for reform. Some changes were made in the structure of state bodies, for example, the General Chancellery for Foreign Affairs was established, the system of two governors in the provinces (military and civil) was abolished; local power was concentrated in the hands of the governors. In addition, committees to restore order were established in the provinces.

In the period from the 1860s - - to the beginning of the 1880s. the emperor pursued a policy of "self-strengthening", the main purpose of which was to strengthen the existing regime. Supporters of this policy advocated closer cooperation with foreign powers, borrowing foreign experience in the modernization of the armed forces, creating their own military industry, which led to the widespread penetration of foreign powers into China. Using rights and privileges, foreigners tried to increase their political influence. As a result, in the 60s - 90s. 19th century a wave of anti-foreign speeches swept through the country, turning into anti-government ones.

Around the same time, the first Chinese capitalist enterprises began to be established. Initially, these were state-owned or state-private factories, arsenals and workshops, which were built by the provincial authorities at public expense and with the forcible attraction of funds from local merchants and landowners, and then private entrepreneurship began to develop. The capitalist structure in China fought its way through the extremely difficult conditions of the dominance of feudal relations in agriculture, arbitrariness and restrictions on the part of the authorities, competition of foreign capital, and the leading force of the emerging national bourgeoisie became big officials and landlords.

In 1895, China was defeated in a war with Japan. The actions of Western countries intensified the activity of patriotic forces. The bourgeois-landowner Reform Party, led by Kang Yuwei and representing the interests of the national bourgeoisie, came out for the modernization of the country, for carrying out reforms with the help of imperial power. In June 1898, she ensured that Emperor Guangxu (Zai Tian) issued a decree "On the establishment of the main line of state policy", and then attracted a group of young reformers - disciples and associates of Kang Yuwei to develop a series of radical decrees on economics, education, and the activities of the state apparatus. This period of 1898 entered the history of China under the name "One Hundred Days of Reforms".

The ongoing reforms were objectively aimed at creating conditions for the capitalist development of China, but they were carried out in great haste, sabotaged by court circles and the bureaucratic apparatus, and, in essence, remained on paper. In September of the same year, Empress Dowager Ci Xi (Ehonala) staged a palace coup. Emperor Guangxu was arrested, his decrees were canceled, and the leaders of the reformers were summarily executed.

The Chinese people were extremely indignant at the reactionary policy of the Qing dynasty, so in 1905-1908. a wave of popular uprisings swept the country (Shanghai - - 1905; Central and South China - - 1906-1908). In 1910, the number of peasant revolts exceeded their number in previous years. In October 1911, the uprising of troops in the city of Wuchang ended in victory. The Xinhai Revolution began, leading to the overthrow of the monarchy and the proclamation of the Republic of China.

The Qing dynasty abdicated in February 1912, and already in April 1912 the first (temporary) bourgeois-democratic Constitution China. The subsequent events were as follows: the Nanking Assembly of Delegates elected Yuan Shikai, the leader of the right wing of the national Chinese bourgeoisie, as the provisional president of the Republic of China, who in August 1913 established his military dictatorship in the country, and in 1914 made radical changes to the Constitution.

Control questions

· What is characteristic of China in the second half of the 19th century?

· What is the "Heavenly Welfare State"?

· What is the essence of the Hundred Days of Reform policy at the end of the 19th century?

· Why is the October 1911 uprising called the "Xinhai Revolution"?

From 1644 to 1911, China was under foreign rule. Manchu dynasty Qing. Having completely subjugated China at the end of the 17th century, the Manchus began to conquer neighboring peoples. At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. in East and Central Asia, the powerful Qing Empire arose with a population of more than 400 million people. The main difference between the traditional Chinese society of the Qing Dynasty and the Western European ones was its immobility, stagnation, rigidity, due to immutability life principles (ideology, hierarchy of values, basic principles of politics, economics, social relations).

The Middle State seemed to Europeans an exotic sleepy kingdom. Renowned French paleontologist, philosopher and theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin(1881–1955) wrote about Qing China: “This huge country presents a strange picture, yesterday it was only a barely changed living fragment of the world as it could have been 10 thousand years ago... The population not only consists of farmers, but is mainly organized according to the hierarchy of territorial possessions... Of course, an incredibly refined civilization, but like a letter in which it expresses itself so directly, not changing methods since its inception. XIX century - still the Neolithic, not updated, as in other places, but simply infinitely complicated ... ".

China at the beginning of the 19th century was backward late feudal a society dominated by natural and small-scale production. The Manchu rulers did everything to preserve the old feudal order and prevent foreign influence from penetrating China. Traditional Chinese society was characterized by a rigid domineering hierarchy based on military legal coercion. It was divided into "noble"(managers) - feudal lords, bureaucracy, military, occupying a dominant position in the power-state hierarchy and endowed with privileges and formal ranks, and "commoners"(managed) - farmers, artisans, merchants, deprived of any ranks and privileges and performing the function of producers of necessary goods. basis agricultural economy China was a combination of small peasant farming with handicraft industry. Natural and small-scale production dominated in the north. In the southern regions of the country, a fairly broad development of commodity-money relations began. There was a process of concentration of landed property and landlessness of the peasantry.

In Chinese society during the Qing Dynasty social oppression (exploitation of peasants and the urban poor by feudal lords and usurers) was supplemented national- the rule of the Manchu feudal lords. The Manchus occupied major positions in the armed forces and civil administration. The power of the leaders of the few Manchu tribes over the many millions of Chinese people rested on the alliance of the conquerors with the Chinese feudal lords. The incessant peasant uprisings during the period of the Manchu rule often took place under the slogans of the restoration of the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

Order and stability in Qing China was ensured monarchy in the shape of eastern despotism. The structure of the highest authorities of China during the Qing Dynasty was modeled on the Ming Empire. Chinese Emperor - bogdykhan formally was an unlimited monarch, who replaced the throne hereditarily and according to the principle of primogeniture. The emperor was the supreme legislator and high priest, who had the exclusive right to offer sacrifices and prayers to the "Supreme Heaven", as well as the supreme judge, who had the unlimited right to punish and pardon his subjects. The emperor relied on the army and numerous bureaucracy, selected through examinations. In practice, the sovereignty of the emperor restricted the court aristocracy, who occupied the highest positions in the state apparatus and in the organs of the imperial administration.

The most important state institution under the Qing was Supreme Imperial Council, composed of the most influential dignitaries. He issued all the most important decrees and orders in all branches of government, considered the most important reports and other messages from central and local government agencies. Second but significant was imperial secretariat, in charge of the promulgation of imperial decrees and the storage of state documents. Positions in the imperial secretariat were divided equally between the Manchus and the Chinese. The Manchus could not rely solely on their own strength in governing a vast country, but they owned real power. supreme executive power, the monarch directly managed the current affairs of the empire through six ministries("Lyubu", as the six orders of the Qing imperial administration were called): ranks, taxes, ceremonies, military, criminal penalties, public works. Control power focused on Chamber of Censors. Consideration of cassation appeals against decisions of lower courts Supreme Court.

System local government based on the principle of bureaucratic centralization dualism civil and military power. From the point of view of the political and territorial structure, the empire was divided into governorships, provinces, regions, districts, counties. Viceroys consisted of two or three provinces, which were headed by the governor. All civil (administrative and judicial) and military power was concentrated in his hands. At the head of each provinces military and civilian governors(more often - Manchus), subordinate to the governor. Each governor had his own administrative apparatus: treasurers, who were also in charge of the civil administration, salt controllers and grain commissaries. Regions, districts And counties led bosses, managers of the respective administrative units with the help of officials and elders of stodvoroks and tendvoroks. At all levels, the judiciary was connected with the administration, but usually special officials were sent to carry out legal proceedings, who were distinguished by their special devotion to the emperor. The fate of a particular governor, governor, chief, and commoner often depended on their opinion.

Qing Empire at the beginning of the 19th century faced with the need to change the political system of China under the influence of two factors: 1) advanced growth population and a noticeable lag in the production of its means of subsistence; 2) section

China on the spheres of influence of the Western powers and turning it into a semi-colony.

Already at the beginning of the XIX century. China has entered the crisis due to agrarian overpopulation, as evidenced by the peasant uprisings. The discrepancy between growth population and reproduction material wealth. By the end of the XVIII - beginning of the XIX century. all areas suitable for agriculture were already plowed up. As a result, the area of ​​cultivated land per capita more than halved and became less than the norm of 3 mu (less than 0.2 ha), which threatened mass starvation. The second reason for the need for change was that China was depending from western powers, striving for control over the vast natural wealth of the Celestial Empire. Greatest activity was shown by England and the USA. In 1840–1842 happened first"opium" war, the reason for which was the measures of the Chinese authorities against the smuggling of opium into China by the British. The wholesale smoking of opium in China resulted in the devastation of the treasury of the Qing Empire: silver bullion - the basis of monetary circulation in the country - was sailing in ever-increasing quantities to England. Opium was banned in China, and English merchants were banned from bringing it into the country. In response to this, the British in 1840 launched extensive military operations against China without declaring war. First Opium War 1840–1842 ended with the complete defeat of China. Separate Chinese garrisons and detachments heroically resisted, but the forces were unequal. The feudal army could not resist the first-class armed ground forces and fleet of England.

August 29, 1842 in Nanjing signed the first in the history of China unequal contract. The Nanjing Treaty opened for trade with foreigners, in addition to Canton, the center of the opium trade, four more Chinese ports. Hong Kong went to England. The Qing government also undertook to pay the British a huge indemnity, liquidate the Cohong trading corporation and establish a new customs tariff, according to which duties on British goods should not exceed 5% of the value of the goods. In October 1843, the Treaty of Nanking was supplemented Humyn protocol. According to the protocol, foreigners were granted the right of extraterritoriality in the settlements they created, where a system of government not subordinated to the Chinese authorities was established, and foreign troops and police were kept. Local authorities had to not only allow the system of foreign settlements (settlements) in open ports, but also to allocate land and houses for this purpose for a "fair" rent. Foreigners were completely excluded from the jurisdiction of Chinese courts, consular jurisdiction was established for them. In addition, the Khumyn protocol granted the British the most favored nation. Following England, unequal treaties with China were concluded by the United States and France (1844). China has begun to turn into semi-colonial country.

• Teilhard de Chardin P. The human phenomenon. M., 1987. S. 302.

Before his death, the emperor could choose any of his sons as his successor, and if there were none, then any of the princes of the imperial blood. The emperor was the supreme legislator and high priest, who had the exclusive right to offer sacrifices and prayers to the Supreme Heaven, as well as the unlimited right to punish and pardon his subjects. The highest state institutions of the Qing Empire were the Imperial Secretariat and the Military Council. when, for more efficient leadership of military operations in aggressive campaigns ...

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China

Goal of the work:

• Explain the development of the Chinese state in modern times.

Questions:

1. Qin Empire
2. "Heavenly State" of the Taipings
3. One Hundred Days of Reforms.

1. Qin Empire

Qing Empire in the 19th century By the beginning of XIX V. in China, as before, a traditional society continued to exist, in which small-scale peasant crafts and handicraft industries acquired a certain development. At the same time, commodity-money relations began to spread quite widely in some regions of the country. There was a process of concentration of landed property and landlessness of the peasantry. The cruel exploitation of the peasants and the urban poor by feudal lords, usurers and merchants was supplemented by national oppression.

As noted earlier (see part 1 textbook), from XVII V. China was ruled by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The Manchus occupied major positions in the armed forces and civil administration. The power of the leaders of the few Manchu tribes over the many millions of Chinese people rested on the alliance of the conquerors with the Chinese feudal lords.

Established on the throne of Chinese emperors — Bogdykhanov, the Manchus did not make major changes to the structure of the state bodies of the previous dynasty. The Chinese emperor was an unlimited monarch who replaced the throne hereditarily and according to the principle of primogeniture. But this order was not strictly followed. Before his death, the emperor could choose any of his sons as his successor, and if there were none, then any of the princes of the imperial blood! The emperor was the supreme legislator and high priest, who had the exclusive right to offer sacrifices and prayers to the "Supreme Heaven", as well as the unlimited right to punish and pardon his subjects.

The highest state institutions of the Qing Empire were the Imperial Secretariat and the Military Council. Initially, the most important military and civil affairs were in charge of the Imperial Secretariat, created back in 1671 from an equal number of Manchu and Chinese dignitaries. After 1732 When the Military Council was established for more efficient management of military operations in the aggressive campaigns of the Bogdykhans, the decision of all important state affairs passed to this new body.

The supreme executive power was exercised by the emperor, as in the Ming dynasty, through six central ministries (orders): ranks, taxes, ceremonies, military, criminal penalties, public works. There were also other central institutions. Thus, control over the activities of metropolitan and local officials was carried out by leading its history with II V. BC. Chamber of censors, and the Supreme Court was engaged in the analysis of cassation complaints.

China during the Qing Dynasty was characterized by the presence of strong local power, concentrated mainly in the hands of governors and governors. The country was divided into provinces, and the latter, in turn, into regions, districts and counties. Each province was headed by military and civil governors (most often they were Manchus), who were subordinate to the governor, who concentrated military and civil power in his hands. Regions, districts and counties were headed by chiefs who managed the respective units with the help of officials and elders of hundred and ten courtyards. At all levels, the judiciary was connected with the administration, but usually special officials were allocated to carry out judicial proceedings..

Formally, access to the civil service was open to everyone who passed the special examinations for a degree, which until the last years of the Qing Dynasty were three stages. The third (highest) degree was awarded after examinations in the county, then in the province, in the capital.

The bureaucracy, as in the previous dynasty, was divided into nine classes, each of which was assigned certain insignia.

2. "Heavenly State" of the Taipings.

From the end of the XVIII V. the capitalist powers launched an offensive against China in order to obtain markets and sources of raw materials.

From 1839 The British launched military operations against China, which marked the beginning of the "opium wars". The feudal army could not resist the first-class armed ground forces and fleet of England, and the Qing authorities showed a complete inability to organize the defense of the country.

In August 1842 The first unequal treaty in the history of China was signed in Nanjing. This agreement opened for trade, in addition to Guangzhou, four more Chinese ports. The island of Syangan (Hong Kong) went to England. The Qing government also undertook to pay the British a huge indemnity, to liquidate the Chinese trading corporation, which had a monopoly on intermediary trade with foreigners, and to establish a new customs tariff beneficial to England.

In 1843 The Nanjing Treaty was supplemented by a protocol, according to which foreigners were granted the right of extraterritoriality in the settlements they created, where a system of government not subordinated to the Chinese authorities was established, and foreign troops and police were kept. The local Chinese authorities in open ports were not only to allow the system of these foreign settlements, but also to allocate land and houses for them for a "fair" rent. Foreigners were completely excluded from the jurisdiction of Chinese courts, consular jurisdiction was established for them. Following England, unequal treaties with China were concluded by the United States and France.(1844).

An important consequence of the Opium War was the emergence of a revolutionary situation in the country, the development of which led to a peasant uprising that shook the Qing empire. It was headed by the leaders of the secret anti-Manchu society"Baimandi hui" ("Society of Worship of the Supreme Ruler"). The head of the society and its ideologist was the village teacher Hong Xiuquan. The society preached equality and fraternity, for the justification of which some ideas of Christianity were used. Hong Xiuquan saw the ultimate goal of the struggle in creating"Taiping tian-guo" ("Heavenly Welfare State"), which is why his followers began to be called Taipings. They promoted and put into practice the ideas of egalitarian distribution, which attracted

pinam mostly disadvantaged people. But representatives of the merchant bourgeoisie and landlords, attracted by the anti-Manchu orientation of the movement, also joined their ranks.

The uprising developed successfully. IN 1851 The rebels captured the Yunan district center and laid the foundations of their statehood here. It was proclaimed"Taiping tianguo" movement leader Hong Xiuquan received the title of heavenly king(tian wang), five other leaders of the movement began to be called kings (vans). Thus, as in other peasant movements, the Chinese peasants did not go further than establishing a "just" monarchy.

The Taipings paid great attention to military affairs and soon created a combat-ready army, distinguished by strict discipline. In March 1853 Taiping troops took Nanjing — the capital of China during the Ming Dynasty, which was proclaimed the capital of the "heavenly state". Shortly after this event, a document called "Land System of the Celestial Dynasty" was made public, the meaning of which went beyond its official name. — in practice it was the program of the anti-feudal peasant revolution. This document provided for the distribution of land on an equal footing, the exemption of peasants from rent to landowners, the provision of equal rights for women, up to equal access to public service with men, state maintenance of the disabled, measures to combat corruption, etc.

Taiping power in parts of China lasted until 1864 The main reasons for its death, apart from some strategic miscalculations by the Taiping leaders and a split among them, were the intervention of the Western powers and the internal disintegration of the Taining movement. The Taiping armies have lost their former combat effectiveness, and the Taipings as a whole — broad popular support. They were defeated under the blows of the combined troops of the Manchu dynasty and the Chinese landowners, supported by the interventionists. Nevertheless, the Taiping uprising was of great historical significance, it was the forerunner of the Chinese bourgeois-democratic revolution, the harbinger of the national liberation struggle.

3. One hundred days of reforms

The Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars shook Qing China. At the same time, there were no significant changes in the state system, with the exception of some transformations in the structure of state bodies.

A significant event was the establishment of 1861 d after the third "opium" war of the state body;

in charge of foreign affairs, called the General Office for Foreign Affairs, which was not a department for foreign affairs in the usual sense of the word. The main officials of the office worked part-time in it, were, as a rule, incompetent, which made it difficult for representatives of foreign states to negotiate with them. And yet, the appearance in the state structure of a special body for foreign affairs was a milestone, which meant the end of the centuries-old isolation of the country. IN 1885 another central agency appeared — admiralty (office for naval affairs). Its organization was preceded by the destruction of the Chinese fleet during the Franco-Chinese war. 1884 1885 years, ending with the signing of another unequal treaty and the capture of Annam by the French. However, the funds allocated for the construction of the fleet went mainly to the construction of the summer imperial palace near Beijing, and people intended for service in the fleet were also sent there. China still remained unarmed in the face of foreign aggression.

After the suppression of the Taiping uprising, the system of two governors in the provinces (military and civilian) was abolished and local power was concentrated in one hand. In the structure of the provincial administration, the committees for the restoration of order that arose in the last period of the struggle against the Tainin movement, which did not consist of the main provincial officials, were entrenched, namely: the treasurer of the court official, the salt controller and the grain quartermaster. The governors received the right to execute, without prior sanction from above, persons convicted of belonging to secret societies aimed at overthrowing the existing system, and "open rebels and robbers."

At the same time, the Manchus, retaining their dominant position, were forced to provide the Chinese feudal lords, who saved the Qing dynasty together with foreigners, with a larger number of government posts. A characteristic feature of the formation of the state apparatus of those times was the expansion of the open sale of posts, the strengthening of the arbitrariness of officials.

The sharply increased expansion of foreign capital into China led to the capture of the most important positions in the economy by it, to the emergence of a relatively strong and rapidly developing foreign sector in the economy. The country was turning into a semi-colony of Western powers.

In the 60 80s. XIX V. the first Chinese capitalist enterprises emerge. Initially, these were state-owned or state-private factories, arsenals and workshops, and then private enterprises that also operated under state control. Major officials and landlords became the leading force in the emerging national bourgeoisie. Before the national bourgeoisie, a comprador (intermediary) bourgeoisie was formed in China, acting as a force striving to preserve the anti-people and anti-national Manchu regime. The invasion of the country by foreign capital put an end to the relative isolation of the Chinese countryside and introduced China's agriculture to the world market.

The growth of national capitalism, the expansion of economic ties in the country, the emergence of major economic and cultural centers created the conditions for the formation of the Chinese nation and the development of national identity.

Defeat of China in the war with Japan (1895 d.), and especially the imperialist division of the country, intensified the activity of the patriotic forces. At the end XIX V. a group of intellectuals led by the publicist and philosopher Kang Yuwei, who represented the interests of the national bourgeoisie and the bourgeois landowners, had a great influence on her social life. This group advocated the modernization of the country, for the implementation of reforms with the help of the imperial power.

Emperor Guangxu, who sympathized with the reformers, appointed members of the group to government posts and, on the basis of a program report prepared by Kang Yuwei, issued 50 quite radical decrees, devoted in their majority to issues of the economy and education, as well as some issues of the state apparatus. This three month period 1898 entered the history of China under the name "one hundred days of reform." The reforms were not implemented due to a palace coup by Empress Dowager Cixi. Emperor Guang-hsu was arrested, his decrees were canceled, and the reformers were executed,

In 1899 China was once again shaken by a popular uprising. It was the speech of the rural and urban poor in the ranks of the yihetuans ("detachments of justice and consent"), which arose on the basis of a secret society — "a fist in the name of justice and harmony." The uprising was mainly anti-foreign in nature and continued until 1901 city, being reinforced by representatives of the ruling circles, who flirted with a broad popular movement. The siege by the rebels of the embassy quarter in Beijing served as a pretext for the intervention in the internal affairs of China by a number of European powers, tsarist Russia and the United States. IN 1900 The interventionist troops occupied Beijing. The Pinsk court capitulated.

In 1901 In 1999, the Qing representative signed the so-called "final protocol", according to which the Chinese government undertook to pay huge indemnities to the invading powers and accepted a number of humiliating conditions that secured the final transformation of China into a semi-colony. The shameful conditions of the "final protocol" increased the general hatred of the people for the Manchu dynasty, and in order to blunt it, the Qings were forced to undertake a series of reforms.

The first practical step in a series of reforms was the reorganization of the General Chancellery for Foreign Affairs, on the basis of which, shortly after the suppression of the Yihetuan uprising, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was created on the European model. A number of sinecures were abolished at court and in the provinces. In "1903, instead of the former Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade was created, which was tasked with developing charters regulating the activities of commercial and industrial enterprises, in every possible way to promote the flow of capital into industry and trade. In 1905 The Ministry of Police was created, which was transformed the following year into the Ministry of the Interior (Civil Administration). At the same time, they create

Ministries of Education, Posts and Communications, Finance, Army and Law (instead of the Ministry of Criminal Punishments). IN 1906 The Main Customs Administration is established. The judiciary is separated from the administration. The judicial system was composed of the Supreme Court of Justice, higher courts, district courts and courts of first instance. At the same time, a prosecutor's office was established.

In 1906 In the same year, a decree was promulgated to carry out preparatory measures for the transition to constitutional government. In this regard, the following year, the Qing established a bureau for drafting and reviewing the constitution, as well as a bureau for legislative reform, which concentrated its efforts on the preparation of codes. August 1, 1908 A document entitled "The Basic Program of the Constitution" was published. Emphasizing the inviolability of imperial power, the unlimitedness of its rights in all areas of political life, this document mentioned, at the same time, the forthcoming creation of a representative institution - a parliament, albeit with very limited advisory functions.

Conclusions on the topic:

1. In the XVII-XIX centuries. the largest state in the world, China remained a feudal and semi-colonial power, ruled by the Manchu Qing dynasty. The Manchus did not make major changes to the traditional structure of the state power of the Chinese Celestial Empire. It was headed by the Bogdykhan Emperor. He had full civil and military power. The person of the Bogdykhan was considered sacred and his will was not limited in any way. The emperor as "son of heaven" ruled at the behest of the gods and was inaccessible to his subjects. The emperor exercised his power with the help of a bureaucratic central apparatus, which consisted of a state council, a state chancellery and ministries. The State Council and the Chancellery discussed bills and took part in determining the policy of the Chinese state. Executive power was exercised by the emperor through six ministries (ranks, taxes, ceremonies, military, criminal penalties, public works).

Local power belonged to the imperial governors and provincial governors. Regions, districts and counties were headed by chiefs, who managed with the help of officials and elders of hundred and ten courtyards. At all levels, administrative power was combined with the judiciary. The Manchus occupied command posts in the state apparatus.

2. The Taiping uprising and the "opium wars" shocked Qing China and pushed the ruling circles to recognize the need for reform. Some changes were made in the structure of state bodies:

The General Office for Foreign Affairs was established;

The system of two governors in the provinces (military and civil) was abolished, and local power was concentrated in the hands of governors;

Committees to restore order were established in the provinces.

In the 1860s - early 1880s. the emperor pursued a policy of "self-strengthening", the main purpose of which was to strengthen the existing regime. Supporters of this policy advocated closer cooperation with foreign powers, borrowing foreign experience in the modernization of the armed forces, creating their own military industry, which led to the widespread penetration of foreign powers into China. Using the rights and privileges, foreigners began to try to increase their political influence. As a result, in the 60s - 90s. 19th century a wave of anti-foreign speeches swept through the country, turning into anti-government ones. At the same time, the first Chinese capitalist enterprises began to be created. Initially, these were state-owned or state-private factories, arsenals and workshops, which were built by the provincial authorities at public expense and with the forcible attraction of funds from local merchants and landowners, and then private entrepreneurship began to develop. Major officials and landlords became the leading force in the emerging national bourgeoisie. The capitalist structure in China fought its way through the extremely difficult conditions of the dominance of feudal relations in agriculture, arbitrariness and restrictions on the part of the authorities, and competition of foreign capital.

3. The defeat of China in the war with Japan (1895) and the actions of Western countries intensified the activity of patriotic forces. The bourgeois-landowner Reform Party, led by Kang Yuwei and representing the interests of the national bourgeoisie, came out for the modernization of the country, for carrying out reforms with the help of imperial power. In June 1898, she ensured that the Emperor Guangxu (Zai Tian) issued a decree "On the establishment of the main line of state policy", and then attracted a group of young reformers - students and associates of Kang Yuwei to develop a series of radical decrees on economic issues, education, and the activities of the state apparatus. This period of 1898 entered the history of China under the name "One Hundred Days of Reforms". The reforms were objectively aimed at creating conditions for the capitalist development of China, but they were published in great haste, sabotaged by court circles and the bureaucratic apparatus, and essentially remained on paper. In September of the same year, Empress Dowager Cixi (Ehonala) staged a palace coup. Emperor Guangxu was arrested, his decrees were canceled, and the leaders of the reformers were summarily executed. The reactionary policy of the Qing Dynasty aroused the indignation of the Chinese people. In 1905 - 1908. a wave of popular uprisings swept the country. In 1910, the number of peasant uprisings exceeded their number in previous years. In October 1911, an uprising of troops in the city of Wuchang ended in victory. The Xinhai Revolution began, leading to the overthrow of the monarchy and the proclamation of the Republic of China. In February 1912, the Qing dynasty abdicated, and then the Nanking Assembly of Delegates elected Yuan Shikai as provisional president of the Republic of China, who in August 1913 established his military dictatorship in the country.

Issues for discussion:

1. The crisis of China's political system in 19th century
2. The Peasant Revolution and the Emergence of the Great Welfare State
3. (Taiping Tianguo) in the middle 19th century
4. Movement to introduce constitutional government at the end 19th century
5. "One Hundred Days of Reform". The revolution of 1911, the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty and the proclamation of the republic.
6. Military dictatorship of Yuan Shikai.

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