History of China The Qing Dynasty

The Qing dynasty entered the eighteenth century with an awkward problem: the Kangxi Emperor had built a powerful empire, but his many sons were already turning the question of succession into a dangerous political contest.From that struggle emerges the world of Yongzheng and Qianlong-two emperors whose reigns reshaped Qing government, frontier policy, military power, and court politics. Along the way appear some of the dynasty's most memorable figures: Nian Gengyao and Longkodo, the trusted Prince Yinxiang, Li Wei, Tian Wenjing, Ortai, Zhang Tingyu, Fucha Fuheng, and the celebrated general Fuk'anggan.The story moves from Beijing court intrigue and the creation of the Grand Council to the Dzungar wars, Qing expansion into Xinjiang, the Jinchuan campaigns, the Qing-Burmese War, fighting in Tibet and Nepal, and the Annam expedition into Vietnam.Politics here is rarely abstract. Ministers rise because emperors trust them-and fall when that trust disappears. Princes become rivals. Administrative reforms solve one problem and create another. Military glory can strengthen an empire while emptying its treasury.Written as accessible narrative history for general readers, The Qing Dynasty: A History of China, Part Two follows the people, institutions, ambitions, mistakes, and frontier struggles that defined the high Qing at the height of its power.