ABSTRACT
With southern China finally settled, and the issue of Taiwan resolved, the Kangxi emperor turned his attention to the north and west. The Qing emperor was 30 years old in 1684, firmly in control of his government, and confident of his abilities after crushing the Revolt of the Three Feudatories and quashing the Zheng regime on Taiwan. His empire was as large or larger than any other Chinese empire in history, but developments in Central Eurasia drew the Kangxi emperor, as well as his son and grandson, into a prolonged war that ultimately expanded his territory even further. As Peter Perdue put it, “The conquest of Central Eurasia was the second stage of the Manchu ‘Great Enterprise,’ following directly on their establishment of control over Han China.”1
