ABSTRACT
The allure stems, in some part, from the sheer success of China’s last dynasty, the Qing dynasty. In comparison to the long succession of dynasties that preceded it, the Qing stands out as one of China’s most accomplished imperial dynasties of the early modern world. The Qing dynasty also marked an era of increased contact between China and Europe. Western accounts of China have tended to exaggerate the insularity of late imperial China and the Qing ruler’s disdain for European ideas. As a result, the Qing rulers focused, for the first century and a half of their rule, on consolidating and expanding their power over China and in Asia rather than worrying about the shifting global, political, and military balances of power occurring in Europe at the time. Beginning with Hongtaiji (1592–1643) the founder of the Qing dynasty, Manchu rulers aggressively sought to maintain their own ethnic identity while preventing the assimilation of Han Chinese cultural practices.
