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Y317: China and Its Rulers 1839–1989

The government and rulers of China 1839–1989: Manchu rule, the Taiping and late Qing reform

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on Manchu rule and the Mandate of Heaven, the causes and defeat of the Taiping Rebellion, the Self-Strengthening Movement, Cixi, the Hundred Days’ Reforms and the reforms after 1900.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Give two causes of the Taiping Rebellion.

Evaluation

What was the Self-Strengthening Movement?

Key term

Describe the Hundred Days' Reforms of 1898.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    On what did Manchu rule rest in 1839?

    Model answer

    On an emperor holding absolute power under the Mandate of Heaven, governing through a Confucian scholar-gentry bureaucracy, with a small Manchu minority ruling a vast Han Chinese majority.

  2. 2

    Explain the idea of the Mandate of Heaven and why it mattered to the Qing.

    Model answer

    It held that Heaven granted the right to rule to a just emperor and withdrew it from a failing one, so floods, famines and rebellions could be read as proof that a dynasty had forfeited its right to govern.

  3. 3

    Give two causes of the Taiping Rebellion.

    Model answer

    Rural poverty and population pressure created mass discontent, and Hong Xiuquan's quasi-Christian, anti-Manchu preaching gave that discontent a leader and a cause.

  4. 4

    How did the Qing eventually defeat the Taiping Rebellion?

    Model answer

    By allowing Han provincial officials such as Zeng Guofan to raise their own regional armies, backed by limited Western help, which saved the dynasty but shifted military power into provincial hands.

  5. 5

    What was the Self-Strengthening Movement?

    Model answer

    A programme begun in the 1860s to adopt Western weapons, ships and industrial techniques while leaving Confucian government and values untouched.

  6. 6

    Why is the Empress Dowager Cixi usually treated as an obstacle to reform?

    Model answer

    She dominated the court from 1861 until 1908, protected conservative Manchu interests against modernising officials, and in 1898 seized power and placed the reforming Guangxu Emperor under house arrest.

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