THE SURPRISING ROOTS OF MODERN CHINESE IDENTITY
May 20, 2016 - Stratfor
www.stratfor.com/image/surprising-roots-modern-chinese-identity
Whereas Mao Zedong's contribution to modern China (1893-1976) is universally
understood, the Qing dynasty's contribution receives far less attention.
When the period is
mentioned it is usually in negative terms — offered as the counterexample to the dynamic
modernism of the Communists and nationalists. But the Qing (the last Chinese dynasty) played a
pivotal role in contemporary understandings both of what constitutes China and what it means to
belong to the Chinese nation. The Qing dynasty ruled from 1644 to 1912 and built an empire they
called Zhongguo, meaning the central kingdom. The dynasty's founders, ethnically Manchu, are
today often regarded as the outsiders against which Han identity formed, but they were actually
crucial to making China the multiethnic nation it is today.
Qing Dynasty
Page 1
The Qing legacy is most readily apparent in the current extent of Chinese territory. Without
the Qing, the nation would be far smaller. China under the Qing nearly doubled in size from what it
had been under the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), and it even expanded to include territory beyond
the borders of modern China, including much of Mongolia, Taiwan, parts of Siberia and Kazakhstan
as well as the borderlands of Myanmar and Thailand. Were it not for the Qing, Beijing would not
have control over Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, much of Manchuria or perhaps even large swaths
of southwestern Chinese provinces such as Sichuan and Yunnan. The Qing accomplished feats that
would have been unthinkable for the rulers from the sedentary population of China's Han core, who
had never managed to conquer the buffer regions crucial to protecting the heartland.
The Qing dynasty's varied legacies continue to influence Beijing's actions and to inform how
the nation's leaders choose to navigate China's path to great power status. The focuses of the
current push to manage ethnic tension in regions such as Xinjiang and to integrate the nation's vast
borderlands with the developed core come straight out of the Qing playbook: (1) development, (2)
infrastructure, (3) internal migration, and (4) education. The dynasty's massive expansion and
humiliating fall also provide a note of caution for today's Communist Party leaders, cementing their
commitment to sovereignty and to the principle of nonintervention in the domestic affairs of other
states.
Copyright © 2016. Stratfor
Questions:
1. Actively Read the article.
2. Find three new vocab words and write their definitions.
3. What is the thesis of the article?
4. What is a new idea/fact that you take away after reading the article?
Qing Dynasty
Page 2