Qing Dynasty (1644-1911AD) was the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history drew to a close established by the Manchu People (Nuzhen People). Overview the 268 years of reign, there were altogether 11 emperors in addition to the ruling Emperor Taizong Huang Taiji in Shenyang.

In the later times of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), there appeared an eminent leader named Nurhachi in northeastern China. Under his rule, the Nuzhen people developed quickly. In 1616, Nurhachi established Later Jin Dynasty in Hetuala (today’s Xinbin County, Fushun, Liaoning Province), and broke away from the Ming Dynasty.
Although the Ming Dynasty had frequently sent troops to attack the Later Jin Dynasty, all attacks ended in failure. In the spring of 1625, Nurhachi decided to move the capital to Shenyang in spite of the opposition of many Beiles (prince of a commandery or prince of the second rank) and senior ministers. In 1636, Huang Taiji, son of Nurhachi, changed the state title into “Qing” in Shenyang, and then began to attack the Ming Dynasty.

In 1644, Li Zicheng, a leader of a peasants uprising near the end of the Ming Dynasty, captured Beijing, which marked the end of Ming Dynasty. Wu Sangui, commander of Shanhai Pass, brought the Qing army through the pass in the name of avenging the Ming emperor. At that time, Huang Taiji had died, and his son Fulin, Emperor Shizu of the Qing Dynasty, captured Beijing in May of 1644 with the assistance of Prince Regent Duoergun. Four months later, the Qing Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, and began its sovereign south of Shanhaiguan Pass.
During the rule of Emperor Shizu, he was mainly occupied with eradicating the remainders of the Ming Dynasty. After 18 years on the throne, Wu Sangui led an army to once and for all have the last forces of the Ming Dynasty eliminated, thus the Qing Dynasty actually reunified China. Wu Sangui, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi, the surrendered generals from the Ming Dynasty, were ennobled as feudal princes of Yunnan, Fujian and Guangdong respectively for their contributions towards destroying the remnants of the Ming Dynasty.
In 1662, Emperor Shunzhi died, and his son Xuanye ascended the throne under the assistance of Ao Bai, Suo Ni and Suke Saha, with the reign title of “Kangx”. Emperor Kangxi was one of the outstanding emperors in Chinese history. He ruled the empire for 61 years, the longest ruling time of all emperors. The Qing Dynasty developed quickly during his ruling period.
In Emperor Kangxi's early years, the state power was in the helm of those regents, among whom Ao Bai's force was the strongest. At the age of 16 years old, Emperor Kangxi succeeded in getting rid of Ao Bai as well as his party and began to deal with state affairs personally.

After grasping the state power, Emperor Kangxi pacified the rebellions of the “three vassals”, the Zhungeer tribe and the Tibet people. He also had the Zheng family of Taiwan submit to him. In addition, he beat back the attack of the Russian army in northeastern China, and signed a contract named the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nibuchu. At the same time, to steady the sovereign over the minority groups, Emperor Qianlong strengthened the relations with Mongolian people and Hui minority people by making Chengde Mountain Resort as Xanadu. By doing so, the sovereign of the Qing Dynasty was strengthened.

Economically, Emperor Kangxi abolished the “Land Enclosuring” system practiced since the Qing Dynasty entered Beijing, encouraged reclaiming wasteland, constructed irrigation projects, reduced the common people's taxes, and let every peasant have his land. His measures rapidly sped up the development of China's agriculture greatly.
After Emperor Kangxi, his successor Emperor Yongzheng was also a wise emperor of the Qing Dynasty and during his rule the Qing Dynasty continued to develop prosperously. Based on the sovereign of Emperor Yongzheng, Emperor Qianlong took some effective measures to further develop the social economy in his 60-year ruling period.
During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, people's lives were greatly improved, and the Qing Dynasty reached its pinnacle in history appropriately named “Heyday of Kangxi and Qianlong”.
After Emperor Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty gradually declined. The later successors Emperor Jiaqing and Daoguang didn't have the enterprising spirit, and they just kept reusing the old policies to continue their sovereign.
From Emperor Daoguang's rule in 1812, some western countries had started to invade China's economic markets. They opened the door to China using opium which poisoned countless Chinese people and created a large outflow of silver. To solve the problem, Emperor Daoguang appointed Lin Zexu as Prime Minister to take charge of banning opium-smoking and opium trade in Guangdong Province. After coming to Guangzhou, Lin Zexu cracked down the tobacconists and confiscated over two million tons of opium. He then publicly destroyed all the opium on the beach of Humen. It was known as “Destruction of opium in Humen”.

After the failure of the reform, the united forces of eight countries–Britain, America, France, Russia, Japan, German, Italy and Australia started another war against China, and captured Beijing. Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu escaped out of Beijing in a hurry. In the end, China signed Xinchou Treaty with the eight countries, according to which China had to open more trading ports, cede land and pay costs to them.

With the decline of the Qing Dynasty, more and more patriots began to organize together in order to overthrow Qing Dynasty throughout China, among whom Dr. Sun Yat-sen's “Revolutionary United Society of China” was the most influential one. In 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out in Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Two months later, over ten provinces of China declared independence, which caused the Qing Dynasty to disintegrate quickly.
On January 1st of 1912, the Republic of China was established in Nanjing, and Sun Yat-sin was elected as the temporary president. Then, on 12th of February of the same year, Emperor Fuyi was forced to abdicate, which indicated the end of the Qing Dynasty and also the end of dynastic period of China.

The fact that the grand Middle Kingdom was defeated by a so-called little “uncivilized” country awakened more Chinese. Many people felt this to be really galling and humiliating. But after drawing a lesson from this bitter experience, the Chinese began to realize that Western civilization included not only material civilization, but also political and economic systems, and that the latter were even more important. As a result, such intellectuals as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong initiated the Reform Movement of 1898. They wanted to modernize China by copying the Western political and economic systems which had been learned by the Japanese before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

What they did were, for example, to reform the old government organization, to better staff and simplify administration, to abolish the ancient Chinese examination system, to build new Western-style schools, to permit people to freely set up newspapers and societies, to establish General Bureaus of Railways, Mines, Agriculture, Industry and Business. They even recommended an English man, Timothy Richard, as an adviser of Emperor Guangxu. Finally, however, this was bitterly strangled by conservative feudal forces because the Empress Dowager Cixi felt that the movement threatened her power, and some staff wanted to retain their stature.