The Quing dynasty had a unique way of dealing with diversity among their people. Unlike the Safavids who forced everyone to convert to Shia Islam, the Quing didn't try to change anyone's religion. They were very tolerant of diversity, although they made it clear that some races were not equal. For example, they banned interracial marriage between Han Chinese and Mongols.
The Quing actually adopted Confucianism, the popular philosophy of China at the time of their invasion. This is similar to the blending of religions that Akbar enforced in the Mughal Empire. But instead of blending their beliefs with the Hans', they simply adopted what was already there. This may have been a strange switch for the Mongols, but it worked out well when they tried to govern the Chinese. They fought and conquered them, only to rule them with mostly the same methods that had already been in place. This helped make the Chinese feel more at ease with the Mongols, and helped the different cultures blend together more peacefully.
Showing posts with label Qing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Qing. Show all posts
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Qing and Islamic empires
The Qing encountered diversity just as the Islamic empires had, however, I think the Qing empire dealt with the issue of diversity better. I don’t think it ever works to try to force someone into a different religion, or have the religions segregated. The Safavids tried forcing everyone who lived there to become Shia Islam. I think this is a bad way of doing things because it can turn your people against you. It’s only a little better to do what the Mughals did, which is create an entirely new religion that both Hindus and Muslims can follow. However, the Akbar still had to try and force people to believe in this new religion, so really it isn’t much better than what the Safavids were doing. Lastly, the Ottoman empire was fairly tolerant of diversity, but still made all non-Muslims pay a tax and segregated the states into different religions.
The Qing empire did none of these things. They were very tolerant of religious diversity. In fact, they saw the advantages of it, and made for a cheaper system by allowing people of all religions to be leaders. The only thing they did that was not tolerating diversity was banning intermarriages. However, I don’t think this is a really bad thing, because it is not making a statement that one religion is superior to the others, which is what all the Islamic empires did. Lastly, the Qing did not try to spread their culture to other countries surrounding China, such as Mongolia. They saw that doing so would affect how the Mongolians fought in wars, and that this would be a high price to pay for just having your religion spread. I think this was a smart choice. For these reasons, it is clear that the Qing empire is much more tolerant to diversity than the three Islamic empires.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Qing Empire vs. Muslim Empire
Even though the Qing Empire ruled a large portion of China, they strived to keep their empire ethnically unique. One way they did this is by banning intermarriages between themselves and Chinese. Qing officials did not ry to assimilate local people, but they did try to keep their religion different that the rest of China. They learnt all the Chinese customs and the language but did not allow Chinese people in the army because they were too "soft" and would ruin the fighting spirit. Even though they made it seem they would be very diverse, they really were not all that diverse.
While they did allow people of all ethnicities and religions, unlike the Safavids, or tax people for being of a different religion, like the Ottomans. So even though it might seem they were not very accepting of diversity, I feel they are more diverse than the Muslim Empires.
While they did allow people of all ethnicities and religions, unlike the Safavids, or tax people for being of a different religion, like the Ottomans. So even though it might seem they were not very accepting of diversity, I feel they are more diverse than the Muslim Empires.
Qing and Ming
READ Strayer, pg. 421-424.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity with those of the Islamic Empires.
LABEL the post: First Name, Qing.
Overall, the Qing dynasty encouraged diversity far more than the Islamic empires. The Safavid empire, while very ethnically and linguistically diverse, was a Shia Islamic state, and so did not allow any religious diversity. The Mughals were not very diverse ethnically and linguistically, but were far more accepting of other religions. The creation of a fusion of Hinduism and Islam shows an acceptance for both, but could also be seen as having a feeling of needing to make the empire have one main religion, rather than multiple, which could be seen as attempting to un-diversify (that isn't a word, is it?) themselves. The Ottomans were far more lenient of different peoples than the Mughals and Safavids, although not quite as welcoming to differences as the Qing. The Ottomans allowed different religions, ethnicities and languages, although strongly encouraged conversion to Islam and heavily taxed those who did not.
The Qing were in favor of diversity, and saw the benefits that could be gained from it. When the Chinese took over large areas around Mongolia, they did not do so for want of power or to try to attempt to force others to accept their culture, but because they felt threatened, showing that their aims were not to do things to lessen diversity, like so many others have done. The Qing, having takn over large areas with many different ethnicities, religions, and languages, did not seek to convert everyone, and instead used important figures of different cultures to rule their own people, which made such a large empire far easier to control. The Chinese also tried to keep different cultures separate, such as when they did not allow native Chinese to move to a predominantly Mongol area, because they thought that by doing so they could continue getting good fighters from the Mongols. Although the Qing used diversity for their own gain, they were still far more accepting of different peoples than most of the Muslim Empires.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity with those of the Islamic Empires.
LABEL the post: First Name, Qing.
Overall, the Qing dynasty encouraged diversity far more than the Islamic empires. The Safavid empire, while very ethnically and linguistically diverse, was a Shia Islamic state, and so did not allow any religious diversity. The Mughals were not very diverse ethnically and linguistically, but were far more accepting of other religions. The creation of a fusion of Hinduism and Islam shows an acceptance for both, but could also be seen as having a feeling of needing to make the empire have one main religion, rather than multiple, which could be seen as attempting to un-diversify (that isn't a word, is it?) themselves. The Ottomans were far more lenient of different peoples than the Mughals and Safavids, although not quite as welcoming to differences as the Qing. The Ottomans allowed different religions, ethnicities and languages, although strongly encouraged conversion to Islam and heavily taxed those who did not.
The Qing were in favor of diversity, and saw the benefits that could be gained from it. When the Chinese took over large areas around Mongolia, they did not do so for want of power or to try to attempt to force others to accept their culture, but because they felt threatened, showing that their aims were not to do things to lessen diversity, like so many others have done. The Qing, having takn over large areas with many different ethnicities, religions, and languages, did not seek to convert everyone, and instead used important figures of different cultures to rule their own people, which made such a large empire far easier to control. The Chinese also tried to keep different cultures separate, such as when they did not allow native Chinese to move to a predominantly Mongol area, because they thought that by doing so they could continue getting good fighters from the Mongols. Although the Qing used diversity for their own gain, they were still far more accepting of different peoples than most of the Muslim Empires.
READ Strayer, pg. 421-424.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity with those of the Islamic Empires.
Qing Dynasty: The Qing dynasty began in 1644 and lasted until 1912. The rulers of the Qing dynasty were Manchurians. After conquering China The Qing rulers wanted to maintain their ethnic distinctiveness by forbidding intermarriage between them and Chinese. So the Qing promoted diversity with religions and language but they were strict on mixing of ethnicities because they did not want their people marrying any Chinese people. Also in the Qing dynasty the Qing officials did not try to assimilate local people into Chinese culture and showed respect for Mongolian, Tibetan, Muslim cultures. The Qings was similar to the Mughals because Emperor Akbar allowed the Empire to a hybrid of Indian-Persian-Turkic while the Qing was Mongolian-Tibetan-Muslim although the cultures are different both the Mughals and the Qing had many different cultures mixed into their Empire along with their own culture. The Qing differed from the Ottoman Empire because the Ottoman allowed a lot of Immigrants to become a part of their Empire while Qing officials/authorities strictly restricted the entry of Chinese merchants and other immigrants in an effort to preserve he area as a source of recruitment for the Chinese military.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity with those of the Islamic Empires.
Qing Dynasty: The Qing dynasty began in 1644 and lasted until 1912. The rulers of the Qing dynasty were Manchurians. After conquering China The Qing rulers wanted to maintain their ethnic distinctiveness by forbidding intermarriage between them and Chinese. So the Qing promoted diversity with religions and language but they were strict on mixing of ethnicities because they did not want their people marrying any Chinese people. Also in the Qing dynasty the Qing officials did not try to assimilate local people into Chinese culture and showed respect for Mongolian, Tibetan, Muslim cultures. The Qings was similar to the Mughals because Emperor Akbar allowed the Empire to a hybrid of Indian-Persian-Turkic while the Qing was Mongolian-Tibetan-Muslim although the cultures are different both the Mughals and the Qing had many different cultures mixed into their Empire along with their own culture. The Qing differed from the Ottoman Empire because the Ottoman allowed a lot of Immigrants to become a part of their Empire while Qing officials/authorities strictly restricted the entry of Chinese merchants and other immigrants in an effort to preserve he area as a source of recruitment for the Chinese military.
Qing Dynasty vs. Islamic Empires
READ Strayer, pg. 421-424.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity with those of the Islamic Empires.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity with those of the Islamic Empires.
READ Strayer, pg. 421-424.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity compared with the Islamic Empires.
Qing/Manchu dynasty: The Qing rulers sought to maintain their ethnic distinctiveness by forbidding intermarriage between themselves and Cinese. The Chinese have interacted with the nomadic peoples who inhabited the dry and lightly populated regions. The dry regions that the nomadic people lived are now Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. To ensure that these culturally different worlds well known to each other, they had trade, tribute, and other interactions. During the late seventeenth century, the creation of the Zunghars, a state among the Mongols, revived Chinese memories of a Mongol conquest that occurred earlier. The eastward movement of the Russian Empire appeared threatening, but this danger was resolved diplomatically in the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The treaty occurred in 1689 and it marked the boundary between Russia and China. The Qing dynasty aslo campaigned against the Mongols that marked the evolution of China into a Central Asian empire. The Chinese or Qing officials did not seek to assimilate local people into Chinese culture and showed respect for Mongolia, Tibetan, and Muslim cultures. People of noble level were excused from taxes and manual labor was required for ordinary people. The Qing Dynasty was very respectful of the many diversities that lived in their region. They resolved problems diplomatically and were smart to treat every ethnicity fairly without excluding them.
Islamic Empires: The Islamic Empires respected other religions and ethnicities too because there were a majority of Christians in the Islamic Empires and they were not bothered very much. The they wanted people who were living in their regions to convert to Shi'ite Islam because they wanted to spread their religion around the world. All of the empires governed largely non-Muslim populations. They interacted with Hindu civiizations too. In India, the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara flourished in teh fifteenth century and borrowed architectual styles from the Muslims and employed Muslim mercenaries in its military forces. The Islamic empires actually dealt with the diversity in their regions well because they traded off with each other. India used many Muslim people and ideas for their own and the Muslims tried to convince the people with other religions to convert to Islam.
WRITE a blog post comparing the Qing methods of dealing with diversity compared with the Islamic Empires.
Qing/Manchu dynasty: The Qing rulers sought to maintain their ethnic distinctiveness by forbidding intermarriage between themselves and Cinese. The Chinese have interacted with the nomadic peoples who inhabited the dry and lightly populated regions. The dry regions that the nomadic people lived are now Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. To ensure that these culturally different worlds well known to each other, they had trade, tribute, and other interactions. During the late seventeenth century, the creation of the Zunghars, a state among the Mongols, revived Chinese memories of a Mongol conquest that occurred earlier. The eastward movement of the Russian Empire appeared threatening, but this danger was resolved diplomatically in the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The treaty occurred in 1689 and it marked the boundary between Russia and China. The Qing dynasty aslo campaigned against the Mongols that marked the evolution of China into a Central Asian empire. The Chinese or Qing officials did not seek to assimilate local people into Chinese culture and showed respect for Mongolia, Tibetan, and Muslim cultures. People of noble level were excused from taxes and manual labor was required for ordinary people. The Qing Dynasty was very respectful of the many diversities that lived in their region. They resolved problems diplomatically and were smart to treat every ethnicity fairly without excluding them.
Islamic Empires: The Islamic Empires respected other religions and ethnicities too because there were a majority of Christians in the Islamic Empires and they were not bothered very much. The they wanted people who were living in their regions to convert to Shi'ite Islam because they wanted to spread their religion around the world. All of the empires governed largely non-Muslim populations. They interacted with Hindu civiizations too. In India, the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara flourished in teh fifteenth century and borrowed architectual styles from the Muslims and employed Muslim mercenaries in its military forces. The Islamic empires actually dealt with the diversity in their regions well because they traded off with each other. India used many Muslim people and ideas for their own and the Muslims tried to convince the people with other religions to convert to Islam.
Diversity in the Qing Dynasty
As we know, the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires called themselves Islamic empires even though they all ecouraged diversity to some extent. Unlike these empires, the Qing Dynasty went in the other direction. Somewhat like the Ottomans, the Qing liked to keep ethic and religious boundaries seperate. To keep the people in the lands they conquered comfortable, they stopped Chinese immigration. However, unlike the Ottomans, they did not make people who practice other religions pay a seperate tax. They even made laws so that people of religious importance, like the Buddhist monks, did not have to pay any taxes. The Qing were supportive of all religions and sought to make their takeover as smooth as it could be. The only thing they insisted on keeping seperate were the actual people of different religions. For example, inter-marriage between the Qing and the Chinese was forbidden. In the end, the ways that the Qing Dynasty went about keeping diversity were much more successful then the ways of the Islamic Empires.
Qing diversity compared to Islamic Empires diversity
Like the Islamic empires, the Qing encountered diversity throughout their empire. When the Qing took over China, they did not allow the Chinese to intermarry with people of their own ethnicity. They wanted to keep their ethnicity "pure".
In order to rule as inexpensively as possible, the Chinese allowed people of different ethnic backgrounds with a high social ranking be leaders throughout the region. Like the Savafids, they allowed people of different ethnicities to govern small regions of the empire. However, the Qing allowed for religious diversity. People like Mongol aristocrats, Muslim officials, Buddist leaders, and other high status people were allowed to govern certain regions. However, certain people took advantage the power, and demanded extra taxes or extra labor from local people, turning them against him/her.
The Qing were tolerant of religious diversity. They allowed people to practice whatever religion they believed in. Unlike the Mughals, they did not create a religion combining popular religions of the time. Like the Ottomans, the Qing were tolerant in ethnicity and religion. One difference was that there was no extra tax for being a certain religion. In general, the Qing did not try to force Chinese culture onto the people of Tibet, Xiniang, or Mongolia. In fact, they did not allow Cinese merchants or other immigrants into Mongolia, because they wanted to keep the spirited Mongols for military recruitment. They feared that the "soft" Chinese would contaminate the fighting spirited Mongols, making for a less brutal army.
In many cases, the Qing isolated the diverse populations. First themselves, then the Mongols, to keep them separate from the rest of the Chinese.
Diversity in the Qing Dynasty
Something that I found really interesting was the the Qing were not of Chinese descent. Although they learned Chinese language and customs in order to build their empire, they forbade intermarrying between themselves and the Chinese. From this they seemed to take much pride in their ethnicity. However, as rulers, they welcomed diversity, and they didn't force citizens to adapt to a Chinese lifestyle. In addition, they seemed to be very tolerant of other cultures within the empire. All of this might bring up the question of how the Qing were able to manage the empire with conflicting interests. The Qing arose when the Mongols were becoming stronger. People of China still remember the Mongols previous hostile takeover, so they agreed that a united China would be better than one divided. Citizens didn't see themselves as following under some sort of tyrannical empire, but rather as part of China as a whole. As we have studied in the Islamic Empires, each empire found a way of facing diversity head on. The Safavid brought everyone under a common religion, the Mughals created a fusion of religions, and the Ottoman were, in general, tolerant of different religions. In a way, the Qing dealt with the diversity in the empire not by tackling the issue diversity on its own, but by finding a stronger way of uniting everyone under a common cause in order to strengthen China.
Qing Dynasty and the Islamic Empires
Although the Qing dynasty promoted diversity in their culture and their religion they thought that diversity in their ethnic background was far enough. Ethnic diversity in their society wasn't tolerated by the Qing dynasty. They believed that the native Chinese couldn't mix with their Manchurian descent. Although the Qing dynasty set boundaries on the different diversity that came into their empire, they were much like the Ottoman empire. The Ottoman empire had created a millet which was a religous based community that was set across the Ottoman empire. The Qing Dynasty, much like the Ottoman empire, set communities around their empire seperating the Manchurians from the Chinese natives.
Although I am against the idea of not allowing mix breeding, I do believe that the Qing Dynasty was right not to follow the idea of taxing those that were not of their culture. The Ottoman empire thought that it was fitting to create Jizya, a tax for non-muslims in their empire. Both these ideas differ from each other but one thing is for sure, they both ended up being succesful in their reign.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Comparing Diversity in the Qing Dynasty and Islamic Empires
The Qing Dynasty was a ruling period in China that began in 1644. The Qing rulers were of Manchurian descent, so before they controlled China, so they already had already been trading and spreading there culture into China. The Qing rulers encouraged diversity of religion, and language, but were determined to keep ethnic boundaries. The native Chinese were not even allowed to marry their Manchurian leaders for fear that the two ethnicities would combine. To ensure that ethnicities would remain separate, they did not assimilate the people that they had conquered, similar to the Ottoman Empire's use of millets. The Qing rulers were similar to the Mughal's under Akabar in that they encouraged the learning of Confucianism, and the blending of Manchurian and Chinese cultures. The Qing were not similar to the Safavids because they did allow there people to practice and learn about more then one religion, they did not standardize one faith as the official faith of the empire as the Safavids did.
Qing Dynasty vs the Islamic Empires
The Qing Empire and the Islamic empires had very different ways of dealing with diversity. While the Islamic empires all demanded some sort of tax or restrictions for not being Muslim, the Qing dynasty leaves their non-Chinese inhabitants mostly untouched. The Qing dynasty did not try to eradicate diversity, but in many ways they cultivated it. They created an entirely new court that dealt with the new people of their empire. The Qing dynasty is most closely aligned with the Ottoman empire in their efforts to promote diversity, but still very different. In the Ottoman empire Muslims were quite obviously superior in day to day life, whereas the Qing Dynasty seemed to keep day to day life on more equal footing. However, the Qing dynasty did exclude all others from their royal line by not allowing marriage or procreation between the rulers and the Chinese. This seems to be balanced out by the fact that they learned the Chinese language and customs along with adopting Confucianism. This is very different from both the Safavid empire and the Mughal empire. The Qing dynasty certainly did not exclude all but one religion like the Safavids, nor did they create a mixture of the cultures like the Mughals did. They kept the cultures quite separate in different states, much like the Ottoman empire, but they did not enforce any sort of tax. This is much more like the freedom and diversity that we have here today than any of the Islamic Empires.
Diversity: Qing vs. Islamic Empires
Like the many other expansive empires such as the Ottoman Empire, the Qing dynasty encountered inevitable diversity. Qing China's domain expanded throughout Asia and, in the process, conquered a wide range of states with a variety of ethnicities, religions, and language. Due the incredibly diverse territory that China conquered, the Qing dynasty attempted to manage these various states by applying local rulers to each of them, depending on the cultural differences for each one. This way, China could claim these states and maintain control over them, yet promote diversity at the same time. This tactic of applying rulers to each state ties with the Ottoman Empire, who also assigned rulers to separate states. China also promoted cultural diversity by expressing tolerance towards Islam and Buddhism, as well as Tibetans and Mongols, who were all plentiful ethnic groups in China's territory. For instance, not only could monks practice Buddhism, but they also held a high rank in society and were exempt from taxes. This form of religious tolerance differs greatly from the Safavid Empire, who only allowed Shi'ite Muslims to reside in their empire. On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire were tolerant towards and allowed all religions, but taxed people who were not Muslim. According to comparison, China and the Ottoman Empire share many qualities. However, China seemingly promises more religious and cultural freedom than any of the Islamic Empires.
Diversity in the Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty took an entirely different approach to diversity than any of the Islamic Empires. The Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid Empires, no matter how lenient their laws that separated people of different religion or ethnicity from the general public, did have some rule or another that made those who were different into second class citizens. Although the Qing dynasty did seek to keep the royal line pure and have only their own in the government, they did truly seem to respect the culture and practices of the peoples whose lands they took. When they took the government, they made an effort to learn the local language and religious beliefs, and even continued to use a similar system of government. In the case of the Mongols, they tried to keep immigration from China outward to a minimum, in order to preserve the spirit and customs of the Mongols, that they mught be used as warriors. They also respected individuals that had been exalted in the local community before their arrival, exempting them from taxes and public services that were required of others. As Strayer tells us, they sought to unify. It is obvious that they begrudged their new subjects nothing in being different ethnically, culturally, or religiously. They saw only the finest in all of these peoples and looked for a way to use them to best advantage. In this way, the Qing dynasty was both open and extremely practical.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)