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Qing Empire (China)

Definition

The last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912. It was characterized by significant territorial expansion and internal reform but also faced numerous rebellions and foreign invasions.

Analogy

Imagine a football team that starts off strong, recruits many new players (territorial expansion), changes their training methods (internal reform), but then struggles with internal conflicts among players (rebellions) and loses games against other teams (foreign invasions).

Related terms

Opium Wars: Two wars in mid-19th century involving Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China's sovereignty resulted in resounding defeat for China which marked start of "Century of Humiliation".

Boxer Rebellion: An anti-imperialist uprising which took place toward end of Qing dynasty between 1899 and 1901. It was initiated by Militia United in Righteousness known as Boxers because many were practitioners of Chinese martial arts.

Sun Yat-sen: A Chinese philosopher, physician, politician who served as first provisional president when Republic of China was founded replacing Qing Dynasty; he is referred as "Father of Nation" in Republic Of China due to his role in overthrowing Qing Dynasty during Xinhai Revolution.