The Manchus weren't slow in turning internal dissent to their advantage. Sweeping down on Beijing, they threw out Li Zicheng's army, claimed the capital as their own and founded the Qing dynasty . It took a further twenty years for the Manchus to capture the south of the country, but on its capitulation China was once again under foreign rule. Like the Mongol Yuan dynasty before them, the Qing initially did little to assimilate domestic culture, ruling the people as separate overlords. Manchu became the official language, the Chinese were obliged to wear the Manchu pigtail and intermarriage between a Manchu and a Chinese was strictly forbidden. Under the Qing dynasty the distant areas of Inner and Outer Mongolia, Tibet and Turkestan were fully incorporated into the Chinese empire, uniting the Chinese world to a greater extent than during the Tang period.

 

Soon, however, the Manchus proved themselves susceptible to Chinese culture, and ultimately became deeply influenced by it. Three outstanding Qing emperors also brought an infusion of new blood and vigour to government early on in the dynasty. Kangxi , who began his 61-year reign in 1654 at the age of six, was a great patron of the arts, leaving endless scrolls of famous calligraphy and paintings blotted with his seals stating that he had seen them. He assiduously cultivated his image as the Son of Heaven by making royal progresses throughout the country and by his personal style of leadership. He did much to bring the south under control and by 1683 the southern Rebellion of Three Federations (military governors) had been savagely put down. His fourth son, the Emperor Yungzheng (1678-1735), ruled over what is considered one of the most efficient and least corrupt administrations ever enjoyed by China. This was inherited by Qianlong (1711-99) whose reign saw China's frontiers widely extended and the economy stimulated by peace and prosperity. In 1750 the nation was perhaps at its apex, one of the strongest, wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world.

But during the latter half of the eighteenth century, China began to experience growing economic problems. Settled society had produced a population explosion , pressing on food resources and causing a land shortage. This in turn saw trouble flaring as migrants from central China tried to settle the country's remoter western provinces, disposessing the original inhabitants. Meanwhile, expanding European nations were in Asia, looking for financial opportunities. From about 1660, Portuguese traders in Guangzhou had been joined by British merchants shopping for tea, silk and porcelain, and during the eighteenth century the British East India Company moved in, eager for a monopoly. But China's rulers, immensely rich and powerful and convinced of their own superiority, had no wish for direct dealings with foreigners. When Lord Macartney arrived in 1793 bearing the usual gifts in order to propose a political and trade treaty between King George III and the emperor, he refused to kowtow in submission and his embassy was unsuccessful. The king's "tribute" was accepted but the emperor rejected totally any idea of alliance with one who, according to Chinese ideas, was a subordinate. Macartney was impressed by the vast wealth and power of the Chinese court, but later wrote perceptively that the empire was "like an old crazy first-rate man of war which its officers have contrived to keep afloat to terrify by its appearance and bulk".