Society in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

The Qing period was a period of consolidation of the unified multi-ethnic state of China and the gradual decline of the feudal system. Its distinctive features were: first, politically, on the basis of the parallelism of Liao, Song, Xia and Jin and the unification of Yuan, there was further development of the multi-ethnic feudal state. One of the manifestations of this development is the effective measures to safeguard the national sovereignty and further consolidate the united multi-ethnic state through the victory against foreign invasion and the effective measures to pacify the rebellions and govern the vast territory; the second manifestation is the further reinforcement of the feudal system of centralized authoritarianism during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the development of this authoritarian system is a reflection of the tendency of the feudal system to decline. Secondly, the gradual development of the feudal economy, which not only exceeded that of any other period in history, but also, from the middle to the end of the Ming Dynasty onwards, the sprout of a new system, the bud of capitalism, arose and grew gradually within the feudal society, increasingly disintegrating the natural economy, which was a material factor in the gradual decline of the feudal system. Thirdly, the integration of the various nationalities in a long and more solid unification situation, also continued to develop. This integration also laid a solid foundation for the formation of the modern Chinese nation through the ****same maintenance of unity, opposition to secession, resistance to foreign aggression, and defense of national dignity. Fourth, as the ideology of culture, on the one hand, in the traditional culture and science and technology, is still in the forefront of the world, a series of scientific giants and scientific and technological works with a summary; more importantly, on the other hand, because of the development of the commodity economy and the decline of the feudal system, leading to the emergence of anti-feudal democratic thinking, the emergence of a number of outstanding thinkers and excellent novels.