Editing Qing dynasty (section)

===Formation===
{{further|Manchuria under Ming rule|Jurchen unification|Timeline of the Jurchens#17th century}}
The Qing dynasty was founded not by [[Han Chinese]], who constituted a majority of the population, but by [[Manchus]], a sedentary farming people descended from the [[Jurchens]], a [[Tungusic people]] who lived in the region now comprising the Chinese provinces of [[Jilin]] and [[Heilongjiang]].{{sfnp|Ebrey|2010|p=220}}

====Nurhaci====
[[File:Minggunbattle.jpg|thumb|Manchu cavalry charging Ming infantry at the 1619 [[Battle of Sarhū]]]]
The early form of the Manchu state was founded by [[Nurhaci]], the chieftain of a minor Jurchen tribe{{snd}}the Aisin-Gioro{{snd}}in [[Jianzhou Jurchens|Jianzhou]] in the early 17th century. Nurhaci may have spent time in a Han household in his youth, and became fluent in [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] languages and read the Chinese novels ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' and ''[[Water Margin]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Swope |first=Kenneth M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRaoAgAAQBAJ&q=three+kingdoms+nurhaci+romance&pg=PA16 |title=The Military Collapse of China's Ming Dynasty, 1618–44 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1134462094 |edition=Illustrated |page=16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mair |first1=Victor H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agI7CwAAQBAJ&q=three+kingdoms+nurhaci+romance&pg=PT159 |title=Chinese Lives: The People Who Made a Civilization |last2=Chen |first2=Sanping |last3=Wood |first3=Frances |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2013 |isbn=978-0500771471 |edition=Illustrated}}</ref> As a vassal of the Ming emperors, he officially considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of the Ming dynasty.<ref name="Peterson" /> Nurhaci embarked on an intertribal feud in 1582 that escalated into a campaign to [[Jurchen unification|unify the nearby tribes]]. He also began organizing the [[Eight Banners]] military system which included Manchu, Han, and [[Mongols|Mongol]] elements. By 1616, however, he had sufficiently consolidated Jianzhou so as to be able to proclaim himself [[Khan (title)|Khan]] of the [[Later Jin (1616–1636)|Later Jin dynasty]] in reference to the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|previous Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty]].{{sfnp|Ebrey|2010|pp=220–224}}

Two years later, Nurhaci announced the "[[Seven Grievances]]" and openly renounced the sovereignty of Ming overlordship in order to complete the unification of those Jurchen tribes still allied with the Ming emperor. After a series of successful battles, he relocated his capital from [[Hetu Ala]] to successively bigger captured Ming cities in Liaodong: first [[Liaoyang]] in 1621, then [[Mukden]] (Shenyang) in 1625.{{sfnp|Ebrey|2010|pp=220–224}} Furthermore, the Khorchin proved a useful ally in the war, lending the Jurchens their expertise as cavalry archers. To guarantee this new alliance, Nurhaci initiated a policy of inter-marriages between the Jurchen and Khorchin nobilities, while those who resisted were met with military action. This is a typical example of Nurhaci's initiatives that eventually became official Qing government policy. During most of the Qing period, the Mongols gave military assistance to the Manchus.<ref>Bernard Hung-Kay Luk, Amir Harrak-Contacts between cultures, Vol. 4, p. 25</ref>

====Hong Taiji====
Nurhaci died in 1626, and was succeeded by his eighth son, [[Hong Taiji]]. Although Hong Taiji was an experienced leader and the commander of two Banners, the Jurchens suffered defeat in 1627, in part due to the Ming's newly acquired [[Hongyipao|Portuguese cannons]]. To redress the technological and numerical disparity, Hong Taiji in 1634 created his own artillery corps, who cast their own cannons in the European design with the help of defector Chinese metallurgists. One of the defining events of Hong Taiji's reign was the official adoption of the name "Manchu" for the united Jurchen people in November 1635. In 1635, the Manchus' Mongol allies were fully incorporated into a separate Banner hierarchy under direct Manchu command. In April 1636, [[Mongol nobility]] of Inner Mongolia, Manchu nobility and the Han [[Mandarin (bureaucrat)|mandarin]] recommended that Hong as the khan of Later Jin should be the emperor of the Great Qing.{{sfnp|Rawski|1991|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gAIcwz3V_JsC&pg=PA177 177]}}<ref>Tumen jalafun jecen akū: Manchu studies in honour of Giovanni Stary By Giovanni Stary, Alessandra Pozzi, Juha Antero Janhunen, Michael Weiers</ref> When he was presented with the [[Imperial Seal of China|imperial seal]] of the [[Yuan dynasty]] after the defeat of the last [[Khagan]] of the Mongols, Hong Taiji renamed his state from "Great Jin" to "Great Qing" and elevated his position from Khan to [[Emperor of China|Emperor]], suggesting imperial ambitions beyond unifying the Manchu territories. Hong Taiji then proceeded to [[Second Manchu invasion of Korea|invade Korea]] again in 1636.

[[File:Sura han ni chiha. Currency of the farther East. No.850.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Coins of Hong Taiji in Manchu script]]
Meanwhile, Hong Taiji set up a rudimentary bureaucratic system based on the Ming model. He established six boards or executive level ministries in 1631 to oversee finance, personnel, rites, military, punishments, and public works. However, these administrative organs had very little role initially, and it was not until the eve of completing the conquest ten years later that they fulfilled their government roles.{{sfnp|Li|2002|pp=60–62}}

Hong Taiji staffed his bureaucracy with many Han Chinese, including newly surrendered Ming officials, but ensured Manchu dominance by an ethnic quota for top appointments. Hong Taiji's reign also saw a fundamental change of policy towards his Han Chinese subjects. Nurhaci had treated Han in Liaodong according to how much grain they had. Due to a Han revolt in 1623, Nurhaci turned against them and enacted discriminatory policies and killings against them. He ordered that Han who assimilated to the Jurchen (in Jilin) before 1619 be treated equally with Jurchens, not like the conquered Han in Liaodong. Hong Taiji recognised the need to attract Han Chinese, explaining to reluctant Manchus why he needed to treat the defecting Ming general [[Hong Chengchou]] leniently.{{sfnp|Li|2002|p=65}} Hong Taiji incorporated Han into the Jurchen polity as citizens obligated to provide military service. By 1648, less than one-sixth of the bannermen were of Manchu ancestry.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=China |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/China |access-date=21 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727034401/https://www.britannica.com/place/China |archive-date=27 July 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>