Saturday, January 5, 2013

The Ming and Qing Dynasty: The Interesting Dilemma of Today- Part 1

The other day while I was waiting for a meeting for work, I sat in the library for a good hour watching a lecture about the rise of the Qing Dynasty.

Quite impressive, I must add. However, I did not get through the entire series. However, it brings up some concerns. I know a lot of Chinese people like to brag about their ancestry. However, there's also the matter of Taiwan.

It's somewhat hard to explain right away, but the Ming dynasty was technically the last "Chinese" Chinese dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was actually more of a like a rag tag team assembled to create a purer nation (Qing means pure). They were from outside of the boarders of the Chinese at the time and rivaled the Ming dynasty. When they finally conquered the capital, Beijing, the Ming dynasty had to flee and many loyalists left for Taiwan. ( I know I am leaving a lot of details out of this- but I want to just reach the point that I am trying to make.)

Taiwan at the time was... well more like how the Caribbeans were for the British colonies. Filled with pirates and some useful resources. Loyalists and these pirates teamed up to bring down as many Qing militants as possible. Ultimately, however, they were defeated.

Now I'm going to have to leave off right here because I have to grab my late dinner, but to be continued....