Civilizing the Great Qing: Manchu-Korean Relations and the Reconstruction of the Chinese Empire, 1644–1761

On June 6, 1644, forty days after the suicide of the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu forces of the Great Qing occupied Beijing without a fight. They were able to do so with the support of the Ming general Wu Sangui, who allowed the Manchu troops to enter inner China from their Manchurian homeland by way of the Shanhai Pass. In the Forbidden City, the Manchu commander, Prince Dorgon, accepted the capitulation of the Chinese officials of the Ming, all of whom had shaved their foreheads in the Manchu style. The Manchus, whom the Ming Chinese regarded as yi (“barbarians”), became the new rulers of the civilized center — China, the Middle Kingdom or Zhongguo in Chinese.1