The Qing Dynasty ( 清朝 ) , sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty , was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro ( 爱新觉罗 ) , in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia , establishing the Empire of the Great Qing ( 大清帝国 ) , which was founded not by the Han Chinese people, but by the Manchus , a semi-nomadic people not even known by that name when they first rose to prominence in what is now northeastern China. Taking advantage of the political instability and popular rebellions convulsing the Ming dynasty , the highly organized military forces of the Manchus swept into the Ming capital of Beijing in 1644 , and there remained until the Qing dynasty was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution ( 辛亥革命 ) of 1911 , with the last emperor abdicating early in 1912 . The Qing was the last imperial dynasty of China .

The Manchu rulers antagonised the Han Chinese only as a result of enforcing the "queue order", which forced the Han Chinese to adopt the Manchu hairstyle and Manchu-style clothing. It was designed to massacre both the Han Chinese bodies and their souls. During the 268 years of Manchu rule, numerous Chinese rebellions had occurred because of the strict rule of haircutting, which decreed that all Han Chinese males shave off the hair on the front half of the head and braid the remaining hair into a long pigtail. The Chinese had no choice, either hair or head to be cut. The traditional Chinese clothing, or Hanfu was also replaced by Manchu-style clothing. Qipao ( 旗袍 ) and Tangzhuang ( 唐装 ) , which are usually regarded as traditional Chinese clothing nowadays, are actually Manchu-style clothing.

To further suppress the Chinese intellectuals, Manchu emperors, like Qianlong ( 乾隆 ) emperor , resorted to "literary inquisition" ( 文字狱 ) for controlling the minds and thoughts of Chinese, which was the law forbidding people writing any words politically. Many people died from Wen Zi Yu by writing some words which were not even political at all. Manchu forbade the assembly of scholars or intellectuals into societies and moreover advocated "eight-part essay" ( 八股文 ) as the format for imperial civil service exams.

The most complete dictionary of Chinese characters, commanded by Emperor Kangxi ( 康熙 ) , put together at the time, and under Emperor Qianlong, the compilation of a catalogue of the important works on Chinese culture was made. Thousands of books viewed by Manchu rulers as politically unacceptable were destroyed when compiling the catalogue.

In an attempt of avoiding the possibility of being assimilated into the Chinese, the Qing Dynasty also set up the Eight Banners system( 八旗制度 ). Eight Banners were military institutions, which was set up to provide a structure with which the Manchu `bannermen' were meant to identify. Banner membership was to be based on traditional Manchu skills such as archery, horsemanship, and frugality. In addition, they were encouraged to use the Manchu language, rather than Chinese. Bannermen were given economic and legal privileges in Chinese cities.

In Qing Dynasty, the national economy was still based on agriculture. In the culture and practiced ideology, feudal ethics and rites continued to dominate society. The foreign policy of the Qing was one of isolationism. The government was conservative and arrogant. It failed to join the industrial revolution that was spreading across the countries in the West. Sadly, these factors led to China falling more and more behind the developing world and the gap between it and Western nations inevitably widened.