Chronicon
Menu
Historical Period
ENGR

The Manchu empire at its height, the Opium Wars, and the fall of imperial China.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Qing Dynasty · 1644-1912 AD
清 · Qing

The Qing Dynasty

From the Manchu conquest and the long, brilliant reigns of Kangxi and Qianlong that doubled the empire, through the Opium Wars and the unequal treaties, the catastrophic Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer uprising, to the abdication of the last emperor in 1912. Slide across the centuries to read the major events of China's last imperial dynasty.

1644 AD
The Manchu Conquest
1 / 7

The Manchus take the Dragon Throne

The Manchu Qing enter Beijing and begin the conquest of China, imposing the queue as a sign of submission.

1644 AD

The Manchu Conquest
  • Political

    The Manchus take the Dragon Throne

    The Manchu Qing enter Beijing and begin the conquest of China, imposing the queue as a sign of submission.

7 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1644 AD

Full Chronicle

The Qing Dynasty

From the Manchu conquest and the long, brilliant reigns of Kangxi and Qianlong that doubled the empire, through the Opium Wars and the unequal treaties, the catastrophic Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer uprising, to the abdication of the last emperor in 1912. Slide across the centuries to read the major events of China's last imperial dynasty.

  1. The Manchu Conquest

    • The Manchus take the Dragon Throne

      The Manchu Qing enter Beijing and begin the conquest of China, imposing the queue as a sign of submission.

  2. The Kangxi Emperor

    • The long reign of Kangxi

      The Kangxi Emperor consolidates Qing rule in a reign of sixty-one years, one of the longest in world history.

  3. The Qianlong Emperor

    • The Qing at its zenith under Qianlong

      The Qianlong Emperor expands China to its greatest extent, ruling a third of humanity at the empire's height.

  4. The Opium Wars

    • The First Opium War

      Britain wages war to force the opium trade on China, and the defeated Qing cede Hong Kong and open the treaty ports.

  5. The Taiping Rebellion

    • The Taiping Rebellion

      A visionary who believed himself Christ's brother leads a rebellion that may have cost twenty million lives.

  6. The Late Qing

    • The Boxer Rebellion

      An anti-foreign uprising besieges the Beijing legations, and an eight-nation army sacks the capital in reprisal.

  7. The Fall of the Qing

    • The last emperor abdicates

      The Xinhai Revolution ends the empire; the child emperor Puyi abdicates and two thousand years of monarchy are over.