Qing ~ Grunge Flag (1889 - 1912)

The Qing dynasty (Chinese: 清朝), also known as the Great Qing or Manchu dynasty, was the last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912, with a brief restoration in 1917. It was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan of Manchuria which led an uprising against the ruling Ming dynasty. In 1644, the Ming capital of Beijing was conquered, although it took until 1683 to complete the conquest of the whole Ming Empire. Qing power reached its zenith with the reign of the Qianlong emperor (1735 – 1796). However, this was not to last and decline set in at the dawn of the nineteenth century. The empire suffered a major blow at the hands of the UK, France and the USA during the Opium Wars (1839 – 1842 and 1856 – 1860) and made great sacrifices in quelling the Taiping Rebellion (1850 – 1864). The Qing then lost to Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895. Further alienation between the hard-line Manchu elite and the rising pro-reform factions pushed the Qing Empire into complete chaos by 1911, sparking the Xinhai Revolution which established the Republic of China.

The Qing Dynasty officially adopted a flag only in the final decades of its existence, in 1889. Its design consisted of a yellow field with a blue Chinese dragon and a red pearl. Both the yellow colour and the dragon, standing for the ruling dynasty’s power, are very important symbols in Chinese history. The pearl is said to symbolise prosperity and good fortune.

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