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Is Kangqian really prosperous? This is the biggest lie of the Qing Dynasty and the bane of the Qing Dynasty's demise

Prosperity refers to some specific stages of social development in Chinese history, and the period of prosperity and prosperity for a long time. The criterion for judging whether a period of prosperity is whether a period of prosperity is economic, scientific, technologically, culturally, and ideologically prosperous in internal affairs; militarily strong, prosperous in trade, and influential in foreign affairs. There are many prosperous times in China's history, such as the "Han Wu ShengShi" of the Han Dynasty and the "Kaiyuan Shengshi" of the Tang Dynasty. As we all know, the Qing Dynasty also had a prosperous era - "Kangqian's prosperous era". However, this is the biggest lie in the nearly three hundred years of Qing rule. Because according to the criteria of the world, many aspects do not match.

In the recognized prosperous era of the Han Dynasty and tang Dynasty, the political environment was relaxed and the mind was free. However, during the reign of the three emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong, the "Prosperous Era of Kangqian" was imprisoned in thought, and the most representative of which was the prison of words. In the fifty years of the Kangxi Dynasty, the "Nanshan Collection" written by Dai Mingshi, a Tongcheng man, was considered to be "rebellious in speech" because of the use of things recorded in Fang Xiaobiao's book in many places. Fang Xiaobiao had served as an official under Wu Sangui, and after Wu Sangui's rebellion, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. His "Dian Qian Chronicle" mentions that the "Southern Ming" regime could not be called a "pseudo-regime", thus violating the taboo of the Qing Dynasty. Coupled with the revelation in the "Nanshan Collection" that Kangxi killed the Ming Dynasty prince, the Qing Dynasty sentenced Dai Mingshi to death, and Liu Hao and others were imprisoned for the "Nanshan Collection" case. During this period, there were not a few literati and inkers who were persecuted by the prison of writing.

Politically, there were many corrupt officials during this period, and corruption has not been effectively resolved. During the Kangxi period, the money embezzled by the prime minister Mingzhu and Suo Ertu far exceeded the biggest corrupt official of the Ming Dynasty, the prime minister Yan Song, tens of times, but Kangxi did not dare not ask them. During the Yongzheng period, although he took drastic measures to crack down on corrupt officials, they had little effect. During the Qianlong period, the famous corrupt officials and the money collected by Yan were almost equivalent to the income of the Qing Dynasty's treasury for 15 years. In the middle and late period of Qianlong's reign, corruption became more serious, which eventually led to the gradual decline of the Qing Dynasty.

Economically, the economy of the Kangqian period was far inferior to that of Britain at that time, and domestic prices soared. At that time, the annual income of a medium-sized peasant household did not exceed 32 taels, but the annual expenditure was 35 taels, and after a year of hard work, it would eventually have to be in debt of 3 taels. Ordinary farmers in The United Kingdom at the same time could have more than 33 taels of silver a year. When the British delegation came to Visit China, they were shocked by the sight of the Qing Dynasty. The dead chickens and dead pigs they threw away Chinese scrambled to jump into the sea to grab them; the leftovers and used tea that the mission had eaten Chinese greedily scrambled; and most of the places they passed were grass huts with earthen walls and grass roofs. During the Qianlong period, records of the people eating chaff vegetables abounded. If a natural disaster occurs, ordinary people will immediately go bankrupt, and it is very common to sell their children and daughters to make ends meet. If it were really prosperous, would these situations occur on a large scale?

Industrially, the three emperors adopted the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce", which led to the total output of iron and cloth, two indicator industrial products, never returning to the level of the end of the Ming Dynasty. Around 1840, China's industrial output accounted for only 6% of the world's total. The United Kingdom and other Western countries through the industrial revolution, industry has been rapid development. This also led to the backwardness of the Qing Dynasty's military weapons, and backwardness will be beaten! There were many great inventions in ancient China that influenced the course of the world, such as gunpowder, compass, papermaking, etc. Throughout the more than 200 years of the qing dynasty's history, no chinese invention has affected the world, and the reasons behind it are worth reflecting on.

Diplomatically, the Qing Dynasty implemented a policy of "closing the country off the border" to minimize contacts with Western countries. This measure also restricted the development of overseas trade, seriously hindered the economic development of the Qing Dynasty, and missed the opportunity for China to learn from advanced Western technology.

Therefore, from all aspects, the Kangqian period does not seem to meet the standards of the prosperous world. Of course, the contributions of the three emperors cannot be ignored. For example, the Qing Dynasty unified Mongolia, Northeast China, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Taiwan, laying the foundation for today's China; during this period, China's population grew rapidly, laying the foundation for the current population. Many scholars have also mixed praise and criticism of this period, and some people say that it was a "prosperous world of hunger", which is not unreasonable.