Year: Qing Dynasty
From the middle period of Kangxi, the Qing Dynasty appeared a relatively prosperous situation, and the national strength of the Qing Dynasty reached its peak during Yongzheng and Qianlong years. This period, which spanned over 130 years, was the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, so China historians called the period of Kang, Yong and Gan "the prosperous time of Kang and Gan".
"Prosperity of Kang Gan" is mainly reflected in population growth. In the sixty-first year of Kangxi (1722), the national population exceeded 1 100 million, and in the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong (1790), it exceeded 300 million. Some people attribute this to the diligence of the Qing rulers; However, the main reason is that high-yield crops such as sweet potato and corn introduced in the late Ming Dynasty were popularized throughout the country.
During this period, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty closed their doors to the outside world, which prevented the western learning from spreading to the east in the late Ming Dynasty. A "literary prison" was launched internally. Therefore, some people think that it is the "prosperous period of Kanggan" that seriously hinders the development of China society and makes China lag behind the West, which is not commendable.
One view is that "The Prosperous Age of Kanggan" is deceptive, which is a statement that some historians in China ignore history and deceive themselves. During the Kangxi period, the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar Chu signed after the war against Russia ceded territory. If it is a prosperous time, it is unthinkable to cut land. Coincidentally, during the Yongzheng period, which was also in the "prosperous period of Kanggan", the Treaty of Chaktu, which ceded territory, was also signed. What did these three emperors do during the reign of Kang Yong? Made waves of literary inquisition tragedies, Kanggan went to Jiangnan for extravagant play several times, and since Yongzheng, he used up the people's fat to build Yuanmingyuan. At the same time, with the rapid development of western science, technology and culture, on the eve of the Opium War, the British invaders were already using guns of the Ming Dynasty, but the Qing army was still using guns of the Ming Dynasty. It's really a shame that it's so prosperous. Tang Zhen, a civilian thinker in the Kangxi period, mentioned in his book "Hidden Book" that in the fifty years since Qing Xing, agriculture, industry, cities and public affairs have become increasingly poor and empty in the four seas. He saw with his own eyes that many women in Shanxi had no trousers to wear, but "there are many people in Wuzhong and many children in the north". When Mangane, the British envoy in Qianlong period, came to China, he recorded that there were many beggars on the streets of Beijing. Many people were unkempt and ragged, so he described the Qing Dynasty as a giant with clay feet, and the "China people" were gradually degenerating into a "semi-barbarian" era (see Mangane's Travels of China).