High Qing era

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The High Qing era (Chinese: 康雍乾盛世; pinyin: Kāng Yōng Qián Shèngshì), or simply the High Qing, is a historiographical term for the first half of the Qing dynasty between approximately 1683 and the 1790s. China was ruled by the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors in this period, during which the prosperity and power of the empire grew to new heights. The era began with the quelling of the Revolt of the Three Feudatories and conquest of the Ming Zheng regime in Taiwan, and ended with the major outbreaks of the White Lotus Rebellion and the Miao Rebellion. It has been regarded as a golden age in the late Imperial China. Following the collapse of the Ming dynasty after the Jiashen Incident, China entered a violent period of civil wars among the Manchu-led Qing forces (who entered the China proper after the Ming general Wu Sangui defected and surrendered the Shanhai Pass), the various factions within Southern Ming (the rump state headed by surviving Ming princes), the remnant Shun forces (who actually overthrew the Ming dynasty) and the Xi forces (who split from Shun to occupy the Sichuan Basin). After the Qing forces defeated other contenders and consolidated rule over the entirety of China, the High Qing era saw China transform into a commercial state with nearly twice the population of its predecessor due to high political stability. Improvements in literacy also took place during this period, and the territory of China was greatly expanded north and west compared to the previous Ming dynasty. During the High Qing, the trend of imitating Chinese artistic traditions, known as chinoiserie, gained great popularity in Europe, due to the rise in trade with China and the broader current of Orientalism.