For almost three centuries, China was ruled by the powerful Qing dynasty. Reigning from 1644 to 1912, the family spearheaded China’s transformation into the most populous nation in the world, overhauling its cultural and commercial identity and seizing control of Mongolia, Tibet, and Taiwan in the process.

So how did the Qings take power – and why did it all come crumbling down? Read on to discover the incredible story behind the dynasty and find out how its legacy still affects the global superpower today.

In 1644, China was under the control of the Ming dynasty. The Mings had seized power in 1368 but, after almost 300 years, their influence was beginning to weaken.

Dissatisfied by widespread famine and non-stop invasions, the majority of the Chinese population began to believe the dynasty had lost its Mandate of Heaven: an ancient philosophy stating emperors were given the temporary right to rule by a deity. 

From the early 17th century onwards, tensions within the country had been rising. Native Manchurian tribes, hailing from the area that's now Northeast China, had begun staging mutinies which eventually escalated into a full-scale invasion led by Hong Taiji (pictured).

Hong Taiji was the son of Nurhaci, a Manchurian chieftain who, in 1618, announced a manifesto known as the Seven Grievances, which effectively waged war on the Mings.

By the time Nurhaci died in 1626, he'd successfully unified local tribes and declared himself their khan. 

Hong Taiji succeeded his father as khan. In the late 1630s, he renamed his home state "Jin" to "Qing", and promptly declared himself the region's emperor.

Today, he's known as the founding emperor of the Qing dynasty, despite the fact he died around six months before Beijing officially fell under Qing control. Shown here is the tomb where Hong Taiji, founder of the Qing Dynasty, is buried

After Hong Taiji's sudden death, the line of succession became muddy. It was eventually decided that Hong Taiji's five-year-old son, Fulin, would succeed his father as emperor, with the boy's uncle, Dorgon (pictured), acting as regent until he was old enough to rule alone.

For the next seven years, Dorgon was emperor in all but name, although he remained fiercely loyal to his nephew. According to some historians, he even executed two princes when he discovered their plans to overthrow Fulin and put Dorgon on the imperial throne instead. 

The reign of Dorgon was arguably one of two halves. Although he was careful to appoint Chinese experts for his administrative system rather than handing all the power to fellow Manchurians, he also introduced measures to suppress the customs of Han Chinese people.

This included the controversial haircutting order, which was issued in July 1645 and decreed that all Han men must sport the traditional Manchu "queue" hairstyle (pictured). This involved shaving the front portion of the head and wearing the remaining hair long, tied back in a ponytail or plait. 

The haircutting order was imposed on every Chinese man, regardless of their social status or location. Many considered it a direct insult to the traditional Confucian concept of filial piety, which states that the body is a parental gift and should be preserved.

Dorgon's order sparked protests around the country, despite the fact that defiance was punishable by death. Historians believe that as many as 100,000 people were killed during an uprising in Jiangnan.

Pictured is the Shenyang Imperial Palace, the regional home of the first Qing emperors. 

One of Dorgon's more progressive rulings was the abolition of foot binding. This traditional Chinese practice involved breaking and binding a woman's toes to create a distinctive shape, known as the "lotus foot".

Foot binding first became popular during the reign of the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 AD) and was commonly used as a status symbol to distinguish upper-class women from those of lower rank. Despite Dorgon's attempts to discourage the tradition, it wasn't until 1912 – the final year of the Qing dynasty – that a blanket ban was finally implemented. 

In 1650, the Qing dynasty was plunged into its second succession dispute when Dorgon was killed in a hunting accident.

This left the 12-year-old Fulin in need of another regent, with his mother, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang (pictured) stepping in to fill the role. Also known as "Bumbutai", the Empress had become one of Hong Taiji's wives in 1625, with Fulin the youngest of the couple's four children. 

As soon as Fulin was old enough, he assumed the title of Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

Despite Dorgon's apparent loyalty to his nephew, one of Fulin's first moves was to strip the former prince regent of his posthumous titles. After his death, Dorgon was given the name Emperor Yi, an honour Fulin felt undermined his own rule.

To add insult to injury, reports claim the young emperor ordered his uncle's body to be dug up and flogged in public. At the same time, his remaining family members were banished and, in some cases, executed.

But the Shunzhi Emperor's reign would be short-lived. In 1661, aged just 22, Fulin (pictured) passed away from smallpox. Control of the Qing dynasty was passed to Fulin's third son Xuanye, who was around seven or eight years old at the time. 

Some historians suggest the surprising heir was first in line to the imperial throne because his mother was of a higher class than the mothers of his siblings. Others claimed it was because he had already survived smallpox. 

Xuanye (pictured here on his boat) ruled under the title of Kangxi Emperor. For the first six years of his reign he was watched over by a regent and his grandmother, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, who helped raise him. 

Today, Xuanye is credited with ushering in the "High Qing" era, also known as the "prosperous era of Kangxi and Qianlong". This period ran from 1683 to 1799 and saw China transform from a country of troubled trade relations to a commercial state. 

Emperor Kangxi ruled from 1661 to 1722, making him the longest-serving Chinese emperor and one of the world's longest-serving rulers.

During this time, he focused on expanding China geographically, as well as tightening his grip politically. One of his first moves was to force out his remaining regents, including a courtier called Oboi who he had arrested in 1669 with the help of his grandmother.

Pictured here is the official Qing dynasty flag. 

One of Kangxi's greatest cultural contributions was the creation of a standardised Han dictionary, now known as the Kangxi Dictionary.

Containing more than 47,000 characters, the dictionary took around six years to compile and remained the most comprehensive Han dictionary until the early 20th century.

Pictured is a third edition of the dictionary, published in 1827. 

Emperor Kangxi was determined to put the Qing dynasty on the map – literally. He excelled at funding some of the most extensive surveys of China that the world had ever seen at that point, creating maps to chart the country's expansion. 

During his long reign, Kangxi also successfully squashed a series of internal Han rebellions and external invasions. In 1689, he agreed to the Treaty of Nerchinsk, which gave him control of a large portion of Siberia.

Six years before that, he'd seized Taiwan after taking advantage of rising tensions among the incumbent Zheng family.

Before Kangxi's rule, China had a troubled relationship with its major trading partners, with many people protesting against the repeated closure of its borders. Under Kangxi, this completely changed. He introduced American crops, including corn and potatoes, that were soon widely farmed, helping to boost the traditional rice harvest.

He also started exporting commodities, including tea, cotton, and silk. This helped diversify the Chinese economy and cemented the country's status as a major global exporter, a distinction it maintains to this day. 

To further strengthen China's economy, Kangxi reduced taxes and placed strict limits on governmental spending. He also strived to ensure that workers in traditionally lower-class jobs such as farming had financial security.

Pictured is a Qing dynasty banknote dating back to the 1850s, more than a century after Kangxi's reign had ended.

After 61 years on the imperial throne, Kangxi died in 1722 at the age of 68.

Incredibly, he's thought to have had up to 56 children, and many of his sons were keen to inherit their father's title. A bitter feud to control the newly-powerful China began before he died, with the dispute later becoming known as the Nine Lords' War.

The image here shows a drawing of a 41-year-old Kangxi by the French Jesuit mathematician Louis le Comte.

Kangxi had named his son Yinzhen as his heir, and he became the Yongzheng Emperor in 1722. 

According to rumours, Yinzhen only secured the succession because he'd managed to forge his father's will. Some sources even claim he poisoned Kangxi so he could become ruler in his place, though historians have widely disputed these suggestions.

The 13-year reign of Yongzheng is often skipped over in Qing dynasty histories as he isn't considered as notable a leader as his father, nor his son, who succeeded him after his death. One of Yongzheng's most significant achievements was the formation of the Grand Council (also referred to as Junji Chu), which served as the dynasty's policy-making body. 

Generally regarded as one of the most significant rulers of the Qing dynasty – albeit not the most successful – the Qianlong Emperor came to power in 1735 after the death of his father, Yongzheng.

During his six-decade reign, Qianlong substantially enlarged the Chinese empire, adding 600,000 square miles (1.6 million square km) in the form of the New Province (now known as Xinjiang) and exerting control over the country's neighbouring territories. But these campaigns proved costly... 

After crushing revolts in Nepal, Burma, and Thailand, Qianlong made all three countries agree to pay tributes to Beijing. However, this extra income was dwarfed by the expense of the empire's military expeditions.

According to Britannica, expensive military campaigns began to cripple the Chinese economy, which had previously boomed under the Emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. Pictured is a fragment of the painting Battle of Qurman, commissioned by Qianlong in 1760 to commemorate the military victory.

And when it came to splashing the cash, it wasn't just military campaigns and paintings that Qianlong blew the imperial budget on.

He became increasingly known for his lavish spending habits, hosting elaborate banquets such as the one pictured, which took place at the Chengde Mountain Resort in around 1755.

Even more damaging to his reputation was the fact that he had clear favourites. One in particular, a young officer called Heshen, would prove so unpopular that he almost tore the dynasty apart...

Qianlong – a keen artist and writer who published over 40,000 poems in his lifetime – quickly became attached to Heshen. In fact, the emperor's daughter would later marry Heshen's son, cementing the link between the families.

However, according to Britannica, members of the imperial court were quick to notice that Heshen was "thirsty for power and wealth, and completely without scruples".

Pictured is a sketch of antlers attributed to the artistic Qianlong. 

Out of respect for Emperor Kangxi, Qianlong abdicated in the 60th year of his reign to avoid breaking his grandfather's record as the longest-serving Chinese ruler. As a result, Qianlong's 15th son, Yongyan, became the Jiaqing Emperor in 1796. 

Jiaqing distrusted Heshen and wanted to purge him from the court, but had to wait until his father died in 1799 before he could force the former favourite out. He made up for lost time by eradicating the threat completely; wary of the power Heshen wielded, Jiaqing ordered him to take his own life. 

The same year that Jiaqing assumed control of the throne, trouble struck in the form of the White Lotus Rebellion, a decade-long revolt by the White Lotus movement.

The religious sect, which had pledged permanent allegiance to the Ming dynasty, was dissatisfied with poor living conditions and food shortages and staged a series of revolts in central China.

Before Heshen was ordered to kill himself in 1799, it's believed he and his associates had embezzled the money that was earmarked to fund the counter-attack. 

The drawn-out White Lotus Rebellion, which took place between 1796 and 1804, arguably signalled the beginning of the end for the Qing dynasty.

Jiaqing chose to organise local militia groups to defend regions from the White Lotus rebels, but these became a liability. Over time, the groups became increasingly prone to rising up against the Qings.

And China didn't just face domestic threats. In the 19th century, as the Daoguang Emperor took over from Jiaqing, trading tensions with the British began to grow and the golden era of the "High Qing" period officially came to an end.

Since the early 19th century, British merchants had been smuggling huge quantities of opium from India to China.

For years, Britain attempted to barter with Chinese traders using bars of silver, the only form of payment that many vendors would accept. As a result, Britain had a serious shortage of silver bars and devised a plan to get some back.

Merchants flooded China with illegal opium and demanded silver bars as payment. The scheme may have been a good money-spinner for the British but proved catastrophic for the Chinese. By 1840, there were millions of opium addicts living in China, most of whom relied on foreign imports to get their fix. 

China confiscated and destroyed more than 20,000 chests of British opium that were being held in Canton, home to the only port available to Western ships. The British retaliated, and the situation escalated into a full-scale war.

The First Opium War took place between 1839 and 1842. Although China and Britain eventually reached a truce, peace didn't last long. The Second Opium War played out between 1856 and 1860, after Daoguang's successor, the Xianfeng Emperor, had ascended the throne.

The image here shows a statue of the Chinese Governor-General Lin Zexu, who worked closely with Daoguang to control opium smuggling.

Overlapping with the Second Opium War, the Taiping Rebellion began in 1850 – the same year as Xianfeng's succession – and rumbled on until 1864. The 14-year conflict was led by a rebel called Hong Xiuquan, who reportedly believed he was the son of God and that his life's purpose was to fight the "demons" of the Qing government.

What began as one man's feverish nightmare became one of the bloodiest conflicts in Chinese history. It's estimated that somewhere between 20 million and 30 million people died during the fighting, which was centred around the city of Nanjing.

The picture shows a painting commemorating the Treaty of Nanjing, which China and Britain signed after the First Opium War. 

Xianfeng was the last Qing emperor to enjoy absolute rule; the emperors that followed him had to share their power with regents. But other members of the dynasty still wielded power and were hungry for more.

Xianfeng's younger half-brother Prince Gong (pictured) narrowly missed out on becoming emperor, as his father Daoguang had considered making him his successor.

But even without the title, Gong played a pivotal role in the late Qing era, spearheading British negotiations during the Second Opium War and signing the Convention of Beijing on his brother's behalf. 

Xianfeng was succeeded by his five-year-old son Zaichun (pictured), who became theTongzhi Emperor in 1861. As he was so young, Tongzhi ruled under a regency triumvirate that comprised his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, as well as Empress Dowager Ci'an and Prince Gong. 

The trio had seized power from Sushun, who Xianfeng had appointed as the original regent before his death. Gong maintained influence at the imperial court throughout Tongzhi's reign, even after his nephew was old enough to rule alone.

This era is commonly referred to as the "Tongzhi restoration". However, as the emperor was only on the throne for two years before his untimely death at the age of 18, it's debatable whether he or Gong had the greater influence at this time. 

Empress Dowager Cixi (pictured) also wielded considerable power. After the death of her son, Cixi became a regent for her nephew Guangxu, who ruled from 1875 to 1908.

The final years of the Qing dynasty were tumultuous. The Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), led by the Yihetuan (Righteous and Harmonious Fists), attacked the foreign legation district of Beijing to protest against Western colonisation. Cixi sided with the rebels, effectively declaring war on allies including America, Russia, Japan, Austria-Hungary, and the UK.

An international army from these countries marched on Beijing to quash the rebellion and force China to sign the Boxer Protocol, which forbade the country from importing arms for two years. Emperor Guangxu's powers were significantly reduced by this point, and he effectively lived under house arrest.

Puyi, who became known as the Xuantong Emperor when he came to the throne, was the last ruler of the Qing dynasty. His reign began in 1908 after a mysterious double tragedy: Guangxu and Cixi had died within one day of each other.

At the time, people suspected foul play but it wasn't until 2008 that tests confirmed Guangxu's remains contained high levels of arsenic. Did a dying Cixi poison her nephew, or was he assassinated by someone who feared he would make a bid for more power? The truth will most likely never be known. 

Regardless of what happened, the Qings had been irrevocably weakened by the Boxer Rebellion and ongoing family feuds. Prince Chun (pictured left) ruled on behalf of his son Puyi (shown right) during the final three years of the dynasty before the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qings in 1912.

This marked the end of almost three centuries of Qing rule and more than 2,000 years of imperialism. Having cemented itself as a country with global interests, both in commerce and conflict, China would never be the same again. 

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