hat the Manchu conquerors are
descendants of a branch of the family which gave the Kin dynasty to
the north of China; and in lieu of any authentic account of their
early history, native writers have thrown a cloud of fable over their
origin (see MANCHURIA). In the 16th century they were strong enough to
cope with their Chinese neighbours. Doubtless the Mings tried to check
their ambition by cruel reprisals, but against this must be put
numerous Manchu raids into Liao-tung.

The accession to the throne of the emperor Shun-chi did not restore
peace to the country. In Kiang-si, Fu-kien, Kwang-tung and Kwang-si
the adherents of the Ming dynasty defended themselves vigorously but
unsuccessfully against the invaders, while the pirate Cheng Chi-lung,
the father of the celebrated Coxinga, kept up a predatory warfare
against them on the coast. Eventually he was induced to visit Peking,
where he was thrown into prison and died. Coxinga, warned by his
father's example, determined to leave the mainland and to seek an
empire elsewhere. His choice fell on Formosa, and having driven out
the Dutch, who had established themselves in the island in 1624, he
held possession until the reign of K'ang-hi, when (1682) he resigned
in favour of the imperial government. Meanwhile a prince of the house
of Ming was proclaimed emperor in Kwang-si, under the title of
Yung-li. The Tatars having reduced Fu-kien and Kiang-si, and having
taken Canton after a siege of eight months, completely routed his
followers, and Yung-li was compelled to fly to Pegu. Some years later,
with the help of adherents in Yun-nan and Kwei-chow, he tried to
regain the throne, but his army was scattered, and he was taken
prisoner and strangled. Gradually opposition to the new regime became
weaker and weaker, and the shaved head with the pig-tail--the symbol
of Tatar sovereignty--became more and more adopted. In 1651 died Ama
Wang, the uncle of Shun-chi, who had acted as regent during his
nephew's minority, and the emperor then assumed the government of the
state. He appears to have taken a great interest in science, and to
have patronized Adam Schaal, a German Jesuit, who was at that time
resident at Peking. It was during his reign (1656) that the first
Russian embassy arrived at the capital, but as the envoy declined to
_kowtow_ before the emperor he was sent back without having been
admitted to an audien