This book analyzes the distribution mechanism of power and interests in the Qing Dynasty through eight dimensions: the privileges of the Eight Banners, the land enclosure movement, the San Francisco Rebellion, the centralization of military power, the Manchu-Han dual-track system, the control of subordinate officials, bad financial regulations and the monopoly of salt merchants. The book reveals: From the children of the Eight Banners parasitizing the country to local petty officials evading officials, from Yongzheng's reform of Huohuo Guigong to Yangzhou salt merchants relying on privileges, the Qing Dynasty has always been swinging between "dividing fat" and losing control. In the end, this system, which centered on imperial power and relied on informal rules, was completely out of balance due to the expansion of local financial power after the Taiping Rebellion, and became the internal cause of the empire's collapse.
