This research will study the incidence of civil unrest in Early Qing China, from the full establishment of the dynasty in 1645 to the beginning of its decline in 1795. A database of unrest events, state power, commercial development, and population to land ratios will be developed based on official records. Comparisons over time and across areas will be used to evaluate political, economic, and ecological explanations of social unrest. The results will be compared to similar studies of China in more turbulent earlier and later periods in order to evaluate whether the origins of the unrest that pushed China into its confrontation with modernity can be traced back to the Early Qing period. The results will also be compared to studies of unrest in Japan and Europe in order to evaluate the multiple paths to modernity in the East and West.
