The relative prosperity experienced during the Kangxi period greatly contrast with the condition of Manchu China in the nineteenth century. By this time, China was entering one of its most challenging phases—being bombarded inside and out. Internal rebellions shook the social order and economy, Western powers increasingly degraded China’s place in the world, and Japan even began to dominate China rather than the historic opposite. This led to all kinds of hardships for all levels of society, resulting in various forms of resistance, some radical, eventually causing the collapse of the dynasty and a politically unstable republic.