This chapter introduces the political history of the K'ang-hsi reign under six broad topical headings. They are: the accession to power of the young emperor; his reunification of the realm; his consolidation of imperial borders; the factional politics of his reign; the major administrative and economic policies; and some reflections on the cultural life. In 1678, the K'ang-hsi Emperor began to try and rally the Han Chinese literati more firmly behind the Ch'ing dynasty. The boy Hsüan-yeh, third son of the Shun-chih Emperor, was named heir apparent to the imperial throne when he was seven years old. Much of the credit for unification must go to the K'ang-hsi Emperor, giving him, if not the aura of a Ch'in Shih-huang-ti or a Sui Wenti, at least that of a Han Kao-tsu or Sung T'ai-tsu. Domestic consolidation and frontier stability were intimately linked as aspects of politics in the K'ang-hsi Emperor's thinking.

The unity achieved by the revolutionaries in 1905 was a higher degree of unity than the ten-year-old movement had previously reached. Much of its cement was supplied by ideology, but this is only to say that in the realm of ideas the revolutionaries were somewhat less divided than they were otherwise. There was no widely accepted doctrine in the republican revolutionary movement. The widening area of consensus and the sharpening points of ideological conflict help us to understand the character of the republican revolutionary movement and its place in China's modern history. The widening consensus embraced many so-called 'reformers' as well as revolutionaries. The main outlines of revolutionary ideology were provided by Sun Yatsen. Supporters such as Hu Han-min, a leading People's Report writer, defended Sun's ideas, and the Revolutionary Alliance openly appealed for foreign help. The revolutionaries had always insisted that the Ch'ing reforms were designed only to strengthen the dynasty; now they had fresh ammunition and new targets.