After the Qing soldiers entered the customs to rule China, the placement of "Children of the Eight Banners" was divided into two parts: one part stayed in the military camp and the other part was placed in the society. This group of "children of the Eight Banners" who went to the society changed from bow carving riders to arty "literati", which should be regarded as a change of "civilization". Unfortunately, due to the lack of innate knowledge of the Eight Banners, this change is difficult to put in place, so they simply "transformed" into playboys obsessed with money-holding folding fans and carrying birdcages, parading through the city, surrounded by domestic thugs behind them. Because they have no special skills, they don't farm or work, but just wander around the society.
Although these "children of the Eight Banners" who stayed in the military camp received military training as always, on the one hand, they became a "special group" of the national army because of the contribution of their parents, on the other hand, because they entered a peaceful era and fought for a long time, it was inevitable that their combat effectiveness would decline.
In the early stage, the Eight Banners took advantage of the situation to enter the customs, swept the Central Plains by the civil strife of the Han people, bloodbath Jiangnan, and killed their "prestige". The Eight Banners played an important role in the key Shanhaiguan World War I, and the peasant army of Li Zicheng, which once dominated the battlefield, defeated Wu Sangui, but it was no match for the Eight Banners. This shows how strong the Eight Banners were, and they were the best "elite troops" at that time.
In the middle and late period, the so-called prosperous period of Kanggan, the "Eight Banners Queens" who stayed in the military camp began to enjoy the fruits of a century, and they were more free than the vagabond children in society. During the Opium War, "smoking pipe" became their main symbol.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, whether it was the Eight Banners who stayed in the military camp or the Eight Banners who went to the society, they had reached the situation of "only smoking opium and carrying birdcages", and all kinds of scandals were done. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty were not unaware of the change of the "children of the Eight Banners". The Ming Dynasty perished because of corruption, and the rulers of the Qing Dynasty were careful in drawing lessons from the previous dynasties. There were basically no bad kings in the Qing Dynasty. Almost all of them are "hard-working", and on the whole they are more abstinent.
For the unchangeable state power, the Qing dynasties tried to save the children of the Eight Banners. They urged princes to strengthen the education of their children and organized many "social exercises", hoping to make them "hardworking, simple and brave".
For example, during the Yongzheng period, the policy of "recovering the Beijing flag" was introduced, and the movement of "recovering the Beijing flag" was organized, and the idle banners living in the capital area were moved to the northeast to engage in agricultural reclamation and earn their own living. One is to reduce the financial burden of the country, and the other is to let these children receive labor training, hoping to revive the Eight Banners.
However, the overall effect is very small, and few of these children in Beijing are willing to go. Even if they go, they will return empty-handed and continue to wait for the royal confession. Pets kept in captivity for too long have completely lost the wildness of hunting. They are intoxicated with life in the capital and think about how to make life more interesting every day. Walking birds, singing operas, betting on horses and fighting crickets have become their strengths.
At the end of their heyday, the Queen of the Eight Banners became the most popular guest in pawn shops in the streets. They have to make ends meet because the money paid by the state is not enough for them to squander. They threw away the precious jade, antique calligraphy and painting accumulated by their ancestors.
It's not that there is no family education and no actual social labor, but that the "children of the Eight Banners" have inevitably fallen.
Why is this?
Among the children of the Eight Banners in the Qing Dynasty, there is a mantra that has been circulating for hundreds of years, that is, "Han people are not tired, but flag bearers are tired." The so-called "tired" means "capital, capital". It means "Han people have no capital and capital, but they have capital and capital".
And what is capital and capital? Nothing more than relying on their ancestors to fight for the A Qing dynasty with their flesh and blood. So they feel fearless and take it for granted to sit and eat their wages. Relying on the privilege of their parents, they have a strong sense of superiority towards the Han people, and they can do whatever they want in society from "horizontal" to "arrogant".
With the mentality of nouveau riche, they ate a lot of wealth accumulated by their ancestors in the war and spent money like water. They were born in the resplendent "Eight Banners", and arrogance and extravagance are the norm.
The "tiredness" that the "children of the Eight Banners" rely on, in the current words, is the privilege and vested interests. The father monopolized social resources and did not need fair competition. The second generation of Wang enjoyed its success and did whatever it wanted.
Privilege, like bloodline, can make or break people. The "Queen of the Eight Banners" was given a derogatory title-Children of the Eight Banners. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, they couldn't even defeat Hong Xiuquan's peasant army, so they had to rule Han with Han. Zeng Guofan's "militia" was the only way to put out the "chaos" in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
When the world's real powers emerge from the distant horizon, the "Queen of the Eight Banners" will be even more powerless. 1860 British and French allied forces and 1900 Eight-Nation Alliance, with only 10,000 men, easily broke through Beijing. The Eight Banners, armed with cold weapons, charged in front of the besieged ships and guns.
After the Eight Banners, they are idle and can't even stand on their own feet. How do they defend their country? They just want to "sell land" for a good life. However, history finally stopped giving them opportunities. The Revolution of 1911 overthrew Ai Xinjue Roche's rule over China with a mutiny. The general representative of the Eight Banners Queen went bankrupt, and all the Eight Banners Queens became useless.
Throughout the feudal history of more than 2,000 years in China, "children of the Eight Banners" are the most representative "dogs". Their fundamental origin is not because the princes did not educate their children well, but because they were "tired" and led to an inevitable outcome!