PinCushion said:
Rebellion... and a BIG-arse one at that.
To make a long story short, a series of peasant rebellions (collectively called The Rebellion of Li Zicheng) have started from the Shanxi province in 1627. Initially it seemed easy to suppress, but with a series of terrible luck and mishandled events, the rebellion snowballed from within the Ming dynasty, at which point most of its standing armies were blockading the manchurian Qing forces successfully at the Shanhai Fort.
Up to that point, like mentioned, Qing incursions were largely repelled and even the founder of the Qing was killed by defending cannon fire. The Shanhai fortress stood impregnable, due to the very much the same reason the Mongols had so much trouble during their early periods into the invasion of China -- strong cavalrymen but uninspiring infantry, lack of siege equipment and cannons, etc etc..
Well, as it turns out, the rebellion destroyed the Ming from within. As the rebells made their way to the capital city of Kaifeng, two of the governor-Kings, part of the Imperial family, were captured and devoured by the rebels (yes, devoured, as in 'eaten'). The Imperial Guards of the Forbidden City surrendered at April 23rd of 1644, and the next day the Emperor committed suicide.
Up to that time, the regular forces of Ming were forced into a dilemma to either go save the Emperor and just let the Qing walk in, or, keep defending the Shanhai Pass for a country that did not exist any more. After having heard of the fall of the Empire, Wu Sangui, commander of the forces of the Shanhai Pass fortifications, surrendered to the Qing, and opened up.
Finally the path opened up for the Qing forces for the first time, and from that point, all else is history, so to speak.
It's a difficult question to answer, but personally, I would rate Qing as the more benevolent rulers than the Ming. A lot of variables to consider but the Ming had some significant internal socio-political problems which were never really solved. The Qing, despite being one of the barbarian empires of Chinese history, in the end were the direct predecessors of modern China and formed the precursor of modern identity Chinese people relate to.
The Ming dynasty was the last of the 'pure Han' dynasties, but aside from that, they've made a lot of boo-boos and woopsies with a long standing history of incredbly inept rulers. So...
