Yes, exactly right, the corruption of Qing institutions led to ineffective governance and impoverished people, giving rise to the Taiping Civil War. In fact, th

Yes, exactly right, the corruption of Qing institutions led to ineffective governance and impoverished people, giving rise to the Taiping Civil War. In fact, the seeds of the 1911 revolution were planted when a retired soldier of the Taiping army told of his stories to the children in his village, one of whom was Sun Yat Sen[1], who was a leader of the revolution that finally overturned the Qing. Chinese soldiers and chinese equipment, though outdated by the standards of the time, are perfectly capable of defeating European military, on the off chance when they were sufficiently organised[2][3]. The heroes of the late Qing Empire shone, because around them, their colleagues lie low in the depths of corruption and incompetence. It's like a game of Starcraft, even with a bigger army, and bigger economy, an inexperienced player making a couple of mistakes will lose the game quite easily to a more experienced one. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion#Affectness_of_the_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion#Affectness_o... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taku_Forts_(1859) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taku_Forts_(1859) [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cầu_Giấy_(Paper_Bridge) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cầu_Giấy_(Paper_Brid... For historical interest, during the high point of the Ming empire, junks achieved in battle, decisive victories over Portguese caravels armed with cannons[3][4]. [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tunmen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tunmen [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Xicaowan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Xicaowan