Over the past twenty years, historical research has re-evaluated Chinese historical use of military power and political control. From 1644 to 1911, the Qing Empire was unquestionably a successful state, ruling a massive area extending from the Sea of Japan to Central Asia and the borders of India. Recent scholarship has focused on the explicitly “imperial” nature of the Qing Empire and the conflicted territorial and ethnic legacies of this last Chinese dynasty. In addition, historians have reevaluated the role of the Qing ruling military elite, drawn from the Manchu people, with tenuous cultural connections to their ethnically Han subjects, in an attempts to clarify patterns of “Chinese” imperialism and determine if the Manchu goals and practices are part of a broader Chinese military tradition. Despite the challenges of understanding the complex nature of the Qing Empire, the undeniable skill in military conquest redrew territorial boundaries, re-located ethnic groups and developed patterns of military and political power that continue to resonate throughout Asia.