Imagine being an Emperor when you're only 7 years old! That's what happened to the young Kangxi Emperor of the Manchus. He was scared of  the four ministers who had been appointed to help him, but when he turned 16, he took away their power.

But then, there were other powerful leaders from the old Ming dynasty who had their own armies in different parts of China. The Kangxi Emperor needed to show that he was in charge and take away their power too. When he did that, some of those leaders rebelled against him. So the Emperor had to go to war with his own army to make them listen.

It was really hard for the Emperor because some of the Chinese people didn't like the Manchus. They rebelled in many places, and the Emperor couldn't keep sending his army to fight every time. So he decided to earn respect by studying a lot and getting advice from different people, even from missionaries from other countries. Many smart people helped the Emperor and made the country strong.

The Emperor also made sure that people didn't disrespect the Manchus or the new Qing dynasty. He let more Chinese people become officials and work for the government. With the help of the Chinese people, the Qing dynasty became even more powerful and lasted for 130 years.