Glad you enjoyed the post!

My knowledge of China is pretty much limited to Zen history, as it moved through China as Chan Buddhism on its way to Japan, to some extent Buddhist history in general, and the Chinese poetry (usually Tang poetry) that early Japanese haiku poets loved. I have some vague ideas of the general history of the country, but nothing specific. I would say I'm more partial to Taoist ideas than Confucian ones, but given that Taoism had a much more profound influence on Zen and that is where my main philosophical interest lies, that's kind of a given. However, Confucian philosophy did have a huge effect on Japan, so I'm at least familiar with it in general terms.

I'm afraid all I know about the Qing is the general decline due in no some part to the West and then the sad ending of the last emperor. As to their more successful beginnings or highlights of the dynasty, I'm sadly in the dark.