The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria . In the late sixteenth century , Nurhaci , originally a Ming vassal , began organizing `` Banners '' , military - social units that included Jurchen , Han Chinese , and Mongol elements . Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into a unified entity , which he renamed as the Manchus . By 1636 , his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty , the Qing . In 1644 , peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital , Beijing . Rather than serve them , Ming general Wu Sangui made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Banner Armies led by the regent Prince Dorgon , who defeated the rebels and seized the capital . Resistance from the Southern Ming and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories led by Wu Sangui extended the conquest of China proper for nearly four decades and was not completed until 1683 under the Kangxi Emperor ( r . 1661 -- 1722 ) . The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Inner Asia . The early rulers maintained their Manchu ways , and while their title was Emperor , they used `` Bogd khaan '' to the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism . They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of bureaucratic government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus . They also adapted the ideals of the tributary system in dealing with neighboring territories .

Question: where did the rulers of the qing dynasty originate
Answer: Manchuria