China Marches West : The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia

by Perdue, Peter C.

• ISBN13: 9780674057432
• ISBN10: 0674057430
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-30
• Publisher: Belknap Pr

Summary

From about 1600 to 1800, the Qing empire of China expanded to unprecedented size. Through astute diplomacy, economic investment, and a series of ambitious military campaigns into the heart of Central Eurasia, the Manchu rulers defeated the Zunghar Mongols, and brought all of modern Xinjiang and Mongolia under their control, while gaining dominant influence in Tibet. The China we know is a product of these vast conquests. Peter C. Perdue chronicles this little-known story of China's expansion into the northwestern frontier. Unlike previous Chinese dynasties, the Qing achieved lasting domination over the eastern half of the Eurasian continent. Rulers used forcible repression when faced with resistance, but also aimed to win over subject peoples by peaceful means. They invested heavily in the economic and administrative development of the frontier, promoted trade networks, and adapted ceremonies to the distinct regional cultures. Perdue thus illuminates how China came to rule Central Eurasia and how it justifies that control, what holds the Chinese nation together, and how its relations with the Islamic world and Mongolia developed. He offers valuable comparisons to other colonial empires and discusses the legacy left by China's frontier expansion. The Beijing government today faces unrest on its frontiers from peoples who reject its autocratic rule. At the same time, China has launched an ambitious development program in its interior that in many ways echoes the old Qing policies. China Marches West is a tour de force that will fundamentally alter the way we understand Central Eurasia.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Note on Names, Dates, Weights and Measures, and Chinese Characters

Introduction

History, Time, and Memory

The Qing Conquests as a World Historical Event

The Formation of the Central Eurasian States

Environments, State Building, and National Identity

The Unboundedness of Central Eurasia

Trade, Transport, and Travel

The Frontier

Zone

Isolation and Integration

The Ming, Muscovy, and Siberia, 1400-1600

The Ming and the Mongols

State Formation in Muscovy and Russian Expansion

Siberian and Chinese Frontiers

Central Eurasian Interactions and the Rise of the Manchus, 1600-1670

Building the Zunghar State

The Rise of the Manchus Mongolian Influence on the Manchu State

Early Modern State Building Compared

Contending for Power

Manchus, Mongols, and Russians in Conflict, 1670-1690

Kangxi the Ruler Galdan's Intervention

Kangxi's First Personal Expedition

The Treaty of Nerchinsk and the Excluded Middle

Eating Snow: The End of Galdan, 1690-1697

The Dolon Nor Assembly

The Battle of Jao Modo

The Emperor Rewrites History

The Final Campaigns and the Fate of Galdan

Imperial Overreach and Zunghar Survival, 1700-1731

The Rise of Tsewang Rabdan

Three Central Eurasian Travelers

The Penetration of Turkestan and Tibet

The New Emperor Changes Tack

The Final Blows, 1734-1771 Transforming the Barbarians through Trade

The Death Knell of the Zunghar State

The Conquest of Turkestan

The Return of the Torghuts

The Economic Basis of Power

Cannons on Camelback: Ecological Structures and Economic Conjunctures

Galdan the State Builder

Nian Gengyao and the Incorporation of Qinghai

Administering the Frontier

Land Settlement and Military

Colonies Deportation from Turfan

Settlement of Xinjiang

Colonization and Land

Clearance Economic Development

Harvests and Relief

Harvests and Yields

Granary Reserves

The Contribution Scandal

The Relief Campaign of 1756

Currency and Commerce

Money on the Frontier, from Song through Ming

Integration and Stabilization

Commerce as a Weapon of War

Tribute and Frontier Trade

Fixing Frontiers

Moving through the Land

Travel and Authority

Marking Space in Stone

Maps and Power

Expanding the Imperial Gaze

Marking Time: Writing Imperial History

Kangxi's Campaign History

Yongzheng and the Dayi

Juemilu Qianlong's Account of the Zunghar Mongols

A View from the Frontier

Nomadic Chronicles

Legacies and Implications

Writing the National History of Conquest

Statecraft Writers and Empire

Geopolitics and Emperor Worship

Chinese Historians and the Multicultural State

Soviet and Mongolian Attacks on Qing Aggression

Empires, Nations, and Peoples

State Building in Europe and Asia

The Political Ecology of Frontier Conquest

European, Chinese, and Inner Asian Models

Theories of Nomadic Empires

Rethinking the Qing in the World

Frontier Expansion in the Rise and Fall of the Qing

The End of the Qing State

Northwest and Southern Frontiers

The Negotiated State

Commercialization and Regionalization

Appendixes

Rulers and Reigns

The Yongzheng Emperor Reels from the News of the Disaster, 1731

Haggling at the Border

Gansu Harvests and Yields

Climate and Harvests in the Northwest

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Illustration

Credits

Index

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