The Manchu Way

by Elliott, Mark C.

• ISBN13: 9780804746847
• ISBN10: 0804746842
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

In 1644, the Manchus, a relatively unknown people inhabiting China's rude northeastern frontier, overthrew the Ming, Asia's mightiest rulers, and established the Qing dynasty, which endured to 1912. From this event arises one of Chinese history's great conundrums: How did a barely literate alien people manage to remain in power for nearly 300 years over a highly cultured population that was vastly superior in number? This problem has fascinated scholars for almost a century, but until now no one has approached the question from the Manchu point of view. This book, the first in any language to be based mainly on Manchu documents, supplies a radically new perspective on the formative period of the modern Chinese nation. Drawing on recent critical notions of ethnicity, the author explores the evolution of the "Eight Banners," a unique Manchu system of social and military organization that was instrumental in the conquest of the Ming. The author argues that as rulers of China the Manchu conquerors had to behave like Confucian monarchs, but that as a non-Han minority they faced other, more complex considerations as well. Their power derived not only from the acceptance of orthodox Chinese notions of legitimacy, but also, the author suggests, from Manchu "ethnic sovereignty," which depended on the sustained coherence of the conquerors. When, in the early 1700s, this coherence was threatened by rapid acculturation and the prospective loss of Manchu distinctiveness, the Qing court, always insecure, desperately urged its minions to uphold the traditions of an idealized "Manchu Way." However, the author shows that it was not this appeal but rather the articulation of a broader identity grounded in the realities of Eight Banner life that succeeded in preserving Manchu ethnicity, and the Qing dynasty along with it, into the twentieth century.

Author Biography

Mark C. Elliott is Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Figures	xi
List of Tables	xii
Preface	xiii
Note on Transcription and Other Conventions	xxii
Qing Reign Periods	xxiii
Introduction. The Problem with the Manchus	1	(1)
Ethnic Sovereignty and Pax Manjurica	2	(6)
The ``Manchu Way,''	8	(5)
Manchu or Bannerman?	13	(3)
Thinking Again about Ethnicity in Late Imperial China	16	(4)
``Barharians'' and ``Chinese'': Competing Views of the Manchus in History	20	(6)
Sinicization and the Manchus	26	(6)
New Narratives	32	(7)
PART ONE Structures of Eight Banner Society
The Eight Banners and the Origins of the Manchus	39	(50)
What Was the Eight Banners?	39	(3)
Myths of Manchu Origins	42	(5)
Who Were the Jurchens?	47	(5)
The Jianzhou Ascendancy	52	(4)
Roots of Power: The Formation of the Eight Banners	56	(7)
Roots of Identity: The Banners and the Manchu Nation Under Hong Taiji	63	(9)
The Mongol and Chinese Banners	72	(6)
Hierarchies of Ethnicity and Status in the Banners	78	(11)
Manchu Cities: Tigers on the Mountain	89	(44)
Garrisons Before the Conquest	90	(3)
Outline of the Qing Occupation	93	(5)
Manchu Apartheid and the Division of Beijing	98	(7)
Manchu Cities in the Provinces	105	(11)
Close Quarters	116	(6)
The Idea of Occupation	122	(6)
Garrison Dyarchy	128	(5)
The Emperor's Men	133	(42)
The Nature of the Banner Bureaucracy	134	(4)
The Garrison General	138	(8)
The Garrison Lieutenant General and Other Staff	146	(6)
Relations with the Civil Bureaucracy	152	(4)
Bannermen to the Rescue	156	(4)
Rage and Praise: Letters to the Emperor	160	(4)
Banner Administration and the Manchu Nation	164	(11)
PART TWO Patterns of Banner Life
The Iron Rice Bowl of Banner Privilege	175	(35)
At the Training Ground	175	(7)
From Chase to Campaign	182	(9)
Eating the Emperor's Rice	191	(6)
A Privileged People	197	(13)
Among the Nikan	210	(24)
The Manchu-Han ``Family,''	212	(4)
Family Quarrels	216	(3)
Ethnic Transactions	219	(6)
Mediating Between Manchu and Han	225	(2)
Master and Slave	227	(3)
Ethnic Tension and Coexistence	230	(4)
Resident Aliens	234	(41)
Manchu Shamanism	235	(6)
Manchu Names and Naming Practices	241	(5)
The Place of Manchu Women	246	(9)
Dimensions of the Manchu Diaspora	255	(2)
No Place Like Home	257	(6)
Matters of Life and Death	263	(5)
Resident Aliens	268	(7)
PART THREE The Crises of the Eighteenth Century
Whither the Manchu Way?	275	(30)
Acculturation and the Manchu Way	276	(8)
Living the Good Life	284	(6)
The ``National'' Language	290	(4)
Slip of the Tongue	294	(5)
Language and Identity	299	(6)
Saving the Banner System	305	(40)
The Costs of the Banner System	306	(7)
The Ways of Poverty	313	(9)
Secondary Status in the Banners	322	(4)
Genealogy and the Reforms of Banner Household Registration	326	(3)
Mutable Identities	329	(4)
Poor Relations: The Eight Banner Chinese	333	(4)
Sacrificing the Chinese Bannermen	337	(5)
Bannerman and Manchu	342	(3)
Conclusion. Manchu Identity and Manchu Rule in China	345	(18)
How Did They Do It?	346	(9)
What Did It Matter?	355	(8)
Appendix A. Note on the Size of the Eight Banner Population	363	(2)
Appendix B. Ranks in the Eight Banners	365	(4)
Appendix C. Foundation and Expansion of Provincial Garrisons	369	(4)
Notes	373	(132)
Chinese Character Glossary	505	(6)
References	511	(40)
Index	551