Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861-1928 (review)

Manchus and Han by Edward J. M. Rhoads is a volume worthy of worldwide celebration. It is the first monograph written in either English or Chinese dedicated to the study of the relationship between the Manchus and the Han Chinese from the middle of the nineteenth century through most of the twentieth (even though the subtitle indicates that the author's research went only as far as 1928). It is also a significant addition to the growing research on the history of the Manchus and the Qing dynasty (1636-1911) by accomplishing the very challenging task of dealing with the Manchu-Han relationship during and after the 2002 Revolution. The awarding of the 2002 Joseph Levenson Book Prize to Rhoads for this volume demonstrates the academic recognition of this remarkable achievement. A recent review by R. Kent Guy praised Rhoads' volume as "an unusual work in a number of respects" and has listed it as one of "the Four Books of Manchu studies."¹

In keeping with Guy's topic-selective appraisal of Rhoads' volume together with other Manchu and Qing studies, this review will focus on how Rhoads has addressed, directly or indirectly, the issue of "race" (the 1911 term) or "ethnicity" (the recent term) in the Manchu-Han relationship as it is related to cultural and political representation. Although Rhoads himself does not use the actual term "representation," his rich discussion and thorough analysis can be seen fully to embrace this representational issue. His study is, therefore, valuable in making a comparison of the Manchu representation of the multiethnic empire during the early Qing and the late Qing. A number of studies have already addressed the successful representation of a diverse population by the Manchus during the early Qing period, but the coverage of this representation during the late Qing is less than adequate, with the exception of a portion of Prasenjit Duara's study of modern Chinese nationalism. Rhoads' new volume thus presents an important contribution to this aspect of Manchu and Qing history.

The first half of this review will comment on each chapter by addressing the issue of racial/ethnic, cultural, and political representations. The second half will place Rhoads' study in the context of several topical discussions regarding these representations and comment on the ways in which Rhoads' achievements may guide further efforts in the field.

Rhoads' Accomplishment

Rhoads' Introduction starts with Liang Qichao's "social Darwinist reading of history," according to which "racial competition" and "racial conflicts" between the superior Han and the inferior Manchus were applied to explain the survival of China's "yellow race" when threatened by the European "white race" (pp. 3-4). To address the critical issues in Liang's understanding of China's crisis at the end of the Qing dynasty, Rhoads argues for a systematic study of the late Qing court in response to the problems in Manchu-Han relations, especially during "the last decade of the dynasty," which has been a neglected period (pp. 4-5). Rhoads thus intends in this book to connect the historical events centering on Manchu-Han relations and to examine how the various ethnic and political groups were motivated by these events. These groups include the leading Manchus at the court, the leading Han officials inside the Qing government, the Manchu commoners outside the court, the Han rebels under Manchu rule, the constitutional reformers, and the 1911 revolutionaries.

In his Introduction, Rhoads develops a convincing analysis in which he elaborates on the historical definition of the Manchus, the gap between the Manchus and the Han over several stages of the Qing dynasty, the identity issues before and during the 1911 Revolution, and the question of why the Manchus fell from power. His statement that "the continuing inability of the Qing court ... to...