Reorienting the Manchus: A Study of Sinicization, 1583–1795

Introduction

1 Introduction An ethnic minority in China today, the Manchus enjoy a long history. The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) they founded was an apex of Chinese civilization, distinguished by its immense geographical dimensions, which contemporary China has inherited. As descendants of the Jurchens—members of the southern Tungus—they had been considered aliens by the Chinese, but this alien aspect was overstated by loyalists of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and by organizers of the revolution of 1911. The Manchus, one should add, have been characterized by cultural adaptability. They included both Jurchen and non-Jurchen components. Among the non-Jurchen elements were Mongols, Chinese, and Koreans. As one scholar points out, the term Manchu does not represent any “race” in a strict sense. On all accounts the Manchus were close to the Chinese, not really alien or “barbarian.” With continuous accommodations to Chinese culture they became almost indistinguishable from the Chinese people.1 The history of the Manchus indeed is fascinating and one cannot appreciate it without considering their immediate ancestors, the Jurchens , who appeared in Manchuria, China’s northeast frontier, and organized themselves into clans, tribes, and regional alliances. They founded the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), a vast kingdom covering Manchuria , part of Mongolia, and North China. In due course many Jurchens in North China accommodated themselves to Chinese ways of life. Therefore, they were classified as Northern Chinese by the Mongol conquerors. Those Jurchens who remained in their homeland— the Amur-Sungari region—divided, regrouped, migrated to southern Manchuria, and finally became the immediate ancestors of the Man- 2 Reorienting the Manchus: A Study of Sinicization, 1583–1795 chus. In the Ming period they were under China’s guard-post system , a device for loose control, and comprised three groups: Jianzhou, Haixi, and Wild. Nurhaci (1559–1626) and his son Hong Taiji (1592– 1643) came from the left branch of the Jianzhou tribe.2 When unifying the Jurchens they accepted assistance from non-Jurchen elements. In 1635, for good political reasons, Hong Taiji named his group Manchus , with of course Jurchens as the core. He then founded the Qing dynasty, marking the second foreign conquest of all of China. 1. Theme and Approach This book constitutes a study of the Manchus, attempting to show how they adopted Chinese methods of governing and ways of life and what changes occurred among them during the years 1583–1795. Studies that deal with sinicization (or sinification) of China’s frontier peoples, including the Manchus, are mainly articles. As a result, my work aims at a book-length study and follows an analytical, systematic, and topical approach, with a focus on major adoptions—for example, economic, legal, and social institutions. To show the depth of Chinese influence on the Manchus, however, it occasionally covers some neglected and important aspects, such as the transformation of the fadu, a rustic Jurchen bag for hunters and warriors to carry food, to the hebao, a small and elegant Chinese pouch of an aesthetic nature. This replacement evidenced the decline of Manchu martial virtues, a major component of their cultural identity. One should point out that sinicization was never a one-way street. When receiving Chinese influence, the Manchus left their cultural marks on China. Since Manchu cultural influence should be treated as a separate subject, my study will concentrate, as the title suggests, on sinicization of the Manchus.3 Following general practice, I select the aforesaid dates for convenience. Long before Nurhaci took up arms against the Ming in 1583, sinicization was already under way. It reached a climax during the Qianlong reign (1736–1795) and continued among the Manchus even after the end of the dynasty. One may divide Manchu adoption of Chinese culture into two stages. The first was a Jurchen phase, with the Liaodong frontier in Manchuria as the chief setting, opening with the Jurchens’s south- Introduction 3 ward migration in the mid-fourteenth century from the area of Yilan in today’s Heilongjiang Province and lasted until the mid-1630s. They kept in touch with China through geographical, economic, political, and social channels. It was a relationship built on mutual interests. The long and multifarious contacts helped the Jurchens improve their economy and technology, contributed to the rise of Nurhaci’s frontier kingdom, laid the groundwork for the Qing dynasty, and enriched their language with many Chinese loanwords. China benefited from Jurchen products, among which were horses, furs...