The Lifanyuan and the Inner Asian Rituals in the Early Qing (1644-1795)

THE LIFANYUAN AND THE INNER ASIAN RITUALS IN THE EARLY QING (1644-1795)* Ning Chia The Qing empire under Manchu rule (1644-1911) created the political entity today known as "China" by integrating the traditional antagonists, agrarian "China proper" (neidi)1 and nomadic Inner Asia.2 This major historical development cannot be understood without discussing the role of the Lifanyuan, as the first and only government institution in Chinese history designed specifically to deal with the various groups of Inner Asian peoples.3 The unique Qing Inner Asian rituals, under the direct administration of the Lifanyuan, played a critical part in the Manchus' ability to expand the empire beyond the Inner Asian frontier. These rituals provided the symbolic instruments by which relations between Chinese and Inner Asian groups were recast from a problem of foreign policy to one of internal imperial administration. The Inner Asian population—the Mongols, Tibetans, and Uighurs—like the Manchus were physically and culturally non-Han Chinese. They had undergone their own distinct historical experiences and processes of development , often in conscious opposition to Han-Chinese society. During the pre-Qing periods, the two forms of society—agricultural China and nomadic "The author is grateful to William T. Rowe of The Johns Hopkins University, Susan Naquin of the University of Pennsylvania, and Maxine and Donald Huffman of Central College for their helpful comments on this article. 1 Neidi in Chinese means "inner land." It is used here to refer to the geographical area where the Han Chinese people lived. The size of the area changed dynasty by dynasty in history. On the eve of the Qing, it was approximately the territory from the Great Wall in the north all the way to the South China Sea, and east from the sea to today's Shaanxi province in the west. 2Scholars have used the term "Inner Asia" differently in defining the people and territory along the Great Wall frontier of China. See Chia 1991. In this article, I follow Lattimore 1988 in using this term for Qing Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang (or Chinese Turkestan). Historically, the Mongols in Mongolia were divided into two parts in the Qing dynasty. South of the Gobi Desert was called Inner Mongolia, and north of it Khalka or Outer Mongolia. The latter became the Mongolian People's Republic in 1912. 3For discussion of this issue see Chia 1991:31-32 and 99. The Xuanzhengyuan (Commission for Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs) in the Mongol Yuan dynasty was only responsible for Tibet—one of the several parts of Inner Asia. Late imperial China Vol. 14, No. 1 (June 1993): 60-92 60 The Lifanyuan and the Inner Asian Rituals61 Inner Asia—had been separated from each other by various boundaries, including social structure, political organization, material life, language, and ethnic consciousness. War and military actions characterized the relationship between the two. The Manchus of the early Qing, a people of Inner Asian origin themselves undergoing transformation from the nomadic to the agricultural world, faced the same problem as previous Chinese dynasties: how to find a lasting solution for the conflict along the Inner Asian frontier. The response of a Manchu-Mongol-staffed institution—the Lifanyuan—in the imperial court provided the basis for this solution. The uniqueness of the Qing Lifanyuan can be seen immediately from its Manchu-language title. Far from "Barbarian Control Office" or "Court of Colonial Affairs," which are common and reasonably correct translations of the Chinese-language title "Lifanyuan," in Manchu the name of this office was Tulergi golo be dasara jurgan, the "Ministry Ruling the Outer Provinces." This Manchu version of the institution's title reveals how different was the Manchu cultural and political attitude toward Inner Asia from that of the Chinese.4 Based on this attitude, the Qing practiced unprecedented policies in Inner Asia. When the Lifanyuan came into being in 1638, it was classified, together with the Six Boards and the Censurate (Duchayuan), as one of the "eight yamen"—the eight most important governmental departments.5 During its formative period under the high Qing emperors, Kangxi (1662-1722), Yongzheng (1723-1735), and Qianlong (1736-1795), the Lifanyuan was promoted to be equal to the Six Boards...