Sinicization of the Manchus

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The Guangxu Emperor of the House of Aisin-Gioro, penultimate Emperor of the Qing dynasty Emperor Guangxu.jpg
The Guangxu Emperor of the House of Aisin-Gioro, penultimate Emperor of the Qing dynasty

The Sinicization of the Manchus is the process in which the Manchu people became assimilated into the Han-dominated Chinese society. It had occurred most prominently during the Qing dynasty when attempts were made by the new Manchu rulers of China to assimilate themselves and their people with the Han under the new dynasty to increase its legitimacy.

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By the time the Qing dynasty fell, many Manchu had already adopted Han Chinese customs, languages and surnames. For example, some descendants of the ruling imperial House of Aisin-Gioro adopted the Han Chinese surname Jin () as both Jin and Aisin mean gold. [1]

On the other hand, the New Qing History school argues that the Manchus were never fully sinicized during the Qing dynasty, especially in its peak era. From the 1630s at least through to the early 19th century, Qing emperors developed a sense of Manchu identity and used traditional Han Chinese culture and Confucian models to rule the core parts of the empire, while blending with Central Asian models from other ethnic groups across the vast realm.

Background

The ancestors of the Manchu people, the Jurchen, originally formed the Jin dynasty located to the Song dynasty's northeast. The Jurchen Jin already started assimilating Han Chinese language, and even their Jurchen script was influenced by Chinese characters (hanzi). When both the Jin and Song were absorbed by the Yuan dynasty (Mongol empire), the Jurchen became further assimilated into Chinese society while living as subjects alongside Han, Mongol, and various other ethnicities under one unified empire. After the Yuan, the Jurchens became subjects of the Ming empire, with many Jurchen people even studying the Han Chinese language and adopting Chinese culture themselves, while still maintaining their original identity, language, and customs.

In 1583, Manchu chieftain Nurhaci began to unify the Jurchen ministries. After the establishment of the Later Jin dynasty the Manchu-Han relationship was further developed. Later, during the Huang Taiji period, the communication and trade between Manchu and Han became closer. In 1644, the regent king Dorgon led the Eight Banners soldiers to enter the Shanhai Pass, the Qing dynasty replaced the Ming dynasty as the ruling dynasty in China. The bureaucratic system, land management, military establishment, and culture of the Qing Dynasty were all subject to drastic changes due to the prevalent influence of the Central Plains region in China. [2] [3]

During the Qianlong period, Han culture was revered among Manchus, and the relationship between Manchus and Han people also gained a lot of advantages. Many Han officials also promoted the development of the Qing dynasty. It can be said that without these Han officials, the demise of the Qing dynasty would be faster.

Although Manchus were not of Han Chinese origin, especially in southern China where they were strongly resisted, they absorbed a lot of Han Chinese culture before conquering the Ming dynasty. The new Manchu rulers retained many of the systems that existed in the Ming dynasty. [4]

Central government institutions

The central government system of the Qing Dynasty mostly followed the Ming Dynasty, but adjusted to the needs of the current society they ruled. The duties of cabinet of the Qing Dynasty granted fewer rights than the previous generation. After a long period of exploration, the Manchu dynasty finally completed the highly centralized political system structure of the imperial power and developed the centralized political system to the peak. [5] During Emperor Yongzheng's reign, he established a secret reserve system. This system is based on the special historical traditions and political culture of the Manchu society. [6] It is a major change to the ancient Chinese tradition of the succession of the throne. It is also a modification of the Manchuria state and development.

The operation of the flag

During and after the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu people and the Han people lived together, and Manchu people learned the Han people's life and production methods. The Manchu people gradually absorbed the advanced Han culture. With the deep communication between the Manchu and Han nationalities, and mutual marriage, the change of Manchu identity became more and more pronounced. [7] The primary manifestation of this change is shown in the way of production, especially in the management of land.

Due to the long-term wars between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, large numbers of Han farmers were forced to leave their hometown and move to other places. [2] On the above conditions, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty used their political privileges to plunder huge amounts of land from the hands of the Han people and forcibly redistribute the land. This caused certain damage and blockade of agricultural production in the north. [3]

Therefore, the Manchu rulers could not impose their own mode of production which is the serf system on the Han and only let the Han's original mode of production which is the rent system to continue. [5] Under the strong influence of the feudal tenancy system, the serfdom system gradually declined. In terms of production methods, Manchu and Han are basically the same, and the original differences have gradually disappeared. [1]

Expansion of the Eight Banners system

Since the ancestors of the Manchus were a hunting nation, they were good at riding and shooting, and the soldiers were very strong. After the Qing Dynasty, under the impact of the Han's highly feudal economy, the Manchu people and the Han people lived together and absorbed the advanced system of the Han nationality, and Nurhachi created the Eight Banners system. Nurhachi's successor, his eighth son, Hong Taiji (r. 16261642), went further in adopting Han system and using more Han officials. At the same time, the preparation of the Eight Banners has also expanded. [8]

The integration and development of culture

The evolution of Manchu language is a major event in the Manchu culture. It promoted the progress of the Manchu society and expanded their trade with neighboring peoples. The evolution of the Manchu language helped the Manchus transform from a tribal to a bureaucratic society, helping them to further carry out administrative practice according to the experience of the Han people. In 1644, after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty actively absorbed the Han culture on the one hand, and opposed the complete Hanization of the Manchu on the other hand, and strongly advocated preserving fundamental Manchu customs. [9]

However, according to the social environment at that time, the Manchus were sparsely populated, and when they first arrived in the Central Plains, the language was unreasonable and the geography was unfamiliar. If the aristocrats of the Manchu depended only on the strength of their own people, they would rule the vast territory with a minority population of less than one million to rule over hundreds of millions of Han and other ethnic groups, which would be quite difficult. At the same time, the Manchu did not originally possess the advanced technological or bureaucratic systems that the Han Chinese did, nor did the Manchu originally have their own writing system (which would develop during the formation of the Qing under Nurhaci and others). Therefore, the Manchu people adapted to new forms of social organization and absorbed and learned from the advanced political, economic, and cultural systems of the Central Plains. In the process of learning and integration, the language of the Manchus and Han nationalities blended in various activities. In order to facilitate communication, the Manchu language borrowed many Han Chinese loanwords as well as Chinese language structures and grammatical elements. During the course of the Qing, the Manchu developed their own alphabet (based on the Mongol script), and their language became deeply influenced by Han Chinese language and culture. [7]

Evaluation

The Sinicization of the Manchus played a great role in stabilizing the civilization and establishing the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. The following points can be summarized on the development of the Manchu-Han relationship and integration during the Qing:

  1. The formation and growth of the Manchus has a close relationship with the absorption of the Han population. A large number of Han Chinese were incorporated into the Eight Banners, which effectively promoted the development of the Manchu. In 1644, after the Qing army entered the customs, the establishment of the Eight Banners was rapidly expanded. These inhaled Han people imported new blood into the Manchu community. They can also be said that they were Manchurian and played an important role in promoting the development of the Manchu. [3]
  2. The Manchus were enculturated into the Han culture, and the Manchus learn from each other and advance and retreat together. This is an inevitable trend of historical development. The close communication between Manchu and Han and their mixed offspring effectively promoted the integration of the nation and the progress of the Manchu. [3]
  3. The Manchus have been martial and pragmatic in character since ancient times. The Han people were deeply influenced by the Four Books and the Five Classics and the Confucian traditional morality. [6] On the other hand, the rulers of the Manchu dynasty were incorporated into the profound Chinese culture unconsciously; on the other hand, under the psychological drive of maintaining the ancestral system, the rulers strive to maintain the national identity. [8] Therefore, in such a large environment, Manchu culture constantly collides and merges. However, the Sinicization of the Manchu is not completed, it is a process of learning from the Han culture with the characteristics of the Manchu nationality.
  4. The process of the Sinicization of the Manchus can be seen from another perspective as a process for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty to consolidate their rule. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty studied the official system of the Ming Dynasty politically, expanded the Eight Banners military system in the military, culturally respected the Cheng–Zhu school and Neo-Confucianism as the orthodoxy, and governed the country in ways other than Confucianism. It gradually settled local rebellions at all levels and established the feudal dynasty which lasted for 268 years. This is inseparable from the absorption, learning and use of Chinese culture. [4]
  5. In general, the Sinicization of Manchus expanded the cooperation of the Manchu ruling class and laid the foundation for the consolidation of the Qing Dynasty. It also promoted the national integration with the Han nationality as the main body and maintained the unity of the multi-ethnic countries. [10]

In summary, after long-term mixed living, mutual learning and intercommunication, the consistency of the production mode, class structure, language and customs between Manchu and Han increased, and the original differences became significantly reduced. After the middle period of the Qing Dynasty, in the political, economic, cultural and other aspects, the Manchus have developed to a level that is socially equal to the Han nationality, and the relationship between the Manchu and Han nationalities became increasingly close. It can be said that the Sinicization of Manchus is a two-way integration of Manchu and Han nationality. This kind of integration promotes the development and prosperity of the two ethnic groups in politics, economy and culture. [10]

Sinicization of the Manchus in present day

After the Qing dynasty fell, many Manchu had assimilated and adopted Chinese customs. For example, the ruling emperors of the House of Aisin-Gioro would adopt the Han Chinese surname Jin (金) as both Jin and Aisin mean gold in their respective languages. One of the modern heads of the Aisin house is Jin Yuzhang.

Despite the past status of Manchu as a royal language, it is declining drastically and faces the risk of extinction. By the 1980s, there were only 2,000 Manchu speakers in the country. [11]

The schools in China teaching minority languages consist of less than 5% of the education system. Currently, there are only two schools in China that can teach Manchu. Most Manchus today speak Mandarin. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

The Manchus are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Qing (1636–1912) dynasties of China were established and ruled by the Manchus, who are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in northern China. Manchus form the largest branch of the Tungusic peoples and are distributed throughout China, forming the fourth largest ethnic group in the country. They can be found in 31 Chinese provincial regions. Among them, Liaoning has the largest population and Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing have over 100,000 Manchu residents. About half of the population live in Liaoning and one-fifth in Hebei. There are a number of Manchu autonomous counties in China, such as Xinbin, Xiuyan, Qinglong, Fengning, Yitong, Qingyuan, Weichang, Kuancheng, Benxi, Kuandian, Huanren, Fengcheng, Beizhen and over 300 Manchu towns and townships. Manchus are the largest minority group in China without an autonomous region.

Jurchen is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking people. They lived in northeastern China, also known as Manchuria, before the 18th century. The Jurchens were renamed Manchus in 1635 by Hong Taiji. Different Jurchen groups lived as hunter-gatherers, pastoralist semi-nomads, or sedentary agriculturists. Generally lacking a central authority, and having little communication with each other, many Jurchen groups fell under the influence of neighbouring dynasties, their chiefs paying tribute and holding nominal posts as effectively hereditary commanders of border guards.

The Eight Banners were administrative and military divisions under the Later Jin and Qing dynasties of China into which all Manchu households were placed. In war, the Eight Banners functioned as armies, but the banner system was also the basic organizational framework of all of Manchu society. Created in the early 17th century by Nurhaci, the banner armies played an instrumental role in his unification of the fragmented Jurchen people and in the Qing dynasty's conquest of the Ming dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hong Taiji</span> 2nd khan of Later Jin (r. 1626-36); founding emperor of Qing (r. 1636-43)

Hong Taiji, also rendered as Huang Taiji and sometimes referred to as Abahai in Western literature, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Qing, was the second khan of the Later Jin dynasty and the founding emperor of the Qing dynasty. He was responsible for consolidating the empire that his father Nurhaci had founded and laid the groundwork for the conquest of the Ming dynasty, although he died before this was accomplished. He was also responsible for changing the name of the Jurchen ethnicity to "Manchu" in 1635, and changing the name of his dynasty from "Great Jin" to "Great Qing" in 1636. The Qing dynasty lasted until 1912. Hong Taiji could have been a Manchu of Mongolian origin, being the son of Yehe Nara Monggo Jerjer, or genetically related to the Mongols.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Aisin-Gioro</span> Manchu clan and imperial house of China

The House of Aisin-Gioro was a Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and Manchukuo (1932–1945) in the history of China. Under the Ming dynasty, members of the Aisin Gioro clan served as chiefs of the Jianzhou Jurchens, one of the three major Jurchen tribes at this time. Qing bannermen passed through the gates of the Great Wall in 1644, and eventually conquered the short-lived Shun dynasty, Xi dynasty and Southern Ming dynasty. The Qing dynasty later expanded into other adjacent regions, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Outer Mongolia, and Taiwan, gaining total control of China. The dynasty reached its zenith during the High Qing era and under the Qianlong Emperor, who reigned from 1735 to 1796. This reign was followed by a century of gradual decline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Manchuria</span>

Manchuria is a region in East Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria can refer either to a region falling entirely within present-day China, or to a larger region today divided between Northeast China and the Russian Far East. To differentiate between the two parts following the latter definition, the Russian part is also known as Outer Manchuria, while the Chinese part is known as Northeast China.

The Jianzhou Jurchens were one of the three major groups of Jurchens as identified by the Ming dynasty. Although the geographic location of the Jianzhou Jurchens changed throughout history, during the 14th century they were located south of the Wild Jurchens and the Haixi Jurchens, and inhabited modern-day Liaoning and Jilin provinces in China. The Jianzhou Jurchens were known to possess an abundant supply of natural resources. They also possessed industrial secrets, particularly in processing ginseng and the dyeing of cloth. They were powerful due to their proximity to Ming trading towns such as Fushun, Kaiyuan, and Tieling in Liaodong, and to Manpojin camp near Korea.

De-Sinicization is a process of eliminating or reducing Han Chinese cultural elements, identity, or consciousness from a society or nation. In modern contexts, it is often contrasted with the assimilation process of Sinicization.

A conquest dynasty in the history of China refers to a Chinese dynasty established by non-Han ethnicities which ruled parts or all of China proper, the traditional heartland of the Han people, and whose rulers may or may not have fully assimilated into the dominant Han culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nurhaci</span> Jurchen chieftain; founding khan of the Later Jin dynasty (r. 1616–26)

Nurhaci, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Qing, was the founding khan of the Jurchen Later Jin dynasty of China from 1616 to 1626.

The history of the Qing dynasty began in 1636, when Manchu chieftain Hong Taiji officially proclaimed the Qing dynasty, although the year 1644 is often considered the start of the dynasty's rule in China. The dynasty lasted until 1912, when Puyi abdicated the throne in response to the 1911 Revolution. The final imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty reached heights of power unlike any of the Chinese dynasties which preceded it, engaging in large-scale territorial expansion which ended with embarrassing defeat and humiliation to the foreign powers whom they believe to be inferior to them. The Qing dynasty's inability to successfully counter Western and Japanese imperialism ultimately led to its downfall, and the instability which emerged in China during the final years of the dynasty ultimately paved the way for the Warlord Era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transition from Ming to Qing</span> Period of Chinese history (1618–1683)

The transition from Ming to Qing or the Manchu conquest of China from 1618 to 1683 saw the transition between two major dynasties in Chinese history. It was a decades-long conflict between the emerging Qing dynasty, the incumbent Ming dynasty, and several smaller factions. It ended with the consolidation of Qing rule, and the fall of the Ming and several other factions.

Shamanism was the dominant religion of the Jurchen people of northeast Asia and of their descendants, the Manchu people. As early as the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), the Jurchens conducted shamanic ceremonies at shrines called tangse. There were two kinds of shamans: those who entered in a trance and let themselves be possessed by the spirits, and those who conducted regular sacrifices to heaven, to a clan's ancestors, or to the clan's protective spirits.

Identity in China was strongly dependent on the Eight Banner system during the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1644–1912). China consisted of multiple ethnic groups, of which the Han, Mongols and Manchus participated in the banner system. Identity, however, was defined much more by culture, language and participation in the military until the Qianlong Emperor resurrected the ethnic classifications.

The New Qing History is a historiographical school that gained prominence in the United States in the mid-1990s by offering a major revision of history of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names of the Qing dynasty</span> Names for the Qing dynasty

The Qing dynasty was an imperial Chinese dynasty ruled by the Aisin Gioro clan of Manchu ethnicity. Officially known as the Great Qing, the dynastic empire was also widely known in English as China and the Chinese Empire both during its existence, especially internationally, and after the fall of the dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qing dynasty in Inner Asia</span> Historical territories of the Manchu-led Qing empire

The Qing dynasty in Inner Asia was the expansion of the Qing dynasty's realm in Inner Asia in the 17th and the 18th century AD, including both Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia, both Manchuria and Outer Manchuria, Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchuria under Ming rule</span>

Manchuria under Ming rule refers to the domination of the Ming dynasty of China over the greater region of Manchuria, including today's Northeast China and Outer Manchuria. The Ming rule of Manchuria began with its conquest of Manchuria in the late 1380s after the fall of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, and reached its peak in the early 15th century with the establishment of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission. With the dissolution of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission the Ming power waned considerably in Manchuria. Starting in the 1580s, Nurhaci, the Jianzhou Jurchen chieftain who had been a Ming vassal, began to take control of most of Manchuria over the next several decades, and in 1616 he established the Later Jin and openly renounced Ming overlordship with the Seven Grievances. The Qing dynasty established by his son Hong Taiji would eventually conquer the Ming and take control of China proper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Later Jin (1616–1636)</span> Jurchen-led dynasty in Manchuria

The Later Jin, officially known as Jin or the Great Jin, was a Jurchen-led royal dynasty of China in Manchuria and the precursor to the Qing dynasty. Established in 1616 by the Jianzhou Jurchen chieftain Nurhaci upon his reunification of the Jurchen tribes, its name was derived from the earlier Jin dynasty founded by the Wanyan clan which had ruled northern China in the 12th and 13th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qizhuang</span> Traditional Manchu clothing

Qizhuang, also known as Manfu and commonly referred as Manchu clothing in English, is the traditional clothing of the Manchu people. Qizhuang in the broad sense refers to the clothing system of the Manchu people, which includes their whole system of attire used for different occasions with varying degrees of formality. The term qizhuang can also be used to refer to a type of informal dress worn by Manchu women known as chenyi, which is a one-piece long robe with no slits on either sides. In the Manchu tradition, the outerwear of both men and women includes a full-length robe with a jacket or a vest while short coats and trousers are worn as inner garments.

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