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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.
Manchu is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China. As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qing dynasty (1636–1912) of China, although today the vast majority of Manchus speak only Mandarin Chinese. Several thousand can speak Manchu as a second language through governmental primary education or free classes for adults in classrooms or online.
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Seong Baek-in is professor emeritus of linguistics at Seoul National University. His primary area of research is on the Manchu language.
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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.
Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism, refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China. Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion.
Manchu became a literary language after the creation of the Manchu script in 1599. Romance of the Three Kingdoms was translated by Dahai. Dahai translated Wanbao quanshu 萬寶全書.
The Pentaglot Dictionary, also known as the Manchu Polyglot Dictionary, was a dictionary of major imperial languages compiled in the late Qianlong era of the Qing dynasty. The work contains Manchu lexemes and their translations into various administrative languages such as Tibetan, Mongolian, post-classical or vernacular Chagatai and Chinese.
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.
References
Notes
- ↑ Durrant 1979 , p. 339
- ↑ Richtsfeld 1989 , p. 117
- ↑ Heissig 1997 , p. 200
- ↑ Volkova 1961 , p. 1
- ↑ Yen 1980 , p. 88
- ↑ Pang 1995 , p. 34
- ↑ Yen 1980 , p. 88
- ↑ Melles 1987
Sources
- Durrant, Stephen W. (Winter 1979), "The Nišan Shaman Caught in Cultural Contradiction", Signs, 5 (2): 338–347, doi:10.1086/493712, JSTOR 3173565
- Yen, Alsace (1980), "Book Review: The Tale of the Nišan Shamaness", The Journal of American Folklore, 93 (1): 88–90, JSTOR 540231
- Richtsfeld, Bruno (1989), "Die Mandschu-Erzählung "Nisan saman-i bithe" bei den Hezhe", Münchner Beiträge zur Völkerkunde, 2: 117–155
- Pang, T. A. (1995), "Rare Manchu manuscripts from the collection of the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences" (PDF), Manuscripta Orientala, 1 (3): 33–46
- Heissig, Walther (1997), "Zu zwei evenkisch-daghurischen Varianten des mandschu Erzählstoffes "Nisan saman-i bithe"", Central Asiatic Journal (41): 200–230, ISBN 978-3-447-09025-4
