Sinicization of the Manchus

Sinicization of the Manchus is the history of how the Manchu people became assimilated into the Han Chinese society. The Manchu people is a nation with a long history. The relationship between the ancestors of today's Manchus and the Han people during the period of the ancestors was relatively close, and they traded with each other and married with each other.[1]

Background
Further information: Timeline of the Jurchens § 17th century, and Transition from Ming to Qing

In 1583, the Manchu chieftain Nurhachi began to unite and unified the Jurchen ministries. After the establishment of the Golden State, the Manchu-Chinese relationship was further developed. Later, during the Huang Taiji period, the communication and trade between Manchu and Han became closer. After the Qing army entered the Shanhai Pass, the Manchu and Han nationalities lived together and married with each other. The difference between Manchuria and the Han nationality became progressively smaller over time.[2]

In 1644, the regent king Dorgon led the Eight Banners soldiers to enter the Shanhai Pass, destroyed the Southern Ming regime, and established the Qing dynasty of the unified Manchu ruling class. The Manchu-Chinese relationship entered a new stage. The bureaucratic system, land management, military establishment, and culture of the Qing Dynasty were all subject to drastic changes due to the influence of the Central Plains region, which is called the "Sinicization of the Manchus".[3]

The Han Chinese culture and history are deep, and there are many places aspects that other cultures have adopted from it throughout history, having been sinicized or deemed them worth learning. The great feature of Manchu is that they are good at learning. They learn other advanced things for their own use. As long as it is a good culture, it should be studied and developed. During the Qianlong period, the 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 Manchurians were not of Han Chinese origin, especially in the South of China where they were strongly resisted, they absorbed a lot of Chinese culture before conquering Ming Dynasty. Manchu people realized that to dominate the empire, they must act according to Chinese customs, thus retaining many systems of the Ming Dynasty.[4]

Central government institutions

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the political system was mainly based on the explicit system. Then, according to the actual situation of the society, some adjustments were made to the central government system and local officials.

The central government system of the Qing Dynasty mostly followed the Ming Dynasty, but it also had its own new features. The duties of cabinet of the Qing Dynasty were as good as the Ming Dynasty, but the actual rights were much smaller 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]

The Qing Dynasty's inheritance of the throne has changed, and at the beginning of the Emperor Yongzheng, 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

After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, because 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 conquered 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. 1626–1642), 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 keeping Manchus fundamental custom.[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 control hundreds of millions of Han and other ethnic groups, which would be quite difficult. At the same time, the Manchus were a relatively backward nation. 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 has more or less Chinese elements.[7]

Evaluation

The Sinicization of the Manchus played a great role in stabilizing the national situation for the Qing Dynasty and establishing the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. For the integration of Manchu and Han, the following points can be summarized from the development of the Manchu-Chinese relationship in the Qing Dynasty.

  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 the mixed people of Manchu and Han has 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. Therefore, when the two meet, there will inevitably be conflicts.[6] On the other hand, the rulers of the Manchu dynasty incorporated into the profound and 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 Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism as the orthodoxy, and governed the country in a way 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 utilization 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 is increasing, and the original difference is 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 has become 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]

Future Prospects

Despite the past glories of Manchu as a royal language, it is declining drastically and faces the risk of being extinct. By 1979 (post Cultural Revolution) there were only 2,000 Manchu people in the country who even dared to admit that they could speak Manchu,[11] even less now. Efforts of revitalizing the language must be taken.

Most schools in the country basically only teach Chinese, and few schools teaching minority languages are less than 5% of the education system. There are only two schools in the country that can teach Manchu, and it is even more difficult for the new generation of Manchus to receive their own education of their language. So today most of the Manchus cannot speak Manchu.[12] Indeed, at the end of the Qing dynasty, even the most prominent people in the royal court were not able to speak Manchu.

See also

References
  1. "Sinicization vs. Manchuness". UCSD Modern Chinese History Research Site. 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  2. "Chinese Academy of Social Sciences throwing shade at The New Qing History". Jeremiah Jenne. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  3. Jian, Zhang (2016-01-02). "Manchu Sinicization: Doubts on the Ethnic Perspective of New Qing History". Contemporary Chinese Thought. 47 (1): 30–43. doi:10.1080/10971467.2016.1215107. ISSN 1097-1467.
  4. "Why the Manchus Matter – In Conversation with Mark Elliott | The China Story". www.thechinastory.org. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  5. Hang, Lin. "Re-envisioning Manchu and Qing History: A Question of Sinicization". Archiv Orientální.
  6. Huang, Pei (2011). Reorienting the Manchus: A Study of Sinicization, 1583-1795. East Asia Program, Cornell University. ISBN 9781933947921.
  7. "Manchu Sinicization: Doubts on the Ethnic Perspective of New Qing History". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  8. Ho, Ping-Ti (1998). "In Defense of Sinicization: A Rebuttal of Evelyn Rawski's "Reenvisioning the Qing"". The Journal of Asian Studies. 57 (1): 123–155. doi:10.2307/2659026. JSTOR 2659026.
  9. Nianqun, Yang (2016). "Moving Beyond "Sinicization" and "Manchu Characteristics": Can Research on Qing History Take a Third Path?". Contemporary Chinese Thought. 47 (1): 44–58.
  10. Theobald, Ulrich. "The Manchus (www.chinaknowledge.de)". www.chinaknowledge.de. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  11. Zheng, Dahua (2019-12-30). "Modern Chinese nationalism and the awakening of self-consciousness of the Chinese Nation". International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology. 3 (1): 11. doi:10.1186/s41257-019-0026-6. ISSN 2366-1003.
  12. Orientalistyczny, R. 000008?q=bwmeta1.element.pan-ro-yid-2014-iid-1;1&qt=CHILDREN-STATELESS "Facing the Decline of Minority Languages: The New Patterns of Education of Mongols and Manchus" Check |url= value (help). jcm.edu.
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