Studies in Qing History

Tibetan Buddhism’s Incorporation into the National Identity Research on Tibetan Buddhist Temples Built by Imperial Order in the Qing Dynasty

QI Meiqin；AN Ziang

2019, 0(1): 1-16.

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Tibetan Buddhism’s incorporation into the national identity was an important representation of the relationship between religion and state in Qing Dynasty. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty profoundly recognized the political impact and political value of Tibetan Buddhist temples’ in the national process of “great unifi cation.” As a result, a range of Tibetan Buddhist temples were built throughout the empire by the orders of emperors or the imperial court. These temples not only constituted a special political field which represented “state presence,” but also embodied the development process in which the religions of border areas were incorporated into the central dynasty’s dominant ideology. By offi cially sponsoring these temples and embedding imperial elements in them,the rulers of Qing Dynasty possessed institutions through which they effectively governed non-Han ethnic groups and border areas as well as channels through which they established political identifi cation and through which non-Han leaders in border areas expressed political identifi cation.

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Rites and Politics: The Cultural Governance of the Non-Han Ethnic Groups by the Board of Rites in the Qing Dynasty

ZHANG Yongjiang

2019, 0(1): 17-29.

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From the perspective of the rites and institutions, this article discusses the political significance of the Qing dynasty’s efforts to differentiate multiple ethnic groups and integrate their cultures. The Qing dynasty adopted methods of categorizing various ethnic groups and administering their various cultures. The principle of categorizing was based on the closeness of their relationships with the Qing court, including both political, cultural, and emotional relationships. The primary principle of the Board of Rites’ governance consisted in cultivating the ethnic groups by rites. Mongolia was strategically endowed with priority in rites and institutions, therefore, Mongolia was set up as an example for the cultivation of other ethnic groups. The most distinctive characteristic of Qing dynasty’s ritual system was the rich color of diversity of ethnic groups. In many rites, the borderland ethnic groups already played the leading role rather than the supporting role or the audience. The new pattern of the ritual system can be attributed to two reasons. One was the requirement of Qing dynasty‘s political governance of the ethnic groups, and the other was the ruling ethnic group, the Manchu from northern China, awareness and recognition of the values of the borderland ethnic groups’ cultures. The first shift of the concepts of yidi ( 夷狄) in the early Qing dynasty constituted an important ideological resource for the update and development of the Qing dynasty’s ritual system.

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The Wetland Restoration of the Yongding River in the Jingnan Plain during the Qianlong Reign

ZHAO Zhen；CUI Ruide

2019, 0(1): 30-39.

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The approach to managing the Yongding River and lakes in the Jingnan plain in Kangxi and Yongzheng periods stressed allowing the river to carry silt.However, during the Qianlong reign, the approach was changed to regulate the runoff, such as pumping water out of the river embankment by artifi cial measures, in order to maintain the river and lake wetlands. The methods applied in Qianlong reign made the river water fl ow freely, so that the silt carried by the river could deposit in the fl oodplain outside the embankments. These changes in river management obtained good results because it prevented the river-borne silt from blocking the lake in the river way and thereby prevented fl oods that could destroy the people's villages. The change of the theory and practice of managing the Yongding River suggested an increasingly serious confl ict between humans and water resources. Over time human activity made the management of Yongding River more difficult.

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Strive to Benefi t the People: Bao Shichen's Proposal and Implementation of Reforms for Raising Funds for Jiangnan River Conservancy

LIU Wenyuan

2019, 0(1): 40-51.

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During the Jiaqing reign, the situation of the Jiangnan River Conservancy was becoming increasingly severe. The regular annual maintenance of the major conservancy works and other projects caused huge fi scal burdens. In order to raise suffi cient funding, some offi cials suggested that the expenses of river conservancy should be borne by the people. Bao Shichen proposed some tentative plans, such as sorting out the Jiangnan Reed Camp to provide suffi cient material supplies and selling tidal land to raise enough funds, which were later implemented and which achieved some effects. Bao Shichen’s fund raising reforms, arose from the standpoint of striving to benefi t the people and were based on the principles of profi t and capability. Bao’s approach adjusted the distribution of benefi ts, sought new solutions to raise funds, without increasing government expenditure or the burden on the people. Bao’s reforms played a positive role in relieving the predicament.

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Political Change and the Structure of Power in Shengze Township during the Xianfeng-Tongzhi Period of the Late Qing Dynasty

CHEN Ling

2019, 0(1): 52-65.

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Because of the political changes in local society, the traditional power structure of Shengze Township experienced a fundamental change during the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns. The power of traditional gentry families, which was marked by success in the imperial examinations, was broken and destroyed during midcentury warfare. On the contrary, the emerging merchant families mastered the post-war power structure of Shengze Township relying on various political maneuvers. Through an investigation of the transformation of the power structure of Shengze township during Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns, this essay provides a typical example of the fortunes of the gentry and merchants classes in late Qing China. At the same time, it also reveals how the struggles between gentry and merchant families not only changed the economic network of the Jiangnan region, but also fundamentally reconstructed the power structure inside the town.

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The Folk Medical World and the Interaction between the Government and Itinerant Empirics in Premodern China: Two Case Studies

WANG Jing

2019, 0(1): 66-76.

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In the middle and early Qing Dynasty, there were many itinerant empirics from Jianchang County, Jiangxi Province, who were mostly forced into this occupation by economic exigency. Thanks to convenient transportation and ancestral prescriptions, these individuals could make a living outside of Jianchang. Their medical behavior and special features of their everyday life reveals the multiple facets of the folk medical world. Because of their complex interpersonal relationships, notoriety for cheating others out of money, and especially their frequent travels, their peculiar way of life was considered a potential threat to the ruling order and it occasionally got them in trouble. The complexity and conflicts of the itinerant empirics reflected the contradiction between the common people’s struggle for survival and the offi cial prejudice against them.

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In the Name of a New Crop: A Reexamination on the Movement to Evict the Shed People of Huizhou during the Qianlong and Jiaqing Reigns

WANG Baoning；ZHU Guangyong

2019, 0(1): 77-93.

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Economic development in the south of the Yangtze River, and the rise of Huizhou merchants prompted shed people to enter Huizhou to lease the mountain fi elds to engage in the timber industry in the Ming and Qing dynasties. By adopting the mode of "refining the mountain" and intercropping trees and grains, the shed people replaced traditional auxiliary crops such as millet and hemp with corn. Although the area planted in corn was expanded, it still did not become the main crop.Over time the soaring number of shed people affected the traditional system of clan residence and the geomancy beliefs of Huizhou. In 1788, the devastating fl ood of the Yangtze River led the local gentry to blame planting corn for the fl ood. This, combined with the sentiment of resistance against the migrants, finally evolved into a movement to evict the shed people.

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A Study of the Gu Yanwu’s Lost Essay, Ji Ziyan Shu: How Gu Yanwu Affected the Adoption Law of Qing Dynasty by Adopting A Grandson

MAO Yike

2019, 0(1): 94-102.

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The Biographies of Famous Personages of Kunshan (Kunshan Renwu Zhuan) by Ye Junxi, included a letter written by Gu Yanwu to his brother Gu Shu, which was not found in compilations of Gu Yanwu’s writings. In the letter, titled Ji Ziyan Shu, Gu Yanwu asked to adopt Gu Shu’s grandson Shishu as a son to replace Yigu, the only son of Gu Yanwu who had died as a child. The affair was also recorded in the Chronicle of Gu Yanwu. However, as adopting a son to substitute for a deceased child was against the popular understanding of Sangfu Xiaoji of Liji at the time, Gu Yanwu’s adoption was roundly criticized by his peers. Gu Yanwu discussed adopting a son for a dead child in his work Rizhi Lu, and his nephew Xu Qianxue also argued that it was right to adopt a grandson. Gu and Xu’s opinions had such a great impact that many Qing scholars accepted their theory and abandoned the traditional understanding of Sangfu Xiaoji by Zheng Xuan and Kong Yingda. In local legal cases, judges also began to allow adoption of sons to replace deceased children. After 1778, an amendment to the law
allowed the single-heir dual inheritance, which could lead to similar results as adopting a son to replace a dead child or adopting a grandson.

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The Establishment of the Rehe Military Prefecture in 1810

HSU Fu-hsiang

2019, 0(1): 103-113.

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In 1773, the Qing court established the prefecture, department, county system in the Rehe region. However, the local social order did not improve and Han Chinese land reclamation in Rehe continued to expand. Faced with this situation, the Qing court promoted the leader of the Rehe garrison from garrison lieutenant-general to garrison general, and implemented the system of military prefectures in 1810. The establishment of the Rehe military prefecture was a response to the immigration of many Han people into Rehe which made the Qing government feel great pressure to change the administrative system. It also highlighted the territorial normalization of Rehe in the mid-Qing era.

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