From Personal Network to Institution Building: The Lifanyuan and the Formalization of Manchu-Mongol Relations

The Qing emperors, who ruled over China from 1644-1911, managed to bring large parts of Inner Asia under their control and extended the territory of China to an unprecedented degree. This paper maintains that the political technique of patronage with its formalized language, its emphasis on gift exchange and expressions of courtesy is a useful concept for explaining the integration of Inner Asian confederations into the empire. By re-interpreting the obligations of gift exchange, the Qing transformed the network of personal relationships, which had to be reinforced and consolidated permanently into a system with clearly defined rules. In this process of formalization, the Lifanyuan, the Court for the Administration of the Outer Regions, played a key role. While in the early years of the dynasty, it was responsible for collecting and disseminating information concerning the various patronage relationships with Inner Asian leaders, over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries its efforts were directed at standardizing and streamlining the contacts between ethnic minorities and the state. Through the Lifanyuan, the rules and principles of patronage were maintained in a modified form even in the later part of the dynasty, when the Qing exercised control in the outer regions more directly. The paper provides an explanation for the longevity and cohesiveness of the multi-ethnic Qing empire. Based on recently published Manchu and Mongolian language archival material and the Maussian concept of gift exchange the study sheds new light on the changing self-conception of the Qing emperors.

The return of Dr. Fu-Manchu.

Mode of access: Internet.

The insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, being a somewhat detailed account of the amazing adventures of Nayland Smith in his trailing of the sinister Chinaman,

"Second printing, September, 1913.

L’identité mandchoue et son rôle dans la construction identitaire chinoise : étude historiographique

L’importance du concept identitaire est maintenant reconnue dans la recherche en histoire. Processus à la fois individuel et collectif, le sentiment d’appartenance constitue la base de l’identité d’un groupe. Dans ce mémoire, nous nous proposons d’étudier le développement de la conscience identitaire mandchoue, et du rôle qu’elle a joué dans la construction identitaire chinoise jusqu’à la Révolution de 1911. L’étude historiographique nous permettra de suivre l’évolution du regard porté sur la dynastie mandchoue des Qing par la recherche occidentale, de rejeter complètement la théorie de leur sinisation, lui préférant celle de leur acculturation. L’étude en parallèle des deux constructions identitaires nous amènera à conclure qu’elles sont indissociables l’une de l’autre, objet de notre première hypothèse. En deuxième lieu, nous avancerons l’idée que la Chine a bénéficié de la présence mandchoue, aussi longtemps que la dynastie pouvait prétendre à une représentation universelle. Enfin, notre dernière hypothèse montrera que le facteur ethnique a été d’une importance cruciale dans la gouvernance d’un empire à la fois multiethnique et multiculturel, et le demeure.

Treaties and agreements with and concerning China, 1894-1919; a collection of state papers, private agreements, and other documents, in reference to the rights and obligations of the Chinese Government in relation to foreign powers, and in reference to the interrelation of those powers in respect to China, during the period from the Sino-Japanese War to the conclusion of the World War of 1914-1919.

Bibliographical foot-notes.

Burton Holmes travelogues,

v. 1. Into Morocco. Fez. Through the heart of the Moorish empire.--v. 2. London. Paris. Berlin.--v. 3. The Olympian games in Athens. Grecian journeys. The wonders of Thessaly.--v. 4. Cities of the Barbary coast. Oases of the Algerian Sahara. Southern Spain.--v. 5. The Hawaiian islands. The edge of China. Manila.--v. 6. The Yellowstone national park. The Grand cañon of Arizona. Moki land--v. 7. Through Europe with a camera. Oberammergau. Cycling through Corsica.--v. 8. St. Petersburg. Moscow. The Trans-Siberian railway.--v. 9. Down the Amur. Peking. The forbidden city [imperial or Manchu Peking]--v. 10. Seoul, the capital of Korea. Japan, the country. Japan, the cities.--v. 11. Egypt. Southern Italy. Switzerland.--v. 12. Norway. Sweden. Finland. Denmark.

England's Yellow Peril: Sinophobia and the Great War

As England suffered heavy casualties at the front during World War One, the nation closed ranks against outsiders at home. England sought to reaffirm its racial dominance at the heart of the empire, and the Chinese in London became the principal scapegoat for anti-foreign sentiment. A combination of propaganda and popular culture, from the daily paper to the latest theatre sensation, fanned the flames of national resentment into a raging Sinophobia. Opium smoking, gambling and interracial romance became synonymous with London's Limehouse Chinatown, which was exoticised by Sax Rohmer's evil mastermind Fu Manchu and Thomas Burke's tales of lowlife love. England's Yellow Peril exploded in the midst of a catastrophic war and defined the representation of Chinese abroad in the decades to come.