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Manchu-Han Relations in Qing China: Reconsidering the Concept of Continental Colonialism in Chinese History

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Shifting Forms of Continental Colonialism

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Abstract

In this chapter I test the scope and limits of the use of ‘continental colonialism’ in the case of Manchu-Han relations during the Qing dynasty. I argue Manchu-Han relations are marked by violent domination, but they do not qualify as a form of colonialism. Neither the distinctions between the Manchus and the Han during Qing rule nor the conflicts between them were based on the construction of essential ethnic differences. Thus, in the Manchu-Han case, it would be more appropriate to talk about domination that included cultural and ethnic policy—a cultural domination—rather than a colonial situation where Qing rule is labeled as ‘colonial’.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The coming into being of the school of New Qing History is marked by the debate between Evelyn Rawski (1996) and Ping-Ti Ho (1998). The label of ‘New Qing History’ was first coined in 2004 by Millward, Dunnell, Elliott, and Forêt (2004) and Waley-Cohen (2004), for representative works of this school see e.g. Chang (2007), Crossley ([1990] 1991), Elliott (2001). For more on this debate see Cams (2016).

  2. 2.

    See Di Cosmo (1998), Gladney (1998), Goodman (1983), Herman (2007), Osterhammel ([1995] 2010); on the ‘Internal Colonial Concept’ see Hind (1984) and the introduction to this volume.

  3. 3.

    See the introduction of Crossley et al. ([2006] 2007) and other chapters to their volume; cf. also Di Cosmo (1998), Millward et al. (2004), Forêt (2000), Hostetler ([2001] 2005), Liu ([2004] 2006), Perdue (2005), Millward ([2007] 2009), Rowe ([2009] 2012), Schorkowitz and Chia Ning (2017). See also the special issue on this topic including eight articles ofThe International History Review 20, 2 (1998).

  4. 4.

    One might be tempted to use Fairbank’s notion of ‘synarchy’ which, I think, does not fit aptly here because it not only describes Manchu-Han relations. Above all, Fairbank’s concept (1957) of ‘synarchy’ tries to explain Chinese–European relations after the Opium Wars by which European colonialism in China is totally dismissed. In particular, by the usage of ‘synarchy’, the system of unequal treaties is seen as a sort of tribute instrument the Qing applied to include the West into its own power structure. This eventually neglects the fact that the unequal treaties were forced upon China by European powers and downplays its colonial feature (Barlow 1993).

  5. 5.

    After several defeats at the hands of the Western powers the government initiated a series of reforms, the ‘Self-strengthening Movement’, which failed after the Qing’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. The ‘Hundred Day’s Reform’ were led by the Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters. It was hardly put into practice when the Empress Dowager Cixi and the conservative elites detained Guangxu, because they were unwilling to reform. After the siege of the International Legations in Peking and the signature of the Boxer Protocol, the Empress Dowager Cixi supported the implementation of a series of reforms (‘New Policies’) starting from 1901.

  6. 6.

    The imperial temples of emperors are located on the Fuchengmennei Dajie in Xicheng District of Beijing today. They were originally built in the early Ming period (1373) as part of the worship system for former emperors who were considered great figures in Chinese history. Qing rulers continued this tradition and paid great attention to it. The change of the name list, as well as the comments on these emperors, can help us understand the Qing rulers’ view of history.

  7. 7.

    This comes from a classic saying about a dialogue of the founder of the Han dynastyLiu Bang who despised reading ancient classics when he could conquer the world on horseback. His adviser Lu Jia answered, “You may have got it on horseback, but can you rule it on horseback?”

  8. 8.

    Of course, the focus here is on Manchu-Han relations. The degree to which internal colonialism can be applied as a concept for Manchu relations with other ethnic groups, especially minorities outside China proper, is beyond the scope of this chapter.

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  1. Faculty of History, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Lili Zhu

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  1. Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Dittmar Schorkowitz

  2. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA

    John R. Chávez

  3. Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Ingo W. Schröder

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Zhu, L. (2019). Manchu-Han Relations in Qing China: Reconsidering the Concept of Continental Colonialism in Chinese History. In: Schorkowitz, D., Chávez, J.R., Schröder, I.W. (eds) Shifting Forms of Continental Colonialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9817-9_7

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