Studies in Qing History

Small Figure，Big Arena，and Crucial Character: Lobsangshunu，Oyirad Khanates，and the Qing Dynasty in Eighteenth?Century Eurasia

Oyunblig Borjigidai

2017, 0(4): 1-18.

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Lobsangshunu was a son of Zunghar Khan Tsewang Arabtan and Seterjab，who was a daughter of Torghut Khan Ayusi. Due to the violent internal struggle within in Zunghar Khanate，Lobsangshunu escaped to Torghut and Seterjab’ s children were oppressed by Tsewang Arabtan’ s eldest son named Galden Tsering. Due to the complicated historical background，Lobsangshunu took refuge in Torghut Khanate and became a thorn in Zunghars’ side. Meanwhile，the Qing dynasty paid close attention to Lobsangshunu. The Yongzheng Emperor sent envoys to Torghut and hoped to bring Lobsangshunu back to Beijing in order to utilize him against Galden Tsering. By utilizing records related to Lobsangshunu in multilingual archives，this article discusses the diplomatic relationships and military strategies between Torghut，Zunghar，and the Qing dynasty.

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The “Non-Han” Perspective of China as Seen from Manchu and Mongolian Archives

QI Meiqin

2017, 0(4): 19-31.

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Using the records and expressions found in Manchu and Mongolian archives， this articles examines the understanding of the newly established Qing Dynasty in the eyes of Manchus，Mongolians，Tibetans，Russian and other Central Asians at the time of the early Qing Dynasty. The author further investigates the perception of the Qing Dynasty’s national identity from the perspective of these ethnic groups and countries. The investigation of “non?Han” archives demonstrates that the “view of China” these “others” held was essentially the same as the view scholars have discovered in their research using official Chinese literature.

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The Enclosure and Compensation for Banner Land and the Changes of Local Social Structure in Zhili Province during the Qing Dynasty: A Study of the Reform of the Garrison System

DENG Qingping

2017, 0(4): 32-47.

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At the beginning of the Qing dynasty，a large amount of land in the capital region was occupied and allocated to banner household. The owners whose land had been occupied subsequently were compensated mainly with garrison land (tun?tian) from the Ming dynasty. This transition facilitated the reform of the garrison system in the early Qing，but also caused many new problems，such as the disputes over garrison land between the civilian and military systems. Because of the great distance between the new landowners and their newly swapped lands，a special form of land management called “one field，two supports” (一地两养) emerged，which meant that a piece of land fed two different families， the landowner and the tenant. The series of changes had a profound influence upon the proprietorship and management of the land，the local fiscal system and the social structure in Zhili province during the Qing dynasty. Therefore，the founding history of the Banner system has to be understood in light of the Ming garrison system with a geographical dimension.

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The Rotation of Administration to the Old Summer Palace and the Dilemma of Administrative Legitimacy in the Qing dynasty

LIU Zhonghua

2017, 0(4): 48-58.

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The coexist of government administration centers in the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace not only wasted a large amount of resources，but also changed the old structure of centralized power in the Forbidden City and directly influenced the Qing’ s mode of operation. The rotation of administrative centers relied on institutional and economic capital but from the beginning of the Yongzheng reign，the locus of imperial power in the Summer Palace raised unprecedented questions of legitimacy among officials that persisted until the Xianfeng reign, a period replete with domestic trouble and foreign invasion. After the British and French forces invaded Beijing，and looted the Summer Palace in the tenth year of the Xianfeng，the Summer Palace was no longer used as an administrative center.

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Who was the Founder of Qing Learning?: The Rise of Textual Criticism from the Late Ming to the Early Qing Based on Yan Ruoqu’s View of Qian Qianyi

ZHANG Xun

2017, 0(4): 59-73.

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Due to the influence of the eighteenth?century view juxtapose scholars of the Confucian classics against scholars of literature，there has been a tendency to view textual criticism as a matter of Confucian scholarship and to seek its origin the in late Ming Neo Confucianism. For this reason the tradition in the literary world has been overlooked. In fact，textual criticism was not at all belittled in literary world and Yan Ruoqu had a high regard for Qian Qianyi as a past master of the practice. A prominent characteristic of Qing textual criticism was the tendency to emphasize “cultivation of the arts” over “seeking the way. ” In other words，the Confucianists were closer to seeking the way and the literati gave greater importance to cultivating the arts. In this way，the conventions of late Ming and early Qing literati probably had more influence than Confucianists on the essential academic character of textual criticism.

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The Academic Background and Exchange of the Spring and Autumn’s Astronomy by Wang Tao

LUO Junfeng

2017, 0(4): 74-83.

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During the period from 1849—1862，when Wang Tao worked at Shanghai Mohai Publishing House，he first knew and started to learn Western astronomy under the influence of two English sinologists，Joseph Edkins and Alexander Wylie. He often discussed Chinese and Western astronomy with his friend，the mathematician Li Shanlan. From 1867 to 1870，when he was in Ireland，Wang exchanged ideas with John Chalmers，an English missionary and pointed out the mistakes of the latter’ s view about ancient Chinese astronomy. John Chalmers was astonished but highly praised Wang’ s achievement in Chinese astronomy. Wang Tao’s research on Chunqiu period astronomy took advantage of Western astronomy as well as the Chinese traditional astronomy. He corrected the astronomical knowledge of Chunqiu period，revealed the complicated system of astronomy in Chunqiu period and eruditely explained ancient Chinese astronomy. Wang Tao’s ideas about Chinese astronomy and its meanings greatly influenced James Legge’ s translation of The Spring and Autumn Annals，one of the great Chinese Classics.

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A “Metaphor” of Charity: Preliminary Study of the Sinza Refuge in the Late Qing Dynasty

LIN Qiuyun

2017, 0(4): 84-98.

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The Sinza Refuge was established under the suggestion of Chen Fuxun，the first magistrate of the Mixed Court of Shanghai. Previous research has mostly regarded this institution as a charitable organization without noticing the tight link between the Sinza Refuge and the Mixed Court. At first，the Sinza Refuge was used as a settlement for poor Chinese，which made it no different than other refuges. However，because it was located in the International Settlement，and mainly depended on the Qing government and the Mixed Court for its expenditures，the Sinza Refuge became an institution that accepted all kinds of personnel sent by the Mixed Court，including helpless people and criminals. In order to save them from the abuses of official matchmakers and Shan?tang，the Sinza Refuge built rooms for the women who were involved in lawsuits. During the fight over the power to hold women prisoners between the Mixed Court and the Municipal Council，the women’s refuge was changed into a women’s prison. At the same time，some of the adult male criminals who were imprisoned in the western prison were imprisoned in the Sinza Refuge. These factors contributed to the Sinza Refuge not only playing the role of a charitable organization，but also that of a prison.

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Professional Runners: Local Constables in Ba County after Mid?Qing

YAN Xinyu

2017, 0(4): 99-112.

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In Ba County after the mid?Qing，individuals had to sign a contract and pay an “installation fee” (dingshouyin) to obtain local constable’s position，which could be sold，rented or even jointly assumed. Such an unusual phenomena resulted from the fact that the local constable was responsible for the corvee duties of all the yamen in the city and the advance payment of miscellaneous military supplies. Because of his contribution，the local constable was entitled to collect customary fees from the shopkeepers，and anyone took over the position also had to pay an “ installation fee. ” The post of local constable was so lucrative that people flocked to it，making it a profession that closely resembled the runners and clerks of the yamen. In practice，ties amont factions and long?term incumbency were often found in the local constable’ s position. Although the gentry joined the management of municipal affairs in later periods and took command of the community administration，the rights and interests of the local constable was hardly been impaired before the end of the Qing dynasty.

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