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Academic discussion of traditional zinc-smelting technology in China has been hampered by a paucity of physical data recovered from early production sites. In recent years, however, the discovery of former zinc-smelting sites in the municipality of Chongqing in south-western China has provided important evidence from archaeological excavations that contribute to the study of this topic. Taking the smelting furnace found at the Linjiangerdui site in Zhong County as an example, this paper introduces and discusses the form, use and maintenance of the zinc-smelting furnace of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368–1644), and makes a preliminary comparison with the smelting furnaces dating to the Qing Dynasty (AD 1636–1912) unearthed in Shizhu County and the mountainous Hunan Province in an attempt to elucidate the development and evolution of ancient Chinese zinc-smelting technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how an artisan community in Canton adapted European clock-making technology to the making of automata in a Chinese aesthetic style. Moreover, it positions a unique automaton from the National Museum of Denmark in relation to a Chinese story and connected drinking game. Approaching the mechanical tableau as continuously in the process of being cocreated across social and global boundaries, it points to how new technology impacted ways of trading in the international community in Canton. When the elites in Canton set the mechanical tableau drumming, chiming, and spinning; gulped their wine, and passed each other flowering branches, they cocreated and performed a social ritual that traversed boundaries. Ultimately, a close reading of the sculpture reveals an often invisible aspect of international trade: that negotiations could rely on play as much as power, capital, and influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Decoration with feathers is a universal phenomenon in human history. Objects decorated with feathers were regarded as fine artworks and hence were enormously prized. In ancient China, dotting a surface with blue kingfisher feathers was a famous, complex and delicate decoration technique called diancui. Although various ancient diancui artworks appear in many museums around the world and researchers have realized significant results in studies of the history, technique and conservation of diancui, some key historical details are still not clear. In this research performed during restoration, an important object from the Palace Museum, the "Feather Decoration Hanging Screen with Birds and Flowers Pattern", was analyzed by various scientific technologies. This object is a Chinese imperial artwork of the Qing dynasty (seventeenth to eighteenth century) decorated with kingfisher feathers and the feathers of several other birds, and it represents the highest level of this period. As a typical and valuable case, the results provide important clues for solving questions arising from related academic fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embroidered bands on the edges of the sleeves of women's garments were fashionable in China during the late 19th century. They adorned Manchu and Han ladies' garments with colourful landscapes, flowers and birds, figural scenes and auspicious symbols that expressed wishes for long life, many male offspring, and an advance in social position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the Qing dynasty, we investigate the long‐run impact of early development on today's living standards in China. We use city‐level population density in 1776 as a measure of early economic prosperity, and examine how it is associated with today's development indicators such as the average night light density, GDP per capita, average years of schooling, and trade openness. We find that cities which were more prosperous during the Qing dynasty are now also brighter, richer, more educated, and more open. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the nineteenth-century late Qing dynasty reform to China's endeavor to construct a twenty-first-century knowledge economy, intellectual property has frequently stuck out as a core agenda of China-foreign diplomatic and trading relations. Such a history is usually interpreted from two perspectives: one is an 'infringement perspective' in which China is understood as a notorious infringer of foreign intellectual property; the other is a 'transplant perspective' which argues that China's modern intellectual property laws emerge and progress as the consequence of foreign pressure. Both interpretations intend to hold that China's passive role in modern intellectual property law making is ultimately cultural - that is, the notion of intellectual property is alien to Chinese culture. This paper takes a completely different cultural perspective. Through micro-level historical details, it addresses the following fundamental question - was the authentic Chinese culture present or accessible by the Westerners (as well as many Chinese) in that part of history? In a broader context, it further addresses another crucial question - if the authentic Chinese culture is yet to be presented or accessible, shouldn't (legal) orientalism be regarded as a consequence of cultural unawareness rather than cultural prejudice?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on the methodology of research on recycled clothing. Two Chinese Dragon Robes from the collection of the Náprstek Museum were remade as a men's jacket and a woman's evening dress. Both examples are described, analysed and interpreted from two points of view: as authentic Dragon Robes in its original Imperial China setting, as well as newly made clothes in the context of the early 20th century Western culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dragon robes were worn by scholar--officials who were members of bureacracy of the Qing dynasty in China (1644--1911). The cut and design of the robes were uniform, but the embellishment and motifs including religious symbols were individual and personal. Dragon robes as a garment with high homogeneity and visibility is compared to the "organisational dress" worn by members of contemporary Western organisations. The meaning of both garments is found to be similar, especially as they convey social roles within the organisation and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines Qing imperial attention to the messianic "Miao kings" of China's 1795-7 Miao revolt -- how state agents defined and handled these native contenders, as well what the rendering implied for ideas of regional Miao people and Hunan "Miao Frontier" planning. As will be seen, the Miao King Shi Sanbao, and Wu kings Wu Tianban and Wu Bayue, were consistently disparaged by governmental observers as false, deceptive, and crazed. This crafted image - shaped from reports, confessions, sentencing, punishment, pictures, and proclamations - served to clarify an imperial vision of rebel organization, specific challenges, and larger Miao "lunacy." The framed Qing response was accordingly oriented not just toward the ritualized correction of leaders, but also the segregation of their Miao (Hmong) followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the sixteenth to eighteenth century, China underwent a commercial revolution similar to the one in contemporaneous Europe. The rise of market did foster the rise of a nascent bourgeois and the concomitant rise of a liberal, populist version of Confucianism, which advocated a more decentralized and less authoritarian political system in the last few decades of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). But after the collapse of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing Empire (1644-1911) by the Manchu conquerors, the new rulers designated the late-Ming liberal ideologies as heretics, and they resurrected the most conservative form of Confucianism as the political orthodoxy. Under the principle of filial piety given by this orthodoxy, the whole empire was imagined as a fictitious family with the emperor as the grand patriarch and the civil bureaucrats and subjects as children or grandchildren. Under the highly centralized administrative and communicative apparatus of the Qing state, this ideology of the fictitious patrimonial state penetrated into the lowest level of the society. The subsequent paternalist, authoritarian, and moralizing politics of the Qing state contributed to China's nontransition to capitalism despite its advanced market economy, and helped explain the peculiar form and trajectory of China's popular contention in the eighteenth century. I also argue that this tradition of fictitious patrimonial politics continued to shape the state-making processes in twentieth-century China and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two masterpieces of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912 CE), one in gilded brass (incense burner) decorated with cloisonné enamels stylistically attributed to the end of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the other in gold (ewer offered by Napoleon III to the Empress as a birthday present), decorated with both cloisonné and painted enamels bearing the mark of the Qianlong Emperor, were non-invasively studied by optical microscopy, Raman microspectroscopy and X-ray microfluorescence spectroscopy (point measurements and mapping) implemented on-site with mobile instruments. The elemental compositions of the metal substrates and enamels are compared. XRF point measurements and mappings support the identification of the coloring phases and elements obtained by Raman microspectroscopy. Attention was paid to the white (opacifier), blue, yellow, green, and red areas. The demonstration of arsenic-based phases (e.g., lead arsenate apatite) in the blue areas of the ewer, free of manganese, proves the use of cobalt imported from Europe. The high level of potassium confirms the use of smalt as the cobalt source. On the other hand, the significant manganese level indicates the use of Asian cobalt ores for the enamels of the incense burner. The very limited use of the lead pyrochlore pigment (European Naples yellow recipes) in the yellow and soft green cloisonné enamels of the Kangxi incense burner, as well as the use of traditional Chinese recipes for other colors (white, turquoise, dark green, red), reinforces the pioneering character of this object in technical terms at the 17th–18th century turn. The low level of lead in the cloisonné enamels of the incense burner may also be related to the use of European recipes. On the contrary, the Qianlong ewer displays all the enameling techniques imported from Europe to obtain a painted decoration of exceptional quality with the use of complex lead pyrochlore pigments, with or without addition of zinc, as well as cassiterite opacifier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 9 to 11 August 2010, the Institute of Qing History of the Renmin University of China held the international symposium "Qing Politics and National Identity" in Beijing. Nearly 60 experts and scholars from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, the United States, Japan, Germany, and other countries addressed the issue of "New Qing History.” This shift in paradigm benefited from focused research on marginalization in political history, as well as input from social history and cultural history methodologies. The reaction to this influx of approaches and ideas also generated a counter-reaction to “return to old political history.” This core theme runs throughout the symposium. Scholars discussed such topics as the Qing state and national identity, the Qing political system, Qing bureaucracy and government administration, Qing political culture, and state control and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a study of the yellow riding jacket (magua) as a political tool and a symbol. The jackets were special items bestowed by Qing emperors; an example can be seen in "Illustrations of Qianlong’s Southern Tour." Previous scholars have criticized the yellow riding jacket as a non-Han costume. Focusing on the close relationship between politics and dress code, the author utilizes the study of the yellow riding jacket as a focus on Qing-dynasty political culture. The first section describes the origins of the yellow riding jacket, its typology, and imperial power. The second section discusses whether the jacket’s origin is Han or non-Han, and traces its evolution in the Qing dynasty.

Characteristics of Xinjiang Province, China, make it vulnerable to frequent natural hazards. Due to limited ability of the population to withstand and to recover from disasters, the region’s social and economic development is comparatively low. This article addresses the lack of research on this topic by gathering information from primary source documents from 1759 to 1911. The first part of the article provides an overview of disasters in Qing-dynasty Xinjiang. The second part of the article describes the types of relief provided by Qing government. The author concludes that the government paid a high level of attention to relief in the region.

After Ligdan Qayan of Caqar died in 1634, the Qing controlled the Mongols of the Southern Gobi Desert, but despite Qing efforts to obstruct them, the Qalq-a of the Northern Gobi Desert renewed trade with Ming for a time. The Ming purchased horses from the Qalq-a for their military, and the Ming court even wanted to use the Qalq-a to thwart the western advance of Qing troops. The Qing court employed military threats and economic enticements to stop Qalqa trade with the Ming and shift the trade to the Qing. Furthermore, in the name of the Tumed and Qarc in tribes, the Qing court controlled the markets between the Mongols and the Ming, not only fulfilling its own economic needs, but also controlling the Qalq-a. Under military threat from the Qing, the Ming court tacitly allowed the Qing to trade indirectly to avoid an attack on its northern border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of assistant magistrates in the villages and towns has increased greatly since the Yongzheng reign. This article first tries to define the administrative organization inferior to that of a county and then makes an analysis on the assistant magistrates in the villages and towns. It shows that some Tongzhi (subprefect of subprefecture), Tongpan and other officials are within this system and thus proves the types of officials of the administrative organization inferior to that of a county varying. Their functions can be divided into three types. The first is only responsible for safety of a village. The second is authorized to deal with small lawsuits. The third can even collect principal tax, a similar function to a county magistrate. The large increase of administrative organization inferior to a county enforces the control of local government over the grassroots' society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an introduction and description of the so-called Old Manchu Archives. The Manchu language was invented based on Mongolian scripts under the order of Nurhachi in 1599. By 1632, the script was revised under the order of the first Qing emperor Huang Taiji. The revised script is known as New Manchu script. Old Manchu documents written from that 33-year period were compiled during the Qianlong period and the collection is known as Old Manchu Archives. This article discusses different editions of the archives, the process of compiling the documents, content of the archives, physical characteristics of the documents, discussion of authenticity of various historical editions, overview of various modern editions, and a detailed discussion of the edition published by the China Number One Historical Archives.

The Qing rulers inherited a Ming tradition of sacrificing the former "sage rulers" after they entered into Beijing in 1644. The temple of former emperors of the successive dynasties had been constructed, and the list of "sage rulers" and their "famous ministers" to be offered sacrifices was regulated to serve the political need of the Qing dynasty. By many rounds of increasing and reconfiguring the former rulers and ministers, Qing rulers eventually built up a genealogy of sagely rulership that included many rulers of former dynasties established by minority ethnic groups in China's history. This final structure of temple sacrifices to former emperors had its multi-faceted meanings. The selection of "famous ministers" had set up moral models for the bureaucrats, and the "sage rulers," examples and critical sources for the later emperors. By enhancing its legitimacy through this tradition, Qing rulers fundamentally supported the political culture with a clear identity of Confucius orthodoxy and Chinese civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imperial tour was the great important official activity in the early Qing dynasty. In the time of Kangxi and Qianlong reigns, they frequently went north to the Mountain Resort in Chengde, and raised the hunting trips, besides there were the eastern tour (Mukden), southern tour (Jiangnan), and western tour (Wutai Mountain), these imperial tours continued until the early 19th century. By preparing these imperial tours, the emperors could patrol and observe the public sentiment, custom. In the same time, excellent literary, outstanding armed strength was advocated and rewarded. The emperors want to unfold the Manchu imperial authority, simultaneously to coordinate the relation between the central government and local governments, shaped models of Qing Dynasty’s unique disposition. Shanxi’s Wutai Mountain is located neat the Great Wall, where is the boundary between Mongolian and Chinese people. There were coexisting the Chinese and the Tibetan Buddhism, especially attracted the Mongolian to go to worship. Visited by the Qing emperors did push its historical status to the peak. Making Tibet inside the frontier was that the definition of Wutai Mountain by Emperor Jiaqing. After Emperor Jiaqing ascended to the throne, the Great Qing entered the post-Qianlong time. Emperor Jiaqing followed the regulations established during the Qianlong time, imperial touring was one of the tradition except southern tour. Emperor Jiaqing paid close attention to raise western tour in 1811. He prepared discretely for many years, however besides pecuniary embarrassment, as a result of the cognitive disparity between the emperor and the bureaucrat, his western tour differed from the previous, and the Qing had not conducted again. This study is about the Quing’s last western tour based on analyzing some archives, rare books holding in the National Palace Museum, especially the archives of Wutai Wei Dang. The Grand Secretariat Archives (collection of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica) is very useful. I also deliberate the Western tour magnificent ceremony of Jiaqing imperial edition to analyze its whole story, and demonstrate the religious factor was the special function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a bibliographical index of scholarly articles published during the year 2009 in Chinese academic journals on the subject of Chinese history during the Qing dynasty. The index is categorized by topics, which include: politics, military affairs, law, society, economics, frontier and borderland ethnic groups, foreign relations, culture and education, intellectual history, science and environmental studies, and individual historical figures.

The Great Qing Draft Civil Code, the first Chinese code of civil law, has been a topic of historical debate. Some historians believe that it was largely based on German law, while others see Japanese law as the original model. The article argues that the Japanese Meiji Constitution was the blueprint for the Qing Draft Civil Code, based on the following points: 1) After the Meiji Restoration took place, Japan’s economy improved significantly and many Qing scholars studied in Japan; 2) Japanese experts were invited to China during the drafting of the law; 3) The most frequently printed foreign legal document during the Qing dynasty was the Japanese Civil Code; 4) While the Qing Draft Civil Code had some stylistic similarities with German laws, this was due to Japan’s integration of some aspects of German Law at the end of the 19th century; and 5) Many Chinese legal terms can be traced to the Japanese language.

Aerbuba was a Tibetan who defected to the Qing regime and was given an official Qing noble title. He played an active role in Qing\Tibetian relations during the reign of the Kangxi and Yongzheng Emperors. In 1728, Aerbuba was captured by the Tibetan leader Poluoding, taken to the the Lhasa Bamari Mountains, and put to death by dismemberment. Much research has been conducted on the family ties shared between Aerbuba and Suonuomudaerzha, the father of the 7th Dalai Lama Kelsang Gyatso. Using mutiple sources, this article sets out to prove that Suonumuderzha was Aerbuba’s aunt’s husband, contrary to the common belief that Suonumuderzha was Aerbuba’s biological uncle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Hanjian,” or Traitor of Han, is a term used by the Chinese to describe traitors. The term has come under fire recently because of its ethnic connotations. Even though Han is the largest Chinese nationality, China also has many other ethnic groups. This article traces the historical origins and development of the word “Hanjian.” Initially, Hanjian was used only for Han defectors. During the downfall of the Qing dynasty, the word started to be used for people who collaborated with foreign enemy forces. During a period of “Foreign expulsion,” anyone who showed preference toward foreign things was labeled as “Hanjian.” The increased use of the word coincided with the wartime strife China faced after the Qing period. Defectors are a phenomenon closely associated with wars.

In the study of the Qing Dynasty we must begin with the political principle of national survival. In order to maintain long-term control, the state must employ all means to obtain political legitimacy and have people identify with the nation. The state must transform people's passive identification into active identification. The Qing Dynasty Rulers were oriented toward continuing the Ming Dynasty and all previous dynasties emperor's domination, The Qing Dynasty rulers took Confucianism as the official ideology and by approving Confucianism, won the Han people's favorable impression in return for the Han people obeyed the Qing rule, and realized the national identity. This national identity was embodied in honoring Confucianism and changing existing habits and customs. Orthodox ideas especially those represented by the Temple of Ancient Monarchs in Qing Dynasty actually contained, or bred, a new concept of a multinational country and also implied a reinterpretation of universal national sentiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We revisit the debate over the deliberate control of reproduction in historical China through a reanalysis of data from the Qing (1644–1911) Imperial Lineage that accounts for physiological or other differences between couples that affected their chances of having children. Even though studies of contemporary and historical European fertility suggest that failing to control for such differences may obscure evidence of parity-specific control, previous studies of historical Chinese fertility have not accounted for them. We show that in the Lineage, failure to account for such differences leads the association between the number of children already born and the chances of having another birth to appear to be positive, but that once they are accounted for properly, the relationship is inverted. Based on this, we conclude that lineage members adjusted their reproductive behavior based on the number of children. We also show that the sex composition and survival of previous births affected reproductive behavior. We conclude by suggesting that one way forward in the ongoing debate over fertility control in historical China is through application of such methods to other datasets and comparison of results. We also suggest that progress in the debate over fertility in historical China has been impeded by confusion over the definition of fertility control, so that some behaviors are recognized as fertility control by some parties in the debate but not others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a study of the corruption trial of Li Fengbao (1834-1887). He served as the Chinese diplomat in Germany from 1878 to 1884. Under the order of Chinese statesman Li Hongzhang, Li Fengbao was to commission military ships as well as weapons and armaments. But before Li Fengbao had returned to China, news of corruption charges had appeared. This event coincided with the termination of his post. The author contends that these two events were unrelated, and that the corruption case was not the cause of his termination. Drawing from primary sources such as archival information on Li Hongzhang, the author proposes other reasons for the termination.

This article concerns three different versions of the map of the Jinsha River, in China, in a set of historical atlases from the Qing dynasty published by the Chinese Academy of Science in 1997. The Jinsha River is part of the Yangtze River in the west of China. It originates in Qinghai Province and branches into Sichuan Province and the Mekong River. Historically, due to its rapid currents, the Jinsha River has not been suitable for transportation purposes. This changed in 1544, during the Jiaqing period in the Ming dynasty, when there were attempts to create a passage for a postal station and transportation of grains. By the time of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing dynasty, an upstream passage was finally established. However, due to piracy, the waterway was closed by the fourteenth year of Qianlong period (1749). The author analyzes this history in order to authenticate various versions of the map.

"Wuche Yunfu" is a bilingual dictionary of Chinese and English compiled by Robert Morrison and named after an early Qing exemplar. The Chinese legal terms contained the dictionary are from a pre-modern discourse system very familiar to the Chinese of the time. From his translation of legal terms in the major branches of Chinese law including criminal law, civil law, procedural law, basic law and feudal law, we can see that Morrison's translation was the first attempt to convey Chinese legal concepts to the English-speaking world. As such, it played quite an important role in communication between Chinese and Western legal cultures. Morrison's translation strategies and paradigms had an influence on the later compilation of bilingual dictionaries of Chinese and English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese emperor Yongzheng (r. 1722-35) had a passion for pictures and paintings. During his reign, he ordered much of his daily life to be recorded in paintings. This article analyzes three ceremonial paintings depicting offerings to the Xiannong Alter, that is, to the God of Agriculture. Yongzheng was well known for basing his ruling strategy on agriculture. The article describes the contents of these paintings and explains agricultural policy under Yongzheng. Timelines and political backgrounds are also explored. The article concludes that Yongzheng used agricultural policy and ceremonies to gain political power and reinforce his reign.

The Qing dynasty produced a large number of poems and other literary publications. These publications are kept in government and private collections. The Chinese National Library has the largest collection of original Qing literature, followed by the Shanghai Library, the Nanjing Library, and the Zhejiang Provincial Library. Japan’s Kyoto Library has the largest overseas Qing collection. Many of these items were hand copied. The article categorizes Qing literature into essays, poems, and verses, and summarizes the characteristics of each category, noting that the same poem could have different versions in different Qing publications, and that the different versions should be compared and studied.

The Qing Dynasty distinguished the Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet frontier ethnic areas from the foreign countries beyond it borders viewing them as two different categories of internal and external suzerains. The Qing Dynasty establishes the annual pilgrimage system for the internal suzerains and continued the previously established tributary system for the external suzerains. This was the essential difference between the two systems.

In Qing Dynasty a special household registration for salt merchants and their offspring was used in the Imperial Examination. However, this registration category also had other implications. This special status was a product of the "marriage of the salt industries and the Imperial Examination" and also the product of beneficial exchange between the salt merchants and the government. The Qing government set a special quota in many provinces. Because the salt merchants and their offspring could not return to their original home regions to participate in the Imperial Examination, it was a necessary condition for the special household registration. But, this provision was flexible in some cases, and it was not always employed. Thus, many examinees who did not meet this provision often took the special tests. Thus there were many instances of fraud due to these phenomena in the history of Imperial Examination in Qing Dynasty.  [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The system for educating emperors was comprised of three main forms, official expositions of the classics, daily lectures, and proposed imperial reading materials. The implementation of the proposed imperial reading materials lasted for twelve years during the Qianlong reign, and, with more than three hundreds officials involved, it cast a deep influence upon the political, economical, cultural and academic realms in the Qing Dynasty. The purpose of the proposed imperial reading materials lies not only in the education of the emperors but also in the assessment and differentiation of the officials. The content of these compilations also exhibited different features at different times. After the Qianlong reign Imperial Reading Materials (Yulan jingshi jiangyi) was fragmentary and contained many omissions.  [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I reconsider young Dai Zhen as outsider of Eighteenth-century China and provide a revisionist account for the dynamics of mid-Qing Confucianism. The first section, "Merchant and Examination", introduces the avenues of social mobility for Huizhou merchants in the system of elementary education and civil service examinations. Dai Zhen was cast as an outsider to this largely exclusive system and appeared to be incapable of succeeding in it. In the second section, "Overcoming Classical Literacy", I describe how Dai Zhen chose to pursue, against overwhelming odds, elites status and knowledge, and how he acquired classical literacy by his own efforts. In the third section, "Engaging Literati Sociability", I describe in detail the politics and sociability of Shi Jing (1693- 1769),who embodied a residual form of Ming Dynasty Donglin Activism. Here I will show how Dai Zhen attempted to take part in the unpredictable dynamics of sociability among members of the national elite. In the forth and final section, "Technical Methodology for Classical Studies",I identify the intellectual proposal that emerged from Dai Zhen's engagement with Shi Jing. The proposal, embodied in this epistolary document, proves to be the key for understanding what had propelled Dai Zhen to this point in 1750 and what he would continue pursue afterwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the reasons why the Board of Punishment, as the judicial and legal center "Under Heaven," adjudicated numerous minor cases during the Qing Dynasty. The Board of Punishment adjudicated minor cases because of the special jurisdiction over bannermen, especially the imperial clansman and because of the inherent contradiction of the juridical system in the Capital. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, because of the special jurisdiction over bannermen, the Imperial Household Department and the Eight Banners had to send cases involving both bannermen and civilians to the Board of Punishment. Censors of the Five Wards also had to send cases involving only bannermen to the Board. Since the mid-Qing, cases involving imperial clansmen, regardless of their possible punishments, had to be co-adjudicated by both the Imperial Clan Court and either the Board of Revenue or the Board of Punishment. There was not "a system of adjudicating, transmitting, and confirming level by level" in the Capital, and each yamen did not offer recommended punishments when they sent cases to the Board of Punishment. Therefore, the Board adjudicated numerous minor cases in order to avoid delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Rules for Civil Litigation" (Zhuangshi Tiaoli) were the most important set of rules for local litigation in the Qing Dynasty. These rules, which had been printed on petition forms, were meant to control the procedures by which litigants filed complaints. The Qing Code was positive law mainly regarding crime and punishment, and litigation rules based on tradition and government's interests were not part of the Code. The rules were the most significant laws on litigation at the local level and were mostly uniform across Qing China. The Rules for Civil Litigation focused on limiting behavior of litigants before the yamen heard cases. Although The Rules for Civil Litigation contained important procedural rules, it actually served to facilitate acceptance of petitions and was aimed at keeping judicial order in the empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how petitions from the Ryukyu kingdom to the Chinese Qing dynasty led to the withdrawal of the French presence in Ryukyu. A French missionary, Father Forcade, had been in Ryukyu since 1844. Ryukyu petitioned its suzerain for assistance in removing the French. Chinese emperor Daoguang ordered his senior official, Qiying, to negotiate with the French ambassador to China, Marie Melchior Joseph Theodore de Lagrene. Lagrene agreed to France's withdrawal from Ryukyu for fear of worsening Sino-French relations. In 1846, a French fleet under the command of Admiral Jean-Baptiste Cecille and including the ship "Sabine" assembled off Ryukyu. Cecille demanded Ryukyu enter into a treaty of commerce with France, only to receive communication from Lagrene that there was no support from the French homeland. The French had no choice but to leave Ryukyu.

Within the massive collection of the newly published "Collected Anthologies of Qing Poems and Other Writings," one can discern the characteristics of the early, middle, and late Qing periods. Reflective of progressive thinking in the late Qing period are a set of writings by Gong Zhizhen (1792 to 1841) and Wei Yuan (1794 to 1857). The inclusion of their writings is an opportunity to understanding the politics, economics, military, and intellectual culture of their times. The first part of the article describes social transformations after the high Qing period of the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors. The second part describes Gong Zhizhen as a thinker in more detail. The third part describes Wei Yuan’s interest in Western knowledge. The fourth part discusses the position these two held in Qing dynasty.

This article is an overview of Russian missions to China. Between 1715 and 1917, there were eighteen Russian Orthodox missionaries dispatched to Beijing; seven of these were accompanied by security officers. On the surface, these officers served as escorts; in fact, they were sent as covert diplomatic agents by the Russian empire. During their stay in Beijing, they collected intelligence in order to provide information that would help determine Russian foreign policy. The first part of the article is a brief history of these missions. The second part of the article describes official duties. The third part describes missionaries backgrounds as well educational achievements. Upon their return to Russia, many served as China experts and held important posts.

From the standpoint of intellectual history, the shift from the mainstream Cheng-Zhu Confucianism to New Texts Confucianism was significant. Zhuang Cunyu, Liu Fenglu and Song Xiangfeng believed in the New Texts, but did not object to Cheng-Zhu Confucianism. Gong Zizhen and Wei Yuan were advocates of Statecraft, but, though not satisfied with Cheng-Zhu Confucianism, though they did not oppose it. Dai Wang, Wang Kaiyun and Liao Ping clearly supported Cheng-Zhu Confucianism. Kang Youwei's scholarship diverged from Cheng-Zhu Confucianism. Kang annotated the Four Books based on the Western learning in oferd to develop and improve Cheng-Zhu Confucianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the adverse views of the tribute system that some scholars have advanced, this essay examines the original purpose of the tribute system at the time when the Qing dynasty was building political relationships with foreign countries. The Qing dynasty instituted the tribute system with the obvious intention of seeking her own security and stability in border areas. Compared with the Ming dynasty, the Qing dynasty abandoned the political ideal of playing the role of "emperor of the whole world" overseas, as conceived by Ming Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang) and Ming Chengzu (Zhu Di). Instead, the Qing dynasty concentrated much more on its own stability and security in border areas when dealing with foreign affairs. The tribute system of the Qing dynasty emphasized the frontier defense system. Reflecting their political interests, the Qing rulers preferred institutional arrangements for tributary affairs, the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Colonial Affairs (Lifan Yuan), took charge of neighboring countries' tributary affairs. To a certain extent, these arrangements were relevant to different national characteristics, and this reflected the relevance and flexibility of the Qing dynasty in dealing with foreign affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was originally written as the preface of "Zhongguo huangzheng shuji cheng" [Collection of Chinese Famine Relief Books] (Tianjin Guji Chubanshe 2010) and is slightly revised. The author makes a new definition for the "Famine Relief Books" by thoroughly examining the complete catalogue of the Famine Relief Books before the 20th century. The compilation and the evolution of Chinese Famine Relief Books is also systematically combed and may be taken as a reference for the historical study of Chinese famine relief policy and tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines mining management in Chenzhou and Guiyang prefectures in eastern Hunan, discussing the conflicts between government officials and merchants as well as provincial and prefectural officials over the rights to manage mines. The essay argues that the government's conception of trade was heavily influenced by ideas of "rent seeking" and it was this objective, rather than the development of the mines, which drove changes in government policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is part of a series of "Notes on Qing Political History" that discusses how Qing scholarship has been enriched by new social and cultural research methods, academic exchanges abroad, and cross-disciplinary research. This article is an introduction to the rise of technocrats in the Qing dynasty. Since the Manchus ruled as a minority, the success of Kangxi and Qianlong emperors was mainly due to the rise of technocrats. In the civil service examinations, potential officials were not evaluated based on their technical skills. However, lower-ranking officials -- the technocrats -- had practical knowledge to perform the government’s administrative functions in such areas as agriculture, food, famine relief, water works, transportation, and finance.

This is part of a series of "Notes on Qing Political History" that discusses how Qing scholarship has been enriched by new social and cultural research methods, academic exchanges abroad, and cross-disciplinary research. This article discusses how Qing emperors’ worship of heaven could be translated into principles of political rule. The author first identifies various moral and religious values that the Qing ruler would have of heaven based on sources related to the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors. In the second part, the author describes various principles that are based on such beliefs, such as a system of regulating farm and personal taxes; the degree of harsh punishments; the emphasis on agriculture; charity and humanitarian institutions; the cherishing of life; and the curbing of exorbitant administrative costs.

Cui Shu (1740-1816) was a renowned philologist in China during the during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods. However, not much of his scholarship has survived. His official career was deemed a failure and he was not personally acquainted with the well-known scholars of the so-called evidential studies (kaozheng) school or Han Learning movement of the time. This article examines Cui Shu’s achievements in cultural and textual scholarship. The first part of the article discusses Cui’s unique perspectives on the classics in history. The second part discusses the broader cultural environment where Cui could not establish himself, and the narrower environment where he found support from close friends and family. The third part is an analysis of Cui’s scholarship in relation to his predecessors and contemporaries.

This paper discusses the relationship between the human and the natural environment in the agricultural activities in the period of Qianlong Reign. In the first part,the author describes the natural environment and the nomadic cultural landscape before 1757, which is the basis to understand the agricultural development in the following time. In the second part, the author studies how the farming people from the inner land of China understood this piece of land, how the farming activities began, and how the cultivation technology imported from the inner land had to be changed according to the local natural conditions. In the end, the author points out the main changes of the landscape were the appearance of a great number of agricultural settlements and large tracts of farmland in the oasis at the end of the Qianlong reign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the role of Daoists in Qing-period City God temples in the Jiangnan area. While other types of religious specialists and social groups were involved in the religious life of these temples, Daoists brought in their bureaucratic vision of religion in the way the cult was organized. They played a key role in operating the temple like a yamen, administering justice, and levying symbolical taxes on local families. Moreover, they did so by referring to their hierarchical superior, namely the Heavenly Master. The core of the article is devoted to the various ways in which the Daoists in the City God temples interacted with the administration of Heavenly Master (through canonizations, exchange of clerics, and judicial rituals). In conclusion, the author suggests that through the City God temples and their bureaucratic organization, the elite Daoists in Jiangnan participated to the construction of the imperial state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]