Manchu

 

(măn'chū) , people who lived in Manchuria for many centuries and who ruled China from 1644 until 1912. These people, related to the Tungus, were descended from the Jurchen, a tribe known in Asia since the 7th cent. They were first called Manchu in the early 17th cent. Originally pastoral nomads in Manchuria, the Manchu (or Jurchen) swept into N China in the early 12th cent. but were forced by the Mongols to withdraw in the mid-13th cent. The Manchu settled in the Songhua River valley and developed an agrarian civilization. Under the emperor Nurhaci (1559–1626) they secured the allegiance of many tribes and increased their territory. The Manchu claim of relation to the Ch'in dynasty of China was the justification for conquering China in the 17th cent. and establishing the Ch'ing dynasty. The Manchu tried to keep themselves from being absorbed by the Chinese, but when the dynasty was overthrown in the 20th cent. these efforts failed; gradually, they have become part of the general Chinese population.

Manchu (Manju, Man) 满族
Total population
approx. 10.68 million (2000) [1]
Regions with significant populations
China (Heilongjiang · Jilin · Liaoning) There may also be members in North Korea and Siberia
Language(s)
Manchu (historical), Mandarin Chinese
Religion(s)
Shamanism
Related ethnic groups
Xibe, other Tungusic peoples

The Manchu people (Manchu: Manju; simplified Chinese: 满族; traditional Chinese: 滿族; pinyin: Mǎnzú, Mongolian: Манж) are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria (today's Northeastern China). During their rise in the seventeenth century, they conquered the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until its abolition in 1912 after the Xinhai Revolution, and which established a republican government in its place.

The Manchu ethnicity have largely been assimilated with the Han Chinese. The Manchu language is almost extinct, now spoken only among a small number of elderly in remote rural areas of northeastern China and a few scholars; there are around ten thousand speakers of Sibe (Xibo), a Manchu dialect spoken in the Ili region of Xinjiang. In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in Manchu culture among both ethnic Manchus and Han. The number of Chinese today with some Manchu ancestry is quite large, and the adoption of favorable policies towards ethnic minorities (such as preferential university admission and government employment opportunities) has encouraged some people with mixed-Han and Manchu ancestry to re-identify themselves as Manchu.

Much of the recent scholarship in ethnic identity emphasizes the degree to which ethnic categories are not static, objective ones, but rather fluid, subjective ones. This applies to the notion of a Manchu ethnicity which much of the recent scholarship suggests was strengthened in the early 19th century to distinguish members of the Qing military elites from the peoples they ruled. ^[1]

Culture

Aspects of Manchu customs and traditions can be seen in local cuisines, language and customs in today's Manchuria as well as cities in that region. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Manchus also adopted many Han customs and traditions.

Their traditional clothing (including qi pao and ma gua, Mandarin dress) is still popular all over China. The man's clothing once consisted of a short and adjusted jacket over a long gown with a belt at the waist to facilitate horse-riding and hunting.

The women once coiled their hair in high tufts on top of their heads and wore earrings, long gowns and embroidered shoes. The women with higher social standing wore silk and satin clothing while cotton clothing was worn by women of lower social standing. Unlike the Han, the Manchu did not practice foot binding.

The traditional Manchu dwellings were made up of three quarters. In the center of the house was the kitchen while the wings contained the dormitory and the living room. The unique Manchu tradition did not allow people to die on nahan to the west or north. Believing that doors were made for living souls, the Manchus allowed dead bodies to be taken out only through windows. Ground burial was the general practice.

Origins

Ancestors of the Manchu were the peoples of the Mongolian steppes. The first ancestors of the Manchu were the Sushen, a people who lived during the second and first millennia BC. They were followed by the Yilou people, who were active during 202 to 220 AD. The Wuji followed in the fifth century and the tribes of the Mohe in the sixth century. One of the tribes of the Mohe, the Heishui (Black Water) tribe, eventually became the ancestors of the Jurchens.^[2] The Manchus were related to the Jurchens, who had conquered a vast area in northeastern Asia in the twelfth century and established the Jin Dynasty (literally Golden Dynasty) under the Wanyan clan that ruled over northern half of China and rivaled the Song Dynasty in southern part of China until being conquered and destroyed by the Mongols under Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan’s descendants eventually established the Yuan Dynasty, ruling all of China and was followed by the Ming Dynasty in the historiography of Chinese history. Nurhaci's son Hong Taiji decided the Jurchens would call themselves Manju (Manchus) and prohibited the use of the name Jurchen.

The Manchu language is a member of the Tungusic language group, itself a member of the proposed Altaic language family.

The early significance of Manchu has not been established satisfactorily, although it seems that it may have been an old term for the Jianzhou Jurchens. One theory claims that the name came from the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (the Bodhisattva of Wisdom), of which Nurhaci claimed to be an incarnation. Another theory is that the Manchus, like a number of other Tungusic peoples, take their name from the common Tungusic word *mangu(n), 'a great river'. Before the seventeenth century, the ancestors of the Manchus were generally a pastoral people, hunting, fishing and engaging in limited agriculture and pig-farming.

Politically, Prime Yellow Banner was of great importance as the ruling Aisin Gioro (Chinese Aixin Jueluo) were Prime Yellow Banners. Because of the exalted place in Manchu spirituality held by the Moon Goddess, the White Banner held a very special significance and membership to it was often related to matters of religion. A woman born to the White Banner was presumed to be spiritually gifted. Shamans or those of shamanic potential were required to be white banner--either by birth or by adoption to white banner earned through rigorous tests for spiritual ability. Once ordained, the Manchu shaman was considered a holy vessel of great wisdom with the female shamans considered of greater spiritual power compared to their male counterparts.

Plaque at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, in both Chinese (left) and Manchu (right).

Founding of the Qing Dynasty

In 1616 a Manchu leader, Nurhaci (1559-1626) broke away from the power of the decaying Ming Dynasty and established the Later Jin Dynasty (後金 Hòu Jīn) / Amaga Aisin Gurun (), domestically called the State of Manchu (manju gurun) (), and unified Manchu tribes, establishing (or at least expanding) the Manchu Banner system, a military structure which made their forces quite resilient in the face of superior Ming Dynasty numbers in the field. In 1636 Nurhaci's son Hong Taiji, reorganized the Manchus including Mongolians, Koreans and Hans who joined them, changed the nation's name to Qing, and formally changed the name of the nationality to Manchu.

Nurhaci later conquered the Mukden (modern-day Shenyang) area and built it into a new capital of Qing Empire in 1621. When Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's peasant rebels in 1644, the Qing Dynasty collaborated with Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui and invaded Li Zicheng's Shun Dynasty and moved the capital from Mukden (Walled city since the Warring States Period) to Beijing.

For political purposes, the early Manchurian emperors took wives descended from the Mongol Great Khans, so that their descendants (such as the Kangxi Emperor) would also be seen as legitimate heirs of the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu government made efforts to preserve Manchu culture and the language. These efforts were largely unsuccessful in that Manchus gradually adopted the customs and language of the surrounding Han Chinese and, by the nineteenth century, spoken Manchu was rarely used even in the Imperial court. Written Manchu, however, was still used for the keeping of records and communication between the emperor and the Banner officials until the collapse of the dynasty. The Qing dynasty also maintained a system of dual appointments in which all major imperial offices would have a Manchu and a Han Chinese member. Because of the small number of Manchus, this insured that a large fraction of them would be government officials.

Near the end of the Qing Dynasty, Manchus were portrayed as outside colonizers by Chinese nationalists such as Sun Yat-Sen, even though the Republican revolution he brought about was supported by many reform-minded Manchu officials and military officers. This portrayal quickly dissipated after the 1911 revolution as the new Republic of China now sought to include Manchus within its national identity.

Manchukuo

In 1931, the Empire of Japan created a puppet state in Manchuria called Manchukuo. The new state was nominally ruled by Emperor Puyi. By this time the population of Manchuria was overwhelmingly Han Chinese, and though Manchukuo was intended to be a state for Manchus, the way its borders were drawn produced a state that had a majority Han population. Manchukuo was abolished at the end of World War II, with its territory incorporated back into China.

Autonomous Areas designated for Manchus

Province (or equivalent)	prefecture-level city	Name	Chinese	pinyin	Designated minority	Local name	Capital
Hebei	Chengde	Fengning Manchu Autonomous County	豊寧滿族自治縣 (T) 丰宁满族自治县 (S)	Fēngníng Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn	Manchu	Fengning Manju Zijysiyan	Daming
		Kuancheng Manchu Autonomous County	寛城滿族自治縣 (T) 宽城满族自治县 (S)	Kuānchéng Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn		Kuwanceng Manju Zijysiyan	Kuancheng
		Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County	青龍滿族自治縣 (T) 青龙满族自治县 (S)	Qīnglóng Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn		Cinglung Manju Zijysiyan	Qinglong
	Qinhuangdao	Weichang Manchu and Mongol Autonomous County	圍場滿族蒙古族自治縣 (T) 围场满族蒙古族自治县 (S)	Wéichǎng Mǎnzú Měnggǔzú Zìzhìxiàn	Manchu and Mongol	?	Waichang Town
Jilin	Siping	Yitong Manchu Autonomous County	伊通滿族自治縣 (T) 伊通满族自治县 (S)	Yītōng Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn	Manchu	?	Yitong Town
Liaoning	Fushun	Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County	新賓滿族自治縣 (T) 新宾满族自治县 (S)	Xīnbīn Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn		?	Xinbin Town
		Qingyuan Manchu Autonomous County	清原滿族自治縣 (T) 清原满族自治县 (S)	Qīngyuán Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn		?	Qingyuan Town
	Benxi	Benxi Manchu Autonomous County	本溪滿族自治縣 (T) 本溪满族自治县 (S)	Běnxī Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn		?	Xiaoshi Town
		Huanren Manchu Autonomous County	桓仁滿族自治縣 (T) 桓仁满族自治县 (S)	Huánrén Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn		Huwanren Manju Zijysiyan	Huanren Town
	Anshan	Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County	岫岩滿族自治縣 (T) 岫岩满族自治县 (S)	Xiùyán Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn			Xiuyan Town
	Dandong	Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County	寛甸滿族自治縣 (T) 宽甸满族自治县 (S)	Kuāndiàn Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn		Kuwandiyan Manju Zijysiyan	Kuandian Town

See also

• Anti-Manchuism
• Ethnic groups in Chinese history
• Kawashima Yoshiko
• List of Manchu clans
• Manchu language
• 9th Infantry Regiment
• War crimes in Manchukuo
• Fu Manchu, a fictional character of Manchu ancestry
• Pamela Kyle Crossley, author of many scholarly and some popular works on Manchus and Manchu history

Famous Manchu

• Nalan Xingde - Famous poet.
• Na Ying - Pop Star.
• Zhao Junzhe - Football player.
• Lang Lang - Pianist.
• Pu Yi - Last Emperor of Qing Dynasty and Emperor of Manchukuo.
• Lang Ping - Ex-Volleyball player, now coaching USA Women's Volleyball National Team.
• Lao She - writer.
• Qigong - Calligrapher

External links

• [2]
• Qiren.cn (Simplified Chinese)
• Manchu of China Ethnic People Profile

Notes

Ethnic groups in China  as classified by the People's Republic of China

Achang · Bai · Blang · Bonan · Buyei · Dai · Daur · De'ang · Derung · Dong · Dongxiang · Evenk · Gaoshan · Gelao · Han · Hani · Hezhen · Hui · Jing · Jingpo · Jino · Kazakh · Kirgiz · Korean · Lahu · Lhoba · Li · Lisu · Manchu · Maonan · Miao · Monba · Mongol · Mulao · Nakhi · Nu · Oroqen · Pumi · Qiang · Russian · Salar · She · Shui · Tajik · Tatar · Tibetan · Tu · Tujia · Uyghur · Uzbek · Va · Xibe · Yao · Yi · Yugur · Zhuang   ·   Undistinguished ethnic groups

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