''Researches on Manchu Origins'', also known as ''Manzhou Yuanliu Kao'', is an important history book published by the
Qing Dynasty government in 1777. The
Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...
sponsored its compilation with the goal of legitimizing Qing rule, as well as identifying the Qing as a successor to the
Jin Dynasty (1115–1234). The Manzhou Yuanliu Kao also bolstered Qianlong's conception of the
Manchu people
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Q ...
as a ''
wu'', or
martial race.
It consists of 4 parts: Manchu tribes, territory, topography (mountains and rivers), and culture.
Pamela Kyle Crossley
Pamela K Crossley (born 18 November 1955) is a historian of modern China, northern Asia, and global history and is the Charles and Elfriede Collis Professor of History, Dartmouth College. She is a founding appointment of the Dartmouth Society of ...
analyses it as the apex of the Qing Dynasty's attempt at "documentary institutionalisation" of Manchu heritage and from it, Manchu ethnic identity. Researches on Manchu Origins contained a list of corrections of transcribed
Jurchen language
Jurchen language ( zh, t=女真語, p=Nǚzhēn yǔ) was the Tungusic language of the Jurchen people of eastern Manchuria, the rulers of the Jin dynasty in northern China of the 12th and 13th centuries. It is ancestral to the Manchu language. In ...
words found in the
History of Jin in Chapter 135, using the
Manchu language to correct them, in Chapter 18.
Contents
Manzhou Yuanliu Kao was compiled from the perspective of the Manchu ruling class, breaking away from the historical record of librarians by the Han Chinese-centered view. It is a document that shows the ethnicity that they have had since ancient times, from the
Jurchen tribe to the Manchu tribe. The lineages of Jurchen and Manchurians are continued in Buyeo,
Goryeo,
Samhan
Samhan, or Three Han, is the collective name of the Byeonhan, Jinhan, and Mahan confederacies that emerged in the first century BC during the Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea, or Samhan, period. Located in the central and southern regions of t ...
,
Baekje,
Silla, Sushen,
Balhae,
and Jurchen by era. This book reveals the cultural inferiority of the Manchus who destroyed the Ming Dynasty and established the Qing Dynasty. In order to establish their own tradition against the Han Chinese, they synthesized the history of Manchuria and claimed that all the peoples in it were their own history.
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{{Qing dynasty topics
18th-century history books
History of Manchu
Manchu culture
Manchu literature
Qing dynasty literature
Qianlong Emperor
Manchu studies