''Researches on Manchu Origins'', also known as ''Manzhou Yuanliu Kao'', is an important history book published by the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...
government in 1777. The
Qianlong Emperor 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 as a ''
wu'', or
martial race
Martial race was a designation which was created by army officials in British India after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in which they classified each caste as belonging to one of two categories, the 'martial' caste and the 'non-martial' caste. ...
.
It consists of 4 parts: Manchu tribes, territory, topography (mountains and rivers), and culture.
Pamela Kyle Crossley 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 words found in the
History of Jin in Chapter 135, using the
Manchu language
Manchu (Manchu:, ) is a critically endangered East Asian Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China.
As the traditional native language of the Manchus, it was one of the official languages of the Qin ...
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
Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificat ...
,
Samhan,
Baekje
Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla.
Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...
,
Silla
Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms ...
, Sushen,
Balhae
Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It ...
,
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.
References
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External links
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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