Manchu-language Historiography and State Theory in the Seventeenth-century Globe
During the mid-seventeenth century, the Manchu Qing State grew from an indigenous polity in Manchuria into a superpower in global politics. During this process, the court embarked on an ambitious project: compiling a comprehensive history in the Manchu language, followed by translations into Mongolian and Chinese. Out of this vision, by the 1650s, the Qing court had not only translated a vast portion of the Ming Veritable Records into Manchu but also completed the first draft of the Ming history in Manchu, titled Ming gurun i suduri. Unfortunately, all these intellectual outputs fell into oblivion beginning in the early eighteenth century and remain largely, if not entirely, unknown to the scholarly community today. Drawing on a wide range of previously untapped manuscripts in Manchu and Mongolian, this talk uncovers the Qing historiographical project of the mid-seventeenth century. As I will argue, this exploration offers unique insight into how the Qing court conceptualized homeland, statehood, and inter-polity relations. Ultimately, it invites us to reconsider the intellectual horizons of the global seventeenth century.
Date: 26 May 2025, 15:00
Venue: All Souls College, High Street OX1 4AL
Venue Details: Hovenden Room
Speaker: Shoufu Yin (University of British Columbia)
Organiser: Ross Moncrieff (All Souls)
Organiser contact email address: ross.moncrieff@all-souls.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Oxford Seminar in Global Intellectual History
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Ross Moncrieff