View source for Qing dynasty in Inner Asia

{{Short description|Historical territories of the Manchu-led Qing empire}}
[[File:Qing Dynasty 1820.png|thumb|The Qing Empire in 1820. The Inner Asian regions are shown in light yellow (different from the dark yellow area called [[China proper|Han Eighteen provinces).]]]]
[[File:大清帝国全图.png|thumb|Official map of the Qing Empire published by the Qing in 1905.]]

The '''Qing dynasty in Inner Asia''' was the expansion of the [[Qing dynasty]]'s realm in [[Inner Asia]] in the 17th and the 18th century AD, including both [[Inner Mongolia]] and [[Outer Mongolia]], both [[Manchuria]] ([[Northeast China]]) and [[Outer Manchuria]], [[Tibet]], [[Qinghai]] and [[Xinjiang]].

Wars were fought primarily against the [[Northern Yuan]] (before 1636) and the [[Dzungar Khanate]] (1687–1758). Even before the conquest of [[China proper]] (see [[Transition from Ming to Qing]]), the [[Manchu people|Manchus]] had established the [[Later Jin (1616–1636)|Later Jin dynasty]] that controlled [[Manchuria]] (modern [[Northeast China]] as well as [[Outer Manchuria]]) and Inner Mongolia, with the latter being previously controlled by the Northern Yuan under [[Ligdan Khan]].

After suppressing the [[Revolt of the Three Feudatories]] and the conquest of [[Taiwan under Qing rule|Taiwan]] as well as ending the [[Sino-Russian border conflicts]] in the 1680s, the [[Dzungar–Qing War]] broke out. This eventually led to Qing conquests of [[Mongolia under Qing rule|Outer Mongolia]], [[Tibet under Qing rule|Tibet]], Qinghai and [[Xinjiang under Qing rule|Xinjiang]]. All of them became part of the Qing Empire and were garrisoned by Qing forces, but they were governed through several different types of administrative structures<ref>The Cambridge History of China: Volume 10, Part 1, by John K. Fairbank, p37</ref> and also retained many of their existing institutions. Furthermore, they were not governed as regular provinces (until Xinjiang and Manchuria were turned into provinces during the late Qing period), but instead were supervised by the [[Lifan Yuan]], a Qing government agency that oversaw the empire's frontier regions.

==Manchuria==
[[File:Qing dynasty and Manchuria.jpg|thumb|Manchuria within the Qing dynasty in 1820]]
{{Main|Manchuria under Qing rule}}
The Qing dynasty was founded not by [[Han Chinese]], who form the majority of the Chinese population, but by a sedentary farming people known as the [[Manchu people|Jurchen]], a [[Tungusic peoples|Tungusic people]] who lived around the region now comprising the Chinese provinces of [[Jilin]] and [[Heilongjiang]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ebrey |first=Patricia Buckley |date=2010 |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of China |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-12433-1 |page=220}}</ref> What was to become the Manchu state was founded by [[Nurhaci]], the chieftain of a minor Jurchen tribe{{spaced ndash}}the [[Aisin Gioro]]{{spaced ndash}}in [[Jianzhou Jurchens|Jianzhou]] in the early 17th century. As a vassal of the Ming emperors who officially considered himself a guardian of the Ming border and a local representative of imperial power of the Ming dynasty,<ref>The Cambridge History of China: Volume 9, The Ch'ing Empire to 1800, Part 1, by Denis C. Twitchett, John K. Fairbank, p. 29</ref> Nurhaci embarked on an intertribal feud in 1582 that escalated into a campaign to [[Jurchen unification|unify the nearby tribes]]. By 1616, however, he had sufficiently consolidated Jianzhou so as to be able to proclaim himself [[Khan (title)|Khan]] of the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Great Jin]] in reference to the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|previous Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty]].{{sfnp|Ebrey|2010|pp=220–224}} Two years later, Nurhaci announced the "[[Seven Grievances]]" and openly renounced the sovereignty of Ming overlordship in order to complete the unification of those Jurchen tribes still allied with the Ming emperor. After a series of successful battles against both the Ming and various tribes in the area that became [[Outer Manchuria]], he and his son [[Hong Taiji]] eventually controlled the whole of Manchuria. However, during the [[Qing conquest of the Ming]] in the later decades, the [[Tsardom of Russia]] tried to gain the land north of the Amur River. This was eventually rebutted by the Qing in the 1680s, resulting in the [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] in 1689 which gave the land to China. During the mid-19th century, however, Outer Manchuria was eventually lost to the Russians during the [[Amur Annexation]] by the [[Russian Empire]].

[[File:Mukden palace Chongzheng Hall 01.jpg|thumb|Chongzheng Hall of [[Mukden Palace]]]]

Han Chinese were banned from settling in this region but the rule was openly violated and Han Chinese became a majority in urban areas by the early 19th century.

In 1668 during the reign of the [[Kangxi Emperor]], the Qing government further decreed a prohibition of non-[[Eight Banners|Eight Banner]] people getting into this area of their origin.

However Qing rule saw an massively increasing amount of Han Chinese both illegally and legally streaming into Manchuria and settling down to cultivate land as Manchu landlords desired Han Chinese peasants to rent on their land and grow grain, most Han Chinese migrants were not evicted as they went over the Great Wall and Willow Palisade, during the eighteenth century Han Chinese farmed 500,000 hectares of privately owned land in Manchuria and 203,583 hectares of lands which were part of courtiers' and nobles' estates, and Banner lands, in garrisons and towns in Manchuria Han Chinese made up 80% of the population.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=HQ5KbXYhEB8C&pg=PA141 Richards 2003], p. 141.</ref>

Han Chinese farmers were resettled from north China by the Qing to the area along the Liao River in order to restore the land to cultivation.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985584?seq=2 Reardon-Anderson 2000], p. 504.</ref> Wasteland was reclaimed by Han Chinese squatters in addition to other Han who rented land from Manchu landlords.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985584?seq=3 Reardon-Anderson 2000], p. 505.</ref> Despite officially prohibiting Han Chinese settlement on the Manchu and Mongol lands, by the 18th century the Qing decided to settle Han refugees from northern China who were suffering from famine, floods, and drought into Manchuria and Inner Mongolia so that Han Chinese farmed 500,000 hectares in Manchuria and tens of thousands of hectares in Inner Mongolia by the 1780s.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985584?seq=4 Reardon-Anderson 2000], p. 506.</ref> Qianlong allowed Han Chinese peasants suffering from drought to move into Manchuria despite him issuing edicts in favor of banning them from 1740 to 1776.<ref>[http://www.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/fileadmin/chinastudien/papers/No_1998-1.pdf Scharping 1998], p. 18.</ref> Chinese tenant farmers rented or even claimed title to land from the "imperial estates" and Manchu Bannerlands in the area.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985584?seq=5 Reardon-Anderson 2000], p. 507.</ref> Besides moving into the Liao area in southern Manchuria, the path linking [[Jinzhou]], [[Shenyang|Fengtian]], [[Tieling]], [[Changchun]], [[Hulunbuir|Hulun]], and [[Ningguta]] was settled by Han Chinese during the [[Qianlong Emperor]]'s reign, and Han Chinese were the majority in urban areas of Manchuria by 1800.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985584?seq=6 Reardon-Anderson 2000], p. 508.</ref> To increase the Imperial Treasury's revenue, the Qing sold formerly Manchu only lands along the Sungari to Han Chinese at the beginning of the [[Daoguang Emperor]]'s reign, and Han Chinese filled up most of Manchuria's towns by the 1840s according to Abbe Huc.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985584?seq=7 Reardon-Anderson 2000], p. 509.</ref>

==Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia==
[[File:Qing dynasty and Mongolia.jpg|thumb|Inner and Outer Mongolia within the Qing dynasty in 1820]]
{{Main|Mongolia under Qing rule}}
During the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, most regions inhabited by ethnic Mongols, notably Outer and Inner Mongolia became part of the Qing Empire. Even before the dynasty began to take control of [[China proper]] in 1644, the escapades of [[Ligden Khan]] had driven a number of Mongol tribes to ally with the [[Manchu]] state. The Manchus conquered a Mongol tribe in the process of war against the Ming. Nurhaci's early relations with the Mongols tribes was mainly an alliance.<ref>Marriage and inequality in Chinese society By Rubie Sharon Watson, Patricia Buckley Ebrey, p.177</ref>{{fcn|date=May 2023}}<ref>Tumen jalafun jecen akū: Manchu studies in honour of Giovanni Stary By Giovanni Stary, Alessandra Pozzi, Juha Antero Janhunen, Michael Weiers</ref> With Ligden's defeat and death his son [[Ejei Khan]] had to submit to the Manchus, and most of what is now Inner Mongolia was incorporated to the Qing. The three khans of Khalkha in Outer Mongolia had established close ties with the Qing dynasty since the reign of Hong Taiji, but had remained effectively self-governing. While Qing rulers had attempted to achieve control over this region, the [[Oirats]] to the west of Khalkha under the leadership of [[Galdan]] were also actively making such attempts. After the end of [[Revolt of the Three Feudatories|the war against the Three Feudatories]], the [[Kangxi Emperor]] was able to turn his attentions to this problem and tried diplomatic negotiations. But Galdan ended up with attacking the Khalkha lands, and Kangxi's responded by personally leading Eight Banner contingents with heavy guns into the field against Galdan's forces, eventually defeating the latter. In the meantime, Kangxi organized a [[congress]] of the rulers of Khalkha and Inner Mongolia in [[Duolun County|Duolun]] in 1691, at which the Khalkha khans formally declared allegiance to him. The war against Galdan essentially brought the Khalkhas to the empire, and the three khans of the Khalkha were formally inducted into the inner circles of the Qing [[aristocracy]] by 1694. Thus, by the end of the 17th century the Qing dynasty had put both Inner and Outer Mongolia under its control.

Han Chinese were officially forbidden to settle in Inner and Outer Mongolia. Mongols were forbidden from crossing into the Han Chinese 18 provinces (neidi) without permission and were given punishments if they did. Mongols were forbidden from crossing into another Mongol leagues. Han Chinese settlers violated the rule and crossed into and settled in Inner Mongolia.

Despite officially prohibiting Han Chinese settlement on the Manchu and Mongol lands, by the 18th century the Qing decided to settle Han refugees from northern China who were suffering from famine, floods, and drought into Manchuria and Inner Mongolia so that Han Chinese farmed 500,000 hectares in Manchuria and tens of thousands of hectares in Inner Mongolia by the 1780s.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=3985584|title=Land Use and Society in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia during the Qing Dynasty|last=Reardon-Anderson|first=James|date=Oct 2000|volume= 5|number=4|journal=Environmental History|page=506|publisher=Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History|doi=10.2307/3985584|s2cid=143541438}}</ref>

[[FIle:Green Palace Bogd Khan 149185398 076b7441aa b.jpg|thumb|Winter Palace of the [[Jebtsundamba]] in [[Ulaanbaatar|Urga]]]]

Ordinary Mongols were not allowed to travel outside their own leagues. Mongols were forbidden by the Qing from crossing the borders of their banners, even into other Mongol Banners and from crossing into neidi (the Han Chinese 18 provinces) and were given serious punishments if they did in order to keep the Mongols divided against each other to benefit the Qing.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fA7ADxUa6vUC&dq=Cross+league+borders+mongols&pg=PA41 Bulag 2012], p. 41.</ref>

During the eighteenth century, growing numbers of [[Han Chinese]] settlers had illegally begun to move into the Inner Mongolian steppe. By 1791 there had been so many Han Chinese settlers in the [[Qian Gorlos Mongol Autonomous County|Front Gorlos Banner]] that the jasak had petitioned the Qing government to legalize the status of the peasants who had already settled there.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of China |volume=10 |year=1978 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=356 }}</ref>

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==Tibet==
[[File:Qing dynasty and Tibet.jpg|thumb|Tibet within the Qing dynasty in 1820]]
{{Main|Tibet under Qing rule}}
[[Güshi Khan]], founder of the [[Khoshut Khanate]] overthrew the prince of [[Ü-Tsang|Tsang]] and made the [[5th Dalai Lama]] the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet,<ref>René Grousset, ''The Empire of the Steppes'', New Brunswick 1970, p. 522</ref> establishing the regime known as [[Ganden Phodrang]] in 1642. The [[Dzungar Khanate]] under [[Tsewang Rabtan]] invaded Tibet in 1717, deposed the pretender to the position of Dalai Lama of [[Lha-bzang Khan]], the last ruler of the Khoshut Khanate, and killed Lha-bzang Khan and his entire family. In response, [[Chinese expedition to Tibet (1720)|an expedition]] sent by the [[Kangxi Emperor]] of the Qing dynasty, together with Tibetan forces under [[Polhané Sönam Topgyé]] of Tsang and [[Khangchenné|Kangchennas]] (also spelled Gangchenney), the governor of Western Tibet,<ref name="Mullin290">Mullin 2001, p. 290</ref><ref name="Smith125">Smith 1997, p. 125</ref> expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720 as patrons of the Khoshut and liberators of Tibet from the Dzungars. This began the [[Tibet under Qing rule|Qing administrative rule of Tibet]], which lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, although the region retained a degree of political autonomy under the [[Dalai Lama]]s. The Qing emperors appointed imperial residents known as the [[Amban]]s to Tibet, who commanded over 2,000 troops stationed in [[Lhasa]] and reported to the Lifan Yuan.

The Qing stationed both Manchu Bannermen and Han Chinese [[Green Standard Army]] soldiers in Tibet. A community descended from Han Chinese soldiers and officials grew in Lhasa.

[[File:Lhasa gateway 1905.png|thumb|right|250px|Gateway to Lhasa (western gate), pictured here at the time of the 1904 [[British expedition to Tibet]]]]
At multiple places such as Lhasa, Batang, Dartsendo, Lhari, Chamdo, and Litang, Green Standard troops were garrisoned throughout the Dzungar war.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=K5pBedqHEtcC&dq=green+standard+army+lhasa&pg=PA30 Wang 2011], p. 30.</ref> [[Green Standard Army]] troops and Manchu Bannermen were both part of the Qing force who fought in Tibet in the war against the Dzungars.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&dq=green+standard+army+lhasa&pg=PA81 Dai 2009], p. 81.</ref> It was said that the Sichuan commander Yue Zhongqi (a descendant of [[Yue Fei]]) entered Lhasa first when the 2,000 Green Standard soldiers and 1,000 Manchu soldiers of the "Sichuan route" seized Lhasa.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DYHfVVAAf_kC&pg=PA82 Dai 2009], pp. 81-2.</ref> According to Mark C. Elliott, after 1728 the Qing used [[Green Standard Army]] troops to man the garrison in Lhasa rather than [[Eight Banners|Bannermen]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_qtgoTIAiKUC&dq=green+standard+army+lhasa&pg=PA412 Elliott 2001], p. 412.</ref> According to Evelyn S. Rawski both Green Standard Army and Bannermen made up the Qing garrison in Tibet.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=5iN5J9G76h0C&dq=green+standard+army+lhasa&pg=PA251 Rawski 1998], p. 251.</ref> According to Sabine Dabringhaus, Green Standard Chinese soldiers numbering more than 1,300 were stationed by the Qing in Tibet to support the 3,000 strong Tibetan army.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PIeOAwAAQBAJ&dq=green+standard+army+lhasa&pg=PA123 Dabringhaus 2014], p. 123.</ref>

In the mid 19th century, arriving with an Amban, a community of Chinese troops from Sichuan who married Tibetan women settled down in the Lubu neighborhood of Lhasa, where their descendants established a community and assimilated into Tibetan culture.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-d6PAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 Yeh 2009], p. 60.</ref> Hebalin was the location of where Chinese Muslim troops and their offspring lived, while Lubu was the place where Han Chinese troops and their offspring lived.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BdKRAQAAQBAJ&dq=lubu+chinese+lhasa&pg=PA283 Yeh 2013], p. 283.</ref>

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==Qinghai==
[[File:Qing dynasty and Qinghai.jpg|thumb|Qinghai within the Qing dynasty in 1820]]
From 1640 to 1724, a big part of the area that is now Qinghai was under the control of the [[Khoshut]] Mongols, who nominally acknowledged their allegiance to the Qing dynasty. However, after the Dzungar invasion which ended the [[Khoshut Khanate]] in Tibet and the subsequent Qing conquest of Tibet in 1720, the [[Upper Mongols]] led by the ruling prince Lubsan Danzan in Qinghai revolted against the Qing under the [[Yongzheng Emperor]] in 1723. Lubsan Danzan also made contact with the [[Dzungar Khanate]] in [[Xinjiang]] before the revolt. 200,000 Tibetans and Mongols in Qinghai attacked [[Xining]], although Central Tibet did not support the rebellion. In fact, [[Polhané Sönam Topgyé|Polhanas]] based in Central Tibet blocked the rebels' retreat from Qing retaliation.<ref name="Smith 1256">Smith 1997, pp. 125-6</ref> Chinese commanders such as [[Nian Gengyao]] were sent to suppress the revolt. Eventually the rebellion was brutally suppressed, which marked the onset of direct Qing rule in Qinghai. Lubsan Danzan fled to the Dzungar Khanate and was later captured by the Manchus in 1755 during the [[Qianlong Emperor]]'s campaigns to Xinjiang. Most of present-day Qinghai was put under the control of the Minister of Xining Handling Affairs (Chinese: 西寧辦事大臣, also known as the Xining [[Amban]]) located in Xining in 1724 by the Qing, although Xining itself was governed by the [[Gansu]] province during the period. This lasted until the end of the Qing dynasty.

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==Xinjiang==
[[File:Qing dynasty and Xinjiang.jpg|thumb|Xinjiang within the Qing dynasty in 1820]]
{{Main|Xinjiang under Qing rule}}
The area called [[Dzungaria]] in present-day Xinjiang was the base of the [[Dzungar Khanate]]. The Qing dynasty gained control over eastern Xinjiang as a result of a [[Ten Great Campaigns|long struggle with the Dzungars]] that began in the 17th century. In 1755, with the help of the Oirat noble [[Amursana]], the Qing attacked [[Yining City|Ghulja]] and captured the Dzungar khan. After Amursana's request to be declared Dzungar khan went unanswered, he led a revolt against the Qing. Over the next two years, Qing armies destroyed the remnants of the Dzungar khanate. The native [[Dzungar people|Dzungar Oirat Mongols]] suffered heavily from the brutal campaigns and a simultaneous [[smallpox]] epidemic. After the campaigns against the Dzungars in 1758, two [[Altishahr]] nobles, the [[Khoja (Turkestan)|Khoja]] brothers {{Interlanguage link multi|Burhān al-Dīn|zh|3=波羅尼都}} and {{Interlanguage link multi|Khwāja-i Jahān|zh|3=霍集占}}, started a revolt against the Qing Empire. However, it was crushed by the Qing forces by 1759, which marked the beginning of whole Xinjiang under Qing rule. The [[Kumul Khanate]] was incorporated into the Qing Empire as a semi-autonomous vassal within Xinjiang. The [[Qianlong Emperor]] compared his achievements with that of the [[Han dynasty|Han]] and [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] ventures into [[Central Asia]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA25 Millward 1998], p. 25.</ref> The Qing dynasty put the entire Xinjiang under the rule of the [[General of Ili]] who established a center of government at the fort of [[Huiyuan, Xinjiang|Huiyuan]] (the so-called "Manchu Kuldja", or Yili), {{convert|30|km|abbr=on}} west of [[Yining City|Ghulja]] (Yining). This brought the previously two separate regions, the Dzungaria in the north and the [[Tarim Basin]] (Altishahr) in the south under his rule as Xinjiang.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KTmO416hNQ8C&pg=PA1 Newby 2005], p. 1.</ref> The Qing's campaigns in Central Asia led to the latter calling for help from [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] of [[Afghanistan]]. The Qing forces and Afghan forces of the [[Durrani Empire]] sent troops to [[Kashgar]] and [[Kokand]] respectively in 1762 to be ready for a potential war, which eventually did not break out.<ref name="Newby">{{Cite book|author=L. J. Newby|title=The Empire And the Khanate: A Political History of Qing Relations With Khoqand C1760–1860|date=2005|isbn=978-9004145504|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTmO416hNQ8C|publisher=Brill}}.</ref>

[[Image:Vereshchagin-Ruins-of-the-Theater-in-Chuguchak.jpg|thumb|right|[[Tacheng]] (Chuguchak) was among the towns that suffered grievously during the fighting [[Dungan Revolt (1862–77)|insurrection of 1864]].]]

The Qing implemented two different policies for Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin. Han Chinese were encouraged by the Qing to permanently settle and colonize Dzungaria while permanent Han settlers were banned from the Tarim with only Han merchants and Han Green Standard Army soldiers stationed in rotating garrisons allowed in the Tarim Basin. The ban was lifted in the 1820s after the invasion of [[Jahangir Khoja]] and Han Chinese were allowed to permanently settle in the Tarim. During the weakening of the Qing dynasty in the mid-19th century, both Chinese Muslims ([[Hui people|Hui]]) and Turkic Muslims (now known as the [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]]) rebelled in Xinjiang cities, following on-going Chinese [[Dungan revolt (1862–1877)|Muslim Rebellion]]s in [[Gansu]] and [[Shaanxi]] provinces further east. In 1865, [[Yakub Beg of Yettishar|Yaqub Beg]], a warlord from the neighbouring [[Khanate of Kokand]], entered Xinjiang via Kashgar and established the state known as [[Yettishar]] which conquered nearly all of Xinjiang over the next six years.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/651324/Yakub-Beg Yakub Beg (Pamiri adventurer)]. [[Britannica Online Encyclopedia]].</ref> At the [[Battle of Ürümqi (1870)]] Yaqub Beg's Turkic forces, allied with a Han Chinese militia, attacked and besieged Chinese Muslim forces in Ürümqi. In 1871, the [[Russian Empire]] took advantage of the chaotic situation and seized the rich [[Ili River]] valley, including [[Yining City|Gulja]]. At the end of this period, forces loyal to the Qing held onto only a few strongholds, including [[Tacheng]]. Yaqub Beg's rule lasted until the Qing general [[Zuo Zongtang]] (also known as General Tso) [[Qing reconquest of Xinjiang|reconquered the region]] between 1876 and 1878. In 1881, the Qing recovered the Gulja region through diplomatic negotiations, via the [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881)]]. The Qing dynasty established Xinjiang ("new frontier") as a province in 1884, formally applying to it the political systems of the [[China proper]] and dropping the old names of Zhunbu (準部, Dzungar region) and Huijiang, "Muslimland."<ref>Tyler (2003), p. 61.</ref><ref>[http://www.lsqn.cn/ChinaHistory/qing/200703/110049_9.html 从“斌静案”看清代驻疆官员与新疆的稳定] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420074720/http://www.lsqn.cn/ChinaHistory/qing/200703/110049_9.html |date=April 20, 2016 }}</ref>

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== Identifying the Qing state with China ==
{{See also|Names of the Qing dynasty}}

[[File:Chengde summer palace writings.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Lizheng Gate (麗正門) in the [[Chengde Mountain Resort]]. Over the gate there is an inscription written in the scripts used in the Qing China: [[Mongolian script]] from the left, [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]] [[Uyghur Arabic script|Arabic script]], [[Traditional Chinese|Chinese]], [[Tibetan alphabet|Tibetan]], and [[Manchu alphabet|Manchu]].]]

The Qing identified their state as ''Zhongguo'' ("中國", lit. "central state", the term for "China" in [[Standard Chinese|modern Chinese]]), and referred to it as "Dulimbai Gurun" in [[Manchu language|Manchu]] and "China" in [[English language|English]]. The Qing equated the lands of the Qing state (including Manchuria, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and other areas under Qing control) as "China" in both the Chinese and Manchu languages, defining China as a multi-ethnic state. After the Qing conquered [[Xinjiang]] in 1759, they proclaimed that the new land was now absorbed into "China" (Dulimbai Gurun) in a Manchu language memorial.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6qFH-53_VnEC&dq=Dulimbai+gurun+land&pg=PA77 Dunnell 2004], p.&nbsp;77.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6qFH-53_VnEC&dq=Dulimbai+gurun&pg=PA83 Dunnell 2004], p. 83.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_qtgoTIAiKUC&dq=steppes+mountains+rivers+Dzungar+unified+with+china&pg=PA503 Elliott 2001], p.&nbsp;503.</ref> The [[Qianlong Emperor]] explicitly commemorated the Qing conquest of the Dzungars as having added new territory in Xinjiang to ''Zhongguo'', defining China as a multi-ethnic state, rejecting the idea that China only meant Han-populated areas in "[[China proper]]", meaning that according to the Qing, both Han and non-Han peoples were part of China (Zhongguo). Similarly, the "Chinese language" (Dulimbai gurun i bithe) referred to Chinese, Manchu, and Mongol languages, while the term "people of China" (中國之人 Zhongguo zhi ren; Manchu: Dulimbai gurun i niyalma) referred to all Han, Manchus, Mongol, and other subjects of the Qing. The Qing expounded on their ideology that they were bringing together the "outer" non-Han peoples like the Inner Mongols, Eastern Mongols, Oirat Mongols, and Tibetans together with the "inner" Han people, into "one family" united in the Qing state, showing that the diverse subjects of the Qing were all part of one family, the Qing used the phrase "Zhong Wai Yi Jia" (中外一家) or "Nei Wai Yi Jia" (內外一家, "interior and exterior as one family"), to convey this idea of "unification" of the different peoples.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6qFH-53_VnEC&dq=Dulimbai+gurun+land&pg=PA77 Dunnell 2004], pp.&nbsp;76-77.</ref> The Qianlong Emperor rejected earlier ideas that only Han people could be subjects of China and only Han lands could be considered as part of China, saying in 1755 that "There exists a view of China (Zhongxia), according to which non-Han people cannot become China's subjects and their land cannot be integrated into the territory of China. This does not represent our dynasty's understanding of China, but is instead that of the earlier [[Han dynasty|Han]], [[Tang dynasty|Tang]], [[Song dynasty|Song]], and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] dynasties."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140325231543/https://webspace.utexas.edu/hl4958/perspectives/Zhao%20-%20reinventing%20china.pdf Zhao 2006], p.&nbsp;4.</ref> The term "Zhongguo" or "China" was also used extensively to refer to the Qing in foreign communications and treaties with other states. It appeared in a formal Qing government document for the first time in the 1689 [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] signed with the [[Russians]]. Nevertheless, the Qing implemented different ways of legitimization for different peoples within the Qing Empire. For example, Qing emperors were referred to as "Khagan of China" (or "[[Khagan#Chinese khagans|Chinese khagan]]") by their Turkic Muslim subjects (now known as the [[Uyghurs]]),<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/saksaha/13401746.0012.004/--qing-dynasty-and-its-central-asian-neighbors?rgn=main;view=fulltext|title=The Qing Dynasty and Its Central Asian Neighbors |date=2014 |doi=10.3998/saksaha.13401746.0012.004 | access-date=September 17, 2023 |last1=Onuma |first1=Takahiro |journal=Saksaha: A Journal of Manchu Studies |volume=12 |issue=20220303 |doi-access=free }}</ref> as "[[Bogda Khan]]" or "(Manchu) Emperor" by their Mongol subjects, and as "[[Emperor of China]]" (or "Chinese Emperor") and "the Great Emperor" (or "Great [[Emperor Manjushri]]") by their Tibetan subjects (such as in the 1856 [[Treaty of Thapathali]]).<ref>[http://www.archieve.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/1856TreatybetweenTibetandNepal.pdf Treaty between Tibet and Nepal, 1856 (translation)]</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bell|first=Charles|title=Tibet Past and Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=diQwEAAAQBAJ|page=278|year=1992|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=9788120810679}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dunnell|first=Ruth|title=New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qFH-53_VnEC|page=124|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781134362226}}</ref>

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==See also==
*[[Lifan Yuan]]
*[[Amban]]
*[[Dzungar–Qing Wars]]
*[[Ten Great Campaigns]]
*[[New Qing History]]
*[[Chinese Tartary]]
*[[Chinese Empire]]
*[[Han dynasty in Inner Asia]]
*[[Tang dynasty in Inner Asia]]
*[[Yuan dynasty in Inner Asia]]
*[[Ming dynasty in Inner Asia]]
*[[Legacy of the Qing dynasty]]
*[[Administrative divisions of the Qing dynasty]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}


{{Inner Asia}}
{{Qing dynasty topics}}

[[Category:History of Qing dynasty by region]]
[[Category:History of Manchuria]]
[[Category:Mongolia under Qing rule]]
[[Category:Tibet under Qing rule]]
[[Category:History of Xinjiang]]
[[Category:Inner Asia]]
[[Category:Qianlong Emperor]]