The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-Century China

Description

In classical Chinese, The Great Enterprise means winning The Mandate of Heaven to rule over China, the Central Kingdom. This two-volume work on The Great Enterprise of the Manchus is the first scholarly narrative in any language relating their conquest of China during the seventeenth century. It begins with the rise of the Manchus along the frontiers of the of the great Ming empire in the 1580s, and it ends with the final consolidation of the Qing dynasty after the suppression of the Three Feudatories a century later. Precisely how a relative handful of barbarian interlopers built the final dynasty of the most populous society on earth is a major theme of his work. The fall of the Ming and the rise of the Qing empires was China's most dramatic dynastic transition, but it was also a conjunction of events that decisively altered China's later direction--even after the impact of the West in the nineteenth century. Chinese still look back today to the colorful but tragic history of the seventeenth century for political inspiration and national identity. Everyone interested in learning about the roots of China's modern culture will want to read this book, as will those who are concerned with the comparative history of empires. Contents • volume i Acknowledgments Chinese Weights and Measures Introduction 1 The Northern Frontier The Ming Weisuo System Chinese Frontiersmen and Manchu Bondservants The Rise of Nurhaci The Annexation of Liaodong Manchu-Chinese Ethnic Conflict New Military Technology and the Forward Policy Nurhaci’s Death and His Successor’s Negotiations 2 The Chongzhen Court Gentry Clubs Examination Life Wen Tiren’s Ascendancy The Fundamentalists and Military Policy Disputes The Triumph and Defeat of Zhou Yanru 3 The Manchu Quest for Power Chinese Collaborators The Siege of Dalinghe Zu Dashou’s Surrender and Betrayal Frontiersmen and Freebooters The New Manchu Mandate The Conquest of Songshan Hong Chengchou Turns Coat Jinzhou Falls 4 The Fall of Beijing Li Zicheng Seeks the Mandate The Debate to Move South The Emperor’s Last Days Subjects of Shun Confucian Collaborators Wu Sangui Dorgon’s Decision to Intervene The Grand Army Invades 5 The Nanjing Loyalist Regime Shi Kefa and the Warlords The Ming Imperial Nobility The Succession Crisis The Four Guardian Generals Factionalism Revived Irredentism and Statecraft The Shun Case Political Persecution Weaknesses of the Nanjing Regime The Yangzhou Loyalists Peace Talks 6 Establishing Qing Rule Local Collaborators Surrender of Shandong Northerners and Southerners The Attack on Ming Abuses Piecemeal Reforms Manchu Abuses Banner Lands and Slaves Manchu Apartheid and Social Control Securing the Capital Revival of Resistance The Ultimate Defeat of Li Zicheng 7 The Fall of Nanjing Loyalist Alternatives Commitment Versus Compromise The Manchus Cross the River The Case of Madame Tong The False Heir Zuo Liangyu’s Mutiny The Descent Upon Yangzhou Shi Kefa and Dorgon The Ten Days Massacre of Yangzhou Shi Kefa Praised and Blamed The Flight of the Hongguang Emperor The Surrender of Nanjing Amnesty Turning Coat 8 The Jiangnan Resistance Movement Gentry Ambivalence Jiangnan’s Economic Differentiation Social Subordination Class Conflict The Serf Revolts Collaboration Against Disorder The Haircutting Command Local Resistance Movements The Jiading Debacle Lake Tai Loyalists The First Songjiang Uprising Eremitism Contents - Volume II 9 Local Control in North China Meng Qiaofang and the Initial Pacification of Shaanxi “Longhairs” in the Highlands Extermination in Shandong Magistrates and Yamen Clerks Mutual-Responsibility Units Selective Amnesties 10 “Foolish Stratagems in Critical Times” Qian Qianyi and the Taint of Collaboration Tu Guobao and the Lake Tai Loyalists The Liyang and Huaiyang Uprisings Ming Loyalist Setbacks in 1646 Chen Zilong and the Songjiang Mutiny The Roundup of the Literati Intrigues in Huai’an Qing Suspicions Loyalist Hopes Revived and Crushed Wan Shouqi and Gu Yanwu 11 The Final Pacification of the North The Elm Garden Army The Case of Liu Zeqing The Muslim Revolt of 1648 Jiang Xiang’s Rebellion The Subjugation of the West Southeastern Shaanxi and the Han River Highlands The Shanxi Mountain Outlaws Viceroy, Gentry, and Elders 12 The Dorgon Regency The Princes9 Assembly and the Throne’s Secretariat Dorgon’s Ascendancy Regional Rivalries The Impeachment of Feng Quan Manchu-Han Dyarchy The Arraignment of the Princes The Revival of Literati Networks Dorgon’s Hegemony and Demise 13 The Shunzhi Court Direct Imperial Rule Bureaucratic Reforms Purging the Censorate Curbing the Aristocracy Settling Accounts Wu Weiye’s Effort to Revive the Literary Societies Emperors and Martyrs Racketeers and Corruption Personnel Evaluation and Factions The Ren Zhen Case Emulate the Early Ming Going Too Far: The Court Clothing Issue The Final Trial of Chen Mingxia 14 A Certain Kind of Solution The Southern Ming Naval Threat Shunzhi’s Southern Ministers Qing Autocracy and Manchu Personalism The Han Banner Elite The Consequences of Manchu Dependence Coxinga’s Invasion Social and Political Leveling Tax Reform The Monarchy’s Attack upon Gentry Privileges 15 From Ming to Qing Loyalism The Last Ming Loyalists Public Virtue and Private Conscience The Rebellion of the Three Feudatories The Martyrdom of Fan Chengmo Qing Loyalism Appendix A: Ministers Who Served Two Dynasties Appendix B: “Twice-serving Ministers” in 1644 Appendix C: Banner Officials in Local Administration Western-Language Sources Chinese and Japanese Sources Index and Glossary