Abstract
Public Inscriptions and Manchu Language Reform in the Early Qianlong Reign (1740s–1760s)
Highlights
Manchu Steles and Public InscriptionsSteles erected in pre-conquest Manchuria included the kinds later put up in Beijing
The renaming of Weiyuan Bao is an example of how Qianlong-era language reform affected places that lay outside the capital city and carried inscriptions that would have been seen by many people—in this case, travelers in Manchuria
My sources show that erecting Manchu steles, which almost always contained other languages as well, was a major undertaking
Summary
Official signs and steles in the Qing empire were often at least bilingual, with Manchu and Chinese either side by side or on opposite sides. From at least the 1740s, under the Qianlong emperor, the archival record shows that the text that should go on plaques and steles was carefully scrutinized, especially regarding their use of Manchu vocabulary. My key sources are the endorsed originals and file copies of Manchu palace memorials (Manwen zhupi zouzhe 滿文硃批奏摺 and Manwen lufu zouzhe 滿文錄副奏摺) and Manchu court letters recorded in copy books (dangbu 檔簿) and held at the First Historical Archives in Beijing, supplemented by reprinted edicts, memorials, stele rubbings, and visual sources These sources, while informative, do not allow me to say much about how the public Manchu inscriptions were received. Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World (New York: Longman, 2009), 56–58
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