Ing Dynasty Research Articles

Kim Su‐Hong and the Korean cartographic tradition

The important map of China, compiled in i666 by Kim Su-Hong, appears to be extant only in three copies. One is in the Christian Museum in Seoul and has been briefly described in Korean by Kim Yang-Son, (fig i) and two are in the private collection of the present writer. Of Kim Su-Hong (i6oi-8i ) only a little is known and this comes from the Sukchong Sillok (Veritable Records of the Yi Dynasty) .2 He was born in Andong (Kyongsang Province of Korea) and became an influential secretary (Sung-ji) at the court. Later he was Director of the Office of Ton-ryong-bu. In the controversy over the use of the reign-period of K'ang-Hsi (of the Ch'ing Dynasty of China) instead of persisting with that of Ch'ung-Chen, the last of the Ming Dynasty, in terms of which the clash between progressives and reactionaries was played out at the Korean Court, Kim Su-Hong took the side which acknowledged change. An alternative biography, giving dates of i6i9-78 and stating that Kim visited Peking and brought back materials about Western science, could not be verified, nor could titles of reported books on astronomy be located anywhere. Of the two copies of the map available for study one is coloured and the second is a plain copy written probably by the same hand but more rapidly. The plain copy is titled as from The Flowery Studio and is dated in the title as i64I + n.6o [hsin ssu], but the date at the end of the introduction is i666 + n.6o [ping wu] as given in the coloured copy. The coloured copy is titled as coming from the Rural retreat and is dated in both places as i 666 [ping wu]. Kim Yang-Son's copy also bears this date. Comparison with the biography leads us to select i 666 as the operative date of compilation. The date could not be earlier, because of references to Matteo Ricci. There are very minor textual differences between the copies but these do not clearly define a copying sequence. Jeon Sang-Woon, in his history of science and technology in Korea, mentions the map, giving the date as i666,3 but quoting from Kim Yang-Son. The maps themselves are handwritten on paper (84 cm. wide by I32 cm. high) and the texts of the long preface in the writer's copies agrees almost exactly with that published by Kim YangSon. Other information for comparison is not available. The text and its translation follow this paper as an appendix. The title of the map is Comprehensive Map of the Ancient and Modern World. In fact, the region covered is only that of China with annotations as to the existence of neighbouring territories such as Japan, India and Indonesia. The map itself is filled with geographical, historical and biographical annotations relating to all periods from the legendary Chinese dynasties to Matteo Ricci and is a kind of repository locating geographically the information which an educated Korean familiar with the Chinese classics would have. The map is prefaced by a list of distances from Peking and Nanking quoted from the Ta Ming I T'ung Chi (about I450) and also by a list of distances from Loyang and Ch'ang An quoted from the T'ung Tien of T'u Yu (about 8I2). Very many other distances are specified on the map and mostly refer to distances between provincial capitals. Kim Su-Hong's map is clearly retrograde, Chinese maps of that time and Matteo Ricci's maps (I584 and i602) both being technically far better. The style is of the Ming period with archaic features being similar to the earliest Chinese printed maps and to the map of China in the encyclopedia San Ts'ai T'u Hui ( I609) .4 Comparing Kim's map with the Ti Li Chih T'u (I I 55) reproduced by Needham (vol. III, p. 549), which he says is the oldest printed map in any culture, we see that the style and conventional signs are almost unchanged. On the same page Needham quotes a passage from Shen Kua (ft. eleventh century) on the eagerness with which Korean envoys acquired strategic maps and how they should be denied further information.

The District Magistrate Profession in the Early Republican Period: Occupational Recruitment, Training and Mobility

The subject of magistrates, the local administrative leaders in the hsien, districts, is central to the study of Chinese government and society. The district has always been and still remains the basic administrative unit in China. Magistrates, the ‘offcials close to the people’, in the districts, are the chief administrators, who have always been singly responsible for the direct implementation of governmental policies at the local levels. Although several studies have been published on local administrators of the Ch'ing dynasty and the Communist period, district magistrates of the Republican era have been little studied.

Bhutan's External Relations

FOREIGN POLICY did not pose complex problems for the Government of Bhutan during the first four decades of the 20th century. The basic operating principles of Bhutan's external relations were set by the events surrounding the British Younghusband Expedition into Tibet (I903-5) and the treaty between Bhutan and British India signed in i9io. The political situation in the Himalayan region thereafter allowed little scope for initiative on foreign policy matters by the Bhutanese authorities even if they had been so inclined-which they were not. Geopolitics thus made it inevitable that British India should be the primary focus of Bhutan's foreign policy, based upon the principle of optimal isolation. Except for a brief fling in the I9IO-I2 period, when Chinese armies occupied Tibet and pushed south to the Himalayan frontier, China was in no position to exert any influence in this region. The overthrow of the Ch'ing dynasty in i9ii also signalled the end of China's physical presence in Tibet for more than four decades. Lhasa emerged as a semi-dependency of the British and had to accommodate itself to British hegemony throughout the Himalayan area. In foreign policy terms, then, British India constituted the only potentially complicating factor for the newly-established monarchy in Bhutan in I907, and it is not surprising that Druk Gyalpo (King) Ugyen Dorji made a satisfactory accommodation with the British his first order of business. The response was encouraging as the terms proposed by the British were interpreted by the Bhutan government as the best possible under the circumstances. The British recognized Bhutan's internal sovereignty and did not even insist upon the establishment of a Residency in Bhutan as they had in Nepal and Sikkim. Formally, the British Political Officer in Gangtok was also accredited to Bhutan, but this was a unilateral act on New Delhi's part, never recognized by the Bhutanese authorities. The Political Officer was occasionally allowed to undertake brief tours of Bhutan, but only under carefully circumscribed conditions that denied him the opportunity to exert an undue influence in internal Bhutanese politics. The only qualification imposed on Bhutan's sovereignty was the clause in the i9io treaty under which the Bhutanese agreed to be guided by the advice of the British on foreign policy matters. But in the context of the existing situation this was nothing more than de jure recognition of the de facto reality, for even without this clause

Later Chinese porcelain: the Ch'ing dynasty (1644–1912). By Soame Jenyns. Faber & Faber: London, 1972. 4th ed., pp. xvi, 111, plates 120, colour plates 8. £5.00.

Later Chinese porcelain: the Ch'ing dynasty (1644–1912). By Soame Jenyns. Faber & Faber: London, 1972. 4th ed., pp. xvi, 111, plates 120, colour plates 8. £5.00.

The Chinese Movement in Java: 1900-1918

The year 1906 marked a turning point in the history of the Chinese movement in Java, for at the beginning of this year Chinese Chambers of Commerce (Shang-hwee) began to be established in Java's urban centers under the guidance of the Ch'ing dynasty. The leaders of these Shang-hwee, most of whom were wealthy Chinese merchants, were suddenly brought into the officialdom of the Ch'ing dynasty, and gradually came to challenge the leadership and power of the Chinese officials sanctioned by the colonial authorities (Kong-koan)Around 1909, Java's major cities saw the establishment of “reading clubs” (Soe-po-sia) by anti-Ch'ing revolutionaries. These clubs were intended to raise funds for revolutionary activities and to spread revolutionary ideas among the Chinese in Java. Soe-po-sia members were generally immigrants (Totok), and included a large number of THHK school teachers.The more the Chinese movement in Java came to be directly influenced by the poitical climate in China, the more the influence and leadership of the China-oriented Totok increased. Nonetheless, as is indicated by the fact that the most influential person in the movement was Majoor Oei Tjong Ham of Semarang, the leadership of the movement remained in the hands of wealthy Peranakans, whose primary aim was to improve the status of the Chinese in Java. This was particularly true in the case of the leaders of THHK-Batavia, who carefully avoided becoming involved in the conflict between royalists and revolutionaries.When the Republic of China was established in 1911, there was a sudden upsurge of nationalistic feeling among the Chinese in Java. The Totok took this opportunity to express their contempt for the “half-caste” Peranakans and to denounce the Dutch-oriented Chinese officials. Nationalistic feeling was especially strong among the Hakka, who were the largest group in the Soc-po-sia. This put the latter on collision course with the members of Sarekat Islam, which was then just beginning to make an impact on Indonesian nationalism. In the end, the Kong-koan lost their leadership of the Chinese community, with many of them accepting the leadership of the Shang-hwee and Soe-po-sia.Thus, the heightening of a Chinese-consciousness among the Chinese immigrants, which had been the primary goal of the THHK leaders, resulted in, hostility and confrontation with the native population of Java. The passing of the leadership of the Chinese community from the hands of the Peranakans to those of the Totok also meant rejection of the European community. Thus, the Chinese community established itself as an independent entity, and gave rise to pluralistic society in Java. The Chinese, therefore, dicided not to send any representatives to take the seats allotted to them in the newaly constituted Volksraad in 1918. It soon became evident, however, that the Republic of China offered no advantages to the Chinese in Java while the colonial authorities were offering improvements in the status of the Peranakans This resulted in a gradual divergence of orientation between the Peranakans and the Totok.

Early Nineteenth Century Russo-Chinese Relations in Documents of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The relations between Russia and China under the Ch'ing dynasty are attracting constantly increasing attention on the part of both Soviet and foreign researchers. However, certain works by bourgeois and Chinese authors are very remote from objective illumination of this long and complex historical process. They assert, for example, that considerations of military policy were always primary for Russia in her relations with China. Remaining silent on various kinds of factual information pertaining to friendly Russo-Chinese contacts, these authors deliberately overemphasize friction and conflicts of interest in which the "guilty party," in their opinion, was Russia; and they describe her as the "most aggressive power" operating in the Far East and Central Asia, virtually even before the beginning of extensive invasion of China by the Anglo-French and American colonialists.

The Peiyang Army, Yüan Shih-k'ai and the Origins of Modern Chinese Warlordism

The Peiyang Army was the most significant military development in China between the Hsiang and Huai Armies which suppressed the Taiping and Nien rebellions in the 1860's and the army that Chiang Kai-shek raised and employed in the northern expedition of 1926–27. The Peiyang was the first Chinese army to be comparatively modern in training and discipline as well as in weaponry. Formed for the most part by Yuan Shih-k'ai while he was governor-general of Chihli province from 1901 to 1907, the Peiyang Army grew to six divisions of about 10,000 men each. Size alone gave the army a major role in politics during the last decade of the Ch'ing dynasty and the early years of the Republic.

A Note on Some Mongol Manuscripts in the University Library, Aberdeen

The activities of the K‘eng ze čin wang, the seventeenth son of the K‘ang-hsi emperor of the Ch‘ing dynasty, as a promoter of translations of Lamaistic texts into the Mongol language, have been fairly well documented. In 1957 the present author published a brief description of a number of manuscripts associated with the name of this prince, which were then, and still are, in the possession of the University Library, Cambridge. For the sake of bibliographical completeness there follows a concise account of a small collection of manuscripts, some complete and some fragmentary, also associated with him, which have come to light in the past few months. These manuscripts belong to the University Library, Aberdeen, and were shown to me by Mr. Howard Nelson of the British Museum, to whom they had been submitted for identification.

The Chinese Movement in Java: 1900-1918

By 1900 most of Southeast Asia had been divided on the major Western powers and each ruling country was establishing its own colonial system. In carrying out research the upsurge of nationalism in Southeast Asia, one cannot overlook the movements of the Chinese residing each country the area during the early decades of the twentieth century. The, fall of the Ch'ing dynasty in 1911 and the emergence of the Republic of China for the first time in its history had a tremendous impact on the Chinese in Southeast Asia. In the first of this two-series article the author tries to investigate the Chinese movement in Java from 1900 to 1906, because this period reveals the Chinese effort of self-adjustment to the rapidly changing situation of colonial Indonesia.The transition of the Dutch colonial administration from the Liberal to the Ethical Policy at the turn of the century encouraged the improvement of the natives' welfare at the expense of the population of the Chinese descent. Thus, the colonial government decided to abolish totally revenue farming, particulary that of opium sales, hitherto granted to the Chinese, and to tighten their restrictions on residence and travel. In other words, the government tried to divert native frustration and hostility from itself to the Chinese.This policy affected the wealthy Peranakan or local-born Chinese in general, and the officials of their community in major cities in particular. The officials whose autonomous power had been sanctioned by the colonial authority tried to reverse this trend which came to threaten them after generations of their settlement. Under the influence of Chinese intellectuals in Singapore, they finally reached the conclusion that they should undertake to gain a better understanding of their Indonesian environment while at the same time heightening their sense of “Chineseness” by discarding from their daily lives manifestations of the “inferior” native culture. In so doing they even came to despise the Javanese blood which in many cases was circulating in their own veins.The year 1900 was an important one in the history of the Chinese movement in Java, for it was that year that the association Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan, commonly abbreviated as THHK, was established in Batavia. The primary purposes of the THHK-Batavia were to revive and spread Confucianism in Chinese communities throughout Java and to purge themselves of Javanese manners and customs. The leaders of the THHK, however, were not China-oriented nationalists. Lie Kim Hok, the ideological leader of the Confucianist revival, was sympathetic to Western ideas. Phoa Keng Hek, the president of THHK-Batavia, directed his efforts toward the advancement of education and the improvement of the status of the Chinese in Java. The leaders of the THHK belonged to the dominant Peranakan Chinese class rather than the poorer Sin-keh or the newcomers. Therefore, the THHK activity can be interpreted as an attempt by the Peranakan Chinese to maintain its predominance in face of the drastic changes then taking place in the Chinese community.As the THHK increased in its influence, the Ch'ing dynasty became gradually aware of its significance and began giving moral support to the association. The dynasty, on the verge of decline, expected to receive financial support from the Chinese in Java in return. Thus, the interests of both sides coincided, and contacts between them became ever closer. This cooperation accelerated the integration of the Chinese movements hitherto somewhat isolated from each other, and the year 1906 saw the establishment of the Tiong Hoa Tjong Hwee or the all-Java Chinese organization, unifying the THHK-Batavia and those of other major cities of Java.In the following issue the author intends to discuss the period from 1906 to 1918.

Transition and Transformation in a Chinese Painting and a Related Poem

To even the most casual Western viewer, transition in space and time and transformation in states of consciousness are prominent characteristics of the experience of traditional Chinese landscape painting. Visual references to paths, rivers, mountain ranges; to measured distances and temporal intervals; to gradual or sudden in sights into philosophical understandings: such constitute a dominant pattern of theme and device in the landscape painting of the T'ang (618–906) through Ch'ing (1644–1912) dynasties. Specifically, the viewer's experience of transition may be defined as movement—imaginarily physical and/or purely visual and/or psychological (by reference to a historical or mythical past)–through space and time, carried by identifiable objects, groups of objects, formal stylistic elements (tones, strokes, and so forth), and, occasionally, by titles and inscriptions appended to the paintings by the artist.1 As a result of his experience of transition, the viewer undergoes a modification of his dimensi...

The Economic Role of the Imperial Household in the Ch'ing Dynasty

This author will attempt to present a preliminary study of the economic aspects of the Imperial Household (Nei-wu-fu), which played a unique role during the Chʻing Dynasty in the grand strategy of the Manchu rule over China. The fact that this vital area of Chʻing history has long been neglected can be gauged from the lack of scholarly studies on the Nei-wu-fu up to the present. Even in the imperial days, few Chinese scholars knew about the actual workings of the Nei-wu-fu, for it remained a closed field to outsiders—almost a shrouded mystery. The reasons for its mysterious character were twofold: on the one hand, inaccessibility of sources of information prevented people from getting a clear picture of the Imperial Household; on the other hand, Chinese were inhibited from investigation, since to peer into the “secret affairs of the Court” (Kung-wei chin-shih) was to run a political risk.

International Relations Between the China and the Bangkok Dynasty

Very few articles on the study of international relations between the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand and the Ch'ing Dynasty in China during the first half of the nineteenth century have been published, although the relationship between them has had a great effect on the modern history of Thailand. This is one reason why the author wants to fill this gap in our historical studies on the subject.Three major periods in the relations between these two countries are: a) the period of increased trade and developed political relations from 1821 to 1843, b) the period of decreased trade and declined political relations from 1843 to 1861, c) the period of broken and alienated relations from 1868 to the e of the Ch'ing Dynasty.Since the first period of the Ch'ing Dynasty was a golden age, the Chine emperors regarded Chakri kings in Thailand as a and asked them to show their submission through tribute trade to the Peking Court, while their treatment of envoys from Thailand was tempered with mercy. Chinese historical documents of the period also show us trade commodities from and to Thailand, a well as Chinese relief activities for wrecked Thai ships on the coast of southern China and the role of overseas Chinese in trade between Bangkok and Canton. Since 1843 of the reign of Rama III in Thailand, the tribute trade from Thailand began to declined.

Smash the Old Forms

The failure of the so-called new education, which has been in effect since the closing years of the Ch'ing dynasty, has given rise to much discussion in Chinese intellectual circles. One problem that is constantly raised is that of so-called circular education - the teacher uses certain materials to teach students, who then use these same materials to become teachers. What is the purpose of this relay race which has no concern for the masses and no objective?

Law in Imperial China, Exemplified by 190 Ch'ing Dynasty Cases (translated from the Hsing-An Hui-Lan), with Historical, Social and Juridical Commentaries. By Derk Bodde and Clarence Morris. [Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Harvard University Press. 1967. xiii and (with Appendices, Glossaries and Index) 615 pp. £8 6s. net.

Law in Imperial China, Exemplified by 190 Ch'ing Dynasty Cases (translated from the Hsing-An Hui-Lan), with Historical, Social and Juridical Commentaries. By Derk Bodde and Clarence Morris. [Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Harvard University Press. 1967. xiii and (with Appendices, Glossaries and Index) 615 pp. £8 6s. net.] - Volume 28 Issue 2

Before I Was Sixty

I was born on April 27, 1884, which was the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Kuang-hsü of the Ch'ing dynasty, or 27 years before the birth of the Republic of China. My great-great grandfather was a farmer. My great grandfather moved from Shao-hsing to Hangchow, where he learned the trade of shoe-making and was therefore a worker. Later, by operating his own shop, he became a merchant as well. My grandfather was a scholar. He passed all the civil service examinations and was a metropolitan official for twenty-odd years before he passed away. Although my father tried to keep up the family tradition of scholarly pursuits, he did not succeed in being more than a student in the county school….

Law in Imperial China: Exemplified by 190 Ch'ing Dynasty Cases (Translated from the Hsing-an Hui-lan) with Historical, Social, and Juridical Commentaries

Law in Imperial China: Exemplified by 190 Ch'ing Dynasty Cases (Translated from the Hsing-an Hui-lan) with Historical, Social, and Juridical Commentaries

Derk Bodde and Clarence Morris: Law in imperial China, exemplified by 190 Ch'ing dynasty cases (translated from the Hsing-an hui-lan) with historical, social, and juridical commentaries. (Harvard Studies in East Asian Law, 1.) xiv, 615 pp., 2 plates, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. $17.50. (Distributed in G. B. by Oxford University Press. £8 6s. 6d.)

Derk Bodde and Clarence Morris: Law in imperial China, exemplified by 190 Ch'ing dynasty cases (translated from the Hsing-an hui-lan) with historical, social, and juridical commentaries. (Harvard Studies in East Asian Law, 1.) xiv, 615 pp., 2 plates, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. $17.50. (Distributed in G. B. by Oxford University Press. £8 6s. 6d.) - Volume 32 Issue 3

Ethnic Composition of Provincial Leadership During the Ch'ing Dynasty

The ch'ing dynasty (1644–1911) was the last and most successful of the dynasties of alien rule in China. “The key to its success,” noted Professor Ping-ti Ho, “was the adoption by early Manchu rulers of a policy of systematic sinicization.” The integration of the Manchu ruling class with their Chinese subjects was most striking in staffing the bureaucracy. Unlike preceding alien dynasties, the Manchus over the course of 268 years of rule shared a good proportion of key offices with Chinese. The system of dual appointments of Manchus and Chinese operated in the capital, while Chinese dominated the local officialdom.

Ethnic Composition of Provincial Leadership During the Ch'ing Dynasty

Ethnic Composition of Provincial Leadership During the Ch'ing Dynasty

The Chinese Perception of World Order

Chinese theory and practice of relations with non-Chinese states, referred to by Western scholars for convenience as tribute system, has a very long history originating in the Han dynasty but with antecedents going back another millennium. China only abandoned the tribute system reluctantly towards the end of the nineteenth century. Thus in the twentieth century the Chinese have had to adjust themselves to an international order of sovereign nation-states (as developed in the West) which is the antithesis of China's long and successful system based on entirely different concepts. In Chinese World Order± a number of scholars have examined various aspects of this subject in essays which significantly enlarge our understanding of traditional Chinese attitudes and practices towards non-Chinese states. Contributions by John Fairbank, Lien-sheng Yang, Wang Gungwu, and Mark Mancall analyse the broad aspects of the Chinese world order in its historical development, while subsequent essays examine specific case studies concerning aspects of China's relations with Korea, the Liu-Ch'iu islands, Annam (Vietnam), Inner Asia, Mongolia, and the Dutch, mainly during the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911). last two essays, Fairbanks The Early Treaty System in the Chinese World Order and Benjamin Schwartz' The Chinese Perception of World Order, Past and Present, bring the discussion into the twentieth century. At the risk of oversimplification it may be worth attempting to identify some of the main aspects of the Chinese system and to show its ability to adjust to changing circumstances. underlying theory of this system had its origin in the earliest historical dynasties when a priest-king ruled over what the Chinese then considered as the civilized world. From their Middle Kingdom the early Chinese spread outwards, gradually absorbing the less civilized surrounding peoples and Sinicizing them. As a result of this early experience the Chinese came to have a strong sense of the superiority of Chinese culture combined with a strong belief in the unity of their world. This was reinforced by the Chinese attitude towards their ruler. At the apex of Chinese society stood the emperor who, in his role as the Son of Heaven, was more than mortal because of his function, inherited from earliest times, of maintaining harmony between human society and the cosmic order. After China became unified under the stable and expanding power of the early Han dynasty the Confucian scholars established the outlines of an imperial bureaucracy and began to refine and extend the tenets of Confucian thought. As the Chinese had more contact with non-Chinese people they tended to consider these relations as expressing externally same principles of social and