Burbank and Cooper discuss the means by which empires kept their often ethnically disparate, geographically distant, and rebellion-minded populations under control. Having conquered large territories and substantial communities by force, they then had to contend with the possibility of rebellion from the new regions for decades, if not centuries. The authors review empires that were able to sustain themselves for hundreds of years, nevertheless, such as Ancient Rome or China under the Han dynasty. In their research, they find that instead of trying to suppress the innate diversity of various populations, they acknowledged it and instead unified the people against an external enemy, often described simply as “barbarians” opposed to the empire’s civilized population. Combined with the discussion of other measures, such as Byzantine unification under Christianity, the book’s insights contribute substantially to the understanding of the Qing Empire’s politics.
Hang’s article attempts to encompass the history of the Qing dynasty, the last imperial family of China, which lasted from 1636 to 1911. It gives a historical account of events, starting with the overthrowing of the Ming dynasty and the coronation of Hong Taiji. Coming from the barbarian Manchu tribe, he nevertheless relied on the divine mandate, arguing that it favored those with virtue rather than the right blood. Having established itself as legitimate rulers and eliminated the opposition, the Qing assimilated their nation of origin, Mongolia, ridding themselves of the barbarian status. The article then delves into the further history of the dynasty, marked by both conquest and rebellions that it suppressed as well as a cultural shift to Sino-centrism, and concludes with the Opium Wars and the 1911 revolution, which brought about the end of the Qing. The article’s relevance is in its descriptions of the various rebellions in the empire and the methods used to suppress and prevent them.
Guy attempts to outline the ideological and organizational underpinnings of the Qing Empire by analyzing an essay written by the Yongzheng Emperor of China in 1723. The work deals with the provincial government and its policies, with which the emperor was dissatisfied. Per Guy, the essay represents a shift in imperial thinking toward the idea of administrative efficacy and reform to achieve it, both of which were novel ideas at the time. The work’s value is in its demonstration of the usage of the delegation of authority to provincial governors, who could address problems more efficiently, being closer to them.
Xin critiques the current paradigms in international relations research, which focus either on Eurocentrism or on cultural reductionism. He presents the example of premodern East Asia, which was dominated by China and constitutes an anomaly that scholars struggle to explain. Both the mainstream anarchic and the cultural reductionist hierarchic approach are found inadequate by the author because they do not consider the multi-linear nature of historical evolution. Instead, he proposes using Leon Trotsky’s theory of uneven and combined development to understand East Asia’s situation. The article’s value is in its discussion of the expansion and border politics of the Qing Empire.
China from Empire to Nation-State is the translation of the first volume of Wang’s four-part critique of the Western interpretation of Chinese history. It claims that, contrary to the popular Western argument that China resisted modernization until the fall of the Qing dynasty, it rejected foreign ideas because of their cultural incompatibility rather than an inability to accept change. Separate and distant from Western thought, Confucian thinkers developed a distinct strain of political philosophy that Wang declares as valid as its counterpart despite accusations from the latter of backwardness. The book’s value is in its description of the Qing political system, characterized by its lack of national unity and protected only by Confucianism and a shared Chinese language.
References
Burbank, Jane, and Frederick Cooper. Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.
Choi, Henry Sze Hang. “China, imperial: 8. Qing or Manchu dynasty period, 1636–1911.” Encyclopedia of Empire (2016), 1-13. Web.
Guy, R. Kent. “Ideology and Organization in the Qing Empire.” Journal of Early Modern History 14, no. 4 (2010): 355–77.
Liu, Xin. “Anarchy in the East: Eurocentrism, China-Centred Geopolitics and Uneven and Combined Development.” International Politics 53, no. 5 (2016): 574–95. Web.
Wang, Hui. China from Empire to Nation-State. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014.