AAS-in-Asia, Seoul

Toward a World History of the Qing Empire

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

In the last couple of decades, “New Qing History” has successfully challenged the Sinocentric understanding of the Qing state as the last of many “Chinese” dynasties that preceded the modern Chinese nation-state by portraying the Qing empire as a universal empire. For all its contributions, however, “New Qing History” has set the spatial and conceptual boundaries of the Qing empire within the borders of today’s People’s Republic of China. This view does not take into account the true extent of the Qing domain, which included today’s nation-state of Mongolia as well as imperial projects beyond Qing territorial boundaries.
This panel attempts to construct a world history of the Qing empire by highlighting the movement of people, goods, and ideas within and beyond the Qing domain. Gu Songjie’s paper concentrates on the Bederge people, who traded with Russians in Xinjiang border trade markets and at the Kyakhta market in Mongolia. Lee Sun Ae’s paper examines the two-way traffic of legal ideas and principles between the Qing central government and Qing Mongolia. Vu Duong Luan’s paper centers on local and transnational networks surrounding Tu Long, a mining center on the Qing-Vietnamese border. Jaymin Kim’s paper analyzes the patron-client relationship between the Qing emperors and the Kirghiz chieftains residing in and beyond Qing Xinjiang. Through this panel, we hope to highlight the constant processes of negotiation and movement at the edges of the Qing empire as well as the importance of examining sources that go beyond today’s national borders and linguistic boundaries.

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing-Diaspora

Session Organizer

• Jaymin Kim, University of Michigan

Chair

• Jaymin Kim, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• Kirghiz Chieftains as Clients of Qing Emperors - Jaymin Kim, University of Michigan

• Trade Between Bederge Muslims and Russians in the Qianlong Period - Songjie Gu, Minzu University of China

• Manchu Legislation for the Mongols and Ruling Structure in Qing Mongolia - Sun Ae Lee, Korea University

• The Place of Moving: Power Transition and Transnational Interactions in Tu Long Border Mine Area, 1700s - 1890s - Luan D. Vu, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Discussant

• Peter C. Perdue, Yale University