Mid Qing Dynasty Sauron And Manchu Studies

Suolun is the general of Ewenki, Oroqen and Daur along the Shilka River, Heilongjiang River and Xingan ridge in late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. Moreover, it is the native tribal group in the upper and middle streams of Heilongjiang. Suolun’s area is from the east of Baikal Lake and the south of the Lena River to the Shilka River, Xingan ridge, to Zeya (Jingqi River) and Bureya (Niu Man River) area of the Heilongjiang River. This paper focuses on the differentiation process when Suolun was divided into Ewenki, Oroqen and Daur after moving to the Nenjiang valley in the middle Qing Dynasty. At the same time, it studies the relationship of the three nationalities and Manchu in this process.In the late Ming and the early Qing Dynasty, economic factors played a decisive role in the ethnic differentiation of Suolun. Because of the difference of economic forms, Oroqen and Daur were successively identified in Suolun and a variety of nationalities also began the independence. When Manchu Contacted to Suolun, it prompted Suolun’s national consciousness. Due to the scene transformation, Suolun’s national consciousness has multiple levels, which make people show differences on the group identity consciousness of people’s psychological different levels. Meanwhile, Suolun national elite have a significant impact on the national consciousness. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, through their tributary, they contacted with Manchu frequently. In the early Qing Dynasty, Political choice of Suolun national elite was divided into support and resistance of Manchu. In the middle Qing Dynasty, Suolun appeared to a large number of military aristocracy, most of who solely knew that they should be loyal to Manchu rulers, not considering the national interests thus Suolun’s three nationalities went into the recession.In the late Ming Dynasty, Manchu rose in the northeast, forming a Manchu community concluding Nvzhen nationality which lived in the eastern part of Liaoning, Haixi Jurchens who lived from the Songhua River to the south as well as other ethnics in Northeast of China. The combined process of Manchu belongs to the polymerization process that ethnic, tribe or clan of blood and common culture gathered a national community. In the Manchu ethnic joint process, Suolun staff joined the Manchu to become the new Manchuria into the Manchu community, which made important contributions to the development of the combined process of Manchu nationality. Manchu carried out such policies as the tribute reward, the marriage and setting eight flags to Suolun who still lived in the north of Heilongjiang. In addition, it weaked Suolun’s ethnic identity to strengthen the political identity of Manchu.In the mid-Qing Dynasty, Suolun had been divided into Ewenki, Oroqen and Daur after migration southward to the Nen River Valley, and their social-economic and political formation also progressed and developed forward. The mature nationality policy and concept in the process of ethnic differentiation brought the three nationalities under Manchu control. Dual compositions of culture and politic ensured that ethnic identity be inclusive and integrative to the larger national supra-ethnic Manchu identity and to native national culture. Economic support and Manchu-centered education emphasizing the national language and horsemanship strengthened the national identity and laid a good foundation for a unitary multi-ethnic state.Many ethnic groups participated in wars at home and abroad launched by the state in the middle period of Qing Dynasty, in which the capable and courageous troops of Suolun played a critical role. War, a violent act of state, is one of the most effective means to promote national cohesion, which has great effect on ethnic relations and form statutes of the national unity in different ways. In the first place, a national war against the foreign enemy improved the national identity of all ethnic tribes; secondly, a civil war integrated self-enclosed ethnics and set the stage for the unity of nationalities; thirdly, the national recruitment of Suolun troops showed recognition of Manchu-centered state. The study on Manchu-Suolun military relation reveals the far-reaching consequences of Nationality Policy formulated by Manchu ruler and explores the Manchu-Suolun ethnic relation in military field.The nature of Manchu-Suolun ethnic relation is a process of the evolution from the mollification relation into the principal-subordinate relation, which was presented in enforceablity, appeasement, defensiveness and flexibility of the ethnic relation from the early Qing until the mid-Qing, a critical period of the unitary multi-ethnic state. Based on northeast ethnic culture and regional identity, Manchu governed the tribe of Suolun in name only, and Suolun’s strength could be preserved under the mollification relation; Manchu fully exploited Suolun’s advantages of political, economic, military and cultural affairs to serve for the state as a subordinate position under the principal-subordinate relation.This paper has incorporated historical experiences of solving nationality questions and the cultural heritage of ethnic minorities as a foundation for the research presented. The study of the relations of Suolun and Manchu focuses on the evolution rule and pattern of ethnic groups, the formation of national consciousness as well as the national policies during the middle period of the Qing Dynasty, which is expected to provide reference for the contemporary ethnic work from the perspective of ethnic relations.