Today, about 10.5 million Manchurian people subsist as an ethnic group. They live in Liaoning, Kirin, Heilungkiang, Hupeh provinces, and in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Manchu lived in Manchuria. They consisted of the tribe that is called the Juchen, and they built a dynasty called Chin in the 12th century. The Chin Dynasty ruled northeastern China by 1115. In 1234 they were defeated by the Mongols, and were under their domination during the Yuan Period. However, the Juchen recovered their power during the Ming Period and gradually regained their independence. In the 17th century, the leader of the Juchen, Nurhachi, invaded China and defeated the opposition, and later he revived the Chin Dynasty. Nurhachi’s son, Abahai who renamed the Juchen as “Manchu,” started the Manchu Dynasty in Peking in 1644. The Manchu eventually ruled the whole of China by 1680 and the Chin Dynasty retained its power until the beginning of the 19th century. Then the power of the Chin Dynasty declined because of the growing population, and was ruined by foreign powers in 1911.
The ancestry of the Juchen-Manchu, the I-lou, was one of the Tungus tribes. Their subsistence included hunting, fishing, and gathering. Their way of life was passed down to their descendants, Juchen and Manchu, who practiced farming and pasturage in a primitive way. The Manchu made up their hair into pigtails and they required the Chinese to follow this custom in order to make them swear the royalty to the Manchu. On the other hand, the Manchu did not force the Chinese to conform to other customs.
The Manchu language belongs to the Tungusic language family, a subdivision of the Altaic language family. Old Manchu, Standard Manchu, and two modern dialects, Sanjiazi and Sibe, are different forms of the Manchu language. The Old Manchu was used before the beginning of the Manchu Dynasty in 1644 and the Standard Manchu was used after 1644. The Sanjiazi dialect is spoken in Sanjiazi villages in China and Sibe is spoken by the Sibe contemporary. The Manchu language originally began during the Chin Dynasty (1115 to 1234). The Juchen had two ways in writing, “Small script” and “Large script," were based on the Khitan Language. Later Nurhachi organized the Manchu script based upon the Mongol Script. The Old Manchu script, which was used before 1644, is called “tongki fuka aku hergen” (“script without dots and circles”), and the Standard script, used after 1644, is called “tongki fuka sindaha hergen” (“script without dots and circles”).
The Manchu emperors preferred Chinese art, scholarship, and culture. They tried to prevent the Manchu from being swallowed by the Chinese. The emperors encouraged the Manchu to use the Manchu language and to educate their children as Manchu. They also tried to avoid the intermarriage of Manchu and Chinese, in order to prevent the amalgamation. Cultural exchange between the Manchu and the Chinese was taboo.
Written by: Akihiro Oshiro
Sources:
“Manchu” Encyclopedia Britannica Online http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=51696&tocid=0 1 May. 2001
“Nurhachi” Encyclopedia Britannica Online http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=57935&tocid=0 1 May. 2001
Shimunek, Andrew. “An Introduction to the Manchu Language.”
Manchu Language (25 April. 2001)
msnhomepages.talkcity.com/IvyHall/anzhu/manchu_introduction.htm
IvyHall/anzhu/manchu_introduction.htm
1 May. 2001
“The Manchu or Qing Dynasty” Xiang Qi-The Art of Chinese Chess http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/library/dynasty/manchu.html?tqskip=1 1 May. 2001
“Ch’ing China The Manchus” Washington State University World Civilizations (6 June. 1999) http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHING/MANCHU.HTM 1 May. 2001