Written source · Chinese

The Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Great Qing: Mongolia and the outer lands

The Qing court's official geography of its empire, including Mongolia, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Tibet, the lands Europeans called Chinese Tartary.

Full title Imperially Commissioned Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Great Qing, second recension completed 1784 (424 juan): outer juan 401-424 cover Mongolia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Tibet and tributary states

欽定大清一統志

Qianlong commission (Heshen, nominal chief editor)

Read the 4 passages Open the original book

The Da Qing yitong zhi was the Qing empire's official gazetteer, compiled by court commissions from provincial records, frontier surveys and the Jesuit-Qing mapping of 1708 to 1718. It went through three recensions: 1744, 1784 (424 juan, the Siku quanshu copy named in the catalogue, of which the corpus holds only poor scans of juan 401 to 403 and 423 to 424) and the Jiaqing recension of 560 juan, extended to 1820 and completed in 1842. The readable full text in the corpus (Kanseki Repository, from the Sibu congkan reprint) is the 1842 recension, and that is what is quoted here. Its Mongolia sections give the history, rivers, towns, ruins and products of each banner.

How they knew: Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here: The gazetteer calls the Mongols Menggu and their lands the Outer Mongol domains; it uses Dada (韃靼, Tatar) only in its history, for the Mongols who fled north after the Yuan and 'again called themselves Dada'.
Why read it: It shows how the Qing state described the heart of 'Chinese Tartary': where the ruined Yuan capital Karakorum lay, when Hohhot was walled, and the old line that the steppe peoples 'have no houses'.
Watch out: The quotes come from the 1842 recension, not the 1784 Siku copy named in the catalogue; wording can differ between recensions. Mongol names are in the Qianlong-era re-spellings. Much of the text quotes older histories rather than reporting new observation.

What it says: 4 passages

Cities Karakorum (Orkhon valley)13th century; located in the 1842 recension

Where was Karakorum? Between the Orkhon and the Tamir

Editorial contextIn the Khalkha section's list of ancient sites, the gazetteer copies the Yuan history's account of Hening (Karakorum) and then adds its own finding: according to the 'Map of the Northern Desert', the old capital stood east of the Khangai mountains, between the Orkhon and Tamir rivers. A few pages earlier the same section places the Erdene Zuu monastery on the upper Orkhon. Karakorum here is a known Mongol capital with a location, not a mystery.

According to the Map of the Northern Desert, north of Hening is the Xiluge (Selenge) river, and further north the Kokebuqa ferry; to the west are the Mi river and the Qara Qorum river; to the southwest is a hot spring; to the south the Wangji river. Note: the place lies east of the present Khangai mountains, between the Orkhon and the Tamir rivers.
Working translation
Original wording
朔漠圖和寕北有錫爾格河又北庫庫布哈渡口西有迷河哈刺和林河西南有温泉南有旺吉河按其地在今杭愛山東鄂爾坤塔米爾河之閒

Qing history office, Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Great Qing (Jiaqing recension, completed 1842; Sibu congkan text, Kanseki Repository transcription)

See the original page (p. 197-26a)

About Mongols (Yuan capital)

Keep in mind

Listed under 'ancient sites' in the Khalkha section; the ruins of Karakorum lie beside Erdene Zuu on the Orkhon.

Cities Hohhot, Inner Mongolia16th century (compiled to 1842)

Hohhot, the Blue City, and its walls

Editorial contextUnder 'walls and moats' the gazetteer describes Guihua cheng, whose Mongol name is Kokekhota (Blue City): two li around, two zhang high, with north and south gates and an outer wall with three gates. It notes that the Ming gave it its Chinese name when Altan Khan submitted. Nearby was the new Qing fortress of Suiyuan, built in 1739. The gazetteer ties the town's Chinese name to Altan Khan's submission to the Ming in the 1570s.

Guihua city (200 li beyond the frontier wall at Shahukou; its Mongol name is Kuku Hetun [Kokekhota, Blue City]; two li in circuit and two zhang high, with one gate each on the north and south; the outer wall has three gates on its east, west and south sides. When Anda [Altan Khan] of the Ming period submitted, it was given its present name.
Working translation
Original wording
歸化城(在殺虎口邊城外二百里蒙古名庫庫河屯周圍二里高二丈南北門各一外郭東西南三面三門明諳逹歸順改賜今名

Qing history office, Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Great Qing (Jiaqing recension, completed 1842; Sibu congkan text, Kanseki Repository transcription)

See the original page (p. 056-43b)

About Tumed Mongols (Altan Khan)

Keep in mind

The gazetteer does not say who built the walls; the Ming history (W131) describes Chinese renegades building walled settlements for Altan Khan in this area.

Buildings Inner Mongoliaquoting sources of the 12th to 14th centuries; compiled to 1842

'No houses': the steppe in the official customs entry

Editorial contextThe customs entry for the Mongol lands is built from quotations: from the History of the Liao, that the northern deserts live by herding and hunting; and from the History of the Jin, that 'by custom they have no houses', living wherever there is water and grass and moving without fixed places. The Qing editors chose to describe their Mongol subjects in words written centuries earlier.

The northern deserts make herding and hunting their livelihood; all the means of life come from these (History of the Liao). By custom they have no houses; they live wherever there is water and grass and move about with no fixed place (History of the Jin).
Working translation
Original wording
朔漠以畜牧射獵為業生生之資於是乎出(遼史)俗無室廬隨水草以居遷徙不常(金史)

Qing history office, Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Great Qing (Jiaqing recension, completed 1842; Sibu congkan text, Kanseki Repository transcription), quoting the Liao and Jin histories

See the original page (p. 194-53a)

About Mongols of the Outer Mongol domains

Keep in mind

Stock phrases copied from older histories, not a fresh description.

The name Mongolia13th to 15th centuries (compiled to 1842)

From Yuan emperors back to 'Dada'

Editorial contextThe history of the Mongol domains says the Yuan's ancestors, the Mongols, came from the far northwest, conquered the world and unified it. After 1368 the Yuan heir fled north and kept his dynastic title, but a later usurper, Guilichi, called himself khan, dropped the dynastic name and 'again called [them] Dada', Tatars. The Qing record thus treats Tatar as the name the Mongols fell back on after losing China.

The forebears of the Yuan were called Menggu (Mongols); they lived on the far northwestern frontier, took possession of all under heaven and so unified it. At the start of the Ming, Ayushiridara fled back to the northern desert and resumed his old title... Guolegi (Guilichi) usurped the throne, styled himself khan, abolished the dynastic name and again called [them] Dada (Tatars).
Working translation
Original wording
元之先曰蒙古居西北極邊奄有天下遂成一統明初阿裕實哩達喇遯歸朔漠復其故號…果勒齊篡位稱可汗去國號復稱韃靼

Qing history office, Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Great Qing (Jiaqing recension, completed 1842; Sibu congkan text, Kanseki Repository transcription)

See the original page (p. 194-32b)

About Mongols (Yuan dynasty and its heirs)

Keep in mind

The second half is in a small-character note drawn from Ming sources.

The fine print

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

official compilation from provincial gazetteers, frontier surveys and the Jesuit-Qing mapping of 1708-1718

Research notes

Three recensions differ; the Siku copy is the 1784 text. Siku quanshu (1770s-80s) manuscript copy: the Qianlong editors systematically re-transcribed Mongol, Jurchen and Khitan names following the Qinding Liao Jin Yuan san shi guoyu jie, so name forms differ from Ming and early Qing prints (seen on the Ming shi Wala chapter page: 衛拉特 for 瓦剌, 太平巴圖博囉 for 太平 and 把禿孛羅). Cite the pre-Siku editions for original orthography.

Why it matters

Official Qing definition of its territory in 1784 with distances, boundaries and names; its outer-region juan are the Qing counterpart to European 'Chinese Tartary' and show which polities the court counted as inside or outside.