In 1777 the Qianlong emperor ordered his officials, led by Agui and Yu Minzhong, to compile a history proving that the Manchus were heirs of the Jurchen Jin and of older peoples of the northeast named in Chinese histories: the Sushen, Yilou, Mohe and the Bohai kingdom. The 20 juan cover peoples, territory, mountains and rivers, and customs, and re-spell old names according to Manchu etymologies. The corpus holds poor scans of juan 1 to 2 and 17 to 20 and the Kanseki Repository transcription of the Siku copy, quoted here.
How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
The work does not call the Manchus Tatars. It re-spells the Yuan 'Water Tatars' (水達達) of Manchuria as Shuo Dalda, explained as Manchu for 'a hidden place', so the Tatar name disappears from its pages.
Why read it
It is the Manchu court's own answer to 'who are we?': a sacred origin legend, an etymology of the name Manchu, and ruined palace cities in the homeland claimed as ancestral, to set beside European talk of 'Manchu Tartars'.
Watch out
An ideological compilation meant to give the ruling house an ancient and noble pedigree. Its etymologies and re-spellings of old names are the editors' own and often contested. Translations are working translations.
Editorial contextThe Jilin section notes that Ningguta was the Bohai kingdom's Huhan prefecture, later its Upper Capital Longquan, and that sixty li southwest of the Qing town, south of the Hurha river, lay an old city thirty li around with an inner city five li around where palace foundations still survived. Between Lalin and Alchuka was the Jin upper capital, likewise with outer and inner walls and palace remains. The Qing claimed these as the works of their own ancestors.
[Sixty li southwest of the present city, south of the Hurha river, is] an old city thirty li around, with an inner city five li around, where the old foundations of palaces still survive. Under the Jin it was Hurha circuit, also under the Upper Capital. Between Lalin and Alchuka stood the Upper Capital of the Jin: four li south of the present town there is still an old city with an inner citadel and the remains of palaces.
'Manchu' from Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom
Editorial contextThe editors argue that the name Manchu (滿洲) was originally Manju, both syllables level in tone, and link it to the Tibetans' custom of addressing the Qing emperor each year as 'Great Emperor Manjushri'. Manju, they say, means 'wonderful auspiciousness'; the Chinese character zhou (continent) was borrowed because it looked like a place name, but Manchu is the name of a people, not a place.
[Examined in] our national (Manchu) script, Manzhou was originally written Manzhu, both syllables read in the level tone. Since our dynasty arose in the eastern land, every year Tibet presents red-ink letters all addressing 'the Great Emperor Manjushri'. The Fanyi mingyi (a Buddhist glossary) says: Manju in Chinese means 'wonderful auspiciousness'.
Editorial contextQuoting the History of the Yuan on the Hailan and 'Water Tatar' circuits of Manchuria, the editors change 水達達 (Shui Dada, 'Water Tatars') to 碩達勒達, explained as Manchu for 'a hidden place', and note that the old form has been 'now corrected'. The Qing court thus removed the Tatar name from the history of its own homeland.
Hailan prefecture, Shuo Dalda and other circuits. The History of the Yuan: Hailan (see the Jin Upper Capital entry above) prefecture, Shuo Dalda (Manchu for 'a hidden, sheltered place'; formerly written Shui Dada, 'Water Tatars'; now corrected) and other circuits: the land is broad and the people live scattered.
Editorial contextThe dynasty's origin legend: three heavenly maidens bathed in Lake Bulhuri below Bukuri mountain, east of the Changbai range. A magic magpie dropped a red fruit on the youngest one's clothes; she put it in her mouth, swallowed it and conceived a boy who could speak at birth. She named him Bukuri Yongshon, of the Aisin Gioro clan, and sent him downriver in a small boat to settle a land at war. The court presents this as sacred history.
East of the Changbai mountains is Bukuri mountain, and below it a lake called Bulhuri. It is handed down that three heavenly maidens bathed in the lake. A divine magpie, holding a red fruit in its beak, placed it on the youngest maiden's clothes. The youngest held it in her mouth; suddenly it went down into her belly and she conceived. Soon she bore a boy who could speak at birth.
Agui, Yu Minzhong and the Qianlong commission, Researches on Manchu Origins (Siku quanshu Wenyuange copy, Kanseki Repository transcription), quoting the dynasty's Record of Origins (Faxiang shiji)
A dynastic foundation legend, not history; the editors compare it to the miraculous births of the Shang and Zhou founders.
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
official compilation reinterpreting Chinese historical records (Sushen, Mohe, Bohai, Jurchen) as Manchu ancestry
Research notes
Ideologically driven compilation with systematic re-transcription of names; 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
Qing court's own construction of Manchu origins and of the historical geography of Manchuria, including the etymologies of place names; a state-produced 'origins' narrative to compare with European ethnographies of the Tartars.