Written source · French

Memoirs of the Peking missionaries, with Amiot on the Dzungars and the Torghut exodus

The Peking Jesuits' learned series on China (from 1776), with Amiot's translations of the Qianlong emperor's monuments on the destruction of the Dzungars and the flight of the Volga Torghuts, 1771.

Full title Memoirs concerning the history, sciences, arts, manners and customs of the Chinese, by the missionaries of Peking, vol. 1 (1776): including Amiot’s Monument de la transmigration des Tourgouths (Torghut migration from the Volga to China, 1771) and Monument de la conquete des Eleuths (Qianlong’s inscription on the Dzungar conquest, c. 1757)

Joseph-Marie Amiot and the Peking Jesuits

Read the 10 passages Open the original book

The Mémoires concernant les Chinois were essays, letters and translations sent from Peking by French Jesuits and printed in Paris from 1776. Volume 1 carries Joseph-Marie Amiot's French versions of two stone inscriptions by the Qianlong emperor: on the Qing conquest of the Dzungar (Eleuth) state around 1755 to 1759, and on the Torghut Kalmyks' trek from the Volga to Ili in 1771. Amiot, a court insider for decades, added many notes of his own and a critique of a French traveller's account. Other volumes discuss Peking's history and the Manchu 'Tartars' in China. Copies here: vol. 1 (T0641, 1776), vol. 2 (T0642, 1777), vol. 4 (T0643, 1779; T0644 duplicate).

How they knew: Part eyewitness
Who “Tartar” means here: Several at once: the Eleuths (Dzungars, western Mongols) and Torghuts (Volga Kalmyks) are 'Tartars'; the ruling Manchus are 'Tartares Mantchoux'; and the writers also use 'Tartares' for the Manchu banner people living in Peking, as against 'nos Chinois'.
Why read it: The Chinese imperial side of how 'Tartary' was redrawn in the 1750s and 1770s, with a well-informed Jesuit correcting both the emperor's rhetoric and European newspapers.
Watch out: The emperor's texts are victory propaganda (calling the Dzungars worse than bears and monkeys); Amiot admired Qianlong and softened some phrases. The Paris editors cut and arranged the letters. Unsigned essays in later volumes are by anonymous missionaries writing as if Chinese.

What it says: 10 passages

Cities Ili (Yining area, Xinjiang)1760s-1770s

No towns on the Ili until the emperor built one for exiles

Editorial contextThe next note says the banks of the Ili had long been the favourite home of the Eleuth kings, but 'there were no towns': they camped in tents, moving from place to place. After the conquest the emperor had a town built there that grew daily, and it had become the place of exile for Chinese and Tartars convicted of crimes.

The banks of the Ili river had long been the favourite residence of the Eleuth kings. There were no towns. They camped there in tents, now in one place, now in another. The Emperor has had a town built there which grows more populous every day. It is there that Chinese and Tartars who have deserved the penalty of exile are now sent.
Working translation
Original wording
Les bords de la riviere d'Ily ont été depuis long-temps le séjour de prédilection des Rois des Eleuths. Il n'y avoit point de villes. Ils y campoient sous des tentes, tantôt dans un endroit & tantôt dans un autre. L'Empereur y a fait bâtir une ville qui devient chaque jour plus peuplée. C'est-là qu'on envoie aujourd'hui & les Chinois & les Tartares qui ont mérité la peine de l'exil.

Joseph-Marie Amiot (note to the Eleuth monument)

See the original page (p. 341)

About Eleuths (Dzungars); Qing settlers and exiles

Cities Beijing10th to 13th centuries

Peking's walls under the Khitan, Jin and Mongols

Editorial contextAnswering a French author who claimed Peking was founded by Khubilai in 1267, a Peking missionary traces its walls through Chinese annals: 36 li round with eight gates as the Khitan southern capital, 75 li under the Jin, then six leagues and eleven gates when the Mongol Yuan 'repaired its ruins' in 1274. Here the northern conquerors rebuild an old Chinese city rather than create one.

Peking was then only thirty-six li round … with eight gates. Under the Kin, whose capital it also was, it was seventy-five li round, or seven and a half leagues. The Yuan, who first named it the Middle Capital and then the Great Capital, gave it only six leagues round and eleven gates when they repaired its ruins in 1274.
Working translation
Original wording
Pe-king n'avoit alors que trente-six li de tour … & huit portes. Sous les Kin, dont il fut aussi la Capitale, il eut soixante-quinze li de tour, ou sept lieues & demie. Les Yuen, qui le nommerent d'abord la Capitale du milieu puis la grande Capitale, ne lui donnerent que six lieues de tour & onze portes, lorsqu'ils en reparerent les ruines en 1274.

Anonymous Peking missionary writing in the voice of a Chinese scholar (Remarques sur un écrit de M. P**, Mémoires vol. 2, 1777)

See the original page (p. 553)

About Khitan (Liao), Jurchen (Jin) and Mongol (Yuan) 'Tartars'

Keep in mind

The figures come from Chinese geographical annals as the writer reads them; the Yuan in fact built a largely new city (Dadu) beside the old site.

Cities Kashgar1758-1759

Walled Muslim towns of Kashgar and Yarkand, unlike the Eleuths

Editorial contextAmiot explains why the Muslim princes of Yarkand and Kashgar thought they could resist the Qing after the Eleuths fell: unlike the nomad Eleuths they had firearms, walled towns and strongholds, and Muslim neighbours to help them. The Qing generals took both towns; the younger Khoja's head was sent to Peking in a box and displayed over the palace's Wu Men gate.

They had the advantage over the Eleuths of firearms; they had walled towns and some strongholds, and they could be helped by the other Mahometans, their neighbours.
Working translation
Original wording
Ils avoient par dessus les Eleuths l'avantage des armes à feu, ils avoient des villes murées, quelques places fortes, & ils pouvoient être secourus par les autres Mahométans leurs voisins.

Joseph-Marie Amiot (note to the Eleuth monument)

See the original page (p. 381)

About Muslim townspeople of 'Little Bukharia' under the two Khojas; contrasted with the Eleuths

Keep in mind

These town-dwellers are the Turkic Muslims of the Tarim oases, not Tartars in Amiot's usage; the passage is useful for the contrast.

Buildings Dzungaria (Ili valley)1750s

The Dzungars live in tents, visiting their villages two months a year

Editorial contextIn a note on the emperor's text, Amiot explains that the Eleuths camp in tents and spend only two or three months a year in their hamlets, villages and 'kinds of towns', and only the most important among them bother to go there at all. Every head of a family plants a standard before his tent, larger or smaller by rank.

The Eleuths camp under tents; they are in their hamlets, villages and sorts of towns only about two or three months of the year, and even then only the most important of them deign to withdraw there. Each head of a family raises a standard in front of his tent
Working translation
Original wording
Les Eleuths campent sous des tentes; ils ne sont dans leurs hameaux, villages & especes de villes, qu'environ deux ou trois mois de l'année; & encore n'y a-t-il que les plus considérables d'entr'eux, qui daignent s'y retirer. Chaque chef de famille arbore un etendart devant sa tente

Joseph-Marie Amiot (note to his translation of the Qianlong emperor's monument on the conquest of the Eleuths)

See the original page (p. 341)

About Eleuths (Dzungar or western Mongols, Kalmyks)

Keep in mind

Amiot never went to Dzungaria; he writes from Peking court information.

Show 6 more passages

Buildings China and Manchuria17th to 18th centuries

The Manchus build stupas after adopting the lamas' religion

Editorial contextArguing against the idea that Chinese towers came from Bactria or Tibet, the writer jokes that the Chinese built them 'before the Mongols knew how to sneeze without looking at the sun'. As for the ta (stupa-pagodas), he says the Manchu Tartars took up the lamas' religion and its superstition of the ta, and had them built in chosen places to please the lamas and bring luck.

we had leou [towers] before the Mongols knew how to sneeze without looking at the sun. All we will say about the ta is that the Manchu Tartars, having taken up the religion of the Lamas, adopted the superstition of the ta and had them built, of various heights, in places they chose
Working translation
Original wording
nous avions des leou avant que les Mongoux sussent eternuer sans regarder le soleil. Tout ce que nous dirons sur les ta, c'est que les Tartares Mantchoux, ayant pris la religion des Lama, ont adopté la superstition des ta, & en ont fait bâtir de diverses hauteurs dans les lieux qu'ils ont déterminés

Anonymous Peking missionary writing in the voice of a Chinese scholar (Remarques sur un écrit de M. P**, Mémoires vol. 2, 1777)

See the original page (p. 567)

About Manchus ('Tartares Mantchoux'); Mongols

Keep in mind

Polemical and dismissive of both Mongols and lamas.

Daily life Volga to Ili1771

Why the Torghuts left the Volga: conscription, hostages and religion

Editorial contextThe emperor gives the Torghuts' reasons for leaving Russia: the Russians kept demanding soldiers, had taken Ubashi's son as a hostage, and had a different religion and no regard for the Lamas' faith the Torghuts followed. On the same page they set out with wives, children and baggage, crossed the Kazakh country and the deserts by Lake Balkhash, and after eight months and more than ten thousand li reached the Ili frontier. The volume's preface puts their number at 500,000.

The Russians never ceasing to demand soldiers from him … and lately having taken his own son from him as a hostage, being moreover of a different religion from his and making no account of the religion of the Lamas which the Torghuts profess, Ubashi and his people at last resolved to shake off a yoke
Working translation
Original wording
Les Russes ne cessant point d'exiger de lui qu'il leur fournît des soldats … en dernier lieu lui ayant enlevé son propre fils pour leur servir d'otage, étant outre cela d'une religion différente de la sienne, & ne faisant aucun cas de celle des Lamas dont les Tourgouths font profession, Oubaché & les siens se sont enfin déterminés à secouer un joug

The Qianlong emperor (monument on the Torghut migration), translated by Joseph-Marie Amiot

See the original page (p. 408)

About Torghuts (Volga Kalmyks) under Ubashi Khan

Keep in mind

The emperor's version stresses a free and willing submission to himself; Amiot's own note (n438) adds that the nation reached Ili in rags, with nothing to live on.

Daily life Beijing1770s

Tartars wield brush and sabre and scorn trade

Editorial contextAn essay on money-lending in China contrasts the two ruling peoples: the Chinese are no warriors and prize learning, while the Tartars aim to handle the brush as well as the sabre and write works of every kind in Manchu, but would think it beneath them to practise a craft or trade. The same page praises their energy and toughness and says they spend freely rather than save.

Our Chinese are not warriors, but they pride themselves on wisdom and skill. The Tartars aim to handle the brush as well as the sabre; they compose works of every kind in Tartar [Manchu] … The Tartars would think it degrading to practise a craft or trade, and our Chinese regard the sad trade of arms as the last resort of those without merit.
Working translation
Original wording
Nos Chinois ne sont pas guerriers, mais ils se piquent de sagesse & d'habileté. Les Tartares visent à manier aussi-bien le pinceau que le sabre; ils composent en Tartare des ouvrages dans tous les genres … Les Tartares croiroient s'avilir de faire un métier ou commerce, & nos Chinois regardent le triste métier des armes comme la derniere ressource du défaut de mérite.

Anonymous Peking missionary (essay on interest on money in China, Mémoires vol. 4, 1779)

See the original page (p. 332)

About Manchu banner people ('Tartares') in Qing China

Keep in mind

A generalisation about national character by a writer living in Peking.

The name Dzungaria1750s (written 1770s)

'Destroyed by the Manchu Tartars, not the Chinese'

Editorial contextAmiot corrects the French traveller Chappe d'Auteroche, who had written that the Kalmyk nation was destroyed 'by the Chinese' after a ten-year war. It would be more exact, Amiot says, to say it was destroyed by the Manchu Tartars, since no Chinese took part, and the war lasted only about three and a half years. The distinction matters for anyone reading 'Tartar' in these sources.

It would have been more exact to say: it was destroyed by the Manchu Tartars, for no Chinese had any part in it; and the war that exterminated the Eleuths lasted only about three and a half years, not ten.
Working translation
Original wording
Il eût été plus exact de dire: elle a été détruite par les Tartares Mantchoux; car aucun Chinois n'y a eu part: & la guerre qui a exterminé les Eleuths n'a duré qu'environ trois ans & demi, & non pas dix ans.

Joseph-Marie Amiot (remarks on Chappe d'Auteroche's Voyage en Sibérie)

See the original page (p. 429)

About Eleuths (Dzungars, Kalmyks); Manchus

The name Dzungaria and the Volga17th century (written 1771)

Torghuts, Eleuths and the four branches of the Dzungar nation

Editorial contextThe emperor's monument explains who the Torghuts were: one of the branches of the Eleuths. Four branches once made up the whole Dzungar ('Tchong-kar') nation; they split, the Eleuths dominated the rest, and in Kangxi's time the Torghut chief Ayuki fled with his people into Russian territory and settled on the 'Etchil', which Amiot's note identifies as the Volga.

The Torghuts are one of the branches of the Eleuths. Four different branches once formed the whole nation of Dzungar. It would be hard to explain their common origin, about which nothing very certain is known. These four branches separated and each became a nation of its own.
Working translation
Original wording
Les Tourgouths sont une des branches des Eleuths. Quatre branches differentes formoient autrefois toute la nation de Tchong-kar. Il seroit difficile d'expliquer leur commune origine, sur laquelle d'ailleurs on ne sait rien de bien certain. Ces quatre branches se séparerent, & firent chacune une nation à part.

The Qianlong emperor (monument on the Torghut migration), translated by Joseph-Marie Amiot

See the original page (p. 406)

About Torghuts (Volga Kalmyks), Eleuths (Dzungars)

Strange tales Dzungariac. 1757

The emperor: 'nearer to the dirty monkey than to man'

Editorial contextIn his victory inscription the Qianlong emperor explains the Dzungars' revolt after his gifts by comparing them to beasts: closer to a filthy monkey than to man, and fiercer than bears and the Yu-ki. Amiot notes that he softened the monkey insult, and that the Yu-ki is a fabulous creature with a tiger's claws, a dragon's head and a fox's body.

I knew that by the nature of their faults and vices they were closer to the dirty monkey than to man, whose stamp they bear and whose august name they carry; but, I admit, I did not imagine they could be fiercer than bears, crueller and more untameable than the Yu-ki.
Working translation
Original wording
Je savois que par la nature de leurs défauts, & de leurs vices, ils approchoient plus du sale Sapajou que de l'homme, dont ils ont cependant l'empreinte & dont ils portent l'auguste nom; mais, je l'avoue, je n'imaginois pas qu'ils pussent être plus féroces que les Ours, plus cruels & plus intraitables que les Yu-ki.

The Qianlong emperor (stone inscription), translated by Joseph-Marie Amiot

See the original page (p. 373)

About Eleuths (Dzungars), described by the Qianlong emperor

Keep in mind

Imperial war propaganda, not description; Amiot says he toned down the original insult.

The fine print

How we know

mixed Part firsthand observation, part drawn from other sources.

mixed: Amiot in Peking translated Qianlong's stele inscriptions and reported court news of the Torghut arrival (informant testimony and official record), with his own notes

Research notes

Amiot translated imperial propaganda inscriptions; his notes distinguish his own knowledge from the emperor's text. Series editorship in Paris altered and cut letters. Amiot's Eloge de la ville de Moukden (1770, Manchu-French) is a separate publication not verified here.
Later volumes contain Amiot's Manchu dictionary notices and Cibot on Tartar customs; not itemised in this pass.

Why it matters

Contemporary Jesuit reporting from Peking on the two events that redrew "Tartary" in the 1750s-1770s: the Qing destruction of the Dzungar state and the flight of the Volga Torghuts to China; complements Tulisen (W016) and Zwick (W068) from the Chinese side.

Places named

Dzungaria / Xinjiang (Ili); Volga (Torghut departure); Mongolia; Manchuria (Mukden)

Peoples named

Western Mongols (Oirat, Dzungar, Kalmyk)

Jurchen and Manchus (incl. the Qing as a Manchu dynasty)

Qing dynasty

Mongols and the Mongol empire

Khalkha Mongols

Torghuts / Kalmyks; Dzungars (Eleuths); Manchu / Qing; Khalkha Mongols

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