Description
Book SynopsisPerdue illuminates how China came to rule Central Eurasia and how it justifies that control, what holds the Chinese nation together, and how its relations with the Islamic world and Mongolia developed. He offers valuable comparisons to other colonial empires and discusses the legacy left by China's frontier expansion.
Trade ReviewThis is a masterpiece of contemporary scholarship. Nothing like it has been published in the field of Asian studies for several decades. And no one has written about Inner Asia during the formative eighteenth century with such comprehensive vision. It covers a huge swath of place and time, has impressive intellectual reach, and speaks with a calm certainty that sustains the reader's attention for the length of the book. -- Timothy Brook, author of
Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime ChinaA masterful examination of imperial expansion and frontier history, this work goes to the roots of what it meant, for China, to be an 'empire' in the eighteenth century. Perdue's massive and detailed research into the expansion of the Qing empire contributes a crucial dimension to the comparative study of the Chinese, Russian, and Ottoman empires in the early modern period. This is a first-rate accomplishment and a truly outstanding piece of scholarship. -- Nicola Di Cosmo, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Building on meticulous research in several languages, Perdueargues convincingly that the Qing conquests were of enormous importance both locally and globally. Drawing us deep into interconnected issues of frontier environments, state formation, and control of the historical record before the age of mass communication, his nuanced account sets a new standard for the study of both comparative empires and identity formation in the early modern world. -- Joanna Waley-Cohen, author of
The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese HistoryIn this major work, Perdue challenges historians' focus on China's struggles with European powers and argues that the more important historical event was the Manchu Qing empire's fight with the Zunghar Mongolian state and the Muscovite Russian empire for domination of Central Asia. He traces the rise of the Qing and how they--with military conquest and repression, but also through trade policies, economic development, and administrative effectiveness--established a claim on Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia that holds to this day...Perdue succeeds in giving new life to matters that have succumbed to stale conventional thinking. -- Lucian Pye * Foreign Affairs *
In this massive and beautifully illustrated volume, Peter C. Perdue has produced the first broad survey in a Western language in virtually a century of the Qing dynasty's protracted wars against the Zunghars...Numerous maps and lavish illustrations, many in color, from new and historic photographs, paintings, and woodcuts contribute to the immediate appeal of this weighty tome. As an account of how China defeated the Zunghars and how the Qing dynasty secured its conquest of the eastern part of Central Eurasia, this ground-breaking book will be read by both specialists evaluating the arguments and by students needing an introduction to this important topic. -- Christopher P. Atwood * American Historical Review *
A masterful work on Central Eurasian political and cultural dynamics, Perdue's book is also a virtual education in critical thinking and a model of good corrective historical writing.
China Marches West competently unravels the complexity of the dynamics of Central Eurasia up to the latter part of the eighteenth century with the successful formation of the Qing empire. -- Franklin J. Woo * China Review International *
The book has been arranged as meticulously as the military logistics the author finds so critical to Chinese imperial consolidation in Central Eurasia. It is, as Perdue is well aware from his command of a vast range of material, the most comprehensive narrative account in English, as well as many other languages. Certainly no other work in any language engages so extensively with so many issues current in both Chinese and world history. -- David A. Bello * China Historical Review *
This is a sumptuous book, beautifully written, beautifully illustrated and beautifully produced. It is ajoy to hold and to read. The subject is dramatic, the conquest of Central Eurasia by the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century. It tells a story, in alternating sections of narrative and analysis, that is both historical and modem. The extension of Qng power continues to have huge implications for China and for the geopolitics of North and Central Asia. The book is based on impeccable scholarship; the author has used such a rich range of sources, in seven languages, that the work must be described as definitive. -- Diana Lary * Pacific Affairs *
In this acclaimed book, Peter Perdue presents a study of more than 100 years of the frontier relations, military campaigns, logistics, and diplomatic maneuvers that resulted in the Qing conquest of Central Eurasia. Taking his cue from the Qianlong emperor, he positions the Qing at the centre of his narrative, yet he is at pains to show that this is the story of not one, but three great empires: Wing, Russian, and Mongol, which contended for power in the heart of Eurasia in the 17th to 18th century. And herein lies his thesis. While never losing sight of the unpredictability of conquest, Perdue uses the model of competitive state-building to explain why it was not until the 18th century that a dynasty ruling from Beijing conclusively eradicated the nomadic enemy to its north. Picking his way deftly through national historiographies and an impressive array of primary sources, Perdue recounts the familiar story of how, by the late 16th century, the Russian state was gradually expanding, not only westwards but deep into Siberia...This is a weighty book in every sense, and along the way Perdue pointedly engages with many of the major theoretical perspectives and trends in recent scholarship on modern Chinese history: ethnic and national identities, frontier management, China's place in world history, and the interaction of nomad and steppe empires. They are all here--the issues and debated that have been quietly transforming the face of Qing studies over the past ten to 15 years but which, for the most part, have still to filter into mainstream writings and comparative studies. For this reason, if none other, this book should be read not only by China specialists, but all those with an interest in bringing Chinese history in from the cold. -- L.J. Newby * Times Higher Education Supplement *
China Marches West is a masterful study of the dissolution of the last nomadic empire, Zunghar, and the partition of Central Eurasia in the 17th and 18th centuries by he two superpowers, China and Russia...We have been badly in need of studies that can provide us with an appropriate understanding of the importance of Central Eurasia, especially in relation to the emergence of the two continental empires of Russia and China in the context of world history. Perdue's book not only fills this gap but also drastically raises the level of our understanding of the subject. A specialist in Chinese history, concentrating on the Ming-Qing period, Perdue boldly turns his eye to the Mongolian steppe and beyond...This book is full of details, but the descriptions are not monotonous: vivid narration, keen remarks, and interpretive discussions render this thick volume fascinating and readable. The details are firmly based on primary sources in the many different languages of Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Russian. Perdue's scope of interest is amazingly broad, covering virtually the whole Eurasian continent, and his command of literatures in European history and social sciences is also astounding. It is no wonder that readers feel no awkwardness in his comparative historical discourse and are convinced of his conclusion that the formation of the Qing state was not much different from that of European states. Perdue's book should be recommended to all the students sitting in the classes of Asian as well as European history, and to all scholars of these regions besides. A large number of maps, pictures, and diagrams help readers in following the arguments without much difficulty. In sum, there is no doubt that this book is a brilliant achievement of modern American historical scholarship and will remain a serious challenge to future scholars in the discipline of historical analysis. -- Kim Hodong * Sino-Platonic Papers *
The text is elegantly constructed, the argument is thoughtful and the illustrations are well chosen and beautifully presented. -- Michael Dillon * Asian Affairs *
The book has been arranged as meticulously as the military logistics the author finds so critical to Chinese imperial consolidation in Central Eurasia. It is, as Perdue is well aware from his command of a vast range of material, the most comprehensive narrative account in English, as well as many other languages. Certainly no other work in any language engages so extensively with so many issues current in both Chinese and world history...Perdue has opened a new frontier that may never be entirely settled, but that certainly provides ample space for years of exploration. -- David A. Bellow * Chinese Historical Review *
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Note on Names, Dates, Weights and Measures, and Chinese Characters Introduction History, Time, and Memory The Qing Conquests as a World Historical Event PART ONE: THE FORMATION OF THE CENTRAL EURASIAN STATES 1. Environments, State Building, and National Identity The Unboundedness of Central Eurasia Trade, Transport, and Travel The Frontier Zone Isolation and Integration 2. The Ming, Muscovy, and Siberia, 1400-1600 The Ming and the Mongols State Formation in Muscovy and Russian Expansion Siberian and Chinese Frontiers 3. Central Eurasian Interactions and the Rise of the Manchus, 1600-1670 Building the Zunghar State The Rise of the Manchus Mongolian Influence on the Manchu State Early Modern State Building Compared PART TWO: CONTENDING FOR POWER 4. Manchus, Mongols, and Russians in Conflict, 1670-1690 Kangxi the Ruler Galdan's Intervention Kangxi's First Personal Expedition The Treaty of Nerchinsk and the Excluded Middle 5. Eating Snow: The End of Galdan, 1690-1697 The Dolon Nor Assembly The Battle of Jao Modo The Emperor Rewrites History The Final Campaigns and the Fate of Galdan 6. Imperial Overreach and Zunghar Survival, 1700-1731 The Rise of Tsewang Rabdan Three Central Eurasian Travelers The Penetration of Turkestan and Tibet The New Emperor Changes Tack 7. The Final Blows, 1734-1771 Transforming the Barbarians through Trade The Death Knell of the Zunghar State The Conquest of Turkestan The Return of the Torghuts PART THREE: THE ECONOMIC BASIS OF POWER 8. Cannons on Camelback: Ecological Structures and Economic Conjunctures Galdan the State Builder Nian Gengyao and the Incorporation of Qinghai Administering the Frontier 9. Land Settlement and Military Colonies Deportation from Turfan Settlement of Xinjiang Colonization and Land Clearance Economic Development 10. Harvests and Relief Harvests and Yields Granary Reserves The Contribution Scandal The Relief Campaign of 1756 11. Currency and Commerce Money on the Frontier, from Song through Ming Integration and Stabilization Commerce as a Weapon of War Tribute and Frontier Trade PART FOUR: FIXING FRONTIERS 12. Moving through the Land Travel and Authority Marking Space in Stone Maps and Power Expanding the Imperial Gaze 13. Marking Time: Writing Imperial History Kangxi's Campaign History Yongzheng and the Dayi Juemilu Qianlong's Account of the Zunghar Mongols A View from the Frontier Nomadic Chronicles PART FIVE: LEGACIES AND IMPLICATIONS 14. Writing the National History of Conquest Statecraft Writers and Empire Geopolitics and Emperor Worship Chinese Historians and the Multicultural State Soviet and Mongolian Attacks on Qing Aggression Empires, Nations, and Peoples 15. State Building in Europe and Asia The Political Ecology of Frontier Conquest European, Chinese, and Inner Asian Models Theories of Nomadic Empires Rethinking the Qing in the World 16. Frontier Expansion in the Rise and Fall of the Qing The End of the Qing State Northwest and Southern Frontiers The Negotiated State Commercialization and Regionalization APPENDIXES A. Rulers and Reigns B. The Yongzheng Emperor Reels from the News of the Disaster, 1731 C. Haggling at the Border D. Gansu Harvests and Yields E. Climate and Harvests in the Northwest Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Illustration Credits Index
