From Personal Network to Institution Building

The Lifanyuan, Gift Exchange and the Formalization of Manchu-Mongol Relations

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2156359
AutoresDorothea Heuschert-Laage (0009-0009-6121-8023, North-West State Technical University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen25
Número5
Páginas648-669
Fecha de publicación2014-10-20
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaHistory and Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0275-7206 • E-ISSN: 1477-2612
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02757206.2014.946022
OpenAlexW2022145120
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas29

The Qing emperors, who ruled over China from 1644 to 1911, managed to bring large parts of Inner Asia under their control and extended the territory of China to an unprecedented degree. This paper maintains that the political technique of patronage with its formalized language, its emphasis on gift exchange and expressions of courtesy is a useful concept for explaining the integration of Inner Asian confederations into the empire. By re-interpreting the obligations of gift exchange, the Qing transformed the network of personal relationships, which had to be reinforced and consolidated permanently, into a system with clearly defined rules. In this process of formalization, the Lifanyuan, the Court for the Administration of the Outer Regions, played a key role. While in the early years of the dynasty, it was responsible for collecting and disseminating information concerning the various patronage relationships with Inner Asian leaders, over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries its efforts were directed at standardizing and streamlining the contacts between ethnic minorities and the state. Through the Lifanyuan, the rules and principles of patronage were maintained in a modified form even in the later part of the dynasty, when the Qing exercised control in the outer regions more directly. The paper provides an explanation for the longevity and cohesiveness of the multi-ethnic Qing Empire. Based on recently published Manchu and Mongol language archival material and the Maussian concept of gift exchange, the study sheds new light on the changing self-conception of the Qing emperors

China · Courtesy · Empire · Ethnic group · Institution · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law