The Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing China

He Bian, Mårten Söderblom Saarela

ISBN 10: 0674297512 / ISBN 13: 9780674297517

Published by Harvard University Press, US, 2025

About this Item

As the territory of Qing China expanded, so evolved the ways in which birds, beasts, fish, trees, and flowers came to be known in the multilingual empire. The Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing China is the first systematic study of how the Qing court sought to codify Manchu and Chinese words for animals and plants throughout the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on Manchurian and other Inner Asian species. Calling for renewed attention to Manchu dictionaries as an important source for Qing intellectual and cultural history, Bian and Söderblom Saarela show how Qing lexicographical practices embodied major revisions to the Chinese encyclopedic tradition, realigned the relationship between words and things, and left a lasting impact on natural historical scholarship in the modern era. The updated form of Chinese learning, along with the malleable lexicon of the Manchu language, proved useful for the Manchu elite in displaying the reach and intellectual depth of Qing imperial power. Manchu was transformed from the language of a single people into the lexicographic façade for an imperial order of things.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780674297517

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing China
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, US
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674297512
• ISBN 13: 9780674297517
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: Multilingual.
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 15.88W x 3.18H x 22.86D centimeters 15.88 centimeters width by 3.18 centimeters height by 22.86 centimeters depth
• Weight: 726 grams

About this title

Synopsis

As the territory of Qing China expanded, so evolved the ways in which birds, beasts, fish, trees, and flowers came to be known in the multilingual empire. The Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing China is the first systematic study of how the Qing court sought to codify Manchu and Chinese words for animals and plants throughout the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on Manchurian and other Inner Asian species. Calling for renewed attention to Manchu dictionaries as an important source for Qing intellectual and cultural history, Bian and Söderblom Saarela show how Qing lexicographical practices embodied major revisions to the Chinese encyclopedic tradition, realigned the relationship between words and things, and left a lasting impact on natural historical scholarship in the modern era. The updated form of Chinese learning, along with the malleable lexicon of the Manchu language, proved useful for the Manchu elite in displaying the reach and intellectual depth of Qing imperial power. Manchu was transformed from the language of a single people into the lexicographic façade for an imperial order of things.

About the Authors

He Bian is an Associate Professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University.

Mårten Söderblom Saarela is Special Collections Librarian at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College.