The Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing China (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780674297517)

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 S?derblom 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 fa?ade for an imperial order of things.

Author: He Bian, M?rten S?derblom Saarela
ISBN-10: 0674297512
ISBN-13: 9780674297517
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Language: English
Published: 08/12/2025
Pages: 406
Format: Hardcover