DELETED MATERIALS
(The following materials have been deleted from the Author’s Notes appended at the end of the story)
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1. RISE OF QING AND FALL OF MING
1.1 Origin of the Manchus
(a) The Jurchens. BBBThe Manchus originated from the Jurchen tribes which settled in the vast territorial region of Manchuria in north-east Asia. At the time, Manchuria bordered Russia in the north, Mongolia in the west, China in the south and south-west, Korea in the south-east and was separated from Japan in the east by the Sea of Japan. It was traditionally the homeland of the Qidans, Jurchens, Tungus and Eastern Turks. After the Manchu Conquest, Manchuria became part of China. Now, the region previously known as Manchuria is divided between China and Russia, the Russian half known as ‘Outer Manchuria’ and the Chinese half as ‘Inner Manchuria’. The Chinese half comprises the provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning
(b) The Jurchens created the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). BBBIn the twelfth century, the Jurchens created the ‘Jin’ Dynasty and occupied northern China for over one hundred years. They were later driven out by the joint forces of the Chinese and Mongolian armies. During the Jin occupation of the north, the Chinese retreated south and the dynasty was known as ‘Southern Song’. The Jurchens were called the ‘Jins’ by the Han Chinese.
(c) The Jurchens during the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368). BBB In 1206, Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes, and became the Great Khan (ruler) of the Mongols. After his death, his third son, Ogodei, succeeded him, and drove out the Jins from north China in 1234. The Mongols soon turned their sight to China (Southern Song). Battles with China continued until Khubilai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and son of Tolui (fourth son of Genghis Khan), conquered Southern Song in 1279. China was united once again and the reign name of the dynasty was changed to ‘Yuan’.
(d) The Jurchens during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). BBB In 1368, the Mongols were defeated and driven out of China by a Han Chinese, Zhu YuanZhang, who founded the Ming Dynasty. In the north-east, the Ming set up a military form of government in Liaodong (present day Liaoning) with a Regional Commander in control of all the Ming military towns in the area. In the early days, the defensive strategy was to fend off the marauding Mongols.
Meanwhile, in the north-east, the Jurchen tribes concentrated in three main confederations, the Wild Jurchens, Haixi and Jianzhou. Each confederation was further sub-divided into tribes and clans. The Jurchens were subjugated to the Ming Government. While the Ming dealt with the problem of Mongols by going to war, they found a way to pacify the Jurchens by appointing Jurchens as Ming officials. They opened horse markets, and presented printed patents to Jurchens which allowed their tribute missions to enter Beijing and trade for a given number of days. The Jurchens vied for Ming appointments. The Jurchen tribes after their defeat by the Mongols became much divided, and they constantly argued over succession and territories. Hence they sought Ming appointments to establish legitimacy and obtain Ming support over rival claims. The Ming policy of ‘divide and rule’, helping the weak and containing the strong, enabled the Jurchens to remain loyal to the Ming for over two hundred years.
1.2 The Rise of Nurhaci (1559-1626) – Founder of the Manchu Empire
a) Nurhaci’s background.BBB Nurhaci’s father and grandfather were Ming officials of the Jianzhou confederation. In 1583, Atai, a Jurchen tribal leader of the Jianzhou confederation rebelled and was killed when Ming armies seized and slaughtered his town. Nurhachi’s father and grandfather who were loyal to the Ming were killed in error during the massacre. Nurhaci complained to the Ming court. He was given thirty horses, thirty patents and allowed to inherit his father’s title and position, the starting point of his career. But he remained angry and sought revenge. With thirteen sets of armors inherited from his father and some supporters, he went to war with Nikan Wailan, a Jianzhou Jurchen tribal leader whom Nurhaci held responsible for the deaths of his father and grand-father. Nikan fled and Nurhaci took over his tribe. But he did not stop there, he began to take over the neighboring Jianzhou towns and districts.
(b) Nurhaci established the Later Jin Dynasty. BBB The Jianzhou confederation was subdivided into the Jianzhou Group and Long White Mountain Group. By 1589, six years after succeeding his father’s position, Nurhaci subdued and united the five Jurchen tribes in the Jianzhou Group. He went on to subdue the three tribes in the Long White Mountain Group as well as tribes in the other confederations, the Haixi and the Wild Jurchens, through conquests or alliances of marriages.
In 1616, Nurhaci established the ‘Later Jin’ Dynasty and declared himself the ‘Khan’ or ruler of all the Jurchens. He also formed alliances with various Mongol tribes through marriage unions. Now he had a greater sight in mind, the Ming Empire.
(c) Nurhaci’s seven grievances against the Ming. BBB In 1618, Nurhaci proclaimed his Seven Grievances against the Ming which included the deaths of his father and grandfather. Then he led his troops to war with the Ming.
(d) Occupation of Liaodong in 1621. BBB He took down all the Ming strongholds in the area east of the Liao River, which for convenience had since been referred to as Liaodong (meaning East of Liao River). In1621 Nurhaci made Liaoyang his capital. This previously had been Ming’s capital in Liaodong.
(e) Capture of Guangning, Liaoxi in 1622. BBB After Nurhaci occupied the Liaodong area, Ming defence shifted to Liaoxi at the west of Liao River. In February 1622, Nurhaci chose the coldest winter day, crossed the icy Liao River to Liaoxi, through the Liaoxi Corridor to gain entry to Shanhaiguan pass and Beijing. Guangning surrendered without a fight. Nurhaci plundered the town. Because of problems at home, he took the spoils and people of Guangning back to Liaodong. Before he left, he burned down the town.
(f) Move of Capital to Shenyang. BBB In 1625, Nurhaci moved his capital from Liaoyang to Shenyang. Shenyang was also known as Shengjing or Mukden in Manchurian.
(g) Defeat at Ningyuan and death of Nurhaci. BBB In 1626, again on a freezing winter day, he crossed the river to Liaoxi to gain entry to Shanhaiguan pass. By then, the Ming had built a defence line with the first stronghold in Jinzhou, the second in Ningyuan, and the third in Shanhaiguan. At the crucial moment, there was political change in the Ming court. The eunuch party had gained power and appointed a new military chief in charge of Liaodong affairs who ordered evacuation of Jinzhou and Ningyuan and retreat to Shanhaiguan. Ningyuan was guarded by a hitherto unknown general Yuan ChongHuan who refused to follow his superior’s order to evacuate the town. Nurhaci surrounded Ningyuan but he could not break down the defence which relied on the use of advanced Portuguese cannons. He suffered a devastating defeat and died seven months later.
1.3 Abahai (aka Huang TaiJi) (1559-1643) – First Emperor of the Qing Dynasty
(a) Abahai.BBB He was the eighth son of Nurhaci and succeeded his father as Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty in 1626.
(b) Abahai’s ambition over China.BBB In 1627 Abahai led troops to attack Jinzhou and Ningyuan, but like his father, he was defeated by the Ming General Yuan ChongHuan. As part of his war strategy, Yuan ChongHuan opened peace negotiations with Abahai with the secret intention of gaining time to strengthen the line of defence, and this later became one of the reasons for his execution by Emperor Chong Zhen. Neither party was genuine about the peace negotiations which went on intermittently without success.
To fulfil his ambition of conquering China, Abahai first had to subdue Korea in the East and the Chahar Mongols in the west in order to prevent their alliance with the Ming. In 1627, Abahai attacked Korea, and a treaty was signed in which Korea agreed to send annual tribute and recognize the Manchu state as the ‘elder brother’ state. In 1628 Abahai forced the Mongol Ligdan Khan and his Chahar troops westward to clear the way for him to enter Beijing via Mongolia..
(c) Abahai’s sudden attack on Beijing in 1629. BBBWith the western route clear, Abahai was able to circumvent the Ming defence line and arrived at the outskirts of Beijing via Mongolia in 1629. The sudden appearance of Manchu troops shocked the Ming Government. General Yuan ChongHuan hurried back leading only 9000 men against Abahai’s 100,000. Although Yuan defeated the Manchu troops at the two Gates, GuangQu and ZuoAn, of Beijing’s Outer City, he was immediately arrested for treason. Eight months later Emperor Chong Zhen ordered Yuan’s execution by the ‘slow process’, a lingering death in which small pieces of flesh were cut from his body until he bled to death. This was the cruelest death penalty as the number of cuts could amount to over 3,300.
When Yuan was arrested, Manchu troops were still in the outskirts of Beijing and they continued their attacks, but failed to break into the Capital City. Abahai withdrew his troops and retreated back to Shenyang.
(d) Preparing for war with China.BBB In 1931, the Manchus built their own first sets of cannons. In 1632 Ligdan Khan of the Chahar Mongols was driven further west to Tsinghai and died there two years later. His widow surrendered and married Abahai. In 1636, Abahai led a second campaign against Korea and forced Korea to renounce allegiance to the Ming. This time, instead of being a ‘brother-state’, Korea was reduced to a ‘vassal-state’, paying annual tribute and supporting Manchu in the campaign against the Ming.
(e) Change of the name ‘Jurchen’ to ‘Manchu’. BBB The Jurchen’s invasion of China in the 12th century which led to the death of the much loved Song General Yue Fei still haunted the Han Chinese. Aware of the Chinese hatred of the Jins, Abahai banned the use of the name ‘Jurchen’. From then on, the Jurchens (or Jins in Chinese) were called Manchus.
(f) Abahai became the first emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty.BBB Abahai also changed the name of the Jin Empire to ‘Great Qing’. In 1636, he was elevated from “Khan” to “Emperor” of the Great Qing Dynasty.
(g) Abahai’s unfulfilled ambition. BBBBetween 1636 and 1643 there were numerous raids and three large-scale invasions into China. Ningyuan became the only Ming defence outside the Shanhaiguan pass guarded by the Ming General Wu SanGui. But Abahai never achieved his ambition of conquering China, and in1643 he died without setting foot into the Forbidden City.
1.4 Manchu Conquest in 1644
(a) Dorgon, younger brother of Abahai. BBBThe Manchu Conquest was led by Abahai’s younger brother Dorgon eight months later. He was assisted by the Ming General Wu SanGui who defeated the rebel chief Li ZiCheng at Shanhaiguan pass. The Manchu troops entered the Forbidden City on 6 June 1644.
(b) Shun Zhi, the first Qing Emperor to rule in China. BBBAbahai’s ninth son, Shun Zhi, became the first Qing Emperor to rule in China. At the time, Shun Zhi was six years old and his uncle Dorgon became the Regent.
1.5 Unification of China (1662)
After the Manchus entered Beijing, the Ming Princes continued to fight in the south. It was only in 1662 when the last Ming Pretender, the Prince of Gui, was executed that the Ming Empire came to an end, and China was reunited by the Manchus.
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2. MANCHU EIGHT BANNERS
(a) HistoryBB In 1601, Nurhachi, founder of the Manchu state, organized his warriors into banners of different colours. The smallest unit was a niru or a company with 300 men. The next was jalan or regiment consisting of five companies. Five regiments made up a gusa or banner, a total of 7,500 men. Nurhachi had started with four banners of yellow, red, white and blue. In 1615 four more banners were added. These became the bordered yellow, bordered red, bordered white and bordered blue. All Manchu men were required to enrol with one of the banners along with their families. Each banner was headed by a Commander-in-Chief and assisted by two Vice-Commanders.
Ideally each banner should have consisted of 7,500 men but the actual numbers varied. The number of nirus and the colour of the banner were subject to changes by the khan. Nurhaci himself controlled the plain yellow banner with 45 nirus (companies) and the bordered yellow with 20 nirus. The remaining six banners, plain white with 25 nirus, bordered white 15, plain red 26, bordered red 25, plain blue 21 and bordered blue 33 were placed under the command of his sons, grandsons and a nephew.
When Abahai succeeded Nurhachi as khan of Later Jin Dynasty, he appropriated the bordered white banner for his eldest son, and he himself controlled the plain white banner. He then swapped the white colour for the yellow colour, the colour normally reserved for the ruler. He later added the Plain Blue banner to the two already under his control.
In 1634, Abahai added eight Mongol banners, and in 1642, he added another eight Chinese banners.
During the reign of Shun Zhi, the Manchu banners were reorganized. The two yellow banners and the Plain White banner were assigned to the Imperial Household and were known as the ‘Upper Three Banners’. The other five banners were known as the ‘Lower Five Banners’.
(b) Location in the Inner CityBB After the Manchu Conquest in 1644, the Chinese residents were forced out of the Inner City and relocated to the Outer City.
The Manchu Bannermen moved into the Inner City. The two Yellow Banners settled in the north, the two White Banners in the East, the two Red Banners in the West, and the two Blue Banners in the South. In this way, the Manchu emperor could be protected by his most loyal troops.
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3. MANCHU LANGUAGE
The written language was created by Nurhaci around 1599 by adopting the Mongolian alphabet. The written form was further improved by Abahai and the original version created by Nurhaci became known as the ‘Old Manchu’ language.
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4. THE LIFE OF A EUNUCH
a) Eunuchs and castration.BBB In Imperial China, young boys were sold by poor families, castrated and recruited as Palace eunuchs. The castration was painful because it was carried out without anesthetic. The boy was asked before castration whether he understood what was about to happen and whether he would ever regret. After he had confirmed his wish to be castrated, he was placed on a low reclining bed. The same questions were asked once again, and if he still wished to proceed, the castration procedure commenced.
The boy’s legs were spread and pinned down. His stomach and thighs were tightly bound, and his penis and testicles were washed three times in ‘hot pepper water’ to numb the pain. His penis, testicles and scrotum were swiftly cut off, the wound washed with alcohol to prevent infection, and a hot iron bar used to seal the wound. A metal plug was quickly inserted into the urethra. Afterwards the wound was covered with water-soaked paper and bandaged.
Immediately after the operation, the patient was made to walk around the room for two or three hours before being allowed to lie down. He was not allowed to eat or drink before the metal plug was removed. During this period, he would suffer great agony and searing pain. At the end of the third day, the metal plug was pulled out and he was asked to urinate. Not every one was able to urinate at this stage. When a patient failed to urinate, a tube-like hollow reed stem was inserted into his urethra, almost up to his stomach. He was then fed with thin porridge. For a whole month, he was served like a lord. His bed sheets were changed, and the windows and cracks sealed to keep out flies and mosquitoes. He suffered considerable pain every time he urinated.
In some cases, even after a month, the patient still had difficulty in passing urine. A man would then be hired to put his mouth to the reed and suck out blood, urine and the pus accumulated inside the wound. After this treatment, the patient would soon recover.
The operation was not always successful. It is estimated that almost a third of the young boys going through the castration procedure would die of blood loss or blood poisoning. But the ones who survived were on the road to power and wealth. (Mary M Anderson: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China; Nan Chen: A Eunuch)
(b) Eunuchs’ Education.BBB The boy eunuchs were taught by eminent scholars from the Hanlin Academy and sometimes by a Grand Secretary. Here they were taught court protocol, and how to read and write. Their studies included the Filial Piety Classic, the Four Books, poetry and other classics. After graduation, the clever eunuchs would be sent to work in scribe offices or the Inner Court offices. From there if they gained favour with the Emperor, they could move on to great heights. Some of the Ming eunuchs became more powerful than the emperors.
(c) Eunuchs and the Qing Imperial Household Department.BBB During the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs enjoyed great wealth and power. The Ming Emperors trusted their eunuchs more than their own ministers, and many of them left the running of the state to their faithful eunuchs. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu conquerors were wary of the powers of eunuchs and installed grand ministers as managers of imperial household affairs. During Emperor Shun Zhi’s minority, the Regent, Dorgon, even banned eunuchs from household service and prohibited the entry of new eunuchs into the Palace.
After the death of Dorgon, Emperor Shun Zhi began to rule in person. Before his death in 1661, he had got rid of the old guards and had established a new imperial household administration, consisting 13 offices employing both eunuchs and Chinese bondservants who came from the upper three banners.
As soon as Shun Zhi had died, the four regents moved quickly to abolish the eunuch offices and executed the leading eunuchs. They established an Imperial Household Department which managed a wide range of the Emperor’s affairs. Their work included ‘the stock-piling of bullion and food reserves, the upkeep and maintenance of the palaces, the manufactories for silks and porcelain, and the collection of extra revenues from salt monopoly and dues on foreign trade’.(Johnathan D Spence: Search for Modern China)
The Imperial Household Department was located in the Inner Court near the Wu Ying Palace.
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5. JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN KAIFENG
There was a Jewish Settlement in the East Gate of Kaifeng. Near the end of the Ming Dynasty, a major flood almost wiped out the entire city, and the synagogue was completely destroyed. There were ten or twelve Jewish clans in Kaifeng before the flood, but after, only seven remained. (Xu Xin: The Jews of Kaifeng, China)
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6. HOW TO DETERMINE THE REIGN YEAR
In Imperial China, when an emperor ascended the throne, he would be given a reign name which would then become the name of the reign year. The new reign year would not start until the following Chinese New Year. For example, Kang Xi ascended the throne on 5th February 1661. The old reign year ‘Shun Zhi’ continued until the following Chinese New Year, when the reign year was changed to ‘Kang Xi’. The story ‘Through The Wooden Men Lane’ begins in the eighth year of Kang Xi’s reign, which means the year 1669.
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7. ‘COUCHING TIGER AND HIDDEN DRAGON’
The Chinese phrase is often used to describe a place where men with extraordinary abilities mingle incognito in the crowd. They are thought of as ‘tigers-lying on their sides (couching)’ or ‘dragons in hiding’ showing no outward threat of danger, their potency and real identities remain hidden.
The story begins in Kaifeng, a place full of ‘couching tigers and hidden dragons’. In a tavern not far from the waterfront, a Daoist priest and his acolyte overhear the conversation of five men, a scholar, a fisherman, a horse-trader, a butcher and a huntsman, common people drawing no attention from other diners. Moments later, these five men display amazing feats of kung fu. Even the Daoist priest is not what he appears to be. I will stop here and leave the reader to find out more.
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8. Mantra ‘OM MA NI PAD ME HUM’
OM MA NI PAD ME HUM is the six-syllable Sanskrit mantra of the Buddha of Compassion, Guan Ying, which originated from India, and is pronounced in Sanskrit. . Its translated meaning is “Hail to the Jewel of the Lotus”. A mantra is a sacred text used by Buddhists as an incantation. The six-syllable mantra of Guan Ying later spread to Tibet and as years went by, the mantra came to be associated more with Tibetan Buddhism then Mahayana Buddhism, and the Tibetan pronunciation was different from the Sanskrit.
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9. MEANING OF SOME CHINESE TERMS
(a) Literary Inquisition. BBB The Chinese term is ‘Wen Zi Yu’ meaning ‘Imprisonment due to (seditious) writings’.
(b) Licentiate. BBBAn official title awarded to scholars who had passed examinations at both county and prefecture level. (Chinese: Xiu Cai)
(c) ‘Ten Days of Yangzhou’ and ‘Three Slaughters of Jiading’ . BBB Hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese were massacred during the early days of the Manchu invasion. In Yangzhou, 800,000 Han Chinese were killed during the ten days of massacre by the Qing troops. In Jiading, 200,000 Han Chinese were killed during the three days of massacre. (Bo Yang: History of the Chinese People) The terms ‘Ten days of Yangzhou’ and ‘Three Slaughters of Jiading’ became synonymous with the cruelties and atrocities of the Manchu conquest of China.
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