The Manchurian Frontier in Ch'Ing History

This pioneering study examines the origin, development, and transformation of the Ch’ing policy toward the Manchurian frontier and describes its relation to the dynastic interest and the political requirements of a multinational empire. Robert Lee analyzes in detail the three major political instruments of the Ch’ing policy: the banner forces, the tributary system, and the frontier bureaucracy. He also recounts the sinicization of Manchuria and outlines the late nineteenth-century reorganization of the frontier administration. He concludes with a general assessment of the Ch’ing policy and its basic element: the maintenance of ethnic equilibrium.