Remote Homeland, Recovered Borderland: Manchus, Manchoukuo, and Manchuria, 1907-1985

摘要

Whatever happened to the Manchus? Simplistically, this is the question that Shao Dan's important monograph seeks to answer: how is it that a people could conquer the world's most populous society and then, within three centuries, seemingly disappear? In the past two decades, the "New Qing" scholarship, led by Mark Elliot, Pamela Kyle Crossley, Edward Rhoads and Evelyn Rawski, has advanced our knowledge of the Manchus' origins and development. Although not agreeing with one another on all points, these scholars and others have effectively undermined the "Sinicization thesis": that Han Chinese culture subsumed Manchu well before the dynasty's fall in 1911. Instead, we have a still-evolving picture of Manchu culture and politics that played a vital role during the Qing dynasty.