Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing - Chin

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 author

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.

Product details

• Authors: He Bian, He Saarela Bian, Bian He, Marten Soderblom Saarela, Mårten Söderblom Saarela
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.08.2025
• EAN: 9780674297517
• ISBN: 978-0-674-29751-7
• No. of pages: 406
• Series: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; China, HISTORY / Modern / 18th Century, SCIENCE / Natural History, HISTORY / Asia / China, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Lexicography, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Asian History, Sociology & anthropology, General and world history, Ecological science, the Biosphere, Sociology and anthropology, Zoology and animal sciences, Botany and plant sciences, Taxonomy and systematics, Imperial China