DOCSLIB.ORG

Kickstarter Manuscript Preview – Part 5

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Kickstarter Manuscript Preview – Part 5 Kickstarter Manuscript Preview – Part 5 © 2021 White Wolf Entertainment © 2021 Onyx Path Publishing Chapter Nine: Around the World “If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.” Dr David Livingstone The reign of Queen Victoria begins on the 20th June, 1837, and lasts until the beginning of the 20th century. During those long years, change wracks the world — often with a terrible price in human lives, suffering, and dignity. The last days of piracy upon the high seas play out to their bloody conclusion under imperial cannonade and shot. The spark of revolutions ignites many times across the globe, all too often to gutter out as the pendulum of civic oppression swings back and forth; some inspire great change, others end in crushing defeat upon blood-slick streets as a stark warning, and others yet are simply forgotten. Gunfighters exchange salvos of lead in gripping stories of the Wild West, but the backdrop of such derring-do is an industrial-powered military machine grinding through a body count of native populations. Across the world, that which has gone before and is now deemed as “primitive” is crushed and brushed aside for the new order. Along with the carnage comes the infrastructure of imperial control and exploitation. Education spreads, but in a form approved of and controlled by authority; the halls of academia and power see an effort to chain languages in new, standardized forms, even as handwriting itself is meticulously curated into strictly set cursive styles. The Industrial Revolution burns at the era’s heart, a rabid expression of new (and sometimes stolen) technologies utterly changing innumerable lives at an incredibly swift rate. Smokestacks rise, tools split mountains, and machines cut the earth open to feed the belly of the industrial beast; cities, packed so full they must bulge and spill and spread, swallow whole villages and communities like ravening beasts. Among magi, the era is just as fundamentally transformative. The Order of Reason metamorphoses into the Technocratic Union, and its rivalry with the Traditions begins the Ascension War in earnest. Rigid systems of formality and propriety let the will of the powerful and the state press down on the individual, caging them in the foundations of the Order’s paradigm. A precious few rise against such magickal and mundane systems, but all too often become consumed by the very things they struggle against. This chapter presents a broad sweep of the world during Queen Victorian’s reign, including viewpoints of events through the eyes of various observers. It covers both the magickal and mundane, delving into the fall of nations and the advance of imperial power alongside the trials and tribulations of magi across the globe. Key events shape the attitudes, actions, and beliefs of the people of the day — and the consequences thereof. By necessity, this chapter can only serve as a starting point for games set in the Victorian era; to cover in detail the entire world’s worth of rich cultures, dramatic turning points, courageous struggles, and brutal atrocities is far beyond the limitations of any single text. Take what is presented here as a source of inspiration and plots for your own chronicles, and invent or research as you need. Furthermore, a Victorian Mage chronicle need not follow the rails of the past, whether it be historical events or already-established fictional happenings in other Mage: The Ascension products. The World of Darkness is a shared fiction, and each chronicle the possession of its particular players. Be adventurous, and do not feel limited by what has gone before. Magi have the opportunity to change the world, after all. A Brief Overview The world is vast, and filled with distinct peoples and unique situations; no single theme or law can be applied across the whole. Certain topics, however do come to affect vast swathes of the globe, whether imprinted through the influence of imperial conquest, stirred by the resistance to such, or spreading through the magickal societies of the Awakened themselves. Some consider this era an age of exploration — which perhaps comes as a surprise to the people already living in the regions supposedly being discovered. Isolated and isolationist nations open their borders, sometimes under duress and often at a cost in civil strife. Cultures mix and interact as the sheer size and power of the British Empire chains innumerable vassals into one greater whole, and expansion in the American west and south on the back of canals and railways drains ever more people into its melting pot. Migrations march throughout the era, as people seek new lives beyond the horizon — often unwillingly. Growing empires see mass slaughter and genocide as a legitimate tool of statecraft in dealing with the cultures they newly meet; they exterminate entire populations to make way for new railroads and other expressions and avenues of power. Magi likewise strive to push back the boundaries of their knowledge, and often with equally heavy-handed means. Some press into the Umbra, seeking undiscovered realms in the infinite tapestry; others stride across the world to weave Magick or Science and uncover what they believe to be the hidden corners of the globe. Bygones long-hidden now stir and awaken as the Awakened disturb their last refuges on Earth. Spirits change shape and purpose, and new ones emerge from the deeds and works of humanity. Various branches of science and study erupt into oft-poisonous bloom. Fascination with the new juxtaposes the re-interpretation of the old — often in ways that conveniently suit the prejudices and mores of the Victorian ruling classes. Medical knowledge lurches forward in dangerously haphazard fashion; studies in physical and mental malady, in surgical and chemical treatments, rise upon a foundation of newly mixing ideas and the reeking corpses of progress’ victims. Often, methods of treatment are more akin to torture, especially for troubles of the mind. The growth of cultural studies fills academic journals and logbooks with everything from brilliant insights to blithering, conceited misunderstandings, as the empires of the day deal with the integration and unrest of native populations and colonies. With the cross-pollination of cultures previously distant, an obsession with the exotic and the macabre generates an incredible volume of muddled appropriation from peoples whose actual lives rarely resemble such lurid depictions. Interest in archaeology, conspiracy theories, and mythologized notions of Europe’s own past all skyrocket. For magi who already exploit such notions for their own workings, this can serve as both boon and bane. The fingerprints of imperialism manifest upon the great engineering works of the era; this is the time of the Industrial Revolution, and the Age of Steam. Transportation, motive force, work engines, military advancements, machine-filled mills and workshops, and the attitudes to employ them for maximum effect spread far and wide. New institutes of learning build up around the principles of engineering and technology. Towns swell and explode into cities as populations mass and surge around the new opportunities that they must by necessity grasp for. Almost every inch of advancement is paid for in someone’s blood, whether conquered peoples whose land will provide the needed resources or the broken bodies of laborers whose efforts underpin the great edifice of industry. Amid the steel and smoke and steam and the clever secrets that drive them all, the roots of the Technocratic Union run deep. Despite all the glories they build, these are the last days of the Order of Reason and of everything it was meant to be, brutally sacrificed on the altar of their new vision. The Order knows power under the reign of Queen Victoria like it has only dreamed of before. Such reach across the world of Sleepers, pushing the spread and benefits of Enlightened Science, is everything the Order thinks it ever wanted. Luminaries wax lyrical about a safe humanity, of horrors pushed back into the night, and a world under the dominion of reason. Or it will be, soon, and so they lie to themselves and each other that the end result will be worth such a hefty price paid by those very Sleepers they pretend they act on behalf of. The price is of death and suffering and toil, of sacrifice for this notional greater good that consumes entire populations through famine or slavery or labor or simple mass murder. The Order of Reason deems these tragedies and atrocities simply the “price of progress” or, at most, moralizing Luminaries wring their hangs as they speak of a “necessary evil”. The Order’s vision and purpose grows colder year by tear, a fist of authoritarian ideology tightening around its heart. The drawing back of boundaries does not only spur science; the era sees an explosion of literature. Yes, it is the time of Poe and Stoker, Shelly and Byron, of Dickens; and yes, it is the time of Sherlock Holmes and penny dreadfuls and dime novels; but this flowering of the written word is not limited to those famous western figures. The works of writers across the world come to fruition, whether more contemporary creators such as Jippensha Ikku, or the admixture of much older texts such as Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat across the world’s interconnected cultures that comes about from a new wave of translations. Cultural and political movements, imperial powers and commercial companies all exploit the easy creation of leaflets, pamphlets, and posters; they appear everywhere during the upheavals that stretch across Spain, France, and the Germanic states, and then among the fringes of empire where resistance simmers and sparks.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Making the State on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier: Chinese Expansion and Local Power in Batang, 1842-1939
    Making the State on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier: Chinese Expansion and Local Power in Batang, 1842-1939 William M. Coleman, IV Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2014 © 2013 William M. Coleman, IV All rights reserved Abstract Making the State on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier: Chinese Expansion and Local Power in Batang, 1842-1939 William M. Coleman, IV This dissertation analyzes the process of state building by Qing imperial representatives and Republican state officials in Batang, a predominantly ethnic Tibetan region located in southwestern Sichuan Province. Utilizing Chinese provincial and national level archival materials and Tibetan language works, as well as French and American missionary records and publications, it explores how Chinese state expansion evolved in response to local power and has three primary arguments. First, by the mid-nineteenth century, Batang had developed an identifiable structure of local governance in which native chieftains, monastic leaders, and imperial officials shared power and successfully fostered peace in the region for over a century. Second, the arrival of French missionaries in Batang precipitated a gradual expansion of imperial authority in the region, culminating in radical Qing military intervention that permanently altered local understandings of power. While short-lived, centrally-mandated reforms initiated soon thereafter further integrated Batang into the Qing Empire, thereby
    [Show full text]
  • Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017
    Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 Princeton Model United Nations Conference 2017 The Taiping Rebellion Chair: Nicholas Wu Director: [Name] 1 Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 CONTENTS Letter from the Chair……………………………………………………………… 3 The Taiping Rebellion:.…………………………………………………………. 4 History of the Topic………………………………………………………… 4 Current Status……………………………………………………………….7 Country Policy……………………………………………………………… 9 Keywords…………………………………………………………………...11 Questions for Consideration………………………………………………...12 Positions:.………………………………………………………………………. 14 2 Taiping Rebellion PMUNC 2017 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Dear Delegates, Welcome to PMUNC 2017! This will be my fourth and final PMUNC. My name is Nicholas Wu, and I’m a senior in the Woodrow Wilson School, pursuing certificates in American Studies and East Asian Studies. It’s my honor to chair this year’s crisis committee on the Taiping Rebellion. It’s a conflict that fascinates me. The Taiping Rebellion was the largest civil war in human history, but it barely receives any attention in your standard world history class. Which is a shame — it’s a multilayered conflict. There are ethnic, economic, and religious issues at play, as well as significant foreign involvement. I hope that you all find it as interesting as I do. On campus, I’m currently figuring out how to write my thesis, and I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be researching the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). I’m also involved with the International Relations Council, the Daily Princetonian, the Asian American Students Association, and Princeton Advocates for Justice. I also enjoy cooking. Best of luck at the conference! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. You can email me anytime at [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • A Garrison in Time Saves Nine
    1 A Garrison in Time Saves Nine: Frontier Administration and ‘Drawing In’ the Yafahan Orochen in Late Qing Heilongjiang Loretta E. Kim The University of Hong Kong [email protected] Abstract In 1882 the Qing dynasty government established the Xing’an garrison in Heilongjiang to counteract the impact of Russian exploration and territorial expansion into the region. The Xing’an garrison was only operative for twelve years before closing down. What may seem to be an unmitigated failure of military and civil administrative planning was in fact a decisive attempt to contend with the challenges of governing borderland people rather than merely shoring up physical territorial limits. The Xing’an garrison arose out of the need to “draw in” the Yafahan Orochen population, one that had developed close relations with Russians through trade and social interaction. This article demonstrates that while building a garrison did not achieve the intended goal of strengthening control over the Yafahan Orochen, it was one of several measures the Qing employed to shape the human frontier in this critical borderland. Keywords 1 2 Butha, Eight Banners, frontier administration, Heilongjiang, Orochen Introduction In 1882, the Heilongjiang general’s yamen began setting up a new garrison. This milestone was distinctive because 150 years had passed since the last two were established, which had brought the actual total of garrisons within Heilongjiang to six.. The new Xing’an garrison (Xing’an cheng 興安城) would not be the last one built before the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) but it was notably short-lived, in operation for only twelve years before being dismantled.
    [Show full text]
  • The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933
    The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Schluessel, Eric T. 2016. The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493602 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933 A dissertation presented by Eric Tanner Schluessel to The Committee on History and East Asian Languages in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History and East Asian Languages Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April, 2016 © 2016 – Eric Schluessel All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Mark C. Elliott Eric Tanner Schluessel The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933 Abstract This dissertation concerns the ways in which a Chinese civilizing project intervened powerfully in cultural and social change in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang from the 1870s through the 1930s. I demonstrate that the efforts of officials following an ideology of domination and transformation rooted in the Chinese Classics changed the ways that people associated with each other and defined themselves and how Muslims understood their place in history and in global space.
    [Show full text]
  • Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History
    Mutiny in Hunan: Writing and Rewriting the “Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History By Jonathan Tang A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Wen-hsin Yeh, Chair Professor Peter Zinoman Professor You-tien Hsing Summer 2019 Mutiny in Hunan: Writing and Rewriting the “Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History Copyright 2019 By Jonathan Tang Abstract Mutiny in Hunan: Writing and Rewriting the “Warlord Era” in Early Republican Chinese History By Jonathan Tang Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Wen-hsin Yeh, Chair This dissertation examines a 1920 mutiny in Pingjiang County, Hunan Province, as a way of challenging the dominant narrative of the early republican period of Chinese history, often called the “Warlord Era.” The mutiny precipitated a change of power from Tan Yankai, a classically trained elite of the pre-imperial era, to Zhao Hengti, who had undergone military training in Japan. Conventional histories interpret this transition as Zhao having betrayed his erstwhile superior Tan, epitomizing the rise of warlordism and the disintegration of traditional civilian administration; this dissertation challenges these claims by showing that Tan and Zhao were not enemies in 1920, and that no such betrayal occurred. These same histories also claim that local governance during this period was fundamentally broken, necessitating the revolutionary party-state of the KMT and CCP to centralize power and restore order. Though this was undeniably a period of political turmoil, with endemic low-level armed conflict, this dissertation juxtaposes unpublished material with two of the more influential histories of the era to show how this narrative has been exaggerated to serve political aims.
    [Show full text]
  • On Peasant Uprising in History and Modern Folk Literature
    Arts and Humanities Open Access Journal Research Note Open Access On peasant uprising in history and modern folk literature Abstract Volume 2 Issue 6 - 2018 As for the peasant uprisings in history, we put more emphasis on the pursuit of truth, insisted that the masses were an important driving force for the development of social history, and Gao Youpeng Shanghai highly praised all peasant uprisings for quite a long time, which naturally had sufficient School of Humanities, Jiao Tong University, China reasons. Therefore, we intentionally or unintentionally avoid or ignore their negative impact on social development. For a time, the important mass struggles such as the Taiping Correspondence: Gao Youpeng, School of Humanities, Rebellion, the Nianjun Rebellion, and the Boxer Rebellion, which appeared in the history of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China, Email modern Chinese society, made unrealistic elevation and deification, and in fact violated the reality of historical development. In recent years, there has been an anti-historical tradition Received: October 24, 2018 | Published: November 28, 2018 of theoretical thought, completely obliterate the historical achievements of these peasant uprisings in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It completely put aside the specific conditions of social and historical development, and unreasonably asked the peasants in history to show their ideological realm beyond the reality of the times, which is in itself a disregard of the reality of historical development. Introduction modern people, was artificially fabricated. This is a fairly common social and cultural phenomenon, which violates not only historical To deal with the issue of historical development, we should truth, but also the basic principle of faithful record in the collection and emphasize the important role played by history by the masses.
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Revival in the Tibetan Borderlands: the Premi of Southwest China by Koen Wellens Religious Revival in the Tibetan Borderlands
    studies on ethnic groups in china Stevan Harrell, Editor studies on ethnic groups in china Cultural Encounters on China’s Ethnic Frontiers edited by Stevan Harrell Guest People: Hakka Identity in China and Abroad edited by Nicole Constable Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China by Jonathan N. Lipman Lessons in Being Chinese: Minority Education and Ethnic Identity in Southwest China by Mette Halskov Hansen Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928 by Edward J. M. Rhoads Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China by Stevan Harrell Governing China’s Multiethnic Frontiers edited by Morris Rossabi On the Margins of Tibet: Cultural Survival on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier by Åshild Kolås and Monika P. Thowsen The Art of Ethnography: A Chinese “Miao Album” Translation by David M. Deal and Laura Hostetler Doing Business in Rural China: Liangshan’s New Ethnic Entrepreneurs by Thomas Heberer Communist Multiculturalism: Ethnic Revival in Southwest China by Susan K. McCarthy Religious Revival in the Tibetan Borderlands: The Premi of Southwest China by Koen Wellens Religious Revival in the Tibetan Borderlands the premi of southwest china koen wellens university of washington press seattle and london Religious Revival in the Tibetan Borderlands is published with the assistance of a grant from the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Additional support was provided by the Donald R. Ellegood International Publications Endowment. © 2010 by the University of Washington Press Designed by Pamela Canell Typeset in Minion Pro Printed in the United States of America 16 14 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Università Ca'foscari Di Venezia
    Università Ca’Foscari di Venezia Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies Master Thesis In Comparative International Relations The Introduction of liberal and liberalism theories in China during the Late Qing dynasty: 1800-1912. Author: Supervisor: Jean-Baptiste Desplanches Pr. Rosa Caroli November 2020 Abstract: Trattare dell’impianto delle idee liberaliste in Cina richiede di passare in rassegna i diversi elementi che hanno costruto l’Impero Cinese, fino al periodo studiato in questo lavoro. Infatti, il regno Manchu nell’epoca tarda della Dinastia dei Qing, le sue reazioni verso gli eventi e incontri del XIX secolo e le trasformazioni che ne derivano, devono essere affrontate atraverso l’osservazione dell eredità lasciata dalle dinastie precedenti. Tuttavia, l’obbietivo di qesta tesi non si può permettere un riassunto completo del colossale patrimonio storico-culturale Cinese che si protrae su più di 2000 anni. L’obbietivo principale di questo lavoro sarà di affrontare, attraverso lo studio delle politiche interne Cinese nonché le relazioni internazionali tra l’Asia Orientale e l’Occidente del XIX secolo, le tappe necessarie all’introduzione delle teorie del Liberalismo in Cina. Un altro scopo sarà l’influenza che l’introduzione da queste teorie hanno avuto e l’uso che ne ha fato il governo e la gentry Imperiale, come pure gli intelletuali. La discussione di questo lavoro seguirà la cronologia degli eventi successi in Cina dal inizio del diciannovesimo secolo alla proclamazione della prima reppublica Cinese in 1912. Certo le relazioni internazionali tra l’Asia Orientale e l’Occidente sono molto più vecchie, ma per evitare una dispersione fuori argomento, definire un ambito temporale tra 1800 e 1912 sta essenziale per studiare il contesto storico nel qual si collegano gli eventi e idei che hanno traversato il declino della dinastia Qing.
    [Show full text]
  • ZENG Guofan Zēng Guófán ​曾国藩 1811–1872 Qing Government Official
    ◀ Y Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667. ZENG Guofan Zēng Guófán ​曾国藩 1811–1872 Qing government official Zeng Guofan was a leading government of- to coordinate the military campaign against the Taip- ficial during the mid-​­nineteenth century ing rebels. Together with the armies of Li Hongzhang who initiated the decentralization of power and Zuo Zongtang, Zeng captured the city on 19 July and the rise in influence of regional officials 1864, bringing to an end the devastating rebellion. For his role in suppressing the Taiping rebels, Zeng Guofan that took place during the final decades of was awarded the title of “marquis of the first class.” He the Qing dynasty (1644– 1912). He is best was the first civil official to receive this honor. known for his role in suppressing the Taip- After the Taiping Rebellion Zeng returned to Nan- ing Rebellion (1850– 1864) and for his efforts jing to take up his post as governor-general.​­ He initiated to modernize China’s military and improve a number of policies aimed at inspiring obedience to its industrial capabilities. local and central authorities. He opened printing of- fices to republish classical Confucian texts and rein- stated the provincial examinations at Nanjing. In 1865 he established the Jiangnan Arsenal in Shanghai to eng Guofan (Tseng Kuo-​­fan) was born in Xi- produce modern weapons and gunboats. In addition angxiang, Hunan Province. He received the to manufacturing rifles, ammunition, cannons, and jinshi (advanced scholar) degree at the age of steamships, it housed a school for training technicians twenty-​­seven (1838) and was appointed to the presti- and translators.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Officers, the United States and a Failure of Army Building, 1942-1955
    Professional Hubris: Chinese Officers, the United States and a Failure of Army Building, 1942-1955 by Eric Setzekorn M.A. in International Affairs, May 2005, Troy University B.A. in History, August 2001, University of California, Berkeley B.A. in Political Science, August 2001, University of California, Berkeley A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 31, 2014 Dissertation directed by Edward McCord Associate Professor of History and International Affairs The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences certifies the Eric Setzekorn has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of August 27, 2013. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Professional Hubris: Chinese Officers, the United States and a Failure of Army Building, 1942-1955 Eric Setzekorn Dissertation Research Committee: Edward A. McCord, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, Dissertation Director C. Thomas Long, Assistant Professor of History, Committee Member Gregg A. Brazinsky, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2013 by Eric Setzekorn All Rights Reserved iii Acknowledgments It is a great pleasure to recognize some of the special people who have helped, supported and assisted with my research over the past several years. The George Washington history department has been a wonderful place to work and study. My dissertation committee has been exceedingly helpful throughout the research, writing and revision process. My primary advisor, Edward McCord, has been a pillar of wisdom and reviewed draft after draft of my work.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinas Last Empire the Great Qing 1St Edition Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    CHINAS LAST EMPIRE THE GREAT QING 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK William T Rowe | 9780674066243 | | | | | Chinas Last Empire The Great Qing 1st edition PDF Book Ta 2 Ch'ing 1. Cuisine aroused a cultural pride in the richness of a long and varied past. Imperial China, — Fairbank, John K. British soldiers, using advanced muskets and artillery, easily outmanoeuvred and outgunned Qing forces in ground battles. However, the success of the Yongying system led to its becoming a permanent regional force within the Qing military, which in the long run created problems for the beleaguered central government. The revolution used to be a history turning event whose importance and significance couldn't be overstated. Banner Armies were organized along ethnic lines, namely Manchu and Mongol, but included non-Manchu bondservants registered under the household of their Manchu masters. However, throughout the Qing dynasty, the emperor and his court, as well as the bureaucracy, worked towards reducing the distinctions between the debased and free but did not completely succeed even at the end of its era in merging the two classifications together. However Japan threatened to enter the war against China due to the Gapsin Coup and China chose to end the war with negotiations. Harvard University Press. Cixi sided with the Boxers and was decisively defeated by the eight invading powers, leading to the flight of the Imperial Court to Xi'an. Nurhaci also created the civil and military administrative system that eventually evolved into the Eight Banners , the defining element of Manchu identity and the foundation for transforming the loosely-knitted Jurchen tribes into a single nation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Culture of War in China: Empire and the Military Under the Qing
    The Culture of War in China The Culture of War in China Empire and the Military under the Qing Dynasty JOANNA WALEY-COHEN I.B.Tauris Publishers LONDON • NEW YORK Contents List of Illustrations vii List of Maps ix Preface xi 1 Military Culture and the Qing Empire 1 Wen and Wu 3 The New Qing History 5 The Militarization of Culture 13 The Phases of the Qing Imperial Project 17 The First Phase, 1636-1681 17 The Second Phase, 1681-1760 19 The Transition Years, 1749-1760 20 The Third Phase, 1760-1799 21 2 Commemorating War 23 Stelae Inscriptions 26 Rituals as Commemoration 38 War Illustrations, Portraits, and other Commemorative Paintings 41 The Documentary Record 45 Conclusion 46 3 Religion, War, and Empire-Building 48 Religion under the Qing 49 Qing Emperors and Tibetan-Buddhism 51 The Second Jinchuan War 55 Magic and War 57 After the War 61 Conclusion 65 vi THE CULTURE OF WAR IN CHINA 4 Military Ritual and the Qing Empire 66 Grand Inspections (DayueDayue) 71 Dispatching Generals Embarking on Campaign (MingjiangMingjiang) 75 Welcoming a Victorious Army upon Return (JiaolaoJiaolao) 77 The Presentation and Reception of Captives (xianfuxianfu, shoufu) 80 The Autumn Hunts at Mulan 83 Documenting and Disseminating Military Ritual 84 Conclusion 87 5 Changing Spaces of Empire 89 The Qing Promotion of Martial Values 90 Militarizing Government Culture and Institutions 93 The Eight Banners 97 Militarization of the Landscape 99 Conclusion 106 6 Conclusion 108 Notes 113 Bibliography 137 Index 149 List of Illustrations Cover The Qianlong emperor hunting, accompanied by a female attendant.
    [Show full text]