The Qing and Russia in Central Asia A Comparative Study of Motives for Political Expansion Thomas O. Løvold Masteroppgave i Asiatiske og afrikanske studier (East Asian Studies, 60 sp) ved Institutt for kulturstudier og orientalske språk/Det humanistiske fakultet UNIVERSITETET I OSLO 01.12.2009 The Qing and Russia in Central Asia II © Thomas O. Løvold 2009 The Qing and Russia in Central Asia Thomas O. Løvold http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo III Abstract The Peoples Republic of China’s Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region, or eastern Central Asia, is an area that has recently seen large scale ethnic unrest, as the native Uygurs have protested violently against Chinese domination in the region. This thesis is a discussion of the background for why Xinjiang today is under Chinese rule. To and a half centuries ago, in 1755-59, the Manchu Qing dynasty (1636-1911) conquered Xinjiang and incorporated it into their state, and this conquest contributed significantly to Xinjiang’s present status as Chinese- ruled territory. In this thesis I discuss what motives might have driven this Central Asian expansion by the Qing. By employing a theoretical framework that focuses on five types of motives for state expansion, namely resources, commerce, overpopulation, security, and ideology, I examine the Qing annexation of Xinjiang comparatively with the Russian Empire’s policies toward western Central Asia (the Central Asian segment that the Russians ended up expanding into, and which today is known as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), and conclude that the Qing expansion was primarily the result of ideological motives. The reason was that the state which ruled Xinjiang at the time, the Junghar Khanate, had close relations with the Tibetan Buddhist establishment, which was an establishment that the Manchus depended on in order to keep their state intact. The Qing was therefore determined to conquer Xinjiang and eradicate its ideological adversary. IV V Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... VIII Note on Transliteration .............................................................................................................. X Maps ........................................................................................................................................ XII 1 Introduction: Framework, Definitions, and Sources .......................................................... 1 1.1 Motives for Political Expansion .................................................................................. 3 1.2 Defining Central Asia .................................................................................................. 9 1.3 Sources ....................................................................................................................... 13 2 Approaching Central Asia: The Qing, Russia, the Ming, and Siberia (1581-1689) ........ 15 2.1 The Founding of the Qing Empire ............................................................................. 16 2.2 China and Taiwan is Taken (1644-83) ...................................................................... 17 2.3 Motives for Expansion into China and Taiwan ......................................................... 18 2.4 The Founding of the Russian Empire ........................................................................ 23 2.5 Russia Conquers Siberia (1581-1689) ....................................................................... 24 2.6 Siberia and Russian Goals ......................................................................................... 26 2.7 The Clash in Northern Manchuria (1643-1689) ........................................................ 28 3 Drama in Central Asia: The Qing, Russia, the Junghars, and the Qazaqs (1690-1820) .. 31 3.1 The Founding of the Junghar Khanate ...................................................................... 31 3.2 The Junghars and the Qing Conquest of Eastern Turkestan (1690-1759) ................. 33 3.3 The Junghars as a Military Threat ............................................................................. 37 3.4 The Junghars as Targets of a “Civilizing Mission” ................................................... 40 3.5 The Junghars as an Ideological Threat ...................................................................... 45 3.6 Other Motives ............................................................................................................ 51 3.7 The Founding of the Qazaq Khanate in Western Turkestan ..................................... 54 3.8 The Qazaqs Submits to Russia (1690-1740) ............................................................. 56 3.9 Russia and the Qazaq Hordes in the Eighteenth Century (1740-1820) ..................... 59 3.10 Similarities and Differences between Russia and the Qing ................................... 60 3.11 Russia and its Ideological Heritage ........................................................................ 62 3.12 Russian Goals in Western Turkestan ..................................................................... 66 4 Conclusion: The Qing, the Junghars, and Tibetan Buddhism .......................................... 69 Appendix: Rulers and Reigns ................................................................................................... 73 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 76 VI VII Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the assistance, encouragement, and support that I have received from my supervisor, my family, and my friends. First, I wish to thank Rune Svarverud, my supervisor, who was invaluable in putting my project on the right track in the beginning, and who since then has always been available to help me with everything from finding sources and giving feedback on my chapters, to finally reading through the entire thesis just before it was to be handed in. Second, I wish to thank my family, and especially my mother Oddrun Ohren and father Stian Løvold, whom both have examined and given me important feedback on parts of the thesis. Third, I wish to thank my fellow students at the third floor in P.A. Munchs hus, who have made writing this thesis a much more positive and less lonely experience than it otherwise might have been. And finally, I wish to express my gratitude to Lisa Yuen, my girlfriend, who has been a patient and at the same time encouraging companion throughout, and who also took her time to read through all of the chapters and discuss her impressions with me. I am very grateful for all your support. VIII IX Note on Transliteration Because this thesis contains maps from Yuri Bregel, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, vol. 9, Handbook of Oriental Studies: Section Eight: Central Asia (Leiden: Brill, 2003), I have tried to make all names and terms, from no matter what language, as consistent as possible with these maps. This means, for example, that I write “Junghar” instead of “Zunghar” or “Dzunghar” (and therefore “Jungharia” instead of “Zungharia or “Dzungharia”), “Qazaq” instead of “Kazakh,” “Qalmïq” instead of “Kalmyk,” “Tien-shan” instead of “Tianshan,” “Sïr-Darya” instead of “Syr-Darya” or “Syr Darya,” “Altïshar” instead of “Altishahr,” and “Altay” instead of “Altai” (though I still write “Dalai Lama” instead of “Dalai-Lama”). As for names and terms that do not show on his maps, I have mostly followed Peter C. Perdue, China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005), Martha Brill Olcott, The Kazakhs, Studies of Nationalities in the USSR (Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 1987), or Walter G. Moss, A History of Russia, vol. 1: To 1917 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997). For Chinese names and terms I employ the Pinyin system of transliteration. I ought to inform that I have taken the somewhat unorthodox approach of altering names and terms in quotes so as to achieve consistency with the rest of the thesis. The changed name or term is then written with [brackets] around it. This is done because it makes the text more readable, and also because it does not force people to read several different transliterations of the same name or term. X XI Maps Map 1. Central Asia Today ................................................................................................ XIII (Source: "47. Central Asia to the Year 2000" in Yuri Bregel, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, vol. 9, Handbook of Oriental Studies: Section Eight: Central Asia (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 96.) Map 2. The Geography of Central Asia ............................................................................ XIV (Source: "1. The principal geographical features and provinces" in Bregel, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, 2.) Map 3. Central Asia in the Seventeenth Century .............................................................. XV (Source: "28. 17th century: the Ashtarkhanids, Khorezm, the Qazaqs, and the Junghars" in Bregel, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, 56.) Map 4. Central Asia in the Early Eighteenth Century .................................................... XVI (Source: "29. The first half of the 18th century: Nadir Shah, Bukhara, Khorezm, the Qazaqs, and the Junghars" in Bregel, An Historical Atlas of Central Asia, 58.) Map 5. Central Asia in the Late Eighteenth