Introduction
The Manchu tribe is a part of various Tungusic tribes. Manchu and its related Tungusic tribes were called by various names in the past by the Chinese such as Yilou 挹婁 (Han, Jin dynasties), Wuji 勿吉 (Northern dynasty), Mohe 靺鞨 (Tang dynasty), Jurchen 女真 (Song, Yuan dynasties).Sushen 肅慎 (Zhou dynasty) was their earliest common ancestor before splitting into various sub-tribes.
Homeland
The ancestors of Manchu migrated east along the main Amur River in search of food, water and warmer climate. They followed the various Amur River tributaries mainly to the south of Amur River with the earliest settlements on the easternmost region near the coast.
However, their expansion further south into Yellow River basin was frequently met with resistance from the Han Chinese.
The Han Chinese built the Great Wall of China primarily to keep the various Mongolic, Turkic and Tungusic tribes out of China.
Early kingdoms
The first great Jurchen kingdom was the Jurchen Jin (金) dynasty (1115-1234 AD) founded by Aguda with its capital in Harbin city near Amur River.
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| Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1124 AD |
Nurhaci united all the different southern (Jianzhou) Jurchen tribes from 1583-1616 AD. In 1599 AD, he created the Manchu writing script which is based on the Mongolian script. He established a kingdom named Later Jin (後大金) with its capital in Xinbin (新賓), Liaoning (遼寧) province in 1616 AD.
In 1636 AD, Nurhachi’s son Abahai aka Hong Tai-Ji changed the united tribe name to Manchu and also changed the kingdom name to Qing (大清).
The Manchu Qing dynasty conquered China and ruled from 1644-1912 AD. The Manchu Qing kingdom was the most powerful and significant Tungusic kingdom.
Emperor Qianlong dispatched a group of Jurchen soldiers and their families to guard northern Xinjiang in 1765 AD after successfully invading Dzungaria (northern Xinjiang) around 1755-1757 AD.
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| Emperor Qianlong's imperial decree to send troops |
Inner and Outer Manchuria
Due to the numerical dominance of Han Chinese compared to Manchu in China, the ruling Manchu tried to maintain Manchu distinctiveness by several methods- banning intermarriage between Manchu and Han Chinese
- banning Han Chinese from migrating into Manchuria
In response to this, the Manchu Emperor Xianfeng (1850-1861 AD) changed its policy and allowed Han Chinese mainly from Shandong province and some from Hebei province to migrate into Inner Manchuria (present-day Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces in China) to prevent it from being taken over by European powers especially Russia. This event was called 'Migration into east of Shanhai Pass' (闖關東). Shanhai Pass is a gateway out of the Great Wall of China.
After the Qing dynasty collapsed in 1912 AD, Inner Manchuria remains under China and by 1930 AD, the Han Chinese became the majority ethnic group in Inner Manchuria after several decades of migration. The Manchu has become an ethnic minority in their own homeland.
Manchu identity
The Manchu language gradually disappeared among the Manchus when they switched to speaking Mandarin Chinese language. However, the Manchu language is seeing a revival among the ethnic Manchu in China as shown in the video below.Most Manchus belong to one of eight prominent Manchu surnames which are different from Han Chinese surnames. After 1912 AD, these polysyllabic (2 to 4 syllables) surnames have been shortened to just one syllable to conform to the length of Han Chinese surnames. The video below explains how to identify the various Manchu surnames.
Jurchenic subgroups
The Manchu belongs to the Jurchenic branch of the Southern Tungusic people.
The Jurchenic subgroups are
- Manchu
- Sibe/Xibe
The Sibe are the descendants of the Jurchen army who was stationed in modern-day Ili prefecture in northern Xinjing in 1765 AD.
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| Sibe people |
Proto-Tungus homeland
The proto-Tungus homeland is in the mountains around the north west of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Their ancestors are north East Asians who came from places with extremely cold winters.
Conclusion
Manchu are Tungusic people who are the natives of the southern part of lower Amur River basin. They migrated further south to modern-day northeast China and even within the Han Chinese homeland around Beijing during the Qing dynasty.
Sources
https://kknews.cc/culture/59oqr6k.html
Related links
- Main ethnicities in China
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Are Manchus 100% Mongoloid or do they have little West Eurasian and Austronesian DNA? Since they are Altaic, I thought they could have little West Eurasian DNA like Mongolians and Northern Han. And since the homeland is in Siberia, isn't the homelands of Korean and Japanese the exact location of Manchus?
ReplyDeleteManchus are 100% Mongoloid race because they are the easternmost branch of Altaic people being buffered by the Mongolians from any Indo-European genes . They are also buffered by the Koreans from any Austronesian genes.
DeleteKoreans and Japanese are definitely related but there is some controversy regarding their true homeland. There are different theories regarding origin of Koreans but that will need future research to determine which theory has more supporting evidences.
In Nepal also a Moktan clans of Tamang Nation used to said their ancestors came from Altaic to yellow river and from Yellow river then came to Shyangshyung, Guge, Chongdi-Bod(todays south western China's Tibet), Mugu(Nepal) then central area of Nepal of sorroundings of Kathmandu Tamang nations Land Tamsaling.
ReplyDeleteTamang are Sino-Tibetan people and not Altaic, refer to 'Ethnic origin of Tibetan' in this blog.
DeleteMany people are confused between the two terms Mongoloid and Mongol. Mongol are Altaic but Mongoloid just means East Asians.
There was even a Mongol I met who couldn't distinguish his people's name "Mongol" from the term "Mongoloid".
DeleteIn 1644 the Manchus defeated the Shun rebels against the Ming to capture Beijing, then they destroyed the Ming Dynasty in Southern China until 1683, Southern Ming should have prevented the Qing Dynasty like the Southern Song from stopping Jin but the last remnants of Ming died in Southwest Taiwan.
ReplyDelete