UNIVERSIDAD DE LA SALLE

Manchu rulers adopted multiple approaches to the Mongols. Mongol princes were rewarded with noble titles, gifts, and Aisin Gioro wives. In addition, Mongol tribal leaders were granted political privileges. Manchu rulers recognized largely Mongol leaders’ rule over their tribes though sometimes divided and reorganized Mongol tribes in such a way that the strong tribes would not impose serious threat to the Manchu throne. The nomadic, horse-riding Mongols, in the eyes of early Manchu rulers,

were potential troublemakers. To curb the Mongols, Manchu rulers conceived of the basic mechanism of “divide and rule,” or in their own language, to prop up numerous leaders in order to divide their strength. The department in the central government dealing with Mongol affairs was named the Mongol Department8_{. It was founded in 1636. In 1638 the Chinese title of the minister was changed to “Court of}

Colonial Affairs” (lifanyuan), but the Manchu and Mongol titles remained unchanged. The Court was a

high level department parallel to the six ministries in the central bureaucracy dealing with Chinese issues. Unlike the six ministries, however, officials of the Court were selected only from Manchus and Mongols, and staff members were selected from Mongols, Manchus, and Chinese banner men, or more precisely Manchus of Chinese descent (Wang 1997: 169). Ordinary Chinese were excluded.

At the administrative level, the Manchu rulers reduced the autonomy of the Mongol tribes by reorganizing them into “banners” and by dividing large tribes into small banners. The project was started with Eastern Mongol tribes in 1636, later was expanded to outer and western Mongols. By the Qianlong reign (1736-1785) the Mongols were divided into 199 banners (ibid: 171).

Administrative control of the banners was taken out of the hands of original tribal leaders. A new post, the Jasagh, was created to take charge of each banner. The Jasagh was selected from the nobility, who were loyal to or had contributed to the Manchu court, regardless of their original ranks in the Mongol tribes. Those who were from the high ranks but were useless or untrustworthy were conferred titles, but not real power. On the contrary, low-ranking noblemen who had offered remarkable contributions were granted Jasagh in charge of the entire banner’s affairs, including military, administrative, legal, and corvee services.

The Jasagh banners were further organized into leagues, each consisting of a number of banners. The league head had only nominal authority over the jasagh in that he could only convene league conference every three years, but no authority to intervene into the internal affairs of the individual banners, which

8 _{The Chinese title of the department was}

Menggu yamen, and the Manchu title was Monggo yamun, where yamun was a loanword from Chinese. Later the Manchu title was rendered Monggo i jargan to purify the Manchu language. See Crossley 2006: 81)

were under the direct administrative control of the Court of Colonial Affairs, which in turn was supervised by the emperor.

The Manchu rulers sought to contain the migrant and uncontrollable Mongols by limiting them within the boundaries of their own banner. When a banner was created, its geographic boundaries were demarcated. Consequently all the Mongols, including the princes and the herdsmen, were forbidden to cross the borders; otherwise they would be punished. Furthermore, the Manchu court prohibited intermarriage and trading between the inner Mongol tribes and the Khalkha and Oirat tribes.

Moreover, the court restricted interactions between the Mongols and the Chinese after 1644. Chinese merchants, before entering Mongolia, had to apply for travel authorization called yinpiao (printed stamps).

Chinese merchants doing business without the stamp were deemed illegal, and were expatriated once they were found with half of the goods confiscated. Chinese farmers going to Mongolia to reclaim land had to apply for stamps as well (Sun 1998).

Natural disasters and population growth pushed Chinese farmers to enter Mongolia, where land suitable for farming seemed to be unlimited. Over time many Chinese immigrants entered Mongolia illegally. The court unwillingly acknowledged their existence, but ordered them to live in villages separate from Mongol dwellings, and to exchange land with Mongols so that they would not mingle together (Sun 1998). In 1810 the court set up a dual administrative system in Mongolia. In the Chinese regions, counties and districts were founded like those in China proper; whereas in the Mongol territories, the banners were preserved. The system lasted until the end of the dynasty (Zhang 1998).

Culturally Mongols were forbidden to learn Chinese characters, to adopt Chinese names, and to marry Chinese, except for the short period between 1788 and 1800. The court issued edicts to ban intermarriage between Chinese men and Mongol women repeatedly. For instance, in 1801, the Jiaqing emperor issued an edict, which prescribed that those who broke the law were subject to three months in jail and 100 whippings, and that the husband and wife should divorce with the Mongol woman sent back to her parents’ family (Sun 1998: 47).

Traveling between Mongolia and China proper was restricted. Mongols had to use the six designated passes on the long border: Shanhaiguan, Xifengkou, Gubeikou, Dushikou, Zhangjiakou, and Shahukou. In addition, restrictive laws were made to limit Mongol traveling and trading with outsiders other than Chinese. The 10 Korchin banners had to follow certain regulations when sending merchants to purchase minks from Tungus peoples in the Heilongjiang valley, otherwise they would be punished. If the organizer was a Mongol prince or jasagh, he would be fined, and the head of the merchants would be beheaded with the goods confiscated (Wang 1997: 174).

The Manchu court made a set of laws for the Mongols called the Mongol Laws (Menggu Lüli).

Regarding the application of the laws, the laws initially prescribed that the laws applied to all Mongols regardless of the location where the crime was committed. Later it switched the principle of territoriality. In either case, the Mongols and the Chinese in general were subject to two parallel administrative and legal systems (ibid: 176). Segregation, from the Manchu perspective, prevented trouble between the Mongols and the Chinese, which was conducive to a peaceful Manchu rule, as the court repeatedly acknowledged. What the court was reluctant to openly articulate, but was perhaps more important, was that by protecting Mongols from Chinese cultural and economic invasion, and by granting Mongol nobility certain privileges, the Manchu court won Mongol support, which was crucial for Manchu rule of China.

In addition to legal control, Manchu rulers had a soft approach. To control the mindset of the

Mongols, Manchu emperors sponsored Tibetan Buddhism among the Mongols. A byproduct of the policy was a slump in Mongol population as Mongol men were encouraged to renounce family and become monks. In addition, sexually transmitted diseases spread among Mongols as Monks were forbidden to marry (ibid: 173). The problems with the Mongol population made the Manchu task of controlling the Mongols more doable.