raharris1973
Gone Fishin'
The Qing are given credit by many for resolving China's age problem of living next to the steppe, by incorporating regions like Manchuria, Mongolia and Xinjiang into a common empire with China.
Peter Perdue cites the Manchus steppe or at least nomadic origins as providing them with useful skills Han rulers had *not* demonstrated in either combating or co-opting Mongols and Uighurs and Tibetans.
There may be a lot to this. The Qing figured out ways to sustain power in the western territories of modern China that the Ming dynasty had not.
However, with demographic and technological and economic changes, might the end of marauding steppe peoples been inevitable anyway? After all, the steppe was not enclosed and pacified only from the eastern, Chinese side. It was also pacified from the western, Russian side.
If we endorse the Perdue theory that suggests China under Han rulers would never have acquired many of its current western territories. Perhaps the Russian Empire would have extended through the Tarim Basin, Gobi desert and Manchuria from some point in the 1700s? Or perhaps independent states would hav existed continuously to the present day for Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongols and Manchus?
If you don't endorse the Liam Neeson-esque theory of the Manchus having "very special skills" at dealing with the steppe, then perhaps any strong Han regime would have expanded to the west as much as the OTL Qing.
Your thoughts?
Peter Perdue cites the Manchus steppe or at least nomadic origins as providing them with useful skills Han rulers had *not* demonstrated in either combating or co-opting Mongols and Uighurs and Tibetans.
There may be a lot to this. The Qing figured out ways to sustain power in the western territories of modern China that the Ming dynasty had not.
However, with demographic and technological and economic changes, might the end of marauding steppe peoples been inevitable anyway? After all, the steppe was not enclosed and pacified only from the eastern, Chinese side. It was also pacified from the western, Russian side.
If we endorse the Perdue theory that suggests China under Han rulers would never have acquired many of its current western territories. Perhaps the Russian Empire would have extended through the Tarim Basin, Gobi desert and Manchuria from some point in the 1700s? Or perhaps independent states would hav existed continuously to the present day for Tibetans, Uighurs, Mongols and Manchus?
If you don't endorse the Liam Neeson-esque theory of the Manchus having "very special skills" at dealing with the steppe, then perhaps any strong Han regime would have expanded to the west as much as the OTL Qing.
Your thoughts?