Book Talk: The Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing China
Authors:
He Bian, Associate Professor of History and East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Mårten Söderblom Saarela, Special Collections Librarian, Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College
Moderator: Mark C. Elliott, Vice Provost for International Affairs; Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History
To join, register here.
About the book: As the territory of Qing China expanded, so evolved the ways in which birds, beasts, fish, trees, and flowers came to be known in the multilingual empire. The Manchu Mirrors and the Knowledge of Plants and Animals in High Qing China is the first systematic study of how the Qing court sought to codify Manchu and Chinese words for animals and plants throughout the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on Manchurian and other Inner Asian species. Calling for renewed attention to Manchu dictionaries as an important source for Qing intellectual and cultural history, Bian and Söderblom Saarela show how Qing lexicographical practices embodied major revisions to the Chinese encyclopedic tradition, realigned the relationship between words and things, and left a lasting impact on natural historical scholarship in the modern era. The updated form of Chinese learning, along with the malleable lexicon of the Manchu language, proved useful for the Manchu elite in displaying the reach and intellectual depth of Qing imperial power. Manchu was transformed from the language of a single people into the lexicographic façade for an imperial order of things.
Book talk registrants can purchase the book at a 30% discount for a limited time at https://www.hup.harvard.edu/. Please use code ACS30 (ACI30 outside the US) at checkout to receive the discount—the offer is valid now until May 20, 2026.