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China Marches West

The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
China Marches West explores the Qing empire's dramatic expansion from 1600 to 1800 into Central Eurasia. Peter C. Perdue details how the Manchu rulers combined military campaigns, diplomacy, and economic investment to conquer the Zunghar Mongols and bring territories such as Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Tibet under control. The book reveals the origins of modern China's borders and examines Qing strategies of repression, cultural accommodation, and frontier development that shaped this vast empire.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This authoritative history appeals to readers interested in military campaigns, imperial expansion, and Central Asian history. It suits scholars and general audiences seeking a deeper understanding of China’s frontier legacy and its modern implications.

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Perdue illuminates how China came to rule Central Eurasia and how it justifies that control, what holds the Chinese nation together, and how its relations with the Islamic world and Mongolia developed. He offers valuable comparisons to other colonial empires and discusses the legacy left by China's frontier expansion.

This is a masterpiece of contemporary scholarship. Nothing like it has been published in the field of Asian studies for several decades. And no one has written about Inner Asia during the formative eighteenth century with such comprehensive vision. It covers a huge swath of place and time, has impressive intellectual reach, and speaks with a calm certainty that sustains the reader's attention for the length of the book. -- Timothy Brook, author of Collaboration: Japanese Agents and Local Elites in Wartime China A masterful examination of imperial expansion and frontier history, this work goes to the roots of what it meant, for China, to be an 'empire' in the eighteenth century. Perdue's massive and detailed research into the expansion of the Qing empire contributes a crucial dimension to the comparative study of the Chinese, Russian, and Ottoman empires in the early modern period. This is a first-rate accomplishment and a truly outstanding piece of scholarship. -- Nicola Di Cosmo, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Building on meticulous research in several languages, Perdueargues convincingly that the Qing conquests were of enormous importance both locally and globally. Drawing us deep into interconnected issues of frontier environments, state formation, and control of the historical record before the age of mass communication, his nuanced account sets a new standard for the study of both comparative empires and identity formation in the early modern world. -- Joanna Waley-Cohen, author of The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From about 1600 to 1800, the Qing empire of China expanded to unprecedented size. Through astute diplomacy, economic investment, and a series of ambitious military campaigns into the heart of Central Eurasia, the Manchu rulers defeated the Zunghar Mongols, and brought all of modern Xinjiang and Mongolia under their control, while gaining dominant influence in Tibet. The China we know is a product of these vast conquests.

Peter C. Perdue chronicles this little-known story of China's expansion into the northwestern frontier. Unlike previous Chinese dynasties, the Qing achieved lasting domination over the eastern half of the Eurasian continent. Rulers used forcible repression when faced with resistance, but also aimed to win over subject peoples by peaceful means. They invested heavily in the economic and administrative development of the frontier, promoted trade networks, and adapted ceremonies to the distinct regional cultures.

Perdue thus illuminates how China came to rule Central Eurasia and how it justifies that control, what holds the Chinese nation together, and how its relations with the Islamic world and Mongolia developed. He offers valuable comparisons to other colonial empires and discusses the legacy left by China's frontier expansion. The Beijing government today faces unrest on its frontiers from peoples who reject its autocratic rule. At the same time, China has launched an ambitious development programme in its interior that in many ways echoes the old Qing policies.

China Marches West is a tour de force that will fundamentally alter the way we understand Central Eurasia.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780674057432

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 30 September 2010

Country: United States

Imprint: The Belknap Press

Illustration: 53 halftones, 10 maps, 3 line illustrations, 16 tables

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 165.0mm

Height: 241.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 752

About the Author

Peter C. Perdue is Professor of History at Yale University and the author of China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia (HUP), awarded the Joseph Levenson Book Prize from the Association of Asian Studies.

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