China Marches West

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.

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.

• Preface Acknowledgments Note on Names, Dates, Weights and Measures, and Chinese Characters Introduction History, Time, and Memory The Qing Conquests as a World Historical Event PART ONE: THE FORMATION OF THE CENTRAL EURASIAN STATES 1. Environments, State Building, and National Identity The Unboundedness of Central Eurasia Trade, Transport, and Travel The Frontier Zone Isolation and Integration 2. The Ming, Muscovy, and Siberia, 1400-1600 The Ming and the Mongols State Formation in Muscovy and Russian Expansion Siberian and Chinese Frontiers 3. Central Eurasian Interactions and the Rise of the Manchus, 1600-1670 Building the Zunghar State The Rise of the Manchus Mongolian Influence on the Manchu State Early Modern State Building Compared PART TWO: CONTENDING FOR POWER 4. Manchus, Mongols, and Russians in Conflict, 1670-1690 Kangxi the Ruler Galdan's Intervention Kangxi's First Personal Expedition The Treaty of Nerchinsk and the Excluded Middle 5. Eating Snow: The End of Galdan, 1690-1697 The Dolon Nor Assembly The Battle of Jao Modo The Emperor Rewrites History The Final Campaigns and the Fate of Galdan 6. Imperial Overreach and Zunghar Survival, 1700-1731 The Rise of Tsewang Rabdan Three Central Eurasian Travelers The Penetration of Turkestan and Tibet The New Emperor Changes Tack 7. The Final Blows, 1734-1771 Transforming the Barbarians through Trade The Death Knell of the Zunghar State The Conquest of Turkestan The Return of the Torghuts PART THREE: THE ECONOMIC BASIS OF POWER 8. Cannons on Camelback: Ecological Structures and Economic Conjunctures Galdan the State Builder Nian Gengyao and the Incorporation of Qinghai Administering the Frontier 9. Land Settlement and Military Colonies Deportation from Turfan Settlement of Xinjiang Colonization and Land Clearance Economic Development 10. Harvests and Relief Harvests and Yields Granary Reserves The Contribution Scandal The Relief Campaign of 1756 11. Currency and Commerce Money on the Frontier, from Song through Ming Integration and Stabilization Commerce as a Weapon of War Tribute and Frontier Trade PART FOUR: FIXING FRONTIERS 12. Moving through the Land Travel and Authority Marking Space in Stone Maps and Power Expanding the Imperial Gaze 13. Marking Time: Writing Imperial History Kangxi's Campaign History Yongzheng and the Dayi Juemilu Qianlong's Account of the Zunghar Mongols A View from the Frontier Nomadic Chronicles PART FIVE: LEGACIES AND IMPLICATIONS 14. Writing the National History of Conquest Statecraft Writers and Empire Geopolitics and Emperor Worship Chinese Historians and the Multicultural State Soviet and Mongolian Attacks on Qing Aggression Empires, Nations, and Peoples 15. State Building in Europe and Asia The Political Ecology of Frontier Conquest European, Chinese, and Inner Asian Models Theories of Nomadic Empires Rethinking the Qing in the World 16. Frontier Expansion in the Rise and Fall of the Qing The End of the Qing State Northwest and Southern Frontiers The Negotiated State Commercialization and Regionalization APPENDIXES A. Rulers and Reigns B. The Yongzheng Emperor Reels from the News of the Disaster, 1731 C. Haggling at the Border D. Gansu Harvests and Yields E. Climate and Harvests in the Northwest Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Illustration Credits Index