A translucent mirror : history and identity in Qing imperial ideology / Pamela Kyle Crossley.

"The Philip E. Lilienthal Asian studies imprint."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This volume presents an exploration of the origins of nationalism and cultural identity in China, tracing the ways in which a large, early modern empire of Eurasia, the Qing incorporated neighbouring, but disparate, political traditions into a new style of emperorship.

"In this exploration of the origins of nationalism and concepts of racial identity in China, Pamela Kyle Crossley traces the shifting ideologies of a large, early modern land-based empire, the Qing (1636-1912). Drawing on a wide variety of primary sources, Crossley argues that motifs introduced under the Qing in the eighteenth century - part of the crystallizing categories of identity that the Qing themselves promoted - continue to distort the modern understanding of Qing origins. What has often been repudiated by nationalist foes of empire, it turns out, is frequently itself a creation of empire."--Jacket

Ideology, rulership, and history -- Conquest and the blessing of the past -- Imperial universalism and circumscription of identity -- The Great Wall -- Trial by identity -- A discourse on ancestry -- Political names in Nurgan -- The Liaodongese -- The character of loyalty -- The early Nikan spectrum -- Conquest and distinctions -- Personifications of fidelity -- The father's house -- Boundaries of rule -- Origins of the khanship -- The collegial impulse -- The reinvention of treason -- Empire and identity -- Subjugation and equality -- Generating imperial authority -- Authenticity -- Surpassing limits -- The celestial pillar -- The wheel-turning king -- The center -- Debating the past -- The power of speech -- The universal prospect -- The banner elites -- Shady pasts -- Manchuness -- Following Chinggis -- The empty constituency -- Postscript: race and revolution at the end of the empire.

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