Less than 100 years after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, why did tens of millions of Manchus quickly disappear?
The prosperity of the Qing Dynasty once made the world look up, and its ruling power spread all over the world. However, its prosperity quickly turned to decline and then perished. The Manchus, who once dominated society, are now almost invisible in everyday life, and even the once widely spoken language has gradually disappeared.
More than 100 years have passed since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, but the Manchus, the dominant class of those years, seem to have disappeared without a trace, and the Manchu language is on the verge of being lost. This has raised a lot of concern, but the reasons for this remain murky.
The Qing Dynasty once preached the slogan of "Manchu and Han families" with the intention of consolidating its rule in the Central Plains. They knew that only by winning the approval of the locals could they consolidate their dominance. As a result, emperors such as Nurhachi and Huang Taiji began to take measures to win over the Han people, such as Manchu and Han intermarriage, and the reuse of Han ministers. However, initially the Qing Dynasty did not realize the importance of reusing the Hanchen of the Central Plains. Attempts to get Han Chinese to learn Manchu culture and language in order to gain recognition have met with resistance. The Han people were not willing to learn Manchu and used Manchu.
After the lessons of blood and tears, the Qing Dynasty gradually realized the importance of winning over the Han Chinese. Therefore, they began to implement the policy of "Manchu and Han families", and at the same time began to learn Han culture. In particular, the poetry and poetry in the Han culture, the picturesque rivers and mountains, etc., deeply attracted countless Qing Dynasty emperors. Emperor Qianlong was even more obsessed with writing poetry and wrote a large number of poems in his lifetime. He loves the south of the Yangtze River and is immersed in its natural scenery and humanistic atmosphere.
The rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty, the fate of the Manchus, and the demise of the Manchu language are many complex reasons behind these strange phenomena, which make people think deeply.
Under the reign of emperors such as Shunzhi and Kangxi, they showed a high interest and attainment in the poetry and poetry of Han culture. This tendency gradually influenced the courtiers, making Han culture a compulsory subject for the children of the Eight Banners. Over time, however, Manchu speakers gradually decreased, which alarmed Dolgon. He was worried that the Manchus would be assimilated by the Han people, so he actively carried out ideological work, emphasizing the importance of the Manchu riding ** god. Despite Dorgon's repeated appeals, the emperor turned a blind eye, believing that it would be difficult for the courtiers to govern effectively if they did not even understand Chinese. Therefore, the situation of the Manchu and Han families is becoming more and more significant. Over time, the Qing Dynasty gradually became a dynasty deeply permeated by Han culture. Kangxi made it clear that ministers who did not understand Chinese would be forced to leave the imperial court. This trend became more pronounced in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.
Shock! As a descendant of the Manchu people, I was surprised that I didn't understand Manchu!
With the admiration of Han culture by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, many people lost the ability to speak Manchu.
The Qing Dynasty lived in harmony on the surface, but in reality there was an undercurrent. In order to alleviate the contradictions with Han subjects, the Qing Dynasty pursued a policy of learning Chinese. At the same time, Han Chinese subjects were actively learning the Manchu language in order to understand it in any situation and to avoid misunderstandings.
Over time, many ministers began to be able to switch between the two languages fluently. However, the Yongzheng Emperor recognized the unsustainability of the situation. The interweaving of Manchu, Chinese, and Mongolian languages in the court was very unfavorable to the government.
Therefore, after Yongzheng's careful consideration, he decided to unify the official language and make Beijing dialect the official language. This Peking dialect later evolved into modern Mandarin and became the main language of the imperial court. Now, the most common scenario in Manchu is a few mantras uttered by ministers and emperors when they are angry.
The subsequent Qianlong Emperor was keen on the culture of the Central Plains, and although he admired Han culture and learned Chinese characters and Han culture, he did not forget his Manchu roots. When he realized that Manchu culture was gradually being replaced by Han culture, he immediately began to advocate learning Manchu language in order to promote Manchu culture.
However, the effect of this effort has been minimal. Although later emperors worked hard to promote Manchu culture, the Manchu people in the Central Plains had already been deeply influenced by Han culture, and the replacement of Manchu by Chinese had become an irreversible trend.
During the Guangxu period, the Empress Dowager Cixi did not often use Manchu and usually relied on translation. Although she was not proficient in the Manchu language, in order to promote Manchu culture, she still provided the Guangxu Emperor with a Manchu teacher. However, with the turmoil of the times, the throne eventually passed to Pu Yi. Pu Yi has repeatedly stated in his autobiography and interviews that he is not good at Manchu.
This led to a rather bleak fate for the Manchus. Manchu was regarded by the rulers as an aristocratic language and was only used by the royal family, so it was not widely circulated among the people. Emperor Kangxi had the foresight and had long realized the importance of unifying the overall situation. He once said he wanted to preserve Manchu characteristics, such as the Chinese language, but Chinese characters spread faster and have become more convenient for thousands of years. The tide of the times is unstoppable, and sometimes obsolescence is inevitable. However, despite this, the Manchu language, as an important historical record and a cultural treasure of the Chinese nation, is still worthy of our cherishing and inheritance. Otherwise, hundreds of years later, history recorded in Manchu may be treated as waste paper, which is what we do not want to see.