Frontline Social Sciences and History Journal
FRONTLINE JOURNALS
8
Chinese Written Sources of The Qing Era and Their Importance for The
Study of The History of Central Asia
Karimova Natalia
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, Uzbekistan
A R T I C L E I N f
О
Article history:
Submission Date: 11 April 2025
Accepted Date: 07 May 2025
Published Date: 09 June 2025
VOLUME:
Vol.05 Issue06
Page No. 8-13
DOI: -
https://doi.org/10.37547/social-
A B S T R A C T
The article describes some Chinese written sources of the Qing era (1644-
1911), which significantly supplement and expand the general information
about the territories and peoples of China during the reign of the Manchu
dynasty. Information about the authors of the works and the structure of
written sources is provided. For example, "Qingdai Tongshi" (
清代通
,, The
general History of the Qing Dynasty) Xiao Yishan describes the events of
the entire Qing era. Information about the peoples of Central Asia is
contained in the second book in the second section, devoted to the reign of
Qianlong. The fundamental work, which belongs to the category of official
sources "Qing Shilu" (
清
实录
, True records of the Qing Dynasty), is a
collection of chronologically arranged facts and official documents. Since
the volume of the essay is huge, we are interested in extracts from this
source containing materials on Xinjiang. "Qing Shilu" by Xinjiang Ziliao Jilu"
(
清
实录新疆资料辑录
, Collection of materials on Xinjiang from "Qing
Shilu") The 2016 edition consists of 8 volumes, totaling 4,596 pages.
Information about Kazakhs and Buruts (Kyrgyz) is contained in chapter
two. Among the writings of a private nature, we note "Siyu shuidao ji" (a
description of the waterways of the Western Region) Xu Song (1781-
1848), a fundamental work on the historical geography of the Western
Region of the Qing period.
All of these works have yet to be thoroughly investigated, as the sources
contain little-studied information about the peoples and historical
geography of Central Asia, on the socio-political and economic situation in
Central Asia during the Qing era.
Keywords:
Western lands, Central Asia, Xiyu, Xinjiang, Qing, Qianlong,
Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Kokand, Bukhara.
INTRODUCTION
There are many types of Chinese sources, which
differ in the method of presenting the material, the
subject matter, and the placement of emphasis.
Among the most famous are, first of all, dynastic
chronicles, describing the events that took place
during the reign of the ruling dynasties in China;
the shilu series (true records), offering us more
Frontline Social Sciences and History Journal
ISSN: 2752-7018
Frontline Social Sciences and History Journal
FRONTLINE JOURNALS
9
detailed information about the affairs of the reign
of individual emperors; qiju zhu (diaries), which
recorded the daily deeds of the emperors; sheng
xun (sacred instructions), which collected
fragments of the emperors' decrees; fangliue
(descriptions of wars), fangzhi (historical and
geographical descriptions), etc.
No other period in Chinese imperial history has
generated such heated debate and controversy as
the Qing period (1644-1911). First of all, this is
due to the fact that the Qing (
清
) era was a turning
point, when the most developed countries of the
world were freed from the shackles of the Middle
Ages, and China, as a result of the "opium wars",
was forcibly opened to the world and turned into a
semi-colony. Despite the changes of dynasties,
traditional Chinese historiography was not
interrupted, and the historiographic activity of the
Manchu authorities began already with the reign of
Abahai.
Speaking about the study of Qing history in China,
we note that at the end of the 20th century, the
special significance of studying Qing history was
emphasized. Since the end of the 1970s,
institutions have been created that specialize in
the development of various problems of the Qing
period, and at the present stage, a network of such
institutions is actively functioning. The most
important are the Qing Dynasty History Research
Institute (
清史研究
, Qingshi yanjiusuo) at the
Renmin University of China in Beijing (
中國人民大
學
, Zhongguo renmin daxue), the First Historical
Archives of China (
中國第一歷史档案
库
, Zhongguo
diyi lishi dan'anguan) in Beijing, and the Qing
Dynasty History Section (
清史研究室
, Qingshi
yanjiushushi) at the Institute of History of the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.
There are also a large number of other specialized
institutions and quite a few research institutes
whose staff are engaged in the study of various
aspects of Qing history. Thanks to them, the work
of compiling the 10-volume "Compendium of the
Qing Dynasty" (
清代通史
, Qingdai tongshi) was
completed, as well as the editing and republication
of written works of the Qing era.
We have at our disposal the work “Qingdai tongshi”
(
清代通史
, General History of the Qing Dynasty) by
Xiao Yishan (
簫一山
), which describes the 300-
year history of the Qing, starting from the Golden
Horde to the late Qing period.
The first chapter of this work was published in
1923 by the Shangwu Yinshuguan (
商務印
书馆出
版
) publishing house, and subsequent chapters
were published the following year. The text of the
entire work consisted of over 4,000,000
characters. The work was published in 1963 by the
Taiwan Shangwu Yinshuguan (
台湾商
务印书馆出
版社
) publishing house. In 1980, the Taiwan
Shangwu
Yinshuguan
(
台湾商務印
书馆
)
publishing house published the fifth edition of the
revised version of the work, which received quite
high praise from researchers.
The collection itself, Qingdai tongshi
清代通史
(General History of the Qing Dynasty), consists of
three books
–
(
上
,
中
,
下
), which contain 5 volumes
(
册
), including appendices (
附
). The first book (
上
)
consists of the first volume (
册
), including 33
sections (
章
) on 1113 pages. The second book (
中
)
contains the second volume (
册
) and consists of 20
sections on 1024 pages. The third book (
下
) begins
with a description of the Taiping Rebellion and
consists of the third and fourth volumes (
册
) on
2791 pages, divided into 42 sections. The fourth
book includes the fifth volume (
册
) and consists of
appendices in the form of tables.
Materials on the history of the peoples of Central
Asia are contained in the second book (
中
) in the
second section, dedicated to the reign of Qianlong.
The first part of the section is dedicated to the
Torguts. Information on the Kazakhs is contained
in the second part of the section, on the Buruts in
the third part, on Kokand in the fourth part, then
there is information on Afghanistan, Badakhshan
and other countries and territories.
Another fundamental work on the history of the
Qing era is the Qing shilu (
清
实录
, True Records of
the Qing Dynasty). The full title is
大清
历朝实录
(True Records of the Dynasties of the Great Qing),
historical annals of historical works of the
annalistic (chronological) genre.
The "True Records" are considered one of the most
stable components of Chinese state historiography.
Since their text was a collection of chronologically
arranged facts and official documents, authorial
additions were not allowed.
They represent a collection of texts of decrees,
orders and various orders of the emperor; this is a
detailed (sometimes daily) chronicle of events to
which, one way or another, the imperial court and
administrative bodies responded, therefore they
contain information on almost any issue of political
history of the Qing period that interests the
researcher.
The chronicle was compiled separately for the
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reign of each emperor. This work included reports
from officials on the situation in individual regions
and countries outside of Qing China, messages and
letters from local rulers, records of their activities
and the reaction of the Ming court to various
events in the regions.
The value of this source is that it was created on
the basis of daily records kept at the Qing court
about all events of political and court life, and also
that it was intended for a rather narrow circle of
readers, therefore shilu (true records) present
events more frankly than the published official
histories.
The work is characterized by many juan (
卷
,
chapters) of "Qing shilu", strict composition and
the most important historical material, covering
various areas of the Qing government. The volume
of "true records" of each emperor is different, the
records of events and the structure are different in
many ways, but the main thing is that they touch
upon politics, economics, culture, the army, foreign
relations, but also natural phenomena and many
other things. For example, the "true records" of
Emperor Qianlong (
乾隆
) are 1500 juan
(chapters).
“The Qing Shilu” was copied in five copies in each
of three languages
–
Chinese, Manchu and
Mongolian
–
and was kept separately in the Beijing
Imperial Archives Huangshicheng (
皇史宬
) of the
Ming and Qing dynasties, in the Qianqinggong
Chamber (one of the three main halls of the Inner
Chambers (Neiting) of the Forbidden City, Beijing),
the imperial state repository of “true records”
Neigeshiluku (
内
阁实录库
), the State Committee
for Compiling Official (Dynastic) History, and the
book depository of the Manchu Emperor’s palace
in Shenyang Shengjing Huanggong (
盛京皇
宫
).
During the period of Manchukuo in China, in 1934-
1936, the joint-stock company, the Dongbei datsan
chuban (
东京大藏出版
) publishing house, printed
1,200 copies based on the Shenyang copy, called
伪
满本
(wei manben - not a real book of the
Manchus).
During the Qing period, the "true records" were not
published, but were only copied several times and
kept at the court in the capital and Shengjing (
盛京
Mukden).
In the "true records" from Emperor Taizu (
太祖
) to
Emperor Muzong (
穆宗
), every 5th set is written in
Manchu and Chinese, and every 4th set is written
in Mongolian. According to established custom, the
fifth set in Chinese was decorated and had a large
and small format, according to which it was called:
Da hongling ben (
大
红绫本
, Large book in [binding
from] red patterned silk), Xiao hongling ben (
小
红
绫本
, Small book in [binding from] red patterned
silk), Xiao huangling ben (
小黄
绫本
, Small book in
[binding from] yellow patterned silk).
The copy of the Qing Shilu for the royal use was
lavishly decorated. The designers paid great
attention to the material used to decorate the cover
and case of the book. Dragons and phoenixes in the
clouds were embroidered on high-quality
patterned red and yellow silk, the outside of the
book was wrapped in a piece of bright yellow cloth
with golden dragons and tied with a purple cord
with white jindai flowers (
白花
锦带
).
Each of the five copies of the "shilu" was kept
separately and had its own purpose. The Big Book
in a red silk cover was delivered to the emperor's
private chambers in the Qianqinggong Palace (
乾
清
宫
), it was considered the main one. Two smaller
books in red and yellow were kept in the State
Chancellery. The Small Book in a red silk cover was
looked through daily by the emperor himself, and
the book in a yellow silk cover was a working copy,
it could be used by officials and court
historiographers.
In 1986, the Chinese publishing house Zhonghua
Shuju (
中
华书局
), based on all these copies and
other publications, was able to release a relatively
complete lithographic edition of Qing Shilu (
清
实
录
) from 60 volumes of ce (
册
).
In the first lithographic edition, the entire work
had a short list and a general index for all volumes,
each volume had its own table of contents, in
addition, a line was added in the center explaining
the era of the emperor, years, and the number of
juan (chapters) in the volume. At numerous
requests from researchers, in the same year of
1986, a reprint of the lithographic edition of “
清
实
录
”
was carried out, still consisting of 60 volumes,
but the explanation was moved to the outside of
the book, and the page numbers were made
continuous throughout the entire work.
There were several photolithographic editions of
the Qing Shilu, the most successful of which were
made by Zhonghua Shuju Publishing House (
中
华
书局
) based on the original copies stored in the
First Historical Archives of China (
中国第一
历史档
案馆
), the Library of the Palace Museum (
故
宫博物
院图书馆
), and the Library of Peking University (
北京大学
图书馆
).
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Due to the large volume of the Qing Shilu, Chinese
historians have done a great deal of work to
compile a collection of extracts from the "True
Records" on Xinjiang.
The collection of "Qing shilu" Xinjiang ziliao zilu" (
清
实录新疆资料辑录
, Collection of materials on
Xinjiang from "Qing shilu") of the 2016 edition
consists of 8 volumes, with a total volume of 4596
pages. The work consists of a preface by the
publishers and editors, and eight juan (chapters).
Information about the Kazakhs and Buruts
(Kyrgyz) is contained in the second chapter.
Appendix: Archives of records on the return of the
Torguts (Kalmyks) to the east in the Manchu
language. The highest decrees on the Torguts of
three Qing emperors - Kangxi, Yongzheng,
Qianlong.
Yet, this most valuable source has its
shortcomings. Firstly, many of the documents
included in it are given with some abbreviations,
sometimes approaching a retelling. Secondly, and
this is the main thing, the Qing "True Records"
were
compiled
by
specially
appointed
commissions of court dignitaries and historians
after the death of the monarch whose reign was
covered by this section of the chronicle. Therefore,
this chronicle reflected the official point of view on
the events that took place and took into account
the interests of current politics, i.e. the monarch
ruling at the moment.
Diplomats and officials sent to Western countries
by order of the Qing government made a great
contribution to the study of the historical
geography of the territories to the west of China
Proper. The works they wrote about the lands they
visited were not considered official, but sometimes
their value was so great that their information was
used by government agencies. For example,
information from the work of the famous diplomat
of the Ming (
明
) era Chen Cheng "Xiyu fanguozhi" (
陈诚。西域藩国志
)
was
almost
completely
included in the dynastic chronicle "Ming shi" (
明史
"History [of the Ming Dynasty]").
Among the researchers of the historical geography
of the Western Territory (Xiyu) in the Qing era,
there was a whole group of former officials (Lin
Zexu (
林
则徐
), Xu Song (
徐松
), Ji Xiaolan (
紀
晓岚
),
Hong Liangji (
洪亮吉
), Qi Yunshi (
祁韵士
), etc.),
exiled by the Qing government to Xinjiang, the so-
called “exiled criminals” and “worthless elements.”
These exiled people, who had stumbled and
committed crimes of varying degrees of severity,
and sometimes simply received punishments on
slander, were officials who held fairly high
positions, scientists and noble persons for most of
their lives. Among them were many innocent
people who had not committed crimes, who
suffered from an unfair accusation and, as a result,
were exiled to the western outskirts of the empire.
Not only did they often hold high positions, but
they also had a broad outlook, a fairly high level of
education and culture.
As a result, they were demoted and exiled to the
West. Not resigned to their fate, they put all their
strength and energy into exploring new lands for
them, despite the hardships and deprivations that
accompanied them. It must be said that local
officials, governors-general, in most cases treated
them with respect and care, because of their past
merits. A large number of research travel notes
about the roads of the Western Territory of that
time were a good illustration of how people who
had practically lost everything, plunged headlong
into new experiences and boldly went to meet the
sometimes dangerous trials that accompanied
them when exploring previously unknown lands.
Xu Song (1781-1848), the author of the seminal
work “Xiyu Shuidao Ji” (
西域水道
记
, Description of
the Waterways of the Western Frontier), was a
true explorer of the historical geography of the
Western Frontier during the Qing period.
Xu Song's career grew rapidly, and he wielded
enormous power as an official in charge of
examinations
in
various
prefectures
and
departments, thus influencing the future and fate
of countless children and students. It was at this
time that his fate took a sharp turn. Xu Song was
accused of a number of crimes and exiled to the
West, to Xinjiang.
Among the "crimes" Xu Song was accused of were,
on the one hand, disorderly conduct and violation
of court rules and regulations, and, on the other
hand, indiscriminate charges of running schools
and publishing and selling his works to students to
make money. All of these were important reasons
why he eventually lost everything, was dismissed,
and exiled to Xinjiang. In the 17th year (1812) of
the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor (
嘉慶
, 1796-
1821), he was removed from office and exiled to Ili
in Xinjiang.
After Xu Song was exiled to Ili in 1812, he had
absolutely nothing to do. He no longer had an
official status, he was light, and he had no hope of
furthering his career. Nevertheless, he was neither
discouraged nor depressed. On the contrary, with
unprecedented energy and enthusiasm, he
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devoted himself to exploring the Western Regions
(Xiyu) and concentrated on studying the history of
the borderlands. He devoted himself to studying
the history of Xinjiang and even, with a touch of
irony, named the garrison where he was stationed
“Old Lotus Pavilion” (Lao furongguan,
老芙蓉
馆
).
Over the next few years, Xu Song traveled among
the high mountains and glaciers of the Tian Shan,
the desert sands of the Gobi, rivers and lakes, and
rural grasslands, exploring and conducting
repeated surveys of the water systems of Xinjiang,
which resulted in the important work Xiyu
Shueidao Ji. The work consists of five chapters
(juan) with detailed maps of Xu Song's
descriptions of the waterways. To describe them, it
was necessary to study the sources of the rivers.
The rivers often originated from glaciers that were
impassable even for horses. One can only imagine
the risks Xu Song took in climbing them himself.
During his long 9 years in Xinjiang, Xu Song
personally visited every place of interest to him,
the farthest of which was the area of Lake Balkhash
(Ba'erhashi hu
巴
尔喀什湖
). Having covered
13,000 li , he explored mountain rivers, rivers
flowing through deserts and oases, describing in
detail all the parameters of large and small rivers
and lakes, and wrote everything down on paper.
Having covered a vast area, he carefully studied a
large number of documentary sources. Xu Song's
work is a detailed, systematic description of the
waterways in Xinjiang at that time.
In addition, the roads, historical sites, city ruins,
manufactured products, and ethnic distribution of
the areas through which the waterways passed are
described in detail. During the exploration of the
waterways, Xu Song described the traces of
cultural monuments, believing that all of them
were closely related to the fate of the waterways
and rivers.
Lakes Balkhash, Issyk-Kul, Ala and Jaisan, which
were included in the "Xiyu Shueidao Ji", were at
that time internal lakes of the Qing Empire and the
western border of China passed along the northern
shore of Lake Balkhash. Later, according to the
treaties of the Qing government with Tsarist
Russia ("
中俄北京条
约
" "Sino-Russian Beijing
Treaty" and "
中俄伊犁条
约
" "Sino-Russian Ili
Treaty"), these four large lake areas were
transferred to Russia.
During the expedition to Lake Lop Nor (
罗不泊
), Xu
Song recorded that the lake shore was “sandy…
and overgrown with trees…” The Lobu (
罗布
)
people who live here “do not e
at grain, use fish for
food, weave wild hemp as clothing, take goose
feathers as fur, and use… wings as bedding. This is
the earliest mention of the existence of the Lobu
people.
After many years of hard work, he finally
completed the famous historical and geographical
work Xiyu Shueidao Ji a year before he left Xinjiang
(1819). It had been nine years since he was exiled
to the Western Regions in 1812.
It should be noted that the work of the Manchu
official Xu Song "Xiyu shudao ji" (
西域水道
记
,
Description of the Waterways of the Western
Territory) has yet to be thoroughly studied, since
the source contains unknown and little-studied
information on the historical geography of Central
Asia, as well as detailed data not only on the water
system of Xinjiang in the Qing era, but also
information on the historical monuments of the
region, on the peoples who inhabited the territory
he explored, as well as their occupation.
Thus, it should be noted that Chinese written
sources of the Qing era stand out both in the
volume of available information and in their
significance, and they still need to be thoroughly
studied to identify new data on the history of
Central Asia.
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