Editing Qing dynasty (section)

== Names ==
{{Main|Names of the Qing dynasty}}
{{See also|Names of China}}
Hong Taiji proclaimed the ''Great Qing'' dynasty in 1636.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yamamuro |first=Shin'ichi |title=Manchuria Under Japanese Domination |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0812239126 |page=246 |translator-last=Fogel|translator-first=J. A. }}</ref> There are competing explanations as to the meaning of the [[Chinese character]] {{zhi|c=清|p=Qīng|l=clear, pure|out=p}} in this context. One theory posits a purposeful contrast with the Ming: the character {{zhi|c=明|p=Míng|l=bright|out=p}} is associated with fire within the [[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|Chinese zodiacal system]], while {{zhi|c=清|p=Qīng|out=p}} is associated with water, illustrating the triumph of the Qing as the conquest of fire by water. The name possibly also possessed Buddhist implications of perspicacity and enlightenment, as well as connection with the bodhisattva [[Manjusri]].{{sfnp|Crossley|1997|pp=212–213}}
Early European writers used the term "Tartar" indiscriminately for all the peoples of Northern Eurasia but in the 17th century Catholic missionary writings established "Tartar" to refer only to the Manchus and "[[Tartary]]" for the lands they ruled—i.e. [[Manchuria]] and the adjacent parts of [[Inner Asia]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dong |first=Shaoxin |title=Foreign Devils and Philosophers Cultural Encounters between the Chinese, the Dutch, and Other Europeans, 1590–1800 |publisher=Brill |year=2020 |isbn=978-9004418929 |editor-last=Weststeijn |editor-first=Thijs |location=Leiden |pages=82–83 |chapter=The Tartars in European Missionary Writings of the Seventeenth Century |access-date=14 March 2021 |chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004418929/BP000004.xml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508232543/https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004418929/BP000004.xml |archive-date=8 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Woolley |first=Nathan |title=Celestial Empire: Life in China 1644–1911 |pages=107 |year=2016 |publisher=National Library of Australia |isbn=9780642278760}}</ref> as ruled by the Qing before the [[Ming–Qing transition]].

After conquering [[China proper]], the Manchus identified their state as "China", equivalently as {{zhi|t=中國|p=Zhōngguó|l=middle kingdom|out=p}} in Chinese and {{tlit|mnc|Dulimbai Gurun}} in Manchu.{{efn|{{tlit|mnc|Dulimbai}} means 'central' or 'middle', {{tlit|mnc|gurun}} means 'nation' or 'state'}} The emperors equated the lands of the Qing state (including, among other areas, present-day Northeast China, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Tibet) as "China" in both the Chinese and Manchu languages, defining China as a multi-ethnic state, and rejecting the idea that only Han areas were properly part of "China". The government used "China" and "Qing" interchangeably to refer to their state in official documents,{{sfnp|Zhao|2006|pp=4, 7–10, 12–14 and 24 n. 4}} including the Chinese-language versions of treaties and maps of the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bilik |first=Naran |date=2007 |title=Names Have Memories: History, Semantic Identity and Conflict in Mongolian and Chinese Language Use |journal=Inner Asia |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=34 |doi=10.1163/146481707793646629}}</ref> The term 'Chinese people' ({{zhi|t=中國人 |p=Zhōngguórén}}; Manchu: {{ManchuSibeUnicode|lang=mnc|ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳ<br />ᡤᡠᡵᡠᠨ {{zwj}}ᡳ<br />ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠯᠮᠠ}} {{tlit|mnc|Dulimbai gurun-i niyalma}}) referred to all the Han, Manchu, and Mongol subjects of the Qing Empire.{{sfnp|Zhao|2006|pp=4, 7–10, 12–14}} When the Qing [[Ten Great Campaigns#The Zunghars and pacification of Xinjiang (1755–1759)|conquered Dzungaria in 1759]], it proclaimed within a Manchu-language memorial that the new land had been absorbed into "China".<ref name="Dunnell2004">{{Cite book |last1=Dunnell |first1=Ruth W. |url={{Google books|6qFH-53_VnEC|plainurl=yes}} |title=New Qing Imperial History: The Making of Inner Asian Empire at Qing Chengde |last2=Elliott |first2=Mark C. |last3=Foret |first3=Philippe |last4=Millward |first4=James A. |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=978-1134362226}}</ref>{{rp|77}} The Qing government expounded an ideology that it was bringing the "outer" non-Han peoples—such as various populations of Mongolians, as well as the Tibetans—together with the "inner" Han Chinese into "one family", united within the Qing state. Phraseology like {{zhi|c=中外一家|p=Zhōngwài yījiā|out=p}} and {{zhi|c=內外一家|p=nèiwài yījiā|out=p}}—both translatable as 'home and abroad as one family'—was employed to convey this idea of Qing-mediated trans-cultural unity.<ref name="Dunnell2004" />{{rp|76–77}}