Manchu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Manchu (Manju, Man)
满族

Total population
approx. 10.68 million (2000) [1]
Regions with significant populations
China (Heilongjiang · Jilin · Liaoning) There may also be members in Taiwan, United States, Canada and Japan.
Languages
Manchu · Mandarin Chinese
Religion
Buddhism, Christianity and other religions
Related ethnic groups
Xibe, other Tungusic peoples

The Manchu people are a Tungusic people who came from Manchuria (today's Northeastern China). During their rise in the seventeenth century they conquered the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, which established a republican government in its place.

The Qing Dynasty required by law that all males must wear a hairstyle called the Manchu queue, in which men had to shave the front of their heads and wear a long braid on the back of their heads.

The Manchu have largely assimilated with the Han Chinese.

Name

The Jiu Manzhou Dang contains the earliest use of Manchu. However, the actual etymology of the ethnic name "Manju" is debatable. According to the Qing dynasty's official historical record, the Researches on Manchu Origins, the ethnic name came from Mañjuśrī. The Qianlong Emperor also supported the point of view and even wrote several poems on the subject.

Meng Sen, a scholar of the Qing dynasty, agreed. On the other hand, he thought the name Manchu might stem from Li Manzhu (李滿住), the chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Another scholar, Chang Shan, thinks Manju is a compound word. Man was from the word mangga (ᠮᠠᠩᡤᠠ) which means "strong," and ju (ᠵᡠ) means "arrow." So Manju actually means "intrepid arrow".

There are other hypotheses, such as Fu Sinian's "etymology of Jianzhou"; Zhang Binglin's "etymology of Manshi"; Isamura Sanjiro's "etymology of Wuji and Mohe"; Sun Wenliang's "etymology of Manzhe"; "etymology of mangu(n) river" and so on.

Population

Mainland China

Most Manchu people now live in Mainland China with a population of 10,410,585, which is 9.28% of ethnic minorities and 0.77% of China's total population. Among the provincial regions, there are two provinces, Liaoning and Hebei, which have over 1,000,000 Manchu residents. Liaoning has 5,336,895 Manchu residents which is 51.26% of Manchu population and 12.20% provincial population; Hebei has 2,118,711 which is 20.35% of Manchu people and 70.80% of provincial ethnic minorites. Manchus are the largest ethnic minority in Liaoning, Hebei, Heilongjiang and Beijing; 2nd largest in Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Shanxi and 3rd largest in Henan, Shandong and Anhui.

Distribution

Manchu autonomous regions

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  Manchu autonomous area in Liaoning.

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  Manchu autonomous area in Jilin.

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  Manchu autonomous area in Hebei.

Culture

Influence on other Tungusic peoples

The Manchus implemented measures to "Manchufy" the other Tungusic peoples living around the Amur River basin. The southern Tungusic Manchus influenced the northern Tungusic peoples linguistically, culturally, and religiously.

Language and alphabet

Language

"Banjin Inenggi" and Manchu linguistic activity by the government and students in Changchun, 2011

The Manchu language is a Tungusic language and has many dialects. Its standard form is called "Standard Manchu". It originates from the accent of Jianzhou Jurchens and was officially standardized during the Qianlong Emperor's reign. During the Qing dynasty, Manchus at the imperial court were required to speak Standard Manchu or face the emperor's reprimand. This applied equally to the palace presbyter for shamanic rites when performing sacrifice.

After the 19th century, most Manchus had perfected Standard Chinese and the number of Manchu speakers was dwindling. Although the Qing emperors emphasized the importance of the Manchu language again and again, the tide could not be turned. After the Qing dynasty collapsed, the Manchu language lost its status as a national language and its official use in education ended. Manchus today generally speak Standard Chinese. The remaining skilled native Manchu speakers number less than 100, most of whom are to be found in Sanjiazi (Manchu: ᡳᠯᠠᠨ
ᠪᠣᡠ, Möllendorff: ilan boo, Abkai: ilan bou), Heilongjiang Province. Since the 1980s, there has been a resurgence of the Manchu language among the government, scholars and social activities. In recent years, with the help of the governments in Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, many schools started to have Manchu classes. There are also Manchu volunteers in many places of China who freely teach Manchu in the desire to rescue the language. Thousands of non-Manchus have learned the language through these platforms.

Today, in an effort to save Manchu culture from extinction, the older generation of Manchus are spending their own money and time to teach young people. In an effort to encourage learners, these classes were oftentimes free. They teach through the Internet and even mail Manchu textbooks for free, all for the purpose of protecting the national cultural traditions.

Alphabet

The Jurchens, ancestors of the Manchus, had created Jurchen script in the Jin dynasty. After the Jin dynasty collapsed, the Jurchen script was gradually lost. In the Ming dynasty, 60%–70% of Jurchens used Mongolian script to write letters and 30%–40% of Jurchens used Chinese characters. This persisted until Nurhaci revolted against the Ming Empire. Nurhaci considered it a major impediment that his people lacked a script of their own, so he commanded his scholars, Gagai and Eldeni, to create Manchu characters by reference to Mongolian scripts. They dutifully complied with the Khan's order and created Manchu script, which is called "script without dots and circles" (Manchu: ᡨᠣᠩᡴᡳ
ᡶᡠᡴᠠ
ᠠᡴᡡ
ᡥᡝᡵᡤᡝᠨ, Möllendorff: tongki fuka akū hergen, Abkai: tongki fuka akv hergen; Chinese: 无圈点满文) or "old Manchu script" (Chinese: 老满文). Due to its hurried creation, the script has its defects. Some vowels and consonants were difficult to distinguish. Shortly afterwards, their successor Dahai used dots and circles to distinguish vowels, aspirated and non-aspirated consonants and thus completed the script. His achievement is called "script with dots and circles" or "new Manchu script".

Traditional lifestyle

The Manchu are often mistakenly labelled a nomadic people, but they were sedentary agricultural people who lived in fixed villages, farmed crops and practiced hunting and mounted archery.

The southern Tungusic Manchu farming sedentary lifestyle was very different from the nomadic hunter gatherer forager lifestyle of their more northern Tungusic relatives like the Warka, which caused the Qing state to attempt to sedentarize them and adopt the farming lifestyle of the Manchus.

Images for kids

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  Aguda, Emperor Taizu of Jurchen Jin

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  An imperial portrait of Nurgaci

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  Prince Zaitao dresses in modern reformed uniform of late Qing dynasty

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  Noblewoman Wanyan Litongji, 1900s

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  the cover of the Eight Manchu Banners' Surname-Clans' Book

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  A musketeer wearing a queue and formal hat

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  Han and Manchu clothing coexisted during Qing dynasty

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  Han Chinese clothing in early Qing

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  Han Chinese general Zhang Zhiyuan wearing Qing military outfit.

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  Painting of the Qianlong Emperor hunting

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  Manchu wrestlers competed in front of the Qianlong Emperor

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  The performance of Manchu palace skaters on holiday

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  Octagonal drum performance on stage

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  Akšan [zh], Manchu singer and ulabun artist

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

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  Manchu Hunting party

See also

In Spanish: Manchú para niños