The Legal Administration of Qing Mongolia

Abstract

On the eve of the founding of the Qing Dynasty (1636–1911), prior to the conquest of China, alliances with Mongol rulers from the southern part of Mongolia, a territory approximately corresponding to modern Inner Mongolia, bolstered Manchu military power. These military alliances were rooted in practices inherited from the steppe, and during the 1620s Manchu and Mongol political elites interacted fundamentally as equals. Following the strengthening of Manchu military power, however, Mongol noblemen gradually became vassals of the “Manchu khan.” After the coronation of Hong Taiji as Boγda Qaγan (Holy Khan) in 1636, the Manchus granted Mongol noblemen honorific titles as rewards for their loyalty. Nevertheless, integration into the new Qing order increasingly limited Mongol autonomy. The transition to a new political system after the conquest of China posed many challenges and required an adjustment of the earlier ManchuMongol relationship. The Qing rulers divided the Mongols into banners (Mo. qosiγu, Ch. qi), each ruled by a hereditary official called a J̌asaγ, but this organization did not override existing sociopolitical structures, nor did it eliminate the privileges of the Mongol nobles.1 In order to guarantee the integrity of the Mongol legal tradition and thus to win over the Mongols, the Qing state enacted a set of rules mostly based on older Mongol legal institutions. For example, the Qing confirmed the