Manchu people
The Manchu are an East Asian ethnic group originating in Manchuria. Their ancestors founded the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1912.
Jurchen people: A Tungusic-speaking people of northeastern Asia who established dynasties in northern China before the Manchu era. The Manchu emerged from Jurchen communities that Nurhaci unified in the late sixteenth century.
Qing dynasty: China’s last imperial dynasty, founded by the Manchus and ruling from 1644 to 1912. The dynasty was the principal political expression of Manchu power.
Hong Taiji: The Qing ruler who adopted the name Manchu for the Jurchen people and proclaimed the Qing dynasty in 1636. His reforms formalized Manchu identity and transformed the Later Jin state into the Qing.
Qing dynasty in Inner Asia: The Qing Empire’s rule over regions such as Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang through varied imperial institutions. Manchu rulers built an empire extending beyond the traditional Chinese heartland.
Manchuria: A historical region of northeastern Asia, centered on present-day Northeast China and extending into neighboring areas. This homeland shaped Manchu political power, language, and relations with neighboring peoples.
Banner system: The Qing institution that organized banner households into military, administrative, and hereditary communities. It preserved a distinct Manchu military elite while incorporating Mongol and Han banners.
Dorgon: A Qing prince and regent who led the conquest of Beijing and governed during the dynasty’s early consolidation. His leadership secured the Manchu court’s entry into China proper.
Qing rule in China: The political and social order established by the Qing dynasty across China from 1644 to 1912. Manchu sovereignty shaped Chinese institutions and society for nearly three centuries.
Nurhaci: The Jurchen leader who unified rival groups, founded the Later Jin state, and began the Eight Banners system. His consolidation of Jurchen groups laid the political foundations for Manchu identity.
Qing conquest of the Ming: The seventeenth-century military campaign through which the Qing replaced the Ming dynasty in China. The conquest brought Manchu rulers from Manchuria to political dominance across China.