1644: Showdown At Shanhaiguan
by Cao Cao
Additional Notes
1) Aisin Gioro (or Aixin Jueluo in
Mandarin/pinyin spelling) is the clan that Nurhaci and all the subsequent
Qing khans/emperors belong to. Unlike the Han Chinese culture, the Manchu/Ruzhen
person's first name is emphasized, and his/her clan name or surname is
used only for clan/tribal identification purposes. Therefore, while Han
Chinese are usually known by their full names, such as Liu Bang or Li
Shimin, Manchus are usually known by their personal names only, such as
Nurhaci, Dorgon, or Obai.
2) Contrary to many historians, modern
Beijing was not first established as a capital city by Kublai Khan. Urban
areas were developed around Beijing as early as the Zhan Guo (Warring
States) period, but Beijing first became a "national" capital
during the Jin Dynasty, when the Jurchens made Beijing as one of the five
capitals of the Jin state. Ancient Beijing took many names, usually Yanjing
(capital of Yan, which was an ancient state from the Zhan Guo period),
but when it was the capital city of the Ming and Qing Empires, people
similar refer to it as Jingcheng (which simply means the capital city
in Chinese). As a matter of fact, the name evolved to its present form
in the 20th century, when Jiang Jieshi's (Chiang Kai-shek) forces capture
the city during the Northern Expedition and renamed it Beiping (meaning
"Northern Peace"). When the Communists took the city in the
final stages of the Civil War, they legitimized their mandate by establishing
their national capital there, and therefore renamed it Beijing ("the
Northern Capital," for at that time a southern capital also exists,
that is the Guomindang capital Nanjing).
3) The Tongguan, or Tong Pass, connects
the Henan plains to the mountains and the Wei River Valley of Shaanxi
province. Since the establishment of the Qin state in the Wei River Valley,
opposing armies in the annals of Chinese history pass through the Tongguan
to attack the west or the central plains.
4) The Eight Banners were not only
military but also political divisions of the Hou Jin, and later the Qing
state. Originally, Nurhaci divided his domain into eight divisions as
political subdivisions but also as military districts, since a very large
percentage of the Manchu male population are soldiers. This is a rather
simple but effective tribal system, in which the banner leaders can administer
civilian tasks in time of peace and command an organized unit of soldiers
for the Qing state in time of war. Theoretically, a banner has 7,500 soldiers,
divided into 5 regiments (or battalions), which in turn were divided into
5 companies. The eight banners of the Qing state are the yellow, red,
blue, white, bordered yellow, bordered red, bordered blue, and bordered
white banners.
5) The practice of shaving the
forehead is not a Han Chinese practice, contrary to Western views (and
stereotypes). The forehead shaving practice had its roots as far back
as the 6th century, when the Xianbei or Toba barbarians first establish
their kingdoms in northern China. Up to the end of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese
men keep their hair long and tied, because traditions view that the hair
is a gift of one's ancestors and so they cannot be cut. Therefore, when
the Manchus first impose the forehead shaving rule on the Chinese, they
met tremendous opposition.
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