Wang Fuzhi (王夫之, 1619–1692, courtesy name, Ernong 而农, he also styled himself Chuanshan 船山) was witness to a calamity — the fall of the Ming Empire first to the bandit armies of Li Zicheng and subsequently to the Manchu ‘peacekeeping forces’ under the regent Dorgon. He became active in the anti-Manchu resistance and when the last of the Ming claimants proved unable to restore a Chinese emperor to the throne, Wang “retired” in his early-30s, living in the hills of Hunan province, and devoting himself to a life of writing and scholarship. So virulent were his writings attacking the Manchus that his essays and books went unpublished for nearly 200 years, until Wang was “rediscovered” in the latter half of the 19th century when his particular brand of anti-Manchuism seemed a useful complement to more recently imported and adapted ideas of ethnic-nationalism. The fact that philosophically, Wang espoused a form of materialism, guaranteed that while nearly unknown in his own time, he would be well-remembered in ours.
This is Wang Fuzhi in high dudgeon:
“Now even the ants have rulers who preside over territory of their nests, and when red ants or flying white ants penetrqate their gates, the ruler organizes all his own kind into troops to bite and kill the intruders, drive them far away from the anthill, and prevent foreign interference. Thus he who rules the swarm must have the means to protect it. If, however, a ruler fails to make long-term plans, neglects the integrity of his territory, esteems his own person more than the empire, antagonizes colleagues, creates divisions where none should exist, is driven by suspicion to exercise a repressive control, and weakens the central region, then, while he clings desperately to his privileged status and enjoys the advantages of his position without fulfilling its obligations, disaster strikes and he is incapable of ocercoming it. Confronted with an external menace, he is unable to stand firm against it. He can neither keep the succession of his own desscendants nor protect his own kind …
And so, with a mind full of grief and anger, and a heart full of sorrow, I rectify what went wrong in order to restore the original divisions of the Yellow Emperor. I look forward eagerly to the advent of an enlightened ruler, who will restore sovereignty to the country, accomplish its mission, and stabilize its frontiers, and thereby guard the central territory and drive off the barbarians forever. Once this were accomplished, then though my body may perish, my sould would rejoice.”
Source: Wm. de Bary ed. Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume II. New York, 1999. pp. 34-35
My late maternal grandfather was a historian who has a collection of history books. Those were some great read when I was kid. Always wondered what made ancient Chinese intellects such as 王夫之 happy.
Manchu (满族）started from a branch of 女真. Another branch of 女真 in the 1100s to 1200s formed the Jin Dynasty after defeated the 契丹 Liao Dynasty in Northern china . Liao in terms of sinification went as far as claiming that they were the descendants of mythical Yellow Emperor, and at other time, the other mythical Yan Emperor. The good folks in Song might have a problem with that claim, but in all fairness, Huang/Yan Emperors could’ve had many progenies.
Initially the leading 女真branch in the 1600s called themselves 后金, as the later version of Jin in the 1100s to 1200s. But after they united the area covering now most of the current Northeast China, a portion of Russia and a portion of Korea, they abandoned the name of 女真, and include many Mongolians, Hans and Koreans in the united area, call themselves 满族. In that sense, Manchu started as a very inclusive group.
A couple of points to make:
* Sinification is more of an infusion process, and Chinese culturally is ever evolving. If you had a time machine to port a Zhou “Chinese” to Han, or a Han “Chinese” to Tang, or 王夫之 to modern day China, certainly there would’ve been a whole lot the old “Chinese” had had issues with the Chinese-ness of their descendants.
* Han historically as an ethnic group, in a way is the total opposite of what whites were like in the new world until recently — you were considered a Han so long as,
1. you have a drop of Han blood — at the very least, paternal side of it.
2. you have converted culturally.
Ahh, could use some editing before sent… but should be readable.