Manchu Racial Identity on the Qing Frontier: Donjina and Early Twentieth-Century Ili

Abstract

This article examines the early Republican writings of a Daur man from Heilongjiang named Donjina who spent the second half of his life among the Sibe of Ili. It argues that Donjina developed a sense of pan-Manchu identity in dialogue with racial theories that came into vogue in late Qing and Republican China, but also drew on an older vision of Manchu identity tied to participation in the Qing imperial project. Donjina’s writings demonstrate the continued significance of the Manchu language on the Qing frontier into the twentieth century and challenge us to move beyond the physical spaces of the garrison communities of China proper in attempting to understand the development of Manchu identity. Donjina embraced the language of race, yet rejected the ideology of nationalism, offering an intriguing Manchu response to the rise of the Han Chinese nationalist movement and the founding of a Chinese nation-state.