Part I. Identity at the heart of empire -- Ethnicity in the Qing Eight Banners / Mark C. Elliott -- Making Mongols / Pamela Kyle Crossley -- "A fierce and brutal people:" on Islam and Muslims in Qing law / Jonathan N. Lipman -- Part II. Narrative wars at the new frontiers -- The Qing and Islam on the western frontier / James A. Millward and Laura J. Newby -- The cant of conquest: Tusi offices and China's political incorporation of the southwest frontier / John E. Herman -- Part III. Old contests of the south and southwest -- The Yao wars in the mid-Ming and their impact on Yao ethnicity / David Faure -- Ethnicity and the Miao frontier in the eighteenth century / Donald S. Sutton -- Ethnicity, conflict, and the state in the early to mid-Qing: the Hainan highlands, 1644-1800 / Anne Csete -- Part IV. Uncharted boundaries -- Ethnic labels in a mountainous region: the case of She "bandits" / Wing-hoi Chan -- Lineage, market, pirate, and Dan: ethnicity in the Pearl River delta of south China / Helen F. Siu and Liu Zhiwei.

Focusing on the Ming and Qing eras, this book analyses crucial moments in the formation of cultural, regional and religious identities. It demonstrates how the imperial discourse is many-faceted, rather than a monolithic agent of cultural assimilation.

Physical and online versions available at Gleeson Library.
Local access dig. pdf [Crossley-Empire at the Margin.pdf]

The wobbling pivot -- Sources of order under the Qing Empire -- Sources of disorder under the Qing Empire -- Essay: Strategic borders -- Qing and the world -- Essay: Rebel heroines -- Visionaries -- Essay: Hunan takes the lead -- Essay: Water -- Beiyang ascendancy -- Cultural Revolution -- Essay: Manchus as minorities -- War -- The Ubiquitous center -- Essay: Minerals -- Essay: Health risks -- Gravity.

"This comprehensive but concise narrative of China since the eighteenth century builds its story around the delicate relationship between central government and local communities." "The author argues that China's modern history has not wholly adhered to the ideal of the "unwobbling pivot", with China as a wholly harmonious society based on principles of stability. Instead Crossley argues that developments can be explained through an understanding of China's surprising swings between centralization and decentralization, between local initiative and central authoritarianism. The author's approach is broad enough to provide a full introduction to modern Chinese history. Students new to the subject will be suppported with timelines, maps, illustrations, and extensive notes for further reading, while those with a background in Chinese will find an underlying theme in the narrative addressing long-standing interpretive issues."--Jacket.

Local access dig.pdf. [Crossley-Wobbling Pivot.pdf]