| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.3

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 300 words from this article are provided below; about 627 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

Mark C. Elliott. The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2001. Pp. xxiii, 580. $65.00.

China always has had an important place in discussions of the history of the early modern world, because of the sophistication, which some would call "early modern," of its economic and political organization. In the last five years, a number of important books have focused on the important ways in which early modern China was affected by having, from 1644 on, a ruling house and core military elite that was ethnically non-Chinese, of the Manchu people. This is the best of these books, and as such will be important reading not only for all historians of China but for all students of the history of the early modern world. Formidable in its learning, it is very lucidly written, makes its arguments clearly, and is full of vivid descriptions and quotations, many of them drawn from Manchu-language archive materials previously used by few Chinese scholars and no one outside China. 1

The Manchus gave early modern China an elite of multicultural competence and orientation, result oriented in its statecraft, sustained by a most impressive military organization and ethos. They provided a high-level cadre of trustworthy and competent rulers for a Chinese population growing in numbers and in area settled. Their orientation to Inner Asia and their military skills led to a great series of conquests, including Tibet and what is now Xinjiang, rounding out and even going beyond the present frontiers of the People's Republic of China. The Manchus maintained their own customs, institutions, and language for many decades. Written communication in the Manchu language, which few Chinese read, helped them maintain secure lines of communication between center and provinces. . . .

There are about 627 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.