Title: Of Wounded Bodies and the Old Manchu Archive: Documenting Personnel Management in the Early Manchu State
Abstract:This article examines the only bilingual component in the Old Manchu Archive-the record of 228 officers and soldiers' battle wounds, as well as Nurhaci's decision to reward them after he became khan i...This article examines the only bilingual component in the Old Manchu Archive-the record of 228 officers and soldiers' battle wounds, as well as Nurhaci's decision to reward them after he became khan in 1616.Departing from previous scholarship that highlights the historiographical impulse that shaped these pre-conquest documents, I argue that the compilation of archival materials (dangse) under the nascent Latter Jin state was also motivated by the need to recognize the meritorious deeds of military personnel and manage their ranks and privilege in writing.The enigmatic presence of a Manchu-only copy of the battle wound documents, which bears marginal notes concurrent with its active use as a ledger, indicates the rise of a more standardized system of military administration and the ascent of Manchu script as the dominant language for documentation.Read More