Our Great Qing: The Mongols, Buddhism and the State in Late Imperial China

The introduction begins with the 1780 meeting between the Sixth Panchen Lama and the Qianlong emperor, using it to question the standard “Buddhist explanation” of Qing rule. Elverskog argues that imperial Buddhist patronage alone cannot explain Mongol loyalty; one must ask how Mongols on the periphery received, accepted, reinterpreted, or negotiated Qing claims of religious and political authority. The book contains five main chapters. Chapter 1, “The Mongols on the Eve of Conquest,” examines Mongol society before Qing domination, especially concepts of ulus and törö. Chapter 2, “The Mongols and Political Authority,” studies Mongol theories of rule and authority. Chapter 3, “Qing Ornamentalism and the Cult of Chinggis Khan,” analyzes how the Qing state appropriated and reshaped Chinggisid legitimacy. Chapter 4, “The Poetics, Rituals and Language of Being Mongol, Buddhist and Qing,” explores the cultural production of Mongol Buddhist Qing identity. Chapter 5, “The Buddhist Qing and Mongol Localization in the Nineteenth Century,” discusses nineteenth-century transformations, including local Buddhist identities and pan-Qing solidarity.