ABSTRACT
There is no easy way to explain how the Manchus, with a population about one million, could by 1644 seize the throne of China. They had devised a writing system for their spoken language only in 1599. Their "banner system," which gave their tribal organization a bureaucratic touch by regulating the mobilization procedure and its agricultural support, came into existence no earlier than 1601. In 1635 they began to call themselves Manchus. Another year lapsed before the Qing dynasty was formally proclaimed. It took less than a half century for this loosely constructed confedemtion of tribes to elevate itself to be the governing body of an enormous empire with a profound cultural heritage.
