ABSTRACT
The most fundamental question faced by all of the various conquest regimes established in China by North Asian peoples, from the Xiongnu at the beginning of the fourth century to the Manchus in the middle of the seventeenth century, was that of sinicization. To what extent would the conquerors continue to adhere to their own political, social, and cultural traditions, and to what extent would they adopt Chinese language, dress, and modes of behavior? Would intermarriage be encouraged or discouraged? Would political power be monopolized by the rulers from the steppes, or would it be shared with Han Chinese elites? The recruitment of Han officials and the adoption of Chinese bureaucratic forms and usages certainly made it much easier to govern and extract revenues from the large settled, agricultural population of the North China Plain. At the same time, both the developed literary culture and the luxurious material lifestyle of upper-class Chinese could hold a powerful attraction for men who had been brought up in more impoverished surroundings. Sinicization also had its dangers, however. The conquerors risked losing the toughness and martial prowess that had given them dominion over the Chinese, and they ultimately risked the loss of their separate identity as they merged with the much larger population of Han Chinese.
