Across Forest, Steppe, and Mountain_ Environment, Identity, and Empire in Qing China\'s Borderlands

identity as it regimented variousindigenous peoples as New Manchus

intogūsabanner units. This mobilization,however, also initiated the

substantial alienation of these peoples from their previous environmen-

tal relations. Moreover, this alienation continued even after the success-

ful Qing integration of its Manchurian borderland. Integration, in turn,

promoted both greater Han migration into southern Manchuria and

imperial foraging’s bureaucratized hunting and gathering practices.

Alienation and integration transformed the Qing’s carefully cultured

nature of Manchurian space and identity in ways that the dynasty had

not intended.

This chapter examines the process of how this network of cultured

nature was formed on the basis of a forager identity and its subsequent

modifications under the exigencies of,first, Russian incursion and then

imperial foraging. Despite its obvious import, Han migration will be

downplayed here to focus on comparatively unexamined dynamics

shaping regional Manchu identity and borderland space.

Yaksa

SAHRive

Nerchinsk r

Ilan Hala

Qiqihar

Non Rive

BičanRiver

SIBERIA

INNERMONGOLIA

HEILONGJIANG

Ningguta

Changbaishan

JILIN

Sungari RiverButha Ula

Ussuri River

KOREA

Sakhalin Island

Upper

LowerSAH River

Ton River

Hulun Buir

FENGTIAN

Shengjing

Josotu League

Bedune

220 km

Borderland boundary

State boundary

Sunga

ri^ River

SAHMiddle

River

Zey

iva^ R

re

Hengg

Tuhur un^ River

u^ Ri

ver

Hūrha Usihun

map 3:SAH Basin: Jilin and Heilongjiang

The Nature of Imperial Foraging in the SAH Basin 65