Speaker: Matthew Mosca, Associate Professor, Department of History and Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington
Moderator: Gray Tuttle, Leila Hadley Luce Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies, Columbia University
After the death of Ligdan Qan in 1634, Hong Taiji advanced the claim that he was the legitimate ruler of all Mongols. A common thread among the various arguments he advanced to support this claim was an appeal to historical events and circumstances that in his view illustrated the correctness of the Qing position and the illegitimacy of his enemies. This use of historical references coincided with the first systematic efforts of the emerging Qing state to propagate historical sources in Manchu translation. This talk will review the origins and basis for some of the historical claims made by Hong Taiji regarding the legitimacy of Qing rule over all Mongols, and how they relate – or do not relate – to the content of official historiography.