Manwen Laodang
Encyclopedia
Manwen Laodang is a set of Manchu
official documents of the Qing Dynasty
, compiled during the late Qianlong period based on Jiu Manzhou Dang
.
It was difficult to understand Old Manchu, written in the script without dots and circles, in the Qianlong period. Translation of old archives into Standard Manchu was started in 1775. Two versions, namely the Beijing edition and the Mukden edition, were created. Both editions slept deep inside the palaces.
Each edition contains both "tongki fuka sindaha hergen i dangse" (archives in the script with dots and circles) and "tongki fuka akū hergen i dangse" (archives in the script without dots and circles). The former is wrtitten in Standard Manchu. The Beijing edition gives commentaries to arcane passages and Manchu translations to Mongolian
texts. The latter is basically written in Old Manchu. Note that it is not identical with Jiu Manzhou Dang since duplications of original archives were eliminated from Manwen Laodang. Some old archives written in Standard Manchu are reduced to Old Manchu but the rest is kept in the original language.
The Mukden edition was discovered by the Japan
ese historian Naito Torajiro
in 1905 and he named it Manwen Laodang (Mambun Rōtō). He filmed the archives in the script with dots and circles in 1912 and brought them to Japan. The Beijing edition was discovered in 1931.
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
official documents of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, compiled during the late Qianlong period based on Jiu Manzhou Dang
Jiu Manzhou Dang
Jiu Manzhou Dang is a set of Manchu archives stored at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It is the sourcebook of Manwen Laodang and a primary source of early Manchu history...
.
It was difficult to understand Old Manchu, written in the script without dots and circles, in the Qianlong period. Translation of old archives into Standard Manchu was started in 1775. Two versions, namely the Beijing edition and the Mukden edition, were created. Both editions slept deep inside the palaces.
Each edition contains both "tongki fuka sindaha hergen i dangse" (archives in the script with dots and circles) and "tongki fuka akū hergen i dangse" (archives in the script without dots and circles). The former is wrtitten in Standard Manchu. The Beijing edition gives commentaries to arcane passages and Manchu translations to Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
texts. The latter is basically written in Old Manchu. Note that it is not identical with Jiu Manzhou Dang since duplications of original archives were eliminated from Manwen Laodang. Some old archives written in Standard Manchu are reduced to Old Manchu but the rest is kept in the original language.
The Mukden edition was discovered by the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese historian Naito Torajiro
Naito Torajiro
Naitō Torajirō , commonly known as Naitō Konan , was a Japanese historian and Sinologist. He was the founder of the Kyoto School of historiography, and along with Shiratori Kurakichi , was one of the leading Japanese historians of East Asia in the early twentieth century...
in 1905 and he named it Manwen Laodang (Mambun Rōtō). He filmed the archives in the script with dots and circles in 1912 and brought them to Japan. The Beijing edition was discovered in 1931.