The Blue Frontier
Maritime Vision and Power in the Qing Empire

Argues that Qing China was not just a continental empire, but a maritime power protecting its interests at sea.

Ronald C. Po (Author)

9781108424615, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 August 2018

308 pages, 18 b/w illus. 2 maps
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.66 kg

'By presenting his work as laying the foundations for a new lens of analysis called 'New Qing Maritime History,' Po's book clearly demonstrates this historiographical power … His work means that the hackneyed narrative of the eighteenth-century Chinese empire as one of the great land empires that unfortunately turned its back on the maritime realm and refused to engage with anything that lay beyond the coastal boundary of the empire will have to be revised … Po convincingly shows that certainly between the annexation of Taiwan in 1693 and the end of Qianlong's reign in 1795, the Qing rulers did care about control over its inner seas.' Anne Gerritsen, The English Historical Review

In this revisionist history of the eighteenth-century Qing Empire from a maritime perspective, Ronald C. Po argues that it is reductive to view China over this period exclusively as a continental power with little interest in the sea. With a coastline of almost 14,500 kilometers, the Qing was not a landlocked state. Although it came to be known as an inward-looking empire, Po suggests that the Qing was integrated into the maritime world through its naval development and customs institutionalization. In contrast to our orthodox perception, the Manchu court, in fact, deliberately engaged with the ocean politically, militarily, and even conceptually. The Blue Frontier offers a much broader picture of the Qing as an Asian giant responding flexibly to challenges and extensive interaction on all frontiers - both land and sea - in the long eighteenth century.

Introduction
1. Setting the scene
2. Modeling the sea
3. The dragon navy
4. Guarded management
5. Writing the waves
Conclusion
Appendix 1. 'Inner sea' and 'outer sea' in imperial documents
Appendix 2. A chronicle of sea patrol regulations in the long eighteenth century
Appendix 3. Glossary of Chinese characters.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Asian history [HBJF]