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Juul Eijck MA

PhD candidate

E-mail: j.w.j.eijk@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Area(s) of interest: Asian History, Early Modern History, Political History, Religious History & Theology

Cohort/Start PhD: 2020-2021

Ally to Hegemon: The Early Manchu Khans’ Changing Understanding of Tibet (1607-1735)

Leiden University
Promotor(es): prof. dr. Jeroen F. J. Duindam, prof. dr. A. T. Gerritsen
Startdatum: 1 oktober 2020

My doctoral research is focused on understanding how the early khans of the Qing dynasty adapted their views of Tibet from the formation of an alliance to the establishment of imperial hegemony over Tibet. More specifically, my research project departs from a Manchu point of view and uses the Qing imperial discourse to examine the khans’ shifting views on Tibet and certain Tibetan institutions and social structures. Thus, I first examine imperial discourse on Tibet during the formative period of Manchu-Tibetan relations as evidenced in decrees, diplomatic communications, stele inscriptions and imperial archives and historiography. The early discourse is compared with imperial discourse of later periods, when Qing-Tibetan relations are wavering and the Qing adopts an increasingly interventionist stance towards Tibetan affairs. Manchu sources will play a central role here, but are accompanied by Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian material. On the basis of the diachronic analysis, I will endeavor to explain the discursive legitimation process of Qing installation of colonial supervision over Tibet. Here, my research project will strive to reveal the historiographic attempt to overcome the apparent paradox between the Qing’s self-presentation as protectors of Tibetan Buddhism and the perpetuation of the lama-patron relationship between the Dalai lama and the khan on the one hand, while simultaneously expanding imperial control over Tibetan Buddhist institutions on the other.