Curing the Vices of Gambling: Bilingual Manchu-Chinese Textbooks for Banner Education

Katja Pessl; Julia C. Schneider; Katja Pessl; Julia C. Schneider

doi:10.3998/saksaha.4212

Introduction

This paper explores the New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books (Chongkan Qingwen jiezi deng shu 重刊清文接字等書, 1899),^¹ a compilation of eight textbooks for “government schools for bannermen” (Ma. jakun gūsai alban tacikū, Ch. baqi guanxue 八旗官學).^² The compilation includes bilingual Manchu-Chinese language textbooks and ethical-military treatises, all of which are reprints.^³ It is held by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (State Library of Berlin, SBB).^⁴

Our approach is twofold. Firstly, by analyzing the accompanying texts in the compilation—altogether eight prefaces and postscripts—we shed light on the men who originally authored and translated, and edited and published, the volumes in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, as well as on the motives for recompiling and reprinting these books in 1899. By scrutinizing the motives behind individual volumes, as well as the whole compilation, we present insights into the agenda for banner education over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The second part of this paper consists of a case study of the fourth volume of the compilation, “Warnings about Gambling” (Jiha efire be targabure juwan hacin | Jiedu shi tiao 戒賭十條, 1899 [1798]),^⁵ which serves to shed light on the issue of gambling addiction and its prevention as a moral and educational concern of officials in government schools. We embed our analysis of “Warnings about Gambling” into an analysis of gambling-related Qing laws, particularly for bannermen, and of banner education in general. A complete translation and transcription of the book can be found at the end of this paper (Appendix 1).

We will first give an overview of the compilation, including various forewords and postscripts. This is followed by a general introduction to banner education in the Qing period which links our subsequent analysis of the compilation’s accompanying texts to the broader context of Qing education. Finally, we present a detailed textual and topical analysis of “Warnings about Gambling” and discuss the degree to which that book reflects Qing education policy.

Educating Bannermen: The New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books

The preface to the compilation New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books is dated 1899.^⁶ The compilation was therefore published in this year or slightly later. The publishing house was probably the “Capital Translation Bookstore” (Jingdu fanyi shufang 京都翻譯書坊).^⁷ In the preface, the eight books are listed in the following order:^⁸

“Manchu Phrasebook” (Cing wen jiye dz bithe | Qingwen jiezi 清文接字),^⁹ by Sung Lo Fung | Song Luofeng 嵩洛峰 (died before 1867), 4 + 5 + 45 double folios.^¹⁰ It contains:
1. A preface dated 1899, by Sunghui | Songhui 松匯 (n.d.). This is the preface to the whole compilation.
2. A preface dated 1864, by Wanggiyan Cungši | Wanyan Chongshi 完顏崇實 (1820–1876, jinshi 1850, style name Bu šan | Pushan 樸山) of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner.^¹¹
3. An addendum, not dated (the year 1867 is mentioned in the text), by the author’s son, Song Yuzhang 嵩裕彰. It is monolingual in Chinese.^¹²
4. A postscript dated 1866 by Tiekui 鐵魁 (n.d.). The postscript is monolingual in Chinese.^¹³
“A Bridge [lit. ford] for Beginning Learners” (Tuktan tacire dogon fakū | Chuxue jinliang 初學津梁),^¹⁴ by Sithūngga | Xitehonga 希特洪阿 (n.d., courtesy name Sioi Ji | Zuizhi 最之), 32 double folios.^¹⁵ It contains:
1. A first preface, dated 1881, by Tashangga | Tasihang’a 塔斯杭阿 (n.d., courtesy name Ging Tang | Jintang 錦堂).^¹⁶
2. A second preface, dated 1881, by the author, Sithūngga.^¹⁷
“Bilingual Manchu-Chinese Laws and Statutes for Soldiers” (Manju nikan hergen i kamciha araha cooha yabure fafun kooli | Man-Han hebi xingjun jilü 滿漢合璧行軍紀律),^¹⁸ anonymous compiler, first published in 1832, 21 double folios.^¹⁹ The book contains military orders by the Qianlong emperor from 1784.^²⁰
“Warnings about Gambling” (Jiha efire be targabure juwan hacin | Jiedu shi tiao 戒賭十條), translated by Gionai | Jiunai 九鼐, 3 + 14 double folios. It contains:
1. A preface, dated 1798, by the translator.
“Bilingual Manchu-Chinese Warnings to the Eight Banners” (Manju nikan hergen i kamcime araha jakūn gūsai targabun | Man-Han hebi baqi zhen 滿漢合璧八旗箴)^²¹, anonymous, original text written in 1808, compilation includes a reprint of an edition first published in 1832, 6 double folios.^²²
“Forty Bilingual Manchu-Chinese Maxims” (Manju nikan hergen i kamcime araha dehi ujui bithe | Man-Han hebi sishi tou 滿漢合璧四十頭),^²³ anonymous, first published in 1832, 11 double folios.^²⁴ This is a reprint of the second part of the first chapter (juan 卷) of Guide to Qing Writing (Manju bithei jy nan | Qingshu zhinan 清書指南, 1682).^²⁵
“Three Character Classic of Filial Piety” (Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun | Sanzi xiaojing 三字孝經),^²⁶ translated by Gingge | Jing’e 景額 (dates of life unknown, courtesy name Liyan Ciowan | Lianquan 廉泉), first published in 1878, 3 + 13 double folios.^²⁷ The printing blocks were stored in a government school for bannermen.^²⁸ It contains:
1. A preface, dated 1878, by the translator.^²⁹
“Military Orders” (Coohai fafun | Junling 軍令),^³⁰ proof-read by Yenfecun (n.d.) and Mingda (n.d.) (both names in Manchu only), first published in 1833,^³¹ 34 double folios. The book contains military orders by the Yongzheng emperor from 1731.^³²

The sixth volume, “Forty Bilingual Manchu-Chinese Maxims” (1899 [1682]), is the oldest text in the collection, while volume four, “Warnings about Gambling” (1899 [1798]) is the second oldest. The “Laws and Statutes for Soldiers” in the third volume as well as the “Military Orders” in the eighth volume were originally issued as imperial edicts in the eighteenth century, but both versions stem from the nineteenth century.^³³ The other four books were written in the nineteenth century. All eight books are bilingual Manchu-Chinese.

Most books included in the compilation are not related to language education. Only two volumes are bilingual phrasebooks, while the other six books are about moral and ethical principles and discipline, both civil and military.^³⁴ This choice of books shows that the compilers considered mainly three topics important: ethics, discipline, and language education. The former two had become urgent foci in the second half of the nineteenth century when the helplessness of the bannermen in view of the numerous civil wars made the lack of discipline in the Qing Eight Banner armies apparent, as well as the addiction of many soldiers to opium-smoking and gambling.^³⁵ Language education on the other hand had been an important part of bannerman education since the founding of the Qing dynasty.^³⁶

Government Schools, Language, and Manchu Identity

Since the establishment of the Qing dynasty in 1636, the education of young bannermen was considered of central importance for the Qing empire’s power structure, which rested on differentiation between the Manchu ruling elite and other strata of society.^³⁷ Immediately after the conquest of Beijing in 1644, four government schools for bannermen were founded there. Each school was jointly established by two banners and employed ten teachers. At first, most students were taught in Manchu.^³⁸ In 1727, each Manchu banner could send sixty students, of whom half studied Manchu and half Chinese.^³⁹ From the early eighteenth century onwards, banner schools were also established in some provincial garrisons.^⁴⁰ When the Qianlong emperor began to emphasize the importance of the Manchu “old way” (Ma. fe doro), he also initiated reforms of banner education.^⁴¹ From his abdication in 1796 until his death in 1799, Qianlong “devoted himself to implementing plans for a centralized, standardized educational system for the [provincial] garrisons.”^⁴² Pamela Crossley considers these years “a watershed in the development of the programs applied to banner education and the role of the Manchu language in it.”^⁴³ The curriculum in the provincial banner schools was the same as in the capital: Manchu, Chinese, astronomy, and mathematics, as well as riding and shooting. Manchu language education was particularly emphasized as it was considered strongly related to the “old way.”^⁴⁴

The New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books (1899) shows that apart from Manchu language textbooks, bilingual Manchu-Chinese teaching material not related to genuine language education was produced as well, because morality, ethics, and both military and civil discipline were considered important contents of banner education. The books in the compilation moreover demonstrate the ambivalence of banner education regarding Qianlong’s old way. On the one hand, bannermen were expected to learn how to be a “proper” Manchu, that is, to study the Manchu language and script as well as archery.^⁴⁵ On the other hand, however, army discipline and everyday behavior were regarded with equal importance, and for this part of education, banner schools relied on Chinese Confucian books that were translated into Manchu. It goes beyond the scope of this paper to analyze to what degree the Qianlong emperor and those who continued to stress his idea of a Manchu identity understood Confucian ethics to be part of a Manchu way. Suffice it to say here that, according to Pamela Crossley, attempts to revive the Manchu language as part of a Manchu identity policy and “the policies and institutions created to revive Manchu outside state symbolism failed,”^⁴⁶ among other reasons because textbooks used in government schools for bannermen were mostly Manchu translations of Chinese books, most prominently the “Four Books” (duin bithe | si shu 四書) and the “Five Classics” (sunja ging | wu jing 五經), and not genuinely Manchu literary productions.^⁴⁷ Consequently, these works followed Confucian mores and not a genuine Manchu idea of morality.^⁴⁸

In addition, David Porter has recently challenged the notion that “the [Manchu] language was primarily linked to an ethnically defined ‘Manchu way.’ ”^⁴⁹ According to his findings, not the Manchu, but the Hanjun banners played a significant role in establishing Manchu language schools in Yongzheng and Qianlong times. Porter concludes that the main purpose of these schools was to produce translators for the mass of translations needed for military and other official purposes. It thus needs to be reconsidered whether the Yongzheng emperor reacted to a decline of Manchu language knowledge by “establishing schools and examinations to foster language competency among bannermen.”^⁵⁰ Porter’s findings instead show that the growing numbers of schools and the introduction of translation examinations might have other reasons, such as the steep increase of official documents that needed to be translated in an expanding empire. Ma Zimu also supports the argument that bannermen were needed as skilled and reliable translators for the multilingual administrative system. He concludes that the main reason for the decline of the translation examination after the Jiaqing period is related to a lack of opportunities for social mobility and not the decline of Manchu language within society.^⁵¹

Manchu language education was therefore not exclusively introduced to teach Manchu bannermen “their” language. The Qing court’s continued use of Manchu as an official language was of course related to the Qianlong emperor’s idea of Manchu identity, but there were moreover practical reasons. The bilingual administration gave work to many bannermen, and in Qing Inner Asia Manchu continued to be a genuine language of communication and sometimes even a “security language.”^⁵² Finally, official translation, particularly in diplomacy, was highly sensitive, and the court found bannermen “particularly well-suited to the task.”^⁵³

Compiling and Printing Textbooks

In order to educate young Manchu bannermen as well as “a multiethnic service elite,”^⁵⁴ bilingual Manchu-Chinese textbooks such as the “Four Books” and “Five Classics”^⁵⁵ as well as the “Three Character Classic”^⁵⁶ were printed by imperial command by the Imperial Printing Office (xiushu chu 修書處) in Wuying Palace (Wuyingdian 武英殿). Moreover, local booksellers and provincial banner schools in Jingzhou 荊州 (Hubei), Chengdu, and Guangzhou also published “teaching material of warning, supplementary, or auxiliary character” (具有鑑誡、補充或輔助性質的教材) for students at banner schools as well as home-schooled pupils.^⁵⁷

The compilation New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books seems to have been printed by the “Capital Translation Bookstore” (Jingdu fanyi shufang 京都翻譯書坊) on the initiative of the provincial banner school in Guangzhou.^⁵⁸ The preface to the collection gives information about the compiler and his motives, which are illuminating regarding bannermen education.^⁵⁹ It was written by Sunghui, a “provincial graduate in translation” (Ma. ubaliyambure tukiyesi, Ch. fanyi juren 繙譯舉人).^⁶⁰ Sunghui states that the eight texts were compiled by “General Wuqing of the imperial clan” (Ma. U Cing jiyanggiyūn serengge, han i uksun wesihun enen, Ch. Wuqing jiangjun tianhuang guizhou 午清將軍天潢貴胄).^⁶¹ General Wuqing must be Aisin Gioro Shou-yin | Aixinjueluo Shouyin 愛新覺羅壽蔭 (1835–1915, courtesy name Wuqing 午清, also午卿) of the Plain Red Banner, member of the imperial clan. Sunghui writes that in the spring of 1899, General Wuqing “received the order to command Guangdong Province.”^⁶² Shou-yin was indeed General-in-Chief of Guangzhou^⁶³ from 1898 to 1906.

Guangzhou is significant as a place here, as one of the three famous “Institutes of Translation” (tongwen guan 同文館) was founded there in 1864. The other two were in Beijing and Shanghai. Shou-yin’s predecessor as General-in-Chief of Guangzhou was involved in founding the Guangzhou Institute.^⁶⁴ All three Institutes of Translation recruited young bannermen who had previously learned Manchu at government schools, and thus these two types of educational institutions had close relations to one another.^⁶⁵ Like Beijing and Shanghai, late nineteenth-century Guangzhou was a hub of linguistic education for bannermen, which is further exemplified by the fact that Shou-yin as General-in-Chief of Guangzhou ordered the compilation of textbooks, probably for the government school in Guangzhou that was supposed to produce at least some students for the Guangzhou Institute of Translation.

Translators and Authors

Information about the men who translated and proofread, and edited and printed, the volumes of the New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books (1899) is provided in five books of the compilation. Forewords and postscripts give more details on how the volume came about, and sometimes the names and titles of proofreaders are listed. From this we learn about the backgrounds and connections of men who were involved in the process of textbook production.

One cluster of men revolves around the first volume of the collection, the “Manchu Phrasebook” (1899 [1867]) by Song Luofeng. It is a group of four men, two father-son pairs from the Song and the Wanggiyan families.^⁶⁶ The author, Song Luofeng, had a son, Song Yuzhang, who wrote an “Addendum” for the volume. Song Yuzhang was friends with Wanggiyan Sungšen | Wanyan Songshen 完顏嵩申 (courtesy name Dushan 犢山, 1841–1891, jinshi 1868). Song Yuzhang’s father, the author Song Luofeng, was Wanggiyan Sungšen’s teacher and used his “Manchu Phrasebook” as a textbook in class. Sungšen was so impressed with the book that he suggested to his father Wanggiyan Cungši, who was General-in-Chief of Chengdu at that time, to have it printed.^⁶⁷ He also wrote a preface. The publication of the “Manchu Phrasebook” thus appears to be a cross-generational endeavor of two sets of fathers and sons as well as a teacher and his student.^⁶⁸

The volumes “A Bridge for Beginning Students” (1899 [1881]) and “Three Character Classic of Filial Piety” (1899 [1878]) tell us more about the educational background of men involved in the publication of textbooks for government schools. The translator of the “Three Character Classic,” Gingge, a “provincial graduate in translation” (Ma. ubaliyambure tukiyesi, Ch. fanyi juren 繙譯舉人),^⁶⁹ mentions that Sithūngga, author of “A Bridge for Beginning Learners,” was his colleague at the same school and helped him revise and proof-read his translation.^⁷⁰ Tashangga, author of the first preface of “A Bridge for Beginning Learners,” confirms that Sithūngga worked as a “teacher and lieutenant at a government school” (Ma. alban tacikūi tacibukū funde bošoko, Ch. guanxue jiaoxi xiaoqixiao 官學教習驍騎校).^⁷¹

The proofreaders and editors of “Military Orders” (1899 [1833]), Yenfecun and Mingda, were also employed in government schools. They were “temporarily managing the affairs of a government school” (alban tacikū baita be aisilame icihiyara), Yenfecun as a “major commander of a company of the provincial Manchu garrisons”^⁷² (nirui janggin), Mingda as a “captain of a platoon of the provincial Manchu garrisons”^⁷³ (tuwašara hafan i jergi janggin).^⁷⁴

The fourth volume “Warnings about Gambling” (1899 [1798]) was originally printed in 1798^⁷⁵ on the initiative of a Manchu official, Esuri Sabingga | Esuli Sabing’a 額蘇里薩秉阿 (also 薩炳阿, 1758–1832) of the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner and from the Chengdu Garrison.^⁷⁶ In 1818, Sabingga, General-in-Chief of Hangzhou, had it reprinted.^⁷⁷ In 1839, another Manchu official, Esuri Sulfangga | Esuli Sulefang’a 額蘇哩蘇勒芳阿 (c. 1767–1839) of the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner and from the Chengdu Garrison, commissioned another reprint.^⁷⁸ The translator of the volume, Gionai, was a “banner colonel in charge of the affairs of a government school” (Ma. alban tacikūi baita be kadalara gūsai da, Ch. guanli guanxue shiwu xieling 管理官學事務協領).^⁷⁹ Sulfangga was Gionai’s son.^⁸⁰ He was also Sabingga’s fellow clan member (Esuri), fellow banner member (Manchu Plain Yellow Banner), and from the same garrison in Chengdu. Sabingga’s and Sulfangga’s sons moreover share the generation name Qing 慶. It is therefore likely that Sabingga and Sulfangga were in fact brothers. Their interest in commissioning a print (Sabingga) and reprints (Sabingga and Sulfangga) of “Warnings about Gambling” therefore can be explained by their general interest in banner education but moreover by their filial relation to the translator of the text, a background story that is similar to that of Song Luofeng’s “Manchu Phrasebook.”

From the above we can conclude that translators and authors of school textbooks were not only connected through family ties, but also had similar backgrounds as teachers and other employees of government schools for bannermen. The school textbooks were obviously produced by the same people who used them in the classroom. Moreover, from the fact that the whole compilation as well as its first volume, “Manchu Phrasebook,” were published by order of and financed by Manchu Generals—Shou-yin, General-in-Chief of Guangzhou; and Cungši, General-in-Chief of Chengdu—we can learn that high-ranking Manchu officials had an interest in supporting banner education. Moreover, two books were published or reprinted on behalf of the sons of their author and translator, respectively, which shows that personal and familiar relations played an important role in textbook publication.^⁸¹

Purpose and Target Readership

The eight accompanying texts of the compilation mention certain groups of readers for whom the books were intended: students, children, and people in Manchu garrisons in general. It is important to keep in mind, though, that only the “Manchu Phrasebook,” “A Bridge for Beginning Learners,” “Warnings about Gambling,” and “Three Character Classic of Filial Piety” contain accompanying texts that shed light on the intended readership. The other four books do not include such texts.

Sunghui, author of the preface to the compilation, mentions “students” (tacire urse)^⁸² as the main target readers. He writes that Shou-yin, General-in-Chief of Guangzhou, commissioned the “new engraving” (Ma. folobufi, Ch. zaoli 棗梨)^⁸³ of the books, and moreover planned to “distribute them to schools” (Ma. tacikūi boo de dendefi, Ch. bu zhu xueshe 布諸學舍).^⁸⁴ Thereby, Shou-yin wanted to “take the worries of hand-copying from poor, lower-class literati” (Ma. yadahūn buya bithei niyalma be ulandume doolara jobocun be akū obuha, Ch. bi han jjun zhi shi mian chuan chao zhi lao 俾寒畯之士免傳鈔之勞).^⁸⁵ Poor students as a special category of target readers are not mentioned anywhere else in the compilation, and it therefore seems to have been a concern particular to Shou-yin.^⁸⁶

In the “Manchu Phrasebook” and “A Bridge for Beginning Learners,” “beginner students” (Ma. tuktan tacire urse, Ch. chuxue 初學) are named as the main target readers.^⁸⁷ The “Manchu Phrasebook” also mentions “junior students” (Ch. houxue 後學) and “prospective fine scholars” or “future talents” (Ma. amaga giltukan urse, Ch. houlai zhi xiu 後來之秀).^⁸⁸ The two prefaces of “A Bridge for Beginning Learners” repeatedly mention “students” in general (Ma. geren tacikūi juse, šabisai emgi, šabisa, geren šabisa, Ch. zhusheng 諸生).^⁸⁹ At one time, the author of the first preface moreover refers to the specific group of “translation students” (Ma. ubaliyambure tacikū i juse, Ch. fanyi zhusheng 繙譯諸生) which is the only time in the compilation that they are mentioned as target readers.^⁹⁰

Children as a subcategory of students are mentioned several times. Particularly the “Three Character Classic” is for “children from the age of three years” (Ma. jui banjifi ilan aniya otolo, Ch. zi sheng san nian 子生三年)^⁹¹ and “small children” (Ma. buya juse, Ch. xiaozi 小子).^⁹² The accompanying texts of “Manchu Phrasebook,” “A Bridge for Beginning Learners” and “Three Character Classic” moreover describe younger target groups as being particularly ignorant and for this reason in need of education.^⁹³

Students of all age groups are of course obvious target readers of school textbooks. However, Gionai mentions another category of target readers in his foreword to “Warnings about Gambling,” which seems to be exceptional:

[. . .] it came to my mind that those of us people in the Manchu garrisons who can read the Manchu script are many, while those who understand Chinese characters are few, therefore, notwithstanding my own learning being narrow and humble, I presumptuously had it [“Warnings against Gambling”] carved and printed after translating it.^⁹⁴

muse manju kūwaran i niyalma, manju bithe bahanarangge labdu, nikan hergen takarangge komso seme gūninafi, tuttu beyei tacihangge cinggiya albatu be bodorakū, balai ubaliyambufi folobufi šuwaselabuha,

因念本滿營習清文者多而識漢字者少是以不揣所學淺陋妄行譯出刊刷

This assessment implies that in 1798, the ability of the bannermen to read Manchu was better than to read Chinese, at least in Gionai’s garrison. If we accept that Sulfangga and Sabinga were Gionai’s sons, the garrison Gionai refers to was Chengdu. This helps us to put our knowledge about bannermen’s abilities to speak Manchu in perspective. Mostly, this ability is thought to have decreased over the course of the Qing Dynasty, and that the Banner Schools were in fact institutionalized in order to stop this decrease.^⁹⁵ Nancy Evans claims that as early as in 1731, Manchu bannermen’s knowledge of Manchu was so limited that “the aim of the translation examination was to encourage bannermen to study Manchu.”^⁹⁶ She refers to the following passage in the Da-Qing huidian shili:

the primary wish for the establishment of the translation examinations was that bannermen learn and study the Qing [Manchu] script.^⁹⁷ (emphasis ours)

繙譯鄉會試之設原欲旗人學習清書

This passage actually leaves the question unanswered as to whether bannermen could not speak Manchu, or if the court wanted to improve their ability to write Manchu. The term “Qing [Manchu] script” (Qingshu 清書) indicates the latter. Moreover, this argument does not explain the role of the Hanjun banners in the establishment of the translation examination. David Porter shows that the Hanjun banners were not only deeply involved in the founding of the first Manchu language schools, but also played a crucial role in the setting-up of the translation examinations.^⁹⁸ The sources implying that Manchu (and Mongol) bannermen were increasingly Sinophone seem to disguise two important points: First, they refer to bannermen in urban regions, often in the capital of Beijing, where Manchu-Chinese cohabitation, daily contact, and collaboration at court must have been very pronounced. Second, though there are no definite numbers, many if not most human beings today are bilingual. They can converse in two languages, not necessarily because they learned a second language at school, but because they need two languages in their everyday life. They might be able to write in one or both languages (or in none). It seems sensible to assume that many human beings have been bilingual for a long time, so that being able to speak Chinese does not automatically mean not being able to speak Manchu, and vice versa. The data situation for the eighteenth century does not allow us to come to a final conclusion regarding the language abilities of Manchu bannermen. Gionai’s argument, however, shows that at least in the late eighteenth century there was a garrison, probably in Chengdu, whose inhabitants could not read Chinese well enough, so that a Manchu translation of the guidebook about gambling was deemed necessary.

Apart from linguistic considerations, Gionai’s main objective in translating “Warnings about Gambling” was that bannermen were in desperate need of the contents of the book, which he describes as being “like a treasure ship to ferry those who have lost the true ford, and like an immortality elixir to cure the sick in the world” (Ma. yargiyan i dogon fambuhangge be doobure boobai ada, jalan i nimekungge be dasabure niktan siktan i gese, Ch. 誠渡迷之寶筏醫世之靈丹).^⁹⁹ To illustrate the positive effect that he expects from the book, Gionai refers to two methods of ultimate salvation, here the Buddhist “treasure boat” (Ma. boobai ada, Ch. baofa 寶筏) that brings one from the “world” (Buddhist Sanskrit sam․sāra) to “perfection” (Buddhist Sanskrit pāramitā), and the Shamanist or Daoist “immortality elixir” (Ma. niktan siktan, Ch. lingdan 靈丹) that cures all ills.^¹⁰⁰ In Gionai’s opinion, Manchu bannermen were in need of both to fight gambling. In contrast to the other volumes in the compilation, “Warnings about Gambling” was originally not intended for students, whom Gionai in fact does not mention at all, but for a larger stratum within the banner population exposed to the vices of gambling. Its inclusion into the compilation shows that, a century after Gionai translated “Warnings about Gambling,” the late Qing editor Shou-yin still considered gambling a serious issue and found the book a meaningful addition to banner education both in terms of language and script acquisition as well as morality and discipline.

“Warnings about Gambling in Ten Lessons”: A Practical Handbook

After having analyzed the compilation in general, we now turn to our case-study analysis of “Warnings about Gambling.” It is a moral treatise about the vices of gambling, its effects on society, the gambler and his family, and why to give up gambling.^¹⁰¹ The author is unknown. The bilingual Manchu-Chinese version was first published in or around 1798. The anonymous author of “Warnings about Gambling,” probably a scholar-official, addressed the problem of gambling openly and decisively, offering a self-help book for contemporaries and later generations.

The earliest monolingual Chinese version we could locate was included in the “Record of Respect and Faith, Revised and Enlarged [Edition]” (Zengding jingxinlu 增訂敬信錄), a book on morality and ethics from Qing times, containing diverse texts mainly on Daoist topics. We accessed two editions from 1819 and 1824.^¹⁰² As Gionai translated the text already in the 1790s, there must have been an earlier Chinese edition. The texts collected in the two editions of “Record of Respect and Faith” are not identical, but both contain “Warnings about Gambling.”^¹⁰³ These two editions of “Warnings about Gambling” (1819; 1824) are mostly identical with the bilingual Manchu- Chinese version. Regarding character variations, there are some minor differences.^¹⁰⁴ Most differences appear between the bilingual edition on the one hand and the two monolingual editions on the other. In two cases, these are merely character variations,^¹⁰⁵ whereas the other five cases are clearly writing errors in the bilingual edition (see Appendix 2). Gionai probably used a correct monolingual version. The mistaken characters in the bilingual version were probably added by the copyist or carver.

The Worst of Vices: Gambling as a Public Health Issue

Apart from a preface by the translator and a short introduction by the anonymous author, “Warnings about Gambling” contains ten sections on different aspects of gambling’s vices. The author acknowledges that gambling is harmful to society and an addiction which cannot be stopped by the authorities despite severe legal and official measures and punishments. On that account, he appeals to the readers’ sense of reason and hopes to convince them to recognize their mistakes and quit gambling sooner better than later.

The arguments against gambling mainly revolve around five interlinked categories related to individual, family, and societal aspects: first, gambling harms social order and hierarchical relationships within society (sections two and seven); second, it destroys family values and harms ancestral relationships (sections one, four, five, six, eight); third, it causes financial debt and loss of family property (sections three, six, eight); fourth, it results in punishment by official and spiritual institutions (sections nine and ten); fifth, it harms body and soul and leads to sickness and death (section three). Every section ends with a short statement or rhetorical question that points to the dangers of gambling and offers food for thought.

Translated at the turn of the nineteenth century, “Warnings against Gambling” fits into an era of new educational policies and reforms to revive banner discipline. The date of Gionai’s preface, 1798, coincides with the Qianlong emperor’s increasing engagement with education after his abdication in 1796.^¹⁰⁶ Accordingly, the translation of “Warnings about Gambling” followed in the wake of the Qianlong emperor’s banner education reforms.

Another reason for the original writing and subsequent translation was that gambling had become a serious problem within Qing society at large and also among Manchu bannermen. The “History of the Eight Banners, first edition” (Baqi tongzhi chuji 八旗通志初集, 1727), compiled under the supervision of Ortai | E’ertai 鄂爾泰 (1680–1745), quotes from a memorial that was presented to the Yongzheng emperor in 1723:

Soldiers residing within the training grounds, apart from their usual tasks, do not study and learn their duties and skills at all. Unworthy men often gather to drink alcohol and gamble together. [We] ask the training grounds’ commandants etc., who are on duty, to teach and drill [the soldiers] frequently and strictly manage inspections and restrictions of the places where [soldiers] drink alcohol and gamble. Again, in every banner training ground, an official school has to be established, where [Manchu] Qing language, [Manchu] Qing script, and mounted archery are taught.^¹⁰⁷

教塲居住兵丁，當差之外，並不學習分內技藝。不肖之人，往往群聚飲酒、賭博。請交教塲該班參領等，不時教訓操練。將飲酒、賭博之處，嚴行稽查管束。再各旗教場內，俱應設立官學。教習清語清書騎射等語。

Here, the containment of vices is directly related to banner education. The critique of banner soldiers’ drinking and gambling is consequently followed by an instruction to establish schools for them. This implies that bannermen could be convinced to abandon improper behavior by correct education in Manchu language and training in military techniques like archery.

Moreover, the frequency with which gambling was banned, according to the Draft History of the Qing (Qingshigao 清史稿), and the detailed lists of regulations and punishments regarding gambling-related crimes in the Collected Statutes of the Great Qing (Da-Qing huidian 大清會典) show how seriously the emperors took gambling issues.^¹⁰⁸ The Yongzheng emperor reformed gambling-related laws and further differentiated the severity of punishment. The Jiaqing emperor reformed gambling-related regulations in 1798, the same year as “Warnings about Gambling” was translated.

“Warnings against Gambling” refers to official punishments for gambling-related crimes in section nine “Violating the Law of the State”:

If [the laws] are light, you are flogged one hundred times with the heavy staff and you wear the cangue [jia] for two months […]. If they are heavy, you are sentenced to three years’ corvee and banished to a place 3,000 miles away.^¹⁰⁹

weihuken oci, tanggū šuwarkiyan šuwarkiyalafi juwe biya selhen […], ujen oci, ilan aniya weilebure, ilan minggan bade falabure weile tuhebume oci,

輕則杖一百枷兩月 […] 重則徒三年流三千

In the Yongzheng period, this “light” punishment was reserved for “Manchu and Chinese officials who offended [the law] by playing mahjong or douhunjiang [a card game], no matter whether they played for money or for drinks and food” (打馬弔、鬭混江，無論賭錢賭飮食之物，滿漢官員犯者).^¹¹⁰ During the Jiaqing reign, it was used for “all gamblers, not differentiating between soldiers or civilians” (凡賭博不分兵民).^¹¹¹ The “heavy” punishment was reserved for Chinese civilians.^¹¹² According to the Collected Statutes, bannermen were generally not punished by forced labor or banishment for gambling-related crimes.^¹¹³ In general, punishments for gambling and gambling-related crimes, such as taking percentages of the winnings, housing gamblers, running a gambling hall, or producing and selling gambling cards and jettons, differed for bannermen and civilians. This is not surprising, as a Manchu, no matter whether they were bannerman or civilian, “was subject to a lesser punishment than a Han” Chinese in general and could for example “opt for beating with a whip [bian 鞭] instead of a bamboo rod [zhang 杖], and they could substitute wearing the cangue in place of penal servitude or even military exile.”^¹¹⁴

However, the Great Qing Code (Da-Qing lüli 大清律例) from 1740 refers to some particularly heavy punishments for bannermen who were involved in the organization of and profited from the business of gambling. The Code was the legal code, whereas the Collected Statutes have been described as the administrative code.^¹¹⁵ The Code stated that bannermen who ran gambling halls and took percentages of the winnings were to be “sent into banishment at the furthest borders and miasmic spheres” (發極邊、煙瘴充軍).^¹¹⁶ Civilians found guilty of the same charges, on the other hand, received a milder punishment and were “flogged one hundred times with the heavy staff and sentenced to three years’ corvee” (杖一百、徒三年).^¹¹⁷

Conclusion

Over the course of the Qing dynasty, the education of young bannermen became an essential task of the banners, supported by the emperors themselves. Language acquisition, particularly the ability to be fluent in both Manchu and Chinese to enable at least some students to become translators of official documents, as well as the establishment of morality and discipline, were considered crucial. These two educational pathways, one focused on language, one on ethics and discipline, come to the fore in the selection of books for the bilingual Manchu-Chinese textbook compilation New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books (1899). The agenda of moral education is particularly exemplified in the volume chosen as a case study here, “Warnings about Gambling” (1899 [1798]). In his foreword, the translator Gionai expresses his wish to help his fellow bannermen to stop gambling or not become addicted in the first place as his main motive for translating the text. That this book was selected a century after its translation to be reprinted as part of a textbook compilation for students at a provincial government school of bannermen shows that it had not lost its importance.

One general motive of Manchu officials who engaged in producing and distributing textbooks was to relieve (poorer) students of the trouble of hand-copying textbooks and a general interest in improving banner education. On the other hand, sons and patrons of authors and translators initiated publications of the books to support their fathers and protégés. Ideological reasons such as the importance for bannermen to be fluent in Manchu in order to strengthen the Manchu identity and the position of the Manchu ruling elite in the Qing empire are not mentioned as motives, although they did play a role in bannermen education in general.

Only in hindsight can we know that in 1899 the decline of the Qing empire was well underway, and with it one of its main institutional pillars, the Eight Banner system, was nearing its end, too. The banner garrisons as the main source of military power had been outpaced by armies that followed Western and Japanese models and were staffed with Chinese troops. School education among the non-banner population, mainly Chinese civilians, was in the process of being reformed according to Western ideas and influences.

The contents of the compilation show that Manchu Qing officials thought of banner education as a continuing project that naturally made use of earlier textbooks about language as well as ethics and morale, utilizing time-honored pedagogies and values. Only in this way can we understand why the ability to translate from Manchu to Chinese and back was an important skill to gain office in the Qing administration and why Confucian ethics were still considered a major source for morality and discipline among bannermen in 1899.

Appendix 1: Translation and Transcription of “Warnings about Gambling”

Preface (xu 序)^¹¹⁸

When I examined aphoristic sayings of former people during leisure time that I had due to my time away from official duties, I saw the work “Ten Lessons on Avoiding Gambling” in one section. It is indeed like a treasure ship^¹¹⁹ to ferry those who have lost the true ford, and like an immortality elixir^¹²⁰ to cure the sick in the world. Since it came to my mind that those of us people in the Manchu garrisons who can read the Manchu script are many, while those who understand Chinese characters are few, therefore, notwithstanding my own learning being narrow and humble, I presumptuously had it carved and printed after translating it. Although I know that I cannot avoid being ridiculed by men of great learning, I hope that it will be a small benefit to rescue those who are drowning. Still, I truly and sincerely hope that highly enlightened people in our time and in future generations will revise [my translation] with care.

Translated by Gionai, banner colonel in charge of the affairs of a government school.^¹²¹

On an auspicious day in the first month of the third year of Jiaqing 嘉慶 (saicungga fengšen) [February or March, 1798].

p. 1a
[xu 序]^¹²²
bi kemuni siden ci mariha sula
šolo de, nenehe ursei koolingga
gisun be ubašatame tuwara de,
jiha efire be targabure juwan
hacin sere emu meyen be
p. 1b
sabuha, yargiyan i dogon fambuhangge be
doobure boobai ada, jalan i nimekungge be
dasabure niktan siktan i gese ojoro
jakade, muse manju kūwaran i niyalma,
manju bithe bahanarangge labdu, nikan
p. 2a
hergen takarangge komso seme gūninafi,
tuttu beyei tacihangge cinggiya albatu be
bodorakū, balai ubaliyambufi folobufi šuwaselabuha,
ere esi ambula taciha urse de
basubure ci guweme muterakū be
p. 2b
sacibe, inu damu irubuhangge be
aitubure ajige niyececun okini seme
ereme gūniha, kemuni ne bisire^¹²³,
amaga jalan i den genggiyen ursei
ni[š]alame tuwancihiyame dasatara be, yargiyan i
p. 3a
hing seme erehunjehei ba.
alban tacikūi baita be kadalara gūsai da Gionai ubaliyambuha,

p. 3b
saicungga fengšen i ilaci aniya aniya biyai sain inenggi

[Introduction]

The harm that gambling causes people is even more terrible than flood and fire, robbers and thieves. Families inevitably go bankrupt and are ruined. Furthermore, even though the authorities prohibit it, they are not able to stop it. Even though father and elder brother restrict it, you^¹²⁴ do not listen at all. Having been deluded without even realizing it is utterly pitiful. I now wish to use the sense of reason to warn you, hoping that those of you who know their mistakes and correct their sins quit gambling early and do not let themselves drown and sink in the morass ever again.

p. 1a
jiha efire be targabure juwan hacin,
jiha efire baita, niyalma de ebderen ojorongge,
muke tuwa hūlha holo ci hono nimecuke, boo
boigon garcame [= garjame] efujerakūngge akū, uttu bime hafan
data fafulaha seme ilibume muterakū, ama ahūn
p. 1b
kadalaha seme fuhali doncirakū [= donjirakū], jafabume hūlimbu nakū
umai ulhirakūngge umesi jilacuka ofi, te geli turgun
giyan be jafafi tafulaki, ede waka be safi
endebuku be halara ursei erdeken i nakafi,
dubentele lifabume irubure de isinarakū be buyembi.

First, your moral values are destroyed

Once you have entered a gambling hall, because you have come to a place where you hunt for profit, you make a hundred kinds of malicious plans with entirely greedy intentions. Wishing to win every time, you come to invent all sorts of evil thoughts. Even if close relatives bet against each other, they inevitably use secret schemes and intrigues. Even if good friends gamble with each other, they are like fierce opponents, only thinking about winning money for themselves and nothing else.

How can you cause the ruin of another person’s household without destroying your moral values?^¹²⁵

p. 2a
uju de gūnin mujilen be ebderebumbi,
emgeri jiha efire falan de dosika sehede,
uthai aisi be butara bade isinaha be dahame,
tanggū hacin i argadame bodorongge, yooni doosi
gūnin, ishunde eteki sehei hala hacin i ehe
p. 2b
gūnin deribure de isinambi, ede udu umesi
hanci niyaman seme bakcilame meljere de, urunakū
dorgideri arga jali be baitalambi, uthai sain
gucu seme sasa eficere de, inu šuwe
kimun bata i gese ombi, damu beye jiha
p. 3a
etere be bodoro dabala, weri i boigon garjara be
dara aibi, ede gūnin mujilen ambula ebdereburakūn.

Second, your personal conduct is corrupted

All men, noble or petty, high or low, have their assigned positions.^¹²⁶ In the gambling hall, you only calculate the amount of money [one has]. Who distinguishes between whether one is noble or petty? When you sit together, it is not in the correct order, and so servants and serfs become just like your friends and acquaintances. Because you do not consider the correct order of noble and petty, slaves and bondsmen become like your older and younger brothers straightaway.

As you jest and laugh at will and blurt out laudatory cheers, how can this be the way and principle? Is this righteous?

jai de beyei yabun be efunebumbi,
yaya niyalmai wesihun fusihūn dele wala de, gemu
meni meni teisu bi, jiha efire falan de,
p. 3b
damu jiha i labdu komso be bodoro dabala, ini
wesihun fusihūn be we ilgambi, tejeci [= tececi] jergi ilhi
akū ofi, kutule dahalji seme uthai gucu gargan i
adali ombi, wesihun fusihūn i teisu be bodorakū
ofi, aha dangkan seme šuwe ahūn deo i
p. 4a
gese ombi, gūnin i cihai yobodome injeceme, anggai
ici balai tukiyeme hūlara be dahame, ere ai
doro yoso, yabun ai derengge.

Third, your body and life are harmed

After you have won, your excitement increases more and more, and you play day and night. After you have lost, you do not care about starving and freezing, and about risking your life, but you go again. Therefore, when your life essence is harmed, it inevitably results in the loss of your body and life. You make debts and cannot repay them. So, when meeting other people, you feel ashamed inside and are sad all the time, and all kinds of diseases infect your body. When you are at your wits’ end and find yourself in difficult circumstances, only once you have died, the matter comes to an end.

As the road that leads to the “city of suicide deaths”^¹²⁷ is where the visitors of gambling halls end, how can your heart-mind not be ruined?

ilaci de ergen beyebe kokirabumbi,
etehe manggi yenden nemebufi genefi šuntuhuni dobonio efimbi,
p. 4b
gaibuha manggi yuyure beyere be bodorakū, ergen be
šeleme geli genembi, ede oori siman [= simen] kokirabufi urunakū
ergen beye jocire de isinambi, ememungge bekdun
arafi toodame muterakū de, dere acara mangga
ofi, dolori yertehei gingkahai hacingga nimeku gemu
p. 5a
beye de latunjimbi, arga mohofi arbun hafirabuha manggi,
damu emgeri bucehe de uthai baita wajiha de
obumbi, sui mangga i bucehe ursei hoton de
genere jugūn, uthai jiha efire falan i ursei
dubere ba kai, gūnin efujerakūn[.]

Fourth, your ancestors and forefathers are disgraced

When you let people take your silver and copper money, then you are derided as a wastrel^¹²⁸ and an idiot. When your household and property have been ruined and destroyed, you will moreover be spoken of as an imbecile^¹²⁹ who committed a crime. You cannot honor your ancestors and forefathers anymore, on the contrary, having driven your family^¹³⁰ into ruin, it is besmirched.

Therefore, because all people of your hometown blame your^¹³¹ predecessors in their conversations, your ancestors surely despise you beyond death.

p. 5b
duici de mafa da be gūtubumbi,
niyalma de menggun jiha gaibuha bime, hono
mamgiyakū jui beliyen seme basubumbi, sini boo
boigon be garjame efujebuhe bime, kemuni menen jui sui
araha seme leolebumbi, mafa da be eldembume muterakū
p. 6a
oso nakū, elemangga duka uce be gūtubume
efujere de isinambi, ede gašan falga gemu
ini nenehe niyalma be wakašame leolecere be dahame,
mafa ama bucehe seme inu urunakū seyembi[.]

Fifth, the family teachings are neglected

Gambling is a matter to which people are very easily lured in. What is seen and heard within the household is of great personal importance. Usually, in the education of a son and younger brother everyone says: “Always follow the good example!” When you watch from the side as father and elder brother gamble in the hall, according to this model they say: “Gamble!” If fathers and sons gamble together, older and younger brothers gamble together, and slaves and servants gamble together,^¹³² then this teaching of gambling becomes the only one. Where are the family teachings? You gamble day and night until the gambling in inner chambers and the habit of playing Mahjong result in dissolute habits.

Because your family teachings are completely destroyed, your heart-mind freezes.

sunjaci de booi tacihiyan be ufarabumbi,
p. 6b
jiha efire emu hacin, niyalma be yarhūdarangge nokai
ja, boo hūwa i dorgi, sara donjirengge umesi
hanci, an i ucuri juse deote be tacibure de,
gemu sain yabun be alhūda sembime, falan de
ama ahūn i efire be dalbakici tuwara de
p. 7a
geli ere durun i songkoi efi sembi, ama
jui ishunde efire, ahūn deo ishunde efire
aha dangkan ishunde efire oci, ere efin i
tacihiyan oho dabala, booi tacihiyan aba, inenggi
šun de efire, šumin dobori de efire
p. 7b
dorgi boo de efire de, sasukū efire
demun de geli dufe i demun deribure de
isinambi, booi tacihiyan ambula efulere be dahame,
yala gūnin šahūracuka[.]

Sixth, your household property is destroyed

At the beginning, being overconfident, you waste money like dust. At the end, your spirit being under pressure, you throw away your property like trash. Your ancestors and forefathers suffered lifelong hardship and managed to establish a respectable family.^¹³³ Because you sons and grandsons squander it in an instant, your family’s reputation is ruined. After you have pawned all your clothes and only your bare body is left, who of your relatives and friends will pity you? After you have sold your land and house completely, and your debts are still not repaid, you have no place to rest, even at the edge of the world.

When one thinks about this, it is truly pitiful.

ningguci de boigon hethe be efujebumbi,
p. 8a
deribun de sukdun etuhun ofi, menggun be
boihon i gese mamgiyambi duben de gūnin
hafirabufi, boigon be maktaha jaka i adali waliyabumbi,
mafa ama emu jalan jobome suilafi, arkan i duka
uce ilibuha bime, juse omosi dartai andande mamgiyame
p. 8b
fayafi, booi algin be efulembi, etuku adu be yooni
damtulafi damu beye teile funcehe manggi, niyaman gucu
we simbe hairambi, usin boo be wacihiyame uncafi geli
bekdun araha manggi, abkai buten de beye tomoro be
baharakū ombi, ubabe gūninaha de, yala jilakan kai[.]

Seventh, calamities occur

When people who go out gambling until dawn and keep the gambling halls open all night do not lock their doors, robbers and thieves take the first opportunity to rob them. When they do not put out the flames of the lamps, their houses often come to burn down. Even worse, worthless youths^¹³⁴ begin to plot and scheme and evil people spy to carry out intrigues. It is like when as soon as the lights are extinguished and someone knocks at the door, one cannot distinguish one from the other. It is like when “chin straps have been pulled off”^¹³⁵ and “shirts have been taken off,”^¹³⁶ men and women come to do indecent things.^¹³⁷

You cannot disregard the reasons for this disaster!

p. 9a
nadaci de baita kūbulin tucinjimbi,
tucifi geretele jiha efire, dobonio efire falan neire
urse, duka uce be yaksirakū de, hūlha
holho urui jaka šolo be tuwame hūlhame
yabumbime, dengjan i tuwa be mukiyeburakū de,
p. 9b
boo ūlen kemuni dame deijibure de isinambi, geli
dabanafi gusherakū juse ede sirentume yarume arga
deribure, ehelinggu urse hiracame tuwame jalingga be
yabure, tuwa be mukiyebufi duka toksire baita
gese, we ya be ilgabume muterakū, sonokton be
p. 10a
tataha nei gahari be suhe baita adali, haha
hehe dorakū baita yabure de isinambi, jobolon
banjinara deribun be bodorakū oci ojorakū kai[.]

Eighth, your kin^¹³⁸ becomes estranged

If men of letters, farmers, craftsmen, and tradesmen^¹³⁹ all work diligently in their positions, fathers, mothers, children, and wives^¹⁴⁰ rejoice in each other. This is the joy of heavenly principles, and it is a matter of the order of the human world!^¹⁴¹ In fact, after you have gone inside a gambling hall, it is as if you have drowned in a sea of bitterness.^¹⁴² After you have pawned hairclips and hairpins,^¹⁴³ your children and wife [or wives]^¹⁴⁴ do not dare to speak of the anger in their hearts. After you have sold field and home, your father and mother get widened eyes with knitted brows. However, you act only to find amusement for yourself but do not consider the laments and the regret of everyone in the house at all.

When you search your heart, how can you achieve peace?

jakūci de giranggi yali aldangga ombi,
bithei urse, usin i haha, weilere faksi, hūdai
p. 10b
niyalma, meni meni teisu baita de kiceci, ama eme
juse sargan ishunde urgunjedumbi, ere abkai ciktan i
sebjen bime, inu niyalma jalan i an i baita kai,
dule jiha efire falan de dosika manggi, uthai
gosihon namu de iruha gese, caise sifikū be
p. 11a
damtulafi, juse sargan mujilen i fancahai gelhun akū
gisurerakū, usin boo be uncafi, ama eme yasa
gedehun i faitan wehesihei [= fehesihei] banjimbi, damu emu beyei
sebjelere selara be gaime yabuha gojime, booi gubci
gasara korsoro be umai gūnihakūki, mujilen de
p. 11b
forgošoci, adarame elhe bahambini[.]

Ninth, violating the law of the state

The prohibition of gambling and the establishment of new laws are very strict. If they are light, you are flogged one hundred times with the heavy staff^¹⁴⁵ and you wear the cangue for two months, so your skin and flesh are wounded. If they are heavy, you are sentenced to three years’ corvee and banished to a place 3,000 miles away, so you leave your village and family clan forever. Even if you are an official or scholar off duty,^¹⁴⁶ because you have been dismissed according to the law, how can you have the face to meet with people? If you are a yamen official, the punishment is even more severe. So you should continually protect yourself and your family.

Instead of regretting such matters afterwards, how would it be if you avoided them in the first place?

uyuci de gurun i fafun be necimbi,
jiha efire be fafulahangge, ice kooli toktobuhangge
umesi cira, weihuken oci, tanggū šuwarkiyan šuwarkiyalafi
juwe biya selhen etubume ofi sukū yali de
p. 12a
isitala goro [= koro] bahambi, ujen oci, ilan aniya
weilebure, ilan minggan bade falabure weile tuhebume
oci, gašan falga ci enteheme aljambi, sula hafan
šusai sehe seme kooli songkoi nakabure be
dahame, ai dere i niyalma be acambi, uthai
p. 12b
yamun i urse oci, ele ubui nemebume weile
arara be dahame beye boo be karmataci
acambi, baitai amala amcame aliyara anggala,
baita onggolo targaci antaka[.]

Tenth, committing an offense against Heaven

If you visit houses opened as gambling halls again and again, you often encounter unexpected calamities. People who won money have nevertheless often ended up in extreme poverty. In any case, they all take other people’s money by fraud and are personally corrupted.^¹⁴⁷ Because you cause others to lament and grieve in order to fulfil your own pleasure and amusement, you provoke the anger of the ghosts and deities. In distributing retribution,^¹⁴⁸ this will not be forgiven in the slightest. Because it is difficult to achieve rewards^¹⁴⁹ from the Way of Heaven,^¹⁵⁰ one after the other, we all reach the empty^¹⁵¹ state of being!

After you have read this from beginning to end, what benefit is there [in gambling]?

juwanci de abka de weile bahambi,
p. 13a
jiha efire falan neihe boo be anan i
tuwaci, urui hetu jobolon de tušambime, jiha
etehe urse, elemangga encu hacin i yadahūn de
isinahangge labdu, eiterecibe ere gemu weri i
menggun jiha be argadame gaifi beyede singgebuhe,
p. 13b
weri be gasara akara de isibufi, beyei
urgunjere selara be gaime yabuha ofi, tuttu hutu
enduri i jili be necifi, karulan tuhenere de
majige hono oncodome gamahakūbi, abkai doro de
karu isibure mangga ofi, ishunde gemu untuhun
p. 14a
ojoro de isinambikai [,] erebe daci dubade isitala
tuwaha de [,] geli ai tusa sere ba bini.

Appendix 2: Character differences between the monolingual edition (1899 [1798]) and the bilingual editions of “Warnings about Gambling” (1819; 1824)

Section	Monolingual edition	Bilingual edition	Translation into Manchu
1	yan 儼 (grave, stern)	yan 嚴 (stern, strict)	The difference is minor, and Gionai does not translate Ch. yan 儼 / yan 嚴 directly into Manchu anyway, but rather rearranges the whole clause.^¹⁵²
2	qie 且 (moreover, besides)	dan 但 (but, however)	Gionai translates Ch. dan 但 rather than the correct Chinese term Ch. qie 且 as Ma. damu (but, however).
7	xi 熄 (put out [a fire])	xi 息 (put a stop to sth.)	Gionai translates the correct term Ch. bu xi 不熄 as Ma. mukiyeburakū (not put out [the fire]).
8	chai 釵 (hairpin)	qin 鈙 (hold)	Gionai translates the correct term Ch. chai 釵 as Ma. sifikū (hairpin).
9	hai 害 (injure)	yan 言 (speak)	Gionai translates the correct term Ch. hai 害, which is part of the expression Ch. yan / hai qie jifu 言 / 害切肌膚, as Ma. sukū yali de isitala goro bahambi (until skin and flesh burst).

Notes

We sincerely thank Mårten Söderblom Saarela, Eric Schluessel, as well as our two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful critique and suggestions. We also thank our first Manchu teacher, PD Dr. Johannes Reckel of the Göttingen State and University Library, who taught us the beauty of Manchu verbal agglutination and vocal harmony, as well as our fellow class members Uulli Herold, Mathieu Torck, and Lee Man who shared our enthusiasm for Manchu. All mistakes remain, of course, our own. ⮭
No Manchu title is given. The Chinese title appears in the foreword for the compilation, included in its first volume, the “Manchu phrasebook in new language” (Cing wen jiye ze bithe | Xinyu Qingwen jiezi 新語清文接字), by Sung Lofung | Song Luofeng 嵩洛峰 (1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. N.S. 1911–1. ⮭
H. S. Brunnert and V. V. Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China (London: Routledge, 2007, first publ. Beijing, 1910), 322 (no. 717). Alternative translations include “bannermen’s school” and “Eight Banner officers’ schools.” Pamela Crossley, “Manchu Education,” in Education and Society in Late Imperial China, ed. Benjamin Elman and Alexander Woodside (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 356; Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985), 358. ⮭
See SBB online catalogue, accessed January 26, 2022, https://gso.gbv.de. See also Walter Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur (Tokyo: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 1936). ⮭
The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (SBB) offers scans of the volumes as part of its open access “Digitised Collections,” accessed January 26, 2022, https://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de. The original volumes are thread-bound woodblock prints. ⮭
Lit. “Ten Lessons on Avoiding Gambling.” We follow Hartmut Walravens’ German translation Warnungen vor dem Glücksspiel. Chinesische und manjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke. Teil 8: Mandschurische Handschriften und Drucke im Bestand der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2014), 175. ⮭
Cing wen jiye ze bithe, “Preface to the new edition of Manchu phrasebook in new language and the other [seven] books” (Cing wen jiye dz sere jergi bithe be dasame foloho šutucin | Chongkan Qingwen jiezi deng shu xu 重刊清文接字等書序), 4b. ⮭
Huang Runhua 黄润华 and Qu Liusheng 屈六生, Quanguo Manwen tushu ziliao lianhe mulu 全国满文图书资料联合目录 (Beijing: Shumu wenxian chubanshe, 1991), 241 (no. 1006). Huang and Qu refer to the New Edition of the “Manchu Phrasebook” and Other Books under the name Manju nikan hergen i jakūn hacin | Man-Hanwen ba zhong 满汉文八种. The information about the publisher cannot be found in the edition we had access to. ⮭
Cing wen jiye ze bithe, “Preface to the new edition,” 3a. In the preface, some titles are slightly changed. We added them in footnotes where they differ. ⮭
On the title page, the title is only given in Chinese: “Manchu phrasebook in new language” (Xinyu Qingwen jiezi 新語清文接字). ⮭
Walter Fuchs, Chinesische und mandjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke. Nebst einer Standortliste der sonstigen Mandjurica (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1966), 142 (app. 6a: “Sprache: Sprachlehre, Phonologie,” no. 88). On other editions, see Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 96; Beijingshi minzu guji zhengli chuban guihua xiaozu bangongshi Manwen bianjibu 北京市民族古籍整理出版规划小组办公室满文编辑部, ed., Beijing diqu Manwen tushu zongmu 北京地区满文图书总目 (Shenyang: Liaoning minzu chubanshe, 2008), 27 (no. 132, 133). ⮭
Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to ‘Manchu phrasebook’ ” (Cing wen jiye dz bithe šutucin | Qingwen jiezi xu 清文接字序), 1a–5a. ⮭
Cing wen jiye dz bithe, 44a–43b. The pages are numbered according to the Manchu text and thus in reverse order for the Chinese text. ⮭
Cing wen jiye dz bithe, 45b–45a (page numbers in reverse order, see footnote 16). ⮭
Title of the book in the “Preface to the new edition”: “Guide for beginning students” (Tuktan tacire urse i dogon fakū). ⮭
This is a “textbook of moral-ethical content, obviously edited by a banner school” (Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 32 [no. 44]; see also Fuchs, Chinesische und mandjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke, 142 [app. 6a, no. 87]). ⮭
Tuktan tacire dogon fakū | Chuxue jinliang, by Sithūngga (1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. N.S. 1911–2, 1a–2b. ⮭
Tuktan tacire dogon fakū, 3a–7b. ⮭
Title of the book in the “Preface to the new edition”: “Laws and Statutes for Soldiers” (Cooha yabure fafun kooli | Xingjun jilü 行軍紀律). ⮭
Fuchs writes about the 1832 edition that it is “probably from a banner school. Folios 1 to 5 contain a petition from 1784, month 10, day 12; folios 6 to 21, eleven military rules for warfare, with explanations.” Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 19–20 [no. 18]. See also Fuchs, Chinesische und mandjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke, 142 (app. 3: “Recht, Verwaltung, Militärwesen,” no. 63). ⮭
Manju nikan hergen i kamciha araha cooha yabure fafun kooli | Man-Han hebi xingjun jilü (1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. N.S. 1911–6, 1a–1b. ⮭
Title of the book in the “Preface to the new edition”: “Warnings to the Eight Banners” (Jakūn gūsai targabun | Baqi zhen 八旗箴). ⮭
Fuchs writes that it contains “admonitions to the Eight Banners.” Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 19 (no. 17); see also Fuchs, Chinesische und mandjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke, 142 (app. 3, no. 56). The reprint tells us that in 1808, the text had been “annotated with the imperial brush” (Ma. han i arahangge, Ch. yubi 御筆). Manju nikan hergen i kamcime araha jakūn gūsai targabun | Man-Han hebi baqi zhen (1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. N.S. 1911–3, 5b. ⮭
The title can only be found on the book’s cover. The Manchu title of the book in the “Preface to the new edition” is Manju nikan hergen kamcime araha dehi ujui bithe. ⮭
Fuchs, Chinesische und mandjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke, 142 (app. 3, no. 63); Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 10–11 (no. 2) and 11n1. ⮭
The Guide to Qing Writing was compiled by Shen Qiliang 沈啟亮 (c. 1645–1693, zi Hongzhao 弘照), and the postscript is dated 1682. Shen Qiliang 沈启亮, comp., Manju bithei jy nan | Qingshu zhinan 清書指南 (1682), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number 4° 41321 ROA, 1: 1a–6a. This part was originally titled “Book of forty successive maxims on striving for the good” (Teisu teisu sain be kicebure dehi uju i bithe | Ge xunfen yi mian shan sishi yao 各循分以勉善四十要). The “forty maxims” were in fact a reproduction of earlier materials that Shen chose to include in his Guide to Qing Writing. In 1936, Fuchs wrote that the Manju bithei jy nan “obviously is the eldest, still extant Manchu-Chinese language textbook.” Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 11. See also Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices,” 10f.; Kanda Nobuo, “Shen Ch’i-Liang and His Works on the Manchu Language,” in Proceedings of the Third East Asian Altaistic Conference, edited by Chieh-hsien Ch’en and Sechin Jagchid, 129–43 (Taipei: Guoli Taiwan daxue, 1970); and Mårten Söderblom Saarela, The Early Modern Travels of Manchu: A Script and Its Study in East Asia and Europe (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020), 64–70. ⮭
Originally compiled by Wang Yinglin 王應麟 (1223–1296). ⮭
Fuchs, Chinesische und mandjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke, 135 (app. 1, no. 29); Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 30 (no. 37). ⮭
Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun | Sanzi xiaojing, trans. Gingge (1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. N.S. 1911–7, 13b. ⮭
Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun, 1a–3b. ⮭
Title of the book in the “Preface to the new edition”: “Forty rules for military orders” (Coohai fafun i dehi meyen | Junling sishi ze 軍令四十則). The book in fact contains forty-three orders. ⮭
Coohai fafun dehi meyen i bithe | Junling sishi ze (1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. N.S. 1911–5, 34b. ⮭
Coohai fafun dehi meyen i bithe, 1a. See also Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 19 (no. 16); Fuchs, Chinesische und mandjurische Handschriften und seltene Drucke, 139 (app. 3, no. 62). ⮭
Coohai fafun dehi meyen i bithe, 1a. ⮭
There are two text- and phrasebooks: the first volume, “Manchu Phrasebook,” and the sixth, “Forty Bilingual Manchu- Chinese Maxims”; four moral-ethical treatises: the second volume, “A Bridge for Beginning Learners,” the fourth, “Warnings about Gambling,” the fifth, “Bilingual Manchu-Chinese warnings to the Eight Banners,” and the seventh, “Three Character Classic of Filial Piety”; and two books related to military matters and army discipline: the third volume, “Bilingual Manchu-Chinese Laws and Statutes for Soldiers,” and the eighth, “Military Orders.” Presumably, the single volumes in the compilation could have been purchased together, or in parts, as woodblock prints usually followed a print-on-demand strategy. ⮭
Ralph L. Powell, “The Chinese Armies Prior to 1895,” in The Rise of the Chinese Military Power, 3–50 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955). ⮭
Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices”; David Porter, “Bannermen as Translators: Manchu Language Education in the Hanjun Banners,” Late Imperial China 40.2 (2019): 1–43; Mårten Söderblom Saarela, “Manchu and the Study of Language in China (1607–1911),” (PhD diss., Princeton University, 2015). ⮭
Mårten Söderblom Saarela, “Manchu, Mandarin, and the Politicization of Spoken Language in Qing China,” in Language Diversity in the Sinophone World, eds. Henning Klöter and Mårten Söderblom Saarela, 39–59 (London: Routledge, 2021). ⮭
Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili 欽定大清會典事例, comp. Kun-gang 崑岡 (Wuyingdian 1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number 5 B 30000–798/814, 1135:1a–1b; see also 394:1a. ⮭
Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili (1899 edition), 1135:4b; see also 394:3b–4a; Nancy Evans, “The Banner-School Background of the Canton T’ung-Wen Kuan,” Papers on China: From Seminars at Harvard University 22a (1969): 89–103, 93; Crossley, “Manchu Education,” 356. The Mongol and Hanjun banners could send twenty students each. ⮭
Baqi tongzhi chuji 八旗通志初集, comp. Ortai et al. (1739), digitized blockprint held at Harvard Library with the call number 008044354, 46:1a–1b. See also Yeh Kao-shu 葉高樹, “Qingchao de qixue yu qiren de fanyi jiaoyu” 清朝的旗學與旗人的繙譯教育, Taiwan shida lishi xuebao 臺灣師大歷史學報 48 (2012): 71–154, 72; Crossley, “Manchu Education,” 359; Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices,” 8. ⮭
Söderblom Saarela, “Manchu, Mandarin, and the Politicization of Spoken Language in Qing China,” 47ff.; Mark Elliott, The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001), 8–9. ⮭
Crossley, “Manchu Education,” 361, see also 359. ⮭
Crossley, “Manchu Education,” 340. ⮭
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 294ff., see also Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices,” 5f. ⮭
Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices,” 5. ⮭
Crossley, “Manchu Education,” 366. ⮭
Yeh, “Qingchao de qixue yu qiren de fanyi jiaoyu,” 150. ⮭
Evans, “The Banner-School Background of the Canton T’ung-Wen Kuan,” 98. See also Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili (1899 edition) 365:1b, 1135:6a. Even though Söderblom Saarela argues that “[f]rom the point of view of early and mid-Qing readers of the Manchu Confucian books, the translations represented, rather, the explanation of universal truths in a language that was closer to that of their everyday life than was the Classical Chinese original,” this does not change the fact that these were translated texts from a Chinese Confucian cultural background and not original Manchu texts (Söderblom Saarela, “Manchu, Mandarin, and the Politicization of Spoken Language in Qing China,” 50). For a comparison of printed books with manuscripts in Manchu language education, see Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices.” ⮭
Porter, “Bannermen as Translators,” 35. ⮭
Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices,” 26. ⮭
Ma Zimu 马子木, “Lun Qingchao fanyi keju de xingcheng yu fazhan (1723–1850)” 论清朝翻译科举的形成与发展（1723–1850）, Qingshi yanjiu 清史研究 3 (2014): 23–47, 45–46. ⮭
Pamela Crossley and Evelyn Rawski, “A Profile of The Manchu Language in Ch’ing History,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 53, no. 1 (1993): 63–102, 70–71. ⮭
Porter, “Bannermen as Translators,” 37. ⮭
Porter, “Bannermen as Translators,” 37. ⮭
Yeh, “Qingchao de qixue yu qiren de fanyi jiaoyu,” 150. ⮭
Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun; see also Yeh, “Qingchao de qixue yu qiren de fanyi jiaoyu,” 73. ⮭
Yeh, “Qingchao de qixue yu qiren de fanyi jiaoyu,” 114–15. ⮭
Huang and Qu, Quanguo Manwen tushu ziliao lianhe mulu, 214 (no. 1006); see also footnote 11 above. ⮭
About the central government’s “renewed interest in the empire’s Inner Asian languages” in late Qing times, see also Mårten Söderblom Saarela, “Manchu and the Study of Language in China,” 206–7. ⮭
We follow the translation of James Bosson and Hoong Teik Toh, “Jakdan and His Manchu Poetry,” in Proceedings of the First North American Conference on Manchu Studies. Vol. 1, Studies in Manchu Literature and History, ed. Stephen Wadley and Carsten Naeher, 13–25 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), 17; Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to the new edition,” 4b. ⮭
Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to the new edition,” 1a. Sunghui praises General Wuqing to the skies: he studied the strategies of Sunzi and Wuzi and all kinds of linguistic and philological theories and continues the lines of “Bao and E” (褒鄂), that is, the Duke of Bao (褒國公), Duan Xiong (段雄) (598–642), and the Duke of E (鄂國公), Yuzhi Gong (尉遲恭) (585–658). The two dukes are among the “Twenty-four Ministers of the Tang Dynasty,” who Tang Taizong (r. 626–649) famously eternalized in twenty-four portraits in Lingyan Pavilion in Chang’an. ⮭
Ma. Guwangdung golo be tuwakiyabure hesen alifi, Ch. feng ming zhen Yue 奉命鎮粵. Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to the new edition,” 1b. ⮭
Guangzhou jiangjun 廣州將軍. Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 333–34 (no. 744). See also Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 140. ⮭
Evans, “The Banner-School Background of the Canton T’ung-Wen Kuan,” 93–94; Wen Djang Chu, “Review of The Foreign Language Institutes of the Later Ch’ing Period and Their Faculties and Students (Ch’ing-Chi T’ung-Wen-Kuan Chi Ch’i Shih-Sheng), by Su Jing,” Digest of Chinese Studies [1] (1986): 9–13, 11. In 1863, Li Hongzhang proposed to establish the Institutes of Translation of Guangzhou and Shanghai. The following year, the Guangzhou Institute began to accept students. See also Porter, “Bannermen as Translators,” 27. ⮭
Evans, “The Banner-School Background of the Canton T’ung-Wen Kuan,” 95; Chu, “Review of The Foreign Language Institutes of the Later Ch’ing Period and Their Faculties and Students,” 10; David Porter, “Ethnic and Status Identity in Qing China: The Hanjun Eight Banners” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2018), 282. ⮭
The Wanggiyan clan was a Manchu scholar-official family of imperial Jin background. They were direct descendants of Emperor Zhangzong of Jin 金章宗 (r. 1189–1208). Kuo-Tong Ch’en, “The Wanggiyan Clan of the Imperial Household Department,” in Proceedings of the 35th Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Sept. 12–17, 1992, Taipei, China, edited by Chieh-hsien Ch’en (Taipei: Center for Chinese Studies Materials, 1993), 41–51, 41. See also Kai Jun Chen, “Manager or Craftsman: Skillful Bannermen of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912),” in Making the Palace Machine Work: Mobilizing People, Objects, and Nature in the Qing Empire, edited by Martina Siebert, Kai Jun Chen, and Dorothy Ko, 73–92 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2021). Both Chen and Ch’en mention two well-known relatives of Cungši, his father Wanggiyan Linkin | (Wanyan Linqing 完顏麟慶 (1791–1846, jinshi 1809) and his younger brother Chonghou 崇厚 (1826–1893), in more detail. See the family tree in Chen, “Manager or Craftsman,” 77. About Linqing in particular, see Liu Xiaomeng 刘小萌, “Qingdai Manren de jiashu: yi Wanyan Linqing jia wei li” 清代满人的家塾：以完颜麟庆家为例, Manxue luncong 满学论丛 2 (2012): 129–51. ⮭
Ma. Cengdu i jiyanggiyūn, Ch. Chengdu jiangjun 成都將軍. In his signature, Cungši states that he is from Changbai Mountain (Ma. Golmin šanyan alin, Ch. Changbai 長白), probably a reference to his descent from the Jin imperial family. (Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to ‘Manchu phrasebook’ ”; Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. “Renming quanwei: renwu zhuanji ziliaoku” 人名權威：人物傳記資料庫, accessed 10 February 2022, https://newarchive.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/sncaccgi/sncacFtp.) For more details about Cungši and Sungšen, see Ch’en, “The Wanggiyan Clan of the Imperial Household Department,” 44–46. ⮭
It is unclear how the author of the postscript (1865/66), Tiekui 鐵魁 (n.d.), is related to this group of men. He states that he stems from Chuying 楚郢 (today Jiangling 江陵 in Hubei). He might have been a bannerman of the Manchu Bordered White Banner. This is at least stated in a Chinese Wikipedia entry about a man of this name with reference to the Guangxu edition of the Gazetteer of Jingzhou Prefecture (Jingzhou fu zhi 荆州府志). Jingzhou Prefecture is located in Hubei. We did not have access to the gazetteer to verify this assertion (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%90%B5%E9%AD%81). ⮭
We follow the translation of Bosson and Toh, “Jakdan and His Manchu Poetry,” 17. See also Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 269 (no. 629B), 271 (no. 629E). More about the translation degree (on imperial level) as a pathway to an official career see Edward J. M. Rhoads, Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000), 44. ⮭
Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun, “Preface to the ‘Three Character classic of filial piety’ ” (Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun šutucin | Sanzi xiaojing xu 三字孝經序), 3a. ⮭
Tuktan tacire dogon fakū, 1a; Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 326 (no. 727). ⮭
Ch. zuoling 佐領, rank 4a. We assume that Yenfecun and Mingda were not stationed in Beijing, but in a provincial Manchu garrison. Brunnert and Hagelstrom state that the position of a provincial nirui janggin | zuoling was “appreciably higher than that of the 佐領 Tso Ling of the Peking Banners,” which they translate as “Captain.” Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 335 (no. 746), 326 (no. 726). Hucker gives three different translations for zuoling in Qing times, the first of which corresponds with Yenfecun’s title, “company commander in the Eight Banners,” rank 4a. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 524. ⮭
Ch. fangyu 防禦, rank 5b. Brunnert and Hagelstrom give two explanations for fangyu, one of which is “captain of a platoon of the provincial Manchu garrison,” while the other is simply “captain” (rank 5a). Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 335 (no. 746), 336 (no. 748). Hucker translates fangyu as a “platoon commander,” rank 5a, who commands a minor garrison of bannermen. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 209. ⮭
Coohai fafun dehi meyen i bithe, 34b. ⮭
The Wade Collection at the Cambridge University Library holds a reprint of the 1798 version. The Manchu title is identical, while the Chinese title is slightly different: Jiedu shi ze 戒賭十則 instead of shi tiao 十條. Wade Collection, Manchu Books, “Title Index,” accessed October 27, 2021, https://chinese-cat.lib.cam.ac.uk/mulu/fcman.html, G 218. ⮭
Huang and Qu (Quanguo Manwen tushu ziliao lianhe mulu, 14 [no. 0049]) write that he was a general-in-chief stationed in Zhejiang province at that time (zhen Zhe jiangjun 鎮浙將軍). However, Sabingga was not a general-in-chief yet in 1798, but only a colonel or assistant commandant (xieling 協領) with unclear regional affiliation. Institute of History and Philology, “Renming quanwei.” Only in 1811 did he become General-in-Chief of Hangzhou (Zhejiang) (Hangzhou jiangjun 杭州將軍). Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 335 (no. 746); Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 239. ⮭
Beijingshi minzu guji zhengli chuban guihua xiaozu bangongshi Manwen bianjibu, ed., Beijing diqu Manwen tushu zongmu, 274 (no. 1334). ⮭
Fuchs writes that the reprint was issued by “Bannergeneral Sulfangga, Kanton 1839.” Walter Fuchs, “Verzeichnis der manjurischen Bücher in der Universitätsbibliothek zu Cambridge [Wade Collection],” in Klassische, moderne und bibliographische Studien zur Mandschuforschung, ed. Martin Gimm, Giovanny Stary, and Michael Weiers, 14–42 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1991), 30. In 1839, Sulfangga had in fact already left his post as General-in-Chief of Guangzhou (Guangzhou jiangjun 廣州將軍). He had been in that post since 1835. In 1837, he was appointed as “Imperial Controller- General in Si-ning, or Amban” (Xining banshi dachen 西寧辦事大臣). Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 464–65 (no. 905). Hucker explains that banshi dachen is a variant reference to the “grand minister superintendent” of Qinghai (zongli Qinghai shiwu dachen 總理青海事務大臣). Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 363. Sulfangga was not posted to Guangzhou again. Institute of History and Philology, “Renming quanwei.” ⮭
The official title Ma. gūsai da; Ch. xieling refers to a “Colonel of a Regiment of the Provincial Manchu Garrisons” or an “Assistant Commandant in the hierarchy of Provincial Bannermen,” normal rank 3b. Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 335 (no. 746); Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 239. ⮭
Institute of History and Philology, “Renming quanwei.” ⮭
This is exemplified by Kai Jun Chen, who in “Manager or Craftsman” analyses how translation skills and positions recurred across generations not only of family lineages, but also of peer lineages, and how these skilled bannermen contributed to the empire-building project of the Qing. ⮭
In the Chinese text, the author uses the expression “luxuriant aster-southernwood” (jing’e 菁莪), which refers to the poem “Luxuriantly grows the aster-southernwood” (Jing jing zhe e 菁菁者莪) in the classic Book of Songs (Shijing 詩經). It is used as a metaphor to express finding pleasure in educating young talents, i.e. students. Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to the new edition,” 2b. ⮭
Lit. “jujube and pear (trees).” Refers to the wood used for the blocks and as a binom means “print” (noun and verb). ⮭
Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to the new edition,” 3a. ⮭
The Chinese version writes “literati from low origin, but of outstanding talent” (hanjun zhi shi 寒畯之士). Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to the new edition,” 3a–3b. On hand-copied material as part of Manchu language education, see Devin Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices: The Connections Between Manuscript and Printed Books,” Saksaha: A Journal of Manchu Studies 17 (2021): 1–31, 18–26. ⮭
Poverty as a problem of students is mentioned by Sithūngga, author of “Guide for beginners” in a different context. Sithūngga had to teach himself reading and writing because he was poor. Consequently, he used to read texts aloud. Tuktan tacire dogon fakū, “Second preface,” 3b. ⮭
Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Addendum,” 44b, 44a; “Postscript,” 45a; Tuktan tacire dogon fakū, “First preface,” 1a; “Second preface,” 7a. ⮭
“Junior students”: Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Addendum,” 44a; “Postscript,” 45a; “prospective talented scholars”: Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Preface to ‘Manchu phrasebook’ ” (Cing wen jiye dz bithei šutucin | Qingwen jiezi xu 清文接字序), 4b. ⮭
Tuktan tacire dogon fakū, “First preface,” 1b, 2a; “Second preface,” 4b, 5b, 6a, 6b. ⮭
Tuktan tacire dogon fakū, “First preface,” 1a. ⮭
Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun, “Preface,” 1a. The Manchu phrase actually means “children up to three years.” The Chinese phrase zi sheng san nian appears in the Lunyu and is translated by James Legge as follows: “It is not till a child is three years old that it is allowed to leave the arms of its parents” 子生三年，然後免於父母之懷. James Legge, trans., Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1893), book 17 (“Yang huo” 陽貨), ch. 21, 267. The Manchu and Chinese texts do not seem to match here. The Manchu must be a translation mistake or misunderstanding, as the Chinese phrase is clearly a reference to the Lunyu. ⮭
Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun, “Preface,” 3a. ⮭
“Young and ignorant” (Ch. tongmeng 童蒙): Cing wen jiye dz bithe, “Addendum,” 44a; “ignorant children” (Ma. eihun juse, Ch. meng 蒙): Tuktan tacire dogon fakū, “Second preface,” 4b; “ignorant youngsters” (Ma. mentuhun ajigan, Ch. meng zhi 蒙穉): Ilan hergen i hiyoošungga nomun, “Preface,” 3a. ⮭
Jiha efire be targabure juwan hacin | Jiedu shi tiao 戒賭十條, by Gionai (1899), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. N.S. 1911–8, “Preface,” 1b–2a. ⮭
Fitzgerald, “Manchu Language Pedagogical Practices,” 6, see also 14. ⮭
Evans, “The Banner-School Background of the Canton T’ung-Wen Kuan,” 92. ⮭
Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili (1899 edition), 1137:13b. This passage in fact dates to 1754 (Qianlong 19) and not 1731. ⮭
Porter, “Bannermen as Translators.” ⮭
Jiha efire, “Preface,” 1b. ⮭
The Chinese term lingdan usually indicates a Daoist immortality elixir. The Manchu niktan siktan can also be used for medicines in general or Shamanist elixirs. Iben Raphael Meyer, “Das schamanistische Begriffsinventar des manjurischen Wörterspiegels von 1708 (Beiträge zum Schamanismus der Manjuren, I),” Oriens Extremus 29, no. 1/2 (1982): 173–208, 193. ⮭
Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 32 (no. 43) refers to Herbert Allan Giles, Catalogue of the Wade Collection of Chinese and Manchu Books in the Library of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898), 144, who mentions another version called Jiedu shi ze 戒賭十則. See also Fuchs, Beiträge zur mandjurischen Bibliographie und Literatur, 136 (app. 1: “Klassiker, Philosophie,” no. 36); Huang and Qu, Quanguo Manwen tushu ziliao lianhe mulu, 274 (no. 1333, 1334). In our version of “Warnings about Gambling,” this alternative Chinese title is also mentioned in the preface. The Manchu title, however, remains the same (Jiha efire, 1a). ⮭
Zengding jingxinlu 增訂敬信錄 (Sihuaitang, 1819), comp. Sun Rong 孫嶸, digitized blockprint held at Österreichische Nationalbibliothek with the call number Sin 194-B ALT SIN.; Zengding jingxinlu (Juxiantang, 1824), comp. Meng Qiu 孟秋, digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. 341; Zengding jingxinlu (n.d.), digitized blockprint held at Bibliothèque nationale de France with the call number Cote: Chinois 5677, ancienne cote: Nouveau fonds 215. ⮭
Zengding jingxinlu (1819), 70a–71b; Zengding jingxinlu (1824), vol. 3, 52a–54b. Both editions contain the “Original Preface to the First Edition of the Record of Respect and Faith” (Chukan jingxinlu yuanxu 初刊敬信錄原序, 1749) by Xu Yunpeng 許雲鵬 (courtesy name Dechui 德垂, n.d.), so it must have been published already in or before 1749. In a preface to the 1751 edition, Xu Yunpeng writes that the original printing blocks had to be carved anew, because they were already worn away due to overuse after one year. Zengding jingxinlu [1819], 2a–b (fourth preface). The compilation was obviously a bestseller. It remains unclear if editions of “Warnings about Gambling” were included in editions before 1819. An edition from 1797, for example, does not include it. Zengding jingxinlu (Wenchangge, 1797), digitized blockprint held at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with the call number Libri sin. 602. ⮭
The 1819 and the bilingual edition use the full characters ji 饑, guan 關, ji 機 etc., while the 1824 edition uses the simplified variants ji 飢, guan 関, ji 机 (third and seventh sections). The 1819 edition and the bilingual edition write xian 閑 (fence, barrier), while the 1824 edition mistakenly writes jian 間 (between) (seventh section). ⮭
The bilingual edition simplifies xi 戲 as xi 戯, and it uses the non-simplified version of gu 顧 instead of gu 頋 in the monolingual editions (ninth and fifth sections). ⮭
Crossley, “Manchu Education,” 359ff. ⮭
Baqi tongzhi chuji, 49:27b. ⮭
Ge Chunyuan 戈春源, Zhongguo jindai duboshi 中国近代赌博史 (Fuzhou: Fujian remin chubanshe, 2005); Chi Chuen Chan, William Wai Lim Li, and Amy Sau Lam Chiu, “A Cultural History of Chinese Gambling II (from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty),” in The Psychology of Chinese Gambling: A Cultural and Historical Perspective, 35–55 (Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2019); Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili er 欽定大清會典事例二 (Jiaqing edition, 1818), in Da-Qing wubu huidian 大清五部会典 (Beijing: Beijing shutongwen shuzihua jishu youxiangongsi, 2007), accessed August 18, 2020, https://guji.unihan.com.cn/, 642:18b–26a and throughout the chapter. See also Guo Shuanglin 郭双林 and Xiao Meihua 蕭梅花, Zhongguo duboshi 中國賭博史 (Taipei: Wenjin chubanshe, 1996), 302–15 for the various severe punishments for gambling-related crimes committed by Qing officials. ⮭
Jiha efire, 11b–12a. ⮭
Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili er (1818 edition), 642:20b–21a; see also Da-Qing huidian 2 (Yongzheng edition, 1732), in Da-Qing wubu huidian (Beijing: Beijing shutongwen shuzihua jishu youxiangongsi, 2007), accessed August 18, 2020, https://guji.unihan.com.cn/, 184:4b–5a and 11a–b. ⮭
Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili er (1818 edition), 642:4a. ⮭
Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili er (1818 edition), 642:5a–5b, and throughout. ⮭
Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili er (1818 edition), 642:6b. ⮭
Rhoads, Manchus and Han, 42. ⮭
Ulrich Theobald, “Space and Place in Administrative Military Regulations of Qing China: An Evaluation of the Legal Type of Zeli,” Extrême-Orient Extrême-Occident 40 (2016): 183–206, 3. ⮭
Da-Qing lüli 大清律例 (1740), eds. Zheng Qin 鄭秦 and Tian Tao 田濤 (Beijing: Falü chubanshe, 1998), “Xinglü” 刑律, “Zafan” 雜犯, “Dubo” 賭博, 3 https://lsc.chineselegalculture.org/eC/DQLL_1740/5.6.12.378, accessed February 7, 2022. ⮭
Da-Qing lüli (1740), “Xinglü,” “Zafan,” “Dubo,” 4. ⮭
For an alternative translation see Anonymous, trans., “The Preface of the Jiha efire be targabure juwan hacin,” May 13, 2019, accessed Oct. 27, 2021, https://talesofmanchulife.wordpress.com/2019/05/13/the-preface-of-the-jiha-efire-be-targabure-juwan-hacin/. ⮭
The “treasure ship” (Ma. boobai ada, Ch. baofa 寶筏) is a Buddhist term. The treasure ship helps one to cross over the “sea of suffering” (Buddhist Sanskrit pāramitā). ⮭
The “immortality elixir” (Ma. niktan siktan, Ch. lingdan 靈丹, lit. “spirit cinnabar”) is a Daoist medicine for eternal youth and immortality. ⮭
The official title Ma. gūsai da, Ch. xieling refers to a “colonel of a regiment of the provincial Manchu garrisons” or an “assistant commandant in the hierarchy of provincial bannermen,” normal rank 3b. Brunnert and Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organization of China, 335; Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 239. ⮭
No Manchu title, Chinese title on the folio centerfold. ⮭
Please note that in this text, the Manchu characters “s” and “š” often look alike when appearing in a middle position. We decided to give the transcription of the term as it appears in the dictionaries. ⮭
The text itself does not specify whether the addressee is “you” or a more general “one.” In the translation, we decided to use “you” to emphasize the rather personal way the reader is addressed in the text. ⮭
The last phrase of each section presents the quintessence and main message of each section. They often appear to be rhetorical questions. Though they are not distinguished in the text, they are distinguished by a pattern, which we wanted to reflect by using Italics. ⮭
Ch. ge zi bu tong 各自不同, lit. “… are all different.” ⮭
We take this translation of Ma. bucehe ursei hoton, Ch. wangsicheng 枉死城 from Henri Doré who translated it as “la cite des suicidés” (Henri Doré, Recherches sur les superstitions en Chine [Shanghai: Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique, 1911], vol. 1, 87). He refers to Yuli chaozhuan 玉歷鈔傳 (Jade Record), an illustrated religious tract that was allegedly written in Song times but circulated mainly in Qing times (Yuli chaozhuan jingshi [Guangzhou: Jiuyaofang zangban, Xinguzhai yin, 1814], 24b). ⮭
Ma. mangiyakū jui, lit. “money-wasting son.” Ma. jui is a (too) literal translation of Ch. zi 子 in Ch. langzi 浪子 “loafer, wastrel.” See also footnotes 129 and 134 below. ⮭
Ma. menen jui, lit. “idiotic son.” Here, the Ch. er 兒 is translated literally as Ma. jui, although in the Chinese term Ch. chi’er 癡兒, “idiot, fool,” er 兒 does not mean “son” or “boy,” but is a noun suffix. See also footnote 128 above and footnote 1347 below. ⮭
Ma. duka uce, lit. “gate and door.” ⮭
Ma. ini, lit. “his.” This is the only time the author gives the addressee of the text as a “he.” ⮭
The Collected Statutes of the Great Qing of the Jiaqing reign quote an edict from the Yongzheng Emperor where he similarly said:

[I] often think about the fact [why] the custom of gambling is so popular: If fathers and the elder brothers do it, then sons and younger brothers watch them as bystanders and imitate them. If the head of the household does it, then slaves and servants watch him as bystanders and imitate him. It can even happen that wives and daughters [gamble].

嘗思賭博之風所以盛行者。父兄爲之，子弟在旁見而傚之。家主爲之，奴僕在旁見而傚之。甚至婦人女子。 Qinding Da-Qing huidian shili (1818 edition), 642:22b.
⮭
Ma. duka uce, lit. “gate and door,” see also above. ⮭
Ma. gusherakū juse, lit. “sons who are not worthy of respect” or “who have not done well.” Ma. juse is a literal translation of Ch. zi 子 in Ch. langzi 浪子, “loafer, wastrel.” See also footnotes 128 and 129 above. ⮭
Ma. sonokton be tataha, Ch. jue ying 絕纓, lit. “to tear off the ribbon that holds the cap.” This term is used to describe a casual get-together of men and women, not confining themselves to etiquette. ⮭
Ma. nei gahari be suhe, Ch. jie ru 觧襦, lit. “to unfasten the jacket.” ⮭
Ma. dorakū baita yabure, Ch. yu xian 踰閑, lit. “to transgress the limits [of etiquette].” ⮭
Ma. giranggi yali, Ch. gurou 骨肉, lit. “bones and flesh,” means kin, (blood) relation or relatives. ⮭
These four are the traditional groups into which Chinese society, or the people (min 民) were divided in imperial times: scholars-officials (shi 士), farmers (nong 農), craftsmen (gong 工), and merchants (shang 商), See for example Guanzi ershisi juan 管子二十四卷, attr. Guan Zhong 管仲 (725–645 BCE), in Sibu congkan chubian 四部叢刊初編, vol. 345, book 8, ch. 20, 5b (“Xiao kuang” 小匡); Hanshu 漢書, by Ban Gu 班固 (32–92) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), 23:1084 and 24:1117 (“Shihuozhi shang” 食貨志上). ⮭
The combination of these four groups as the essential parts of a family is traditional, too. See for example Guanzi, “Fa fa” 法法; and throughout the dynastic histories. In the Chinese version of the text, the order of sons/children and wives is reversed: “fathers, mothers, wives, and sons” (fu mu qi zi 父母妻子). The Manchu version reverses the order to avoid confusion, as Ma. sargan juse is a fixed combination and means “daughters.” ⮭
Ma. an i baita is often used as a fixed combination for Ch. changshi 常事, lit. “ordinary matters.” However, we decided to translate an as an autonomous noun in the Manchu expression niyalma jalan i an i baita, because it is not a translation of changshi but of [ren]shi zhi chang [人]事之常. The Chinese text has a different word order which changes the meaning of the sentence and puts emphasis on the term “order”: “the order of human matters” (renshi zhi chang 人事之常). ⮭
The Chinese term “sea of bitterness” (Ch. kuhai 苦海) of which the Manchu gosihun namu is a literal translation is also used to translate the Buddhist term for “world” (Buddhist Sanskrit sam․sāra). ⮭
Ma. caise sifikū, Ch. zhai chuan 釵釧 means “hairpins and bangles.” ⮭
See footnote 140 above. ⮭
Ma. šuwarkiyan, Ch. zhang 杖. ⮭
The Manchu translation “an official or scholar off duty” (Ma. sula hafan šusai) is rather detailed, whereas the Chinese text mentions merely “a gentleman” (Ch. shenshi 紳士). ⮭
In Chinese, this sentence has a different quality, as the cheaters are described with ogre-like characteristics (Jiha efire, 13a): “[…] because [there are] always those who gnaw off other people’s blood and meat, sating themselves on our body and intestines” 總由噬人血肉飽我腹腸. ⮭
Ma. karulan can also be translated as Buddhist Sanskrit karma. It stands for the Ch. baofu 報復 which has a slightly different meaning as “revenge” rather than “retribution.” ⮭
Ma. karu. ⮭
Ma. abkai doro translates to Ch. tiandao 天道, which is used in both Daoist and Confucian tradition. ⮭
Ma. untuhun can be translated as Buddhist Sanskrit śūnya (empty, void), Ch. kong 空. Here it translates Ch. jin 盡 ([reaching the] end; to die, death). ⮭
The expression Ma. šuwe kemun (to the utmost, to the highest degree) loosely corresponds to Ch. yan 儼 / yan 嚴. ⮭

Bibliography

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