A conquest dynasty () in the history of China refers to a Chinese dynasty established by non-Han ethnicities that ruled parts or all of China proper, the traditional heartland of the Han people, and whose rulers may or may not fully assimilate into the dominant Han culture.
Concept
The term "conquest dynasty" was coined by the German-American sinologist Karl August Wittfogel in his 1949 revisionist history of the Liao dynasty (916–1125). He argued that the Liao, as well as the Jin (1115–1234), Yuan (1271–1368), and Qing (1636–1912) dynasties of China were not really "Chinese", and that the ruling families did not fully assimilate into the dominant Han culture. The "conquest dynasty" concept was warmly received by mostly Japanese scholars such as Otagi Matsuo, who preferred to view these dynasties in the context of a "history of Asia" rather than a "history of China". Alternative views to the concept of "conquest dynasty" from American sinologists include Owen Lattimore's idea of the steppe as a "reservoir", Wolfram Eberhard's concept of a "superstratification" of Chinese society with nomadic peoples, and Mary C. Wright's thesis of sinicization. Among historians, the labelling of "conquest dynasties" has proven to be controversial, especially when using such characterization on dynasties such as the Jin.
Scope of China (Zhongguo)
In the English language, "Zhongguo ren" (; "People of China") is frequently confused and conflated with "Han ren" (; "Han people").
Dynasties of ethnic Han origin only used "Zhongguo" (; "Middle Kingdom") to explicitly refer to Han areas of their empire. The Ming dynasty used Zhongguo to refer to only Han areas of the empire, excluding areas populated by ethnic minorities under Ming rule from the definition.
The Xianbei-led Northern Wei referred to itself as "Zhongguo" and claimed yogurt as a food of Zhongguo. Similarly, the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty referred to itself as "Zhongguo".
In 1271, Kublai Khan proclaimed the Yuan dynasty with the official name "Great Yuan" () and claimed succession from former Chinese dynasties from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors up to the Tang dynasty.
Qing emperors referred to all subjects of the Qing dynasty regardless of their ethnicity as "Chinese" (), and used the term "Zhongguo" as a synonym for the entire Qing Empire while using "neidi" (; "inner regions") to refer only to the core area (or China proper) of the empire. The Qing Empire was viewed as a single multi-ethnic entity.
The Qing emperors governed frontier non-Han areas in a separate administrative system under the Lifan Yuan. Nonetheless, it was the Qing emperors who expanded the definition of Zhongguo and made it "flexible" by using that term to refer to the entire empire. Zhongguo was also used by the Qing Empire as an endonym in diplomatic correspondence. However, some Han subjects criticized their usage of the term and used Zhongguo only to refer to the seventeen provinces of China and three provinces of the east (Manchuria), excluding other frontier areas. Han literati who remained loyal to the Ming dynasty held to defining the old Ming borders as "China" and used the term "foreigner" to describe ethnic minorities under Qing rule, such as the Mongols, as part of their anti-Qing ideology. As the territorial borders of the Qing Empire were fixed through a series of treaties with neighboring foreign powers, it was able to inculcate in the Qing subjects a sense that China included areas such as Mongolia and Tibet due to educational reforms. Specifically, the educational reform made it clear where the borders of the Qing Empire were, even if Han subjects did not understand how the Chinese identity included Mongols and Tibetans or understand what the connotations of being "Chinese" were.
