Typology of Heqin Marriage Alliances: Manchu-Chinese and Manchu-Mongol Marriages during the Qing Dynasty
Marriage relations involve various types of arranged marriages, among which the so-called heqin marriage alliances refer to historical practice of building peaceful relations between China and neighboring Inner Asian states through the marriage. My contribution considers not only marriage alliances between the ruling of Manchu's Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) with the Mongols and the Chinese, but also suggests an analytical frame to systematize these marriages into two groups as “brides giving” and “brides receiving” marriage alliances to show a vivid unbalance in numbers between these types of marriages. To explain this unbalance, I use research methods developed by social anthropology, namely descent theory and alliance theory, to show ambiguity of kin relatedness, kinship hierarchy and inheritance rights in Chinese, Mongolian and Manchu-Tungus kinship. This analysis undermines a widespread view of Chinese origin of the heqin marriages in favor of Inner Asian origin of marriage alliances strategy.