Discourse Analysis of Hailanca’s Manchu-Language Palace Memorials
Discourse Analysis of Hailanca’s Manchu-Language Palace Memorials
XUEJUAN WU/MING YE
9/26/202623 min read
Discourse Analysis of Hailanca’s Manchu-Language Palace Memorials
Author: Wu Xuejuan (吴雪娟)
Compiled and Translated by: MING YE
Among the administrative documents submitted to the emperor by central and local government institutions and their officials during the Qing dynasty, the palace memorial (奏折) was one of the most confidential forms of communication. After a memorial had been written and sealed, it was sent to Beijing by a specially assigned courier or through the imperial postal system. It did not need to pass through the Office of Transmission, nor was it processed by the Grand Secretariat. Instead, it was delivered directly to the emperor through the Palace Memorial Office. After reading and commenting on it, the emperor would seal it again and return it to the memorialist.
In the early Kangxi period, only a limited number of high officials possessed the privilege of submitting confidential memorials directly to the emperor. Central and local institutions and officials did not yet fully understand the function of the palace memorial, and reports on military and governmental affairs were still frequently submitted in the form of tiben (题本, routine memorials). From the Qianlong reign onward, however, palace memorials gradually replaced tiben and zouben and became an important means of administrative communication between the emperor and his officials. By the later Qianlong period, many Banner officials serving in the provinces of China proper increasingly used Chinese rather than Manchu when writing their memorials. 粘贴的文本 (1)
As confidential documents exchanged between ruler and official, palace memorials provided a relatively flexible communicative context. To a certain extent, this enabled the written language to retain the vitality of actual communication.
This article takes the Manchu memorials of Hailanca collected in A Compilation of Manchu and Chinese Palace Memorials of Hailanca Preserved in the Qing Palace (《清宫珍藏海兰察满汉文奏折汇编》) as its principal material. With reference to the accompanying Chinese translations, it analyzes the narrative contexts of military memorials and examines the discourse structure of Manchu palace memorials, with the aim of using Manchu archival materials to explore theories and methods of translation between Manchu and Chinese.
I. The Discourse Context of Hailanca’s Manchu Memorials
Hailanca (1740–1793), a distinguished general of the Qianlong period, was a Solon (Ewenki) of the Dular clan and originally belonged to the Butha Eight Banners under the Heilongjiang General.
In 1755, the twentieth year of the Qianlong reign, the fifteen-year-old Hailanca entered adult military service and joined the campaign against the Dzungars as a Solon cavalryman. After capturing Bayar, a Taiji of the Hoid who had first submitted and later rebelled, Hailanca was awarded the honorary title Baturu, appointed a second-class imperial bodyguard, and included among the fifty meritorious officers whose portraits were displayed in the Ziguang Pavilion.
He was subsequently promoted to first-class imperial bodyguard and served at the Qianqing Gate. He received hereditary titles including qiduwei and yunqiwei and was transferred to the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner in Beijing.
After 1767, Hailanca commanded military operations in a number of regions and repeatedly distinguished himself in battle. He was promoted through positions including deputy commander, commander, councillor minister, and commander of the imperial bodyguard, and was appointed to serve in the emperor’s presence. 粘贴的文本 (1)
Hailanca’s Preference for Writing in Manchu
A Compilation of Manchu and Chinese Palace Memorials of Hailanca Preserved in the Qing Palace contains 286 memorials and supplementary memorials preserved in the archives of the Grand Council and other palace collections now held by the First Historical Archives of China.
Of these, 43 were submitted by Hailanca alone, while 243 were jointly submitted with other officials.
Every memorial submitted by Hailanca individually was written in Manchu. Among the 47 jointly submitted memorials in which Hailanca’s name appeared first, only two were written in Chinese. Altogether, the compilation contains 88 Manchu memorials associated directly with Hailanca.
The remaining 198 Chinese memorials and supplementary memorials were primarily drafted under the names of officials such as Wenfu, Agui, and Fuk'anggan, with Hailanca’s name often appearing toward the end of the list of signatories.
In one Chinese memorial jointly submitted with Liu Bingtian, Hailanca explicitly stated that he could not read Chinese characters. Whenever he received an imperial edict written in Chinese, it had to be respectfully translated for him in person. When submitting replies, he therefore relied on the names of his colleagues appearing jointly on the memorial.
Military reports, however, concerned matters discussed collectively, and Hailanca argued that such reports should properly be submitted in the “Qing script”—that is, Manchu.
He therefore requested that while Chinese-language administrative matters could continue to be submitted jointly under the names of other officials, reports concerning actual military operations should be written in Manchu for imperial inspection.
The Qianlong Emperor approved his request.
Hailanca had served for ten years as an imperial bodyguard at the Qianqing Gate and therefore had considerable exposure to the central institutions of the Qing court and an understanding of important governmental affairs.
His military memorials from the Second Jinchuan Campaign were written from direct experience and generally contain complete accounts of events. Occasionally, nominal phrases and verbal structures are not smoothly connected, and there are instances of confusion between consonants such as d/t, g/k, and h, as well as between the vowels a/e. These features, however, did not prevent Hailanca and the emperor from communicating effectively about the course of military operations.
The Subjects and Length of Hailanca’s Memorials
Hailanca’s surviving Manchu memorials primarily concern two subjects: expressions of gratitude for imperial favor and reports on official affairs.
Twenty-two are memorials of gratitude, while sixty-six concern governmental or military matters.
They include campaigns and related rewards and punishments connected with imperial orders sending Hailanca to Sichuan, Gansu, Taiwan, and Tibet. Most date from 1772–1776, 1784, 1787, and 1791–1792.
The memorials vary greatly in length. Some consist of only a few sections and lines, while the longest extend to more than two hundred lines.
Hailanca was renowned for both courage and military judgment and played a particularly important role in the Second Jinchuan Campaign. His reporting was therefore frequent, and many of his longest memorials date from this period.
On some occasions, several memorials were submitted on the same day. On the twenty-ninth day of the sixth lunar month in 1774, for example, Hailanca submitted six Manchu memorials and three supplementary memorials, totaling more than three hundred lines.
Were Hailanca’s Well-Organized Memorials Written by Someone Else?
In the fourth lunar month of 1773, the Grand Secretariat academician Boqing'e was sent to Sichuan to investigate the cases of Li Xu and Chang Baozhu. He was subsequently ordered to remain with the army and was appointed a commanding minister, serving alongside Hailanca in military operations.
Between the fourteenth day of the sixth lunar month and the fourth day of the eighth month, thirty-three Manchu military memorials were submitted jointly under the names of Hailanca and Boqing'e. During the same period, Hailanca submitted only nine military memorials independently.
The Qianlong Emperor observed that several of Hailanca’s memorials were exceptionally well organized and speculated that this was probably because Boqing'e had long served as a secretary in the Grand Council and was experienced in administrative affairs.
However, when the Jinchuan campaign situation became clearer, the emperor concluded that Boqing'e was less capable administratively than Agui and less effective militarily than Hailanca. He therefore recalled Boqing'e to Beijing.
A broader examination of Hailanca’s independently submitted memorials and those jointly submitted with Boqing'e, Esente, Liu Bingtian, and other commanders reveals a stable pattern: one principal matter per memorial, a clearly defined military subject, a coherent sequence of events, chronological organization, precise descriptions of mountains and fortified positions, and a relatively consistent linguistic style.
For this reason, the Qianlong Emperor’s inference that the organizational quality of Hailanca’s memorials depended primarily on Boqing'e appears somewhat arbitrary. 粘贴的文本 (1)
II. The Discourse Structure of Hailanca’s Military Memorials
The basic word order of Manchu is subject–object–verb (SOV). Nominal elements generally precede the verb and enter into semantic relationships with the main predicate through various grammatical structures.
Although punctuation or pause markers in written Manchu can help indicate predicate structures, they do not necessarily identify semantic hierarchy with precision.
In official writing, therefore, both writer and reader needed to share an understanding of how time, space, and events were conventionally represented. Only on this basis could they reconstruct the structure of a discourse and communicate information effectively.
A discourse can express a complete meaning within a particular context without being entirely constrained by sentence-level grammar.
In Hailanca’s case, once the overall discourse structure of a military memorial had been conceived, he could proceed sequentially through a battle that he had personally commanded or directly participated in, providing information about time, place, troop strength, the course of battle, and its outcome.
His independently written Manchu memorials therefore display a strong military focus, clearly structured narrative description, and an overall framework frequently constructed through the continuity of verbal forms.
The following examples from Hailanca’s independently submitted memorials illustrate cohesion and coherence in written Manchu discourse.
The Dimda and Ba Gio Diyoo Memorial
On the fifth day of the sixth lunar month in 1773, Hailanca submitted a confidential memorial reporting military operations between the second and fourth days of that month. The report concerned the capture of Dimda and preparations for a coordinated attack on Ba Gio Diyoo.
The Official History of the Pacification of the Two Jinchuan Regions later summarized the memorial. That later version, however, clearly incorporated additional information available to Agui, one of the principal commanders of the Jinchuan campaign and a compiler of the official history.
Hailanca’s original Manchu memorial consists of sixteen sections and eighty-eight lines.
It begins:
aha hailanca gingguleme wesimburengge donjibume wesimbure jalin
“Your servant Hailanca respectfully submits this memorial, for the purpose of reporting information.”
It concludes:
aha hūlhin lampan i ekšeme gingguleme wesimbuhe
“Your dull-witted servant respectfully and urgently submits this memorial.”
The body of the document directly describes the military operation at Dimda commanded by Hailanca and the simultaneous deployment of troops toward Ba Gio Diyoo.
The memorial follows chronological order. The report on the fighting at Dimda appears first, followed by the military arrangements for Ba Gio Diyoo. The deployment of troops, course of combat, successes, and setbacks are described according to the progression of events.
The author of the study treats the body of this memorial as a single discourse unit consisting of two interconnected and inseparable sections centered respectively on Dimda and Ba Gio Diyoo.
In the Latin transcription below, double slashes indicate the beginning of each folded section of the original memorial, while single slashes indicate the beginning of each line.
Original Manchu Transcription
hūlha jugūn olime genefi,/dimda be ejelefi šuwe, ba giyo diyoo i baru/jugūn lashalame genehe seme ahadonjime, ninggun//biyai ice juwe i dobori, ilaci ging ci erinde/jakūn tanggū coohagamame hahilame jifi, uheri/kadalara amban lio bing tiyan i tehe kūwaran de/šun tucire onggoloisinafi, aha tuwaci, lio/bing tiyan i tehe kūwaran ci birai angga de//isibume hūlha gemuejehebi.
inenggi dulin de/hūlha kūwaran be dašanjime jihede, aha bi/miyoocan i janggin dobda baturu hūniltu, uheri/kadalara da jinghai be tucibume afarade hūlha/ududu korobahafi, šuweburulaha.
tere//dobori hūlha juwe mudan dašanjime jihe be/ahasi beafame burulabuha.
ice duin de sunjaci/ging ni erinde cooha beteksileme tomilafi,/jebele ergi mulu begidame afarade, aisilame/kadalara da cengde, lamun funggala hiya kuledei,//colcika, ilan tanggū coohagaifi, dashūwan ergi/mulu beafarade, meiren janggin usihada, uheri/kadalara da jinghai, ilan tanggū coohagaifi,/alin k(h)ekdereme emu jugūndosirede, miyoocan i/jingkini janggin dobda baturu hūniltu, meiren i//janggin bihe cangbooju, sede emu tanggū cooha(be)/bufi, dulimba jugūn deafaradeaha hailanca,/meyen de yabure temgetu lamun funggala sa,/fideme kadalara amban bihe li sioi sebegaifi,/duin jugūn(de)banjibufi, uheri kadalara amban//lio bing tiyan, sirabure cooha begaifi,/lio bing tiyan i kūwaran ci bira angga de/isibume tofohon jaise be hūlha ejelehe be/ahasi befunturše(a)me afame genehei, hūlha be/juwanwafiujufaitame gajiha.
ere afarade,//uheri kadalara da jinghai hashū ergi mayan i ba/giranggilabume, miyoocan i fondo feye baha.
hūlha be/kejine feyelabume burulabufi, ere jaise be gemu/baha.
baha jaise tome, hafan coohatebuki/seci, kūwaran be karmame tuwakiyara cooha//komso ombi.
baha jaise be gemudeijifi,/efulehe hūlha birai anggai teisu mulu i jaise,/mu be kiyoo be ejelehebi.
šuwe gidameafaki seci,/damu amargi sirabure cooha komso de hūlha/hetuleme jifi jugūn be lashalra be boljoci//ojorakū ofi, cooha be takagocifi,/kūwaran be karmame oyonggo babeejelebuhebi.
English Translation
On the night of the second day of the sixth month in the thirty-eighth year of the Qianlong reign, after hearing that the enemy had taken a circuitous route, occupied Dimda, and proceeded toward Ba Gio Diyoo to cut off the road, your servant rapidly led eight hundred troops forward during the third watch. Before sunrise, we reached the camp occupied by Governor-General Liu Bingtian.
Your servant observed that the enemy had occupied the entire area from Liu Bingtian’s camp to the river mouth.
At noon on the third day, the enemy attacked our camp. Your servant ordered the musket officer Dobda Baturu Hūniltu and commander Jinghai to go out and engage them. Several enemy soldiers were wounded, and the enemy retreated.
That night, your servants repelled two further enemy attacks.
During the fifth watch on the fourth day, troops were divided and assigned to different routes. To attack the ridge on the right, deputy commander Chengde, Blue-Feather Imperial Bodyguards Kuledei and Colcika led three hundred troops. To attack the ridge on the left, deputy commander Usihada and commander Jinghai led another three hundred. To advance around the mountainside, one hundred soldiers were assigned to musket officer Dobda Baturu Hūniltu and former deputy commander Cangbooju. Your servant Hailanca, together with feathered imperial bodyguards serving in the camp and former commander Li Xu and others, attacked along the central route.
The force was thus divided into four routes, while Governor-General Liu Bingtian led the supporting troops from the rear.
Your servants pressed forward vigorously against the fifteen fortified positions occupied by the enemy between Liu Bingtian’s camp and the river mouth. Ten enemy soldiers were killed, and their severed heads were brought back.
During the fighting, commander Jinghai was shot through the right elbow, the wound reaching the bone.
We inflicted a major defeat upon the enemy and captured all of the fortified positions.
If officers and soldiers had been stationed in every captured position, however, too few troops would have remained to protect the main camp. We therefore burned the captured positions.
The defeated enemy continued to occupy fortified positions on the ridge opposite the river mouth and at Mu Bai Bridge. If we had immediately pressed forward to attack them, the small number of supporting troops behind us would have made it impossible to ensure that the enemy could not cross over and cut off our route.
The troops were therefore temporarily withdrawn to protect the camp and secure the strategically important positions. 粘贴的文本 (1)
Verbal Continuity and Narrative Structure
The memorial first describes Hailanca’s deployment of forces during the fighting at Dimda and then explains his arrangements following the victory.
The report on the second day of the sixth month is organized through parallel subject–object–verb structures and concludes with the past perfect form ejehebi, “has occupied.”
In the first portion, the subject is aha, “your servant,” and the serial verbal sequence includes:
donjime — “hearing”
gamame — “taking/leading”
hahilame jifi — “hurriedly coming”
isinafi — “arriving”
In the second portion, the subject is hūlha, “enemy,” while the predicate is ejehebi, “has occupied.”
The verb donjime takes an object clause, within which a series of verb-object constructions forms the central structure. Verbs such as gamame, hahilame jifi, and isinafi thus become central components of the object clause.
On the third day, Hailanca describes repelling three enemy attacks on the camp. The memorial repeatedly employs burulaha, “retreated,” together with its causative form burulabuha, “caused [them] to retreat,” linking the sentences into a coherent whole.
The account of the four-pronged attack on the fourth day is structurally more complex.
The memorial describes the allocation of officers and troops, the four routes of advance, and the destruction of enemy positions through three levels of SOV clauses.
The subjects successively include:
aha hailanca — “your servant Hailanca”
uheri kadalara amban lio bing tiyan — “Governor-General Liu Bingtian”
aha be — “we/your servants”
The first-level clause uses verbal expressions such as teksileme tomilafi, referring to organizing and assigning troops, and banjibufi, referring to arranging them into groups.
The second employs gaifi, “leading/taking.”
The third uses the serial predicates funturšeme afame genehei, “continuing to press forward and attack,” wafi, “killing,” and faitame gajiha, “decapitating and bringing back.”
The sentence ends with the past-tense verb gajiha, “brought back,” which not only expresses a completed action but also provides grammatical and semantic continuity across the entire sentence.
The first two parallel clauses describe the course of the battle, while the third reports its results.
Within the first level of this structure, Hailanca inserts four parallel verb-object constructions to describe the specific arrangement of the four attacking forces:
jebele ergi mulu…gidame afarade…gaifi
Attack against the ridge on the right
dashūwan ergi mulu…afarade…gaifi
Attack against the ridge on the left
alin hekdereme emu jugūn dosirede…bufi
Advance by a circuitous route around the mountainside
dulimba jugūn…afarade…gaifi
Direct main attack along the central route
These constructions share not only a similar grammatical pattern but also a coherent rhetorical relationship. Their parallel serial predicates reinforce the sense of urgency associated with battlefield command.
When describing the four-route deployment, Hailanca places his own command of the central attacking force last. This brings the first-level subject, “your servant Hailanca,” structurally closer to the subjects of the following clauses and demonstrates a degree of deliberate control over sentence construction.
The subsequent account employs jinghai, “Jinghai,” as a subject and uses verbs including giranggilabume, feye baha, feyelabume burulabufi, and baha to emphasize the outcome of the fighting before introducing the decisions to destroy enemy positions and return to defend the camp.
After the limited victory at Dimda, Hailanca uses parallel hypothetical structures to assess the relative strength of the two sides and explain his tactical decision.
The first hypothetical construction leads to the result deijifi, the burning of the enemy positions.
The second leads to gocifi, withdrawing the troops, and ejelebuhebi, securing or garrisoning the defensive position.
These verbs form a continuous chain of action that highlights Hailanca’s strategic reasoning. 粘贴的文本 (1)
The Deployment toward Ba Gio Diyoo
The second half of the memorial concentrates on Hailanca’s military preparations for Ba Gio Diyoo.
Like the first half, it begins with an object clause. The subject aha, “your servant,” is omitted, while seme donjifi, “having heard that…,” corresponds to the preceding object clause ending with seme hahilame bithe unggihe, referring to the urgent dispatch of a written message.
The case suffix attached after unggihe introduces the direct result: Wenfu dispatched one thousand troops toward Ba Gio Diyoo.
Hailanca then employs serial predicates such as ulhibume tacibufi, inenggi boljofi, jurabume unggifi, funcembi, and bi to explain the troop deployment outside Liu Bingtian’s camp and to introduce his plan for a two-sided attack.
Original Manchu Transcription
ice ilan de aha mini baci hūlha lama se/duleme, ba gio diyoo i baru genehe semedonjifi,/aliha bithei da jiyanggiyūni baciemu minggan//cooha hūdun unggi, ba gio diyoo i baru afame/genembi semehahilame bithe unggihede, aliha da/jiyanggiyūn wenfui baciemu minggan cooha tucibufi,/ba gio diyoo i baruunggihebi.
ere ba umesi/oyonggo ofi ahai baci, meiren janggin usihada be//ulhibume tacibufi, ere emu minggan cooha be/gaifi, ba gio diyoo de isinafi, ba gio/diyoo ci hetu jugūn be lashalame afame jio.
bi/aliha bithei da jiyanggiyūn wenfui bacicooha/sirabure oci wasihūn gidame afaki semeinenggi//boljofi, ice duin i yamji usihada be/jurabume unggifi, ice sunja de, aha/gajiha jakūn tanggū cooha lio bing tiyan i/kūwaran i šurdeme oyonggo kamni be kabume/tebuhe.
cooha sunja tanggūfuncembi, aha//gajiha cooha teni juwe tanggū funcere coohabi.
/aha gaifi wasihūngaidame genecilio bing tiyan kūwaran/šurdeme alin mulu de hūlhafaidahai bi.
/aššacikūwaran i dorgi de bele kunesunmuhaliyahabi,/umesi oyonggo, baita detusa akūgese,//uttu ofi wenfui bacicoohaisinjime,/aha cooha begaifi, juwe ergi be/hafitame afaki.
jai aha hailanca bi/hūlha i jugūn belashalahabe mutere/teileafaki.
English Translation
On the third day, your servant heard that the enemy had intercepted the lamas and proceeded toward Ba Gio Diyoo. I therefore urgently informed the Grand Secretary and General that one thousand troops should quickly be sent to attack toward Ba Gio Diyoo. Accordingly, the Grand Secretary and General Wenfu dispatched one thousand troops in that direction.
Because Ba Gio Diyoo was an extremely important position, your servant instructed deputy commander Usihada to lead these one thousand troops to Ba Gio Diyoo, advance against it, and cut off the transverse road leading from Ba Gio Diyoo.
Your servant estimated the day on which Wenfu’s supporting troops would descend to attack and therefore sent Usihada forward on the evening of the fourth day.
On the fifth day, of the eight hundred troops originally led by your servant, more than five hundred were left to guard the important positions surrounding Liu Bingtian’s camp. Only slightly more than two hundred troops remained available for your servant to lead.
If your servant were to take these troops and descend to attack while enemy forces remained deployed along the mountain ridges surrounding Liu Bingtian’s camp, the grain and provisions stored inside the camp—matters of the greatest importance—would be endangered, and such an advance would serve no useful purpose.
Therefore, after Wenfu’s troops arrive, your servant will lead the remaining troops in a coordinated attack from both sides.
Your servant Hailanca will exert his full strength to attack and cut off the enemy’s route.
Understanding Perspective in Manchu Military Discourse
While leading eight hundred soldiers to victory at Dimda, Hailanca was simultaneously preparing a two-sided attack on Ba Gio Diyoo.
He left more than five hundred troops to protect Liu Bingtian’s camp and the surrounding mountain positions against enemy attacks. He also dispatched deputy commander Usihada to meet the one thousand reinforcements sent by General Wenfu.
Hailanca intended to combine the slightly more than two hundred troops remaining with him with the thousand reinforcements and then divide the force into two wings for a concentrated attack on Ba Gio Diyoo.
In describing this deployment, Hailanca repeatedly transforms aha, “your servant Hailanca,” and jiyanggiyūn wenfu, “General Wenfu,” into locative expressions:
aha i baci — “from your servant’s position”
jiyanggiyūn wenfu i baci — “from General Wenfu’s position”
These constructions emphasize the source from which troops were deployed.
In Chinese translation, the author restores these elements to grammatical subjects. Although their grammatical function changes, the translation continues to emphasize the origin of the troops.
Correctly identifying the agent and object of an action and distinguishing the functions and meanings of serial predicates are therefore crucial in discourse analysis of Manchu historical documents.
For example, in this memorial, the direct object of ulhibume tacibufi, “to instruct/order,” is deputy commander Usihada.
Its indirect object is the object clause:
ere emu minggan cooha be gaifi, ba gio diyoo de isinafi, ba gio diyoo ci hetu jugūn be lashalame afame jio
The sequence expresses the instruction to take the thousand troops, reach Ba Gio Diyoo, cut off the transverse road leading from it, and attack.
The directional meaning of jio, together with the preceding verbs gaifi, isinafi, lashalame, afame, creates continuity within the clause.
Indeed, the consecutive use of these verbs directly establishes the semantic hierarchy of the main sentence. 粘贴的文本 (1)
Coherence across an Entire Military Memorial
When reporting the fighting at Dimda, Hailanca sets out, one by one, the time and place of the engagement, the distribution and deployment of troops, the details of combat, and the resulting victory.
The subsequent report on preparations for Ba Gio Diyoo begins while the Dimda operation is still unfolding. Again, time, place, preparations, and military decisions are clearly explained, although the tactical situation is entirely different.
The memorial nevertheless forms a coherent whole.
Its grammatical and lexical devices create natural connections between individual passages, while the two principal sections remain semantically and logically interconnected.
Other memorials likewise demonstrate Hailanca’s basic ability to select words, construct sentences, and organize extended written discourse.
For example, when describing the illness of the imperial bodyguard Kube, Hailanca wrote:
ilaci jergi hiya kube duleke aniya juwan biyade lung cuwan i bade edulehe nimeku bahaci ebsi, tetele umai yebe ojoro unde, gala bethe gemu aššaci ojorakū ohobi.
“Third-class imperial bodyguard Kube suffered a stroke at Lung Cuan in the tenth month of last year. Since becoming ill, he has still not recovered at all; his hands and feet have become completely unable to move.”
Here Hailanca consecutively employs temporal expressions:
duleke aniya juwan biyade — “in the tenth month of last year”
ebsi — “since…”
tetele — “until now”
Together they clearly mark the progression of Kube’s illness.
When reporting difficulties encountered during a march, Hailanca uses ofi, “because,” and ere dade, “moreover/furthermore,” to express causal and concessive relationships:
nurhūme ududu inenggi nimarafi nimanggi šumin jugūn niolhun ofi, hūdun cooha dosifi ojorakū.ere dade wehe juheneme bakcafi feteme gaire de manga.
“Because snow had fallen continuously for several days, the snow was deep and the roads slippery, so the rapid troops could not advance. Moreover, the rocks had frozen and split, making them difficult to excavate.”
The causes and results are expressed directly and are easy to understand.
Reading and translating historical documents of this kind therefore requires an understanding not only of grammar but also of the historical circumstances in which a text was produced and the linguistic perspective of its writer.
Only by becoming familiar with the discourse structures and characteristics of Qianlong-period official documents and with the military background of the events described can a translator accurately understand military reports and the respective conventions of written Manchu and Chinese. 粘贴的文本 (1)
III. The Discourse Functions of Hailanca’s Manchu Memorials
By the Qianlong period, the language used in memorials expressing gratitude for imperial favor had become highly formulaic.
Hailanca was proficient in the conventional expressions used both when thanking the emperor on his own behalf and when expressing gratitude on behalf of others.
When humbling himself before the emperor, for example, he employed expressions such as:
dubei jecen i orho suiha gese aha
“a servant as insignificant as the grass and weeds of a remote frontier”
emu dubei jergi mentuhun hūlhi aha
“an insignificant, foolish and ignorant servant”
ser seme yabuhangge geli ai dabure babi
“My insignificant conduct is of little worth.”
When expressing gratitude for imperial favor, he frequently used formulaic expressions such as:
ejen i horon hūturi de akdafi baha
“received through reliance upon the majestic power and fortune of the sovereign”
abka na i gese den jiramin kesi de tumen de emgeri karulara
“to repay even one ten-thousandth of imperial grace as lofty and profound as Heaven and Earth”
enduringge ejen genggiyen i bulekušereo
“I respectfully beseech the sagacious sovereign to examine this clearly.”
Hailanca occasionally reused entire passages for convenience.
On the third day of the tenth month and again on the twenty-sixth day of the eleventh month of 1792, he received imperial purses as gifts. In both replies he used essentially the same expression of gratitude:
duleke aniya ci ning ni jugūn ci ere aniya cooha dosika de isibume enduringge ejen ahasi be jilame gosime, mudan mudan i doshon derengge kesi isibufi hacinggai sain jaka hacin šangnahangge, yargiyan i toloho seme wajirakū.te geli ferguwecuke kesi isibume, aha de dele baitalara fadu …šangname…
“From last year on the road to Xining until this year’s advance of the army, the sagacious sovereign has repeatedly shown compassion toward your servants, bestowing favor upon us time and again and rewarding us with all kinds of excellent objects, truly too numerous to count. Now once again extraordinary favor has been bestowed, and your servant has been rewarded with an imperial purse…”
The repeated use of the same wording illustrates the highly conventionalized character of this type of memorial.
The Emperor’s Manchu Vermilion Endorsements
During periods of frequent military operations, Hailanca wrote Manchu memorials almost daily, reporting actual battlefield conditions.
The Qianlong Emperor responded in Manchu with vermilion endorsements, creating a genuine written “dialogue” between ruler and commander.
Seventy-three surviving Manchu memorials by Hailanca bear imperial vermilion endorsements.
Among the emperor’s habitual short responses were:
saha — “Understood.”
hese wasimbuha — “An order has been issued.”
giyan ningge — “It is reasonable.”
Slightly fuller endorsements remain semantically concise and clearly structured:
sain saha — “Good. Understood.”
inu sain — “Yes. Good.”
suwede weile akū saha — “You are without fault. Understood.”
ere icihiyambe inu hese wasimbuha — “What has been done is correct. A separate order has been issued.”
suwede weile akū hese wasibuha — “You are without fault. A separate order has been issued.”
coohai nashuni ambasa uthai gisurefi wesimbu — “Let the Grand Council ministers immediately deliberate and submit a memorial.”
urgucaha tuwaha — “I have read this with satisfaction.”
sini wesi(mbu)he songkoi yabubuha — “Proceed according to what you have memorialized.”
giyan ningge kai ele aššahayabu — “It is indeed reasonable. Exert yourselves still further.”
Twenty-two Manchu vermilion comments also appear within the body of Hailanca’s memorials.
Some are somewhat longer:
suweni juwenofi bisire jakade, bi gūnin majige sindaha ele kice.
“With the two of you there, my mind is somewhat relieved. Exert yourselves still further.”
Another reads:
onggolo bi silin dacungga kūwaran i cooha be unggiki serede ce ojorakū, jiduji ehe ombi te jabcacibe inu amcaburakū ombi.
“Previously, I wished to dispatch troops from the Jianrui Battalion, but they would not agree. This has indeed caused harm. Even though they regret it now, it is already too late.”
These imperial comments display a clear logical relationship with the statements made by Hailanca in the memorials. 粘贴的文本 (1)
Manchu Memorials as Evidence of Natural Written Discourse
The narrative descriptions found in the Manchu memorials of Hailanca and other military commanders go far beyond the conversational materials preserved in instructional works such as Yongyan Zhizhi, Man-Han Chengyu Duidai, Qingwen Zhiyao, Bai'er Laoren Yulu, and Qingyu Laoqida.
They provide a much fuller demonstration of the natural properties and practical functions of extended Manchu discourse.
To a considerable extent, this was the traditional manner in which written Manchu expressed semantic relationships.
Whether in the Qianlong period, when Hailanca’s memorials were translated to assist in understanding military developments and compiling official campaign histories, or today, when scholars translate Manchu archives, local gazetteers, and other historical documents, the translator’s understanding of Manchu discourse remains unavoidable.
Discourse analysis must therefore address not simply the meanings of individual words and grammatical constructions but the ways in which those elements function within a complete communicative context.
Translation, Directionality, and Geographical Perspective
The translation of Manchu palace memorials into a semi-classical form of written Chinese was both a practical requirement of Qing governmental activity and a product of sustained linguistic and cultural contact between Manchu and Chinese.
In another memorial, Hailanca wrote:
juwan ilan i erde, cooha tomilafi, udai se jing juraki serede, mei no šancin i wargi amargi alin i de keremu ci, gaitai tanggū isire hūlha wasinjifi, gungg’arla ci mei no de jidere jugūn be lashalame efulehe.udai ice isinjiha gui jeo cooha be gaifi, uthai hūlha be wesihun bireme afara de, meyen i amban fuhing, baturu hiya, janggisa sirabume dosifi, hūlhai ilan mudan birenjihe be, gemu amasi burulabufi, udu hūlha be miyoošame wara jakade, hūlhasa ejelehe keremu be anabufi, alin i ojo de bisire keremu de burulame dosika。
The passage describes events on the morning of the thirteenth day of the sixth month in 1773.
A close translation would read:
“On the morning of the thirteenth, after troops had been selected and the commanders including Udai were preparing to depart, nearly one hundred enemy troops suddenly descended from the fortified positions on the northwestern mountain behind Meino and cut off and destroyed the road leading from Gungg’arla to Meino. Udai led the newly arrived Guizhou troops immediately forward to engage the enemy. Commanding Minister Fuhing, the Baturu bodyguards, and the janggin officers then advanced in succession. Three enemy assaults were all repelled. Several enemy soldiers were killed by musket fire, whereupon the enemy abandoned the fortified positions they had occupied and retreated into the fortifications on the summit.”
Wu Yuanfeng translated the same passage as:
“On the morning of the thirteenth, troops were selected, and just as Wudai was preparing to depart, nearly one hundred enemy troops suddenly attacked from the fortified positions on the northwestern ridge of Meino, cutting off the road from Gungg’arla to Meino. Wudai led the newly arrived Guizhou troops immediately into battle. Commanding Minister Fuxing, the Baturu bodyguards, and the janggin officers advanced in support. Three enemy attacks were all repelled. Several enemy soldiers were killed, after which the enemy abandoned the positions they had occupied and fled into the fortifications on the summit.”
The Official History of the Pacification of the Two Jinchuan Regions condensed the event still further:
“On the fourteenth day of the sixth month, Hailanca and Boqing'e memorialized that on the morning of the thirteenth, more than one hundred enemy troops appeared within the wooden fortifications northwest of Meino. Wudai immediately led the newly arrived Guizhou troops upward to engage them. The enemy charged three times and several were killed each time. They then abandoned the fortifications and fled into the wooden defenses on the mountaintop.”
The official campaign history thus removed some of the relative sequence involving the departure of Qing troops and the sudden enemy attack, weakening the sense of battlefield tension present in Hailanca’s original memorial.
The phrase containing jidere jugūn, literally the “road of coming,” was also entirely omitted from the Official History of the Pacification of the Two Jinchuan Regions.
Wu Yuanfeng’s translation, by contrast, preserves the directional force of wasinjifi, “descending,” by extending its meaning to “coming to attack,” while omitting the explicit directional sense of jidere, “coming,” and incorporating that sense into the expression describing the attack.
If the sentence is reorganized around the grammatical subject “the enemy,” however, it becomes possible to identify the geographical perspective embedded in the original.
The “road of coming” refers to the route by which enemy troops came from their position at Meino toward Gungg’arla, where Hailanca and the Qing forces were stationed. The expression is therefore geographically oriented from the enemy-held position at Meino.
At the same time, Hailanca’s memorial takes his own position at Gungg’arla as the starting point and Meino as the destination when describing movement through the landscape.
In translation, placing the expression “the road of coming” closer to “Meino” helps the reader understand the spatial perspective adopted by Hailanca.
A comparable principle can be seen in conventional Qing administrative expressions such as:
yabubuha dangse — documents sent out
isinjiha dangse — documents received
The direction of documentary movement is determined from the perspective of the writer or the institution receiving and preserving the records.
For translation between Manchu and Chinese, the translator must therefore adapt to the implicit geographical perspective of the original text and accurately understand the routes, directions, and spatial relationships embedded in its discourse. 粘贴的文本 (1)
Conclusion
Hailanca’s Manchu palace memorials are valuable not only as historical records of Qing military campaigns but also as unusually rich examples of Manchu written discourse in actual administrative communication.
Unlike instructional dialogues or artificially constructed language-learning materials, these memorials were written in response to immediate events. They had concrete communicative purposes: reporting troop movements, explaining tactical decisions, describing combat, requesting imperial instructions, expressing gratitude, and responding directly to the emperor.
Their language therefore preserves something particularly important—the way Manchu functioned when it was actively being used to communicate complex information within the Qing political and military system.
The repeated use of serial predicates, SOV structures, temporal expressions, hypothetical constructions, directional verbs, and shifts in grammatical perspective demonstrates that understanding Manchu historical documents requires more than translating individual words or sentences.
The translator must reconstruct the discourse as a whole.
Time, geographical position, military movement, the identity of agents and recipients, and the writer’s own spatial perspective can all affect the meaning of a passage.
For this reason, Hailanca’s memorials offer valuable material not only for Qing history but also for the study of Manchu grammar, discourse analysis, historical translation, and Manchu-Chinese linguistic interaction.
To read these memorials accurately is therefore to move beyond the isolated sentence and recover the larger communicative world in which written Manchu once functioned as a living language of government, warfare, and direct communication between an emperor and his commanders.
Author: Wu Xuejuan (吴雪娟)
Compiled and Translated by: MING YE