Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica 中央研究院近代史研究所

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Vol. 132

ISSN：1029-4740

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Abstract：

This issue contains three articles: “The Composition of Western Regional Entries in the Qianlong Court’s Illustrations of Tributary Peoples and the Representation of the Western Regions after the Conquest of the Dzungars,” by LIN Shih-hsuan; “Interest on Capital and Depreciation: The Shanghai Mechanical Textile Bureau’s Public Offering Information Disclosure in 1880,” by TANG Hak Tung; “Politics of Occupation:The Operations and Internal Dynamics
of the Beiping Security Maintenance Committee,” by XI Qing-xun; two Book Reviews: “Carla Nappi, Translating Early Modern China: Illegible Cities,” by CHEN Kuan-Chieh; “Kuan-Jen Chen, Charting America’s Cold War Waters in East Asia: Sovereignty, Local Interests, and International Security,” by James LEE.

Contents

論文

The Composition of Western Regional Entries in the Qianlong Court’s Illustrations of Tributary Peoples and the Representation of the Western Regions after the Conquest of the Dzungars

LIN Shih-hsuan

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Focusing on the first fascicle of the Qianlong court’s Illustrations of Tributary Peoples 職貢圖, the present article examines the composition and ordering of entries concerning the Western Regions, particularly the pivotal position occupied by the Ili Oirat peoples and the Muslim cities of Huibu 回部, exploring how certain groups, which should in principle have been classified under the Eight Banners or the Qing dynasty Fanbu 藩部, the empire’s Inner Asian dependencies, rather than tributary polities, were incorporated into the visual system of tributary representation. By cross-referencing the Illustrations of Tributary Peoples with other visual and textual materials, including court-produced materials, related maps of the Western Regions, and Manchu-language documents, the Qing’s reorganization of knowledge and territorial order in the aftermath of campaigns in the Western Regions is traced. This article argues that the presented Ili Oirat and Muslim cities had already become entries in the Imperially Revised and Enlarged Mirror of the Manchu Language 御製增訂清文鑑 under “Pacification of the Dzungar Oirats” 平定準噶爾厄魯特 and “Pacification of the Muslims” 平定回子, thereby indicating that their status had shifted from foreign or tributary polities to banner-affiliated and frontier-dependent subjects of the empire despite continuing to be arranged within the former. This “transgressive” form of compilation allowed the Illustrations of Tributary Peoples both to continue the tradition of tributary imagery and to document the pacification of the Dzungar peoples and the consolidation of the Western Regions, marking a “Western Regions/Inner Asian turn” in Qing imperial representation. By magnifying the visual prominence of these groups and cities, the Dzungar Khanate was effectively erased as an independent political entity and historical subject, surviving only as internalized banner divisions and Fanbu categories within the territorial imagination of “China” and imperial memory.

Keyword：Illustrations of Tributary Peoples, Western Regions, Dzungar, territorial integration, Inner Asian turn

Interest on Capital and Depreciation: The Shanghai Mechanical Textile Bureau’s Public Offering Information Disclosure in 1880

TANG Hak Tung

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The present article reviews the content of the prospectus issued by the Shanghai Mechanical Textile Bureau 上海機器織布局 in 1880. Although the original management team, led by Zheng Guanying 鄭觀應 (1842–1922), lacked integrity, the disclosures made during its public offering reveals often-overlooked aspects of China’s first wave of indigenous joint-stock companies. At the time, state-supervised, merchant-operated 官督商辦 enterprises had already been promoting their stock offerings through newspaper-published prospectuses, leveraging international Chinese networks to attract overseas funds. The prospectus disclosed a considerable amount of information, comparable to that of foreign companies listed during the same period: introductions to business prospects and enjoyed exclusive rights, a profit forecast, and details of use of funds, revenue, as well as direct and indirect production costs. To attract investors, the company announced not only the distribution of guanli 官利 (interest on capital) but also plans to adopt certain foreign practices deemed optimal, such as charging depreciation, electing directors, and procuring insurance for corporate assets. This article thus explores two issues in modern business history that remain poorly understood, namely the guanli system and the alleged lack of depreciation provisions in traditional Chinese accounting systems. First, the payment of fixed interest on capital invested by shareholders was common among foreign partnerships and joint-stock companies during the same period and was thus not unique to China. Second, the Bureau’s intended adoption of the foreign accounting policy of charging depreciation for its machinery and equipment demonstrates that the claim by some scholars that the development of Western accounting systems in the 19th century had no impact on China is incorrect. In fact, the contemporaneous China Merchants Steam Navigation Company 招商局 had already adopted depreciation provisions. However, due to concerns over the potential impact on reported earnings and dividend distributions, the practice was not widespread.

Keyword：Shanghai Mechanical Textile Bureau, prospectus, guanli, interest on capital, depreciation

Politics of Occupation:The Operations and Internal Dynamics of the Beiping Security Maintenance Committee

XI Qing-xun

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103

Book Reviews

Carla Nappi, Translating Early Modern China: Illegible Cities

CHEN Kuan-Chieh

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147

Kuan-Jen Chen, Charting America’s Cold War Waters in East Asia: Sovereignty, Local Interests, and International Security

James LEE

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157