Qing China was rich with languages reflecting the diversity of the people living within it. Emperors saw multilingual knowledge as evidence that they ruled over a universal empire. They encouraged training in languages such as Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur. The Qing promoted Manchu as an official imperial language alongside Chinese, the language of the majority. This changed during the 19th century as knowledge of the Manchu language in the imperial court declined.
1835
In the Qing empire, officials routinely issued bilingual documents. The Manchu text is on the left, Chinese appears on the right. Dešun is addressed in Chinese as xiaoqixiao, and in Manchu as funde bošoku, both meaning ‘lieutenant.’