EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN MILITARY TALENT
123
performed a valuable military function. Not only did they help cast cannon for use against the invading Manchus prior to the Ch'ing takeover, but at least one, Adam Schall von Bell, received orders to join the Ming campaigns against the rebel, Li Tzu-ch'eng, as a military adviser.52 During the 1620's the Ming government even employed a number of Macao-born Chinese and Europeans to fight against the Manchus, although the motley contingent of musketeers and gunners never got further north than Nan-ch'ang (Kiangsi).53 In all, foreigners in the Ming military service played a useful role, but their employment was never viewed with unqualified approbation. Whatever difficulty did occur with barbarian employees, the Chinese bureaucracy and historians tended to label it "rebellion."*54
After the fall of the Ming capital in 1644, the Manchus used Western military assistance to consolidate their position in China, while Ming loyalists continued to avail themselves of it in fighting the Ch'ing. During this transitional period, the Portuguese especially showed a marked ability to "run with the hare and hunt with the hound," serving both sides as gunners and craftsmen.55 At Peking, meanwhile, the Jesuits succeeded in transferring their allegiance to the Ch'ing and continued to serve as court scientists and technicians. Remarkably, the Manchus do not appear to have harbored a grudge against either the Portuguese or the Jesuits for their support of the failing Ming cause. Perhaps this was because European military and technical aid remained useful to the dynasty throughout the seventeenth century: In the 1660's, the Dutch, as "tributary subjects," rendered naval assistance to the Ch'ing against the Cheng rebels on Taiwan; in the 1670's and 80's the Jesuits cast cannon for use in suppressing the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673-1681); and at various times a few Dutch deserters and some escaped slaves from Macao held low-rank positions in the Ch'ing military service.56
But with the decline of Jesuit influence in the eighteenth century after the bitter attacks of Yang Kuang-hsien and the famous “Rites Controversy,” the use of Westerners in military affairs likewise declined. Anti-Western sentiment grew more pronounced at the capital, while at the same time, multi-ethnic Ch'ing military forces—composed of Manchus, Mongols, Chinese, and some Russians (with whom the dynasty had a special relationship), sufficed to protect, and even expand, China's boundaries without the aid of new Western technology and significant numbers of European troops.57
EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN MILITARY TALENT
123
performed a valuable military function. Not only did they help cast cannon for use against the invading Manchus prior to the Ch'ing takeover, but at least one, Adam Schall von Bell, received orders to join the Ming campaigns against the rebel, Li Tzu-ch’eng, as a military adviser,52 During the 1620's the Ming government even employed a number of Macao-born Chinese and Europeans to fight against the Manchus, although the motley contingent of musketeers and gunners never got further north than Nan-ch'ang (Kiangsi), 53 In all, foreigners in the Ming military service played a useful role, but their employment was never viewed with unqualified approba- tion. Whatever difficulty did occur with barbarian employees, the Chinese bureaucracy and historians tended to label it "rebellion."*54
After the fall of the Ming capital in 1644, the Manchus used Western military assistance to consolidate their position in China, while Ming loyalists continued to avail of it in fighting the Ch'ing. During this transitional period, the Portuguese especially showed a marked ability to "run with the hare and hunt with the hound," serving both sides as gunners and craftsmen.55 At Peking, mean- while, the Jesuits succeeded in transferring their allegiance to the Ch'ing and continued to serve as court scientists and technicians. Remarkably, the Manchus do not appear to have harbored a grudge against either the Portuguese or the Jesuits for their support of the failing Ming cause. Perhaps this was because European military and technical aid remained useful to the dynasty throughout the seventeenth century: In the 1660's, the Dutch, as "tributary sub- jects," rendered naval assistance to the Ch'ing against the Cheng rebels on Taiwan; in the 1670's and 80's the Jesuits cast cannon for use in suppressing the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (1673- 1681); and at various times a few Dutch deserters and some escaped slaves from Macao held low-rank positions in the Ch'ing military service.56
But with the decline of Jesuit influence in the eighteenth century after the bitter attacks of Yang Kuang-hsien and the famous “Rites Controversy," the use of Westerners in military affairs likewise declined. Anti-Western sentiment grew more pronounced at the capital, while at the same time, multi-ethnic Ch'ing military forces -composed of Manchus, Mongols, Chinese, and some Russians (with whom the dynasty had a special relationship), sufficed to pro- tect, and even expand, China's boundaries without the aid of new Western technology and significant numbers of European troops.57
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