Shang Jin

NOW AVAILABLE! "Waiting for the Barbarians: A History of Geopolitics in Early Modern China, 1680-1850" is a groundbreaking examination of how Qing China reimagined its imperial identity through territorial expansion, ideological adaptation, and cartographic precision. Between 1680 and 1850, the Qing integrated Central Asia, Tibet, and Mongolia into a vast, multiethnic empire—challenging traditional Confucian distinctions between civilization and “barbarism.” Bridging political thought, cultural geography, and geodetic science, this book reveals how Qing rulers legitimized territorial claims using symbolic geography—such as surveys of the Yellow River’s headwaters—and advanced tools like triangulation and the theodolite. These efforts fostered a new understanding of spatial order among Qing officials, intellectuals, and administrators. cambriapress.com/Waitingfort…