Mongolian code

The Mongolian code (ch. Menggu lüli 蒙古律例 ; mo. mongγol čaγaǰin-u bičig) consists of a set of statutes enacted for the Mongols under the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It was issued for the first time in 1742 (January 21st, 1742) and revised several times until it was replaced in 1815 by the Regulations of the Lifanyuan (Lifanyuan zeli 理藩院則例).

This online version of the Mongolian code provides several editions of the Mongolian code in Chinese and in Mongolian. The edition and the punctuation of the texts have been carried out by Frédéric Constant (University Paris X Nanterre) with the assistance of Sun Jiahong (China Academy of Social Sciences) for the Chinese text and of Bao Surina 包苏日娜 (student in the Department of Mongolian studies of the Minzu University of China) for the Mongolian text.

This on-line version is still a work-in-progress and we will be grateful, however, to readers who will bring any remaining typos and mistakes to our attention. The on-line version consists of the following editions of the Mongolian code:

- The 1766 edition, drafted in Chinese, has been reprinted (link). The original document is available at the library of the Minzu University of China. Our on-line version procedes from the comparison of both editions.

- The 1774 edition, drafted in Chinese, is stored in the Reading Room for Ordinary Old Books (National Library of China) and has been edited under the supervision of Liu Hainan and Yang Yifan (link). This on-line version has been ponctuated anew.

- The 1789 code has been drafted in Mongolian, Chinese and Manchu. For the Chinese text, we have relied on the facsimile published in 1988 by the Research Centre for History and Geography of China's Border Areas (link). Some printing errors in the original document have been corrected through a comparison with the codes issued in 1766 and 1774. This on-line version has been ponctuated anew. For the Mongolian script, we have used the only complete edition still available nowadays of the text, a manuscript stored at Manuscripts Department (Orient and eastern collections) of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and compared it with a partial woodprint edition, as reconstituted from different documents scattered in academic institutions in the Mongolian People's Republic by Batsukhin Bayarsaikhan (link).

 


Last update on Sunday 17 January 2016 (17:07) by  Frédéric Constant