![[WIA Languages Day 7/221] Manchu – From Imperial Courts to Village Lullabies](https://i3.wp.com/www.thekorean.today/imgdata/smilestory_kr/202510/2025100204388946.png?ssl=1 "[WIA Languages Day 7/221] Manchu – From Imperial Courts to Village Lullabies")
WIA LANGUAGES PROJECT
[Day 7/221]
ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ
Manju gisun | Manchu
“From imperial courts to village lullabies”
A quiet revolution, 221 languages’ digital archive • We’re not saving languages. We’re saving humanity.
🎵 A Manchu Lullaby
Eme ama de hairakan jui,
Amtangga jembi, saikan etuku etuci”
[ah-JEE joo-ee, yah yah / eh-meh ah-mah deh hai-rah-kahn joo-ee / ahm-tahng-gah jehm-bee, sai-kahn eh-too-koo eh-too-chee]
“Little child, sleep well / Child beloved by mother and father / Eat delicious food, wear beautiful clothes”
In Sanjiazi Village, Heilongjiang Province, 72-year-old Tao Qinglan sings this lullaby to her grandson. These words once echoed through the halls of the Forbidden City, the language of emperors who ruled China for 268 years. Now it whispers only from the lips of a handful of elders.
Every 14 days, a language falls silent forever.
Today, Day 7/221, we guide the language of empire from village memory into digital eternity.
Today’s Discovery
📖 Songs of Lost Time
From 1644 to 1912. For 268 years, Manchu was the voice of empire that echoed across all of China. When the Ming Dynasty crumbled and the Manchus swept south to establish the Qing, they created China’s largest territorial expanse, with great emperors like Kangxi and Qianlong ruling for over 60 years each, bringing unprecedented prosperity.
The Manchu script, created in 1599, graced millions of official documents. On every plaque in the Forbidden City, Manchu characters flowed alongside Chinese—elegant curves running top to bottom, left to right, described as “silky and graceful.” The Four Books and Five Classics were translated into Manchu, as was the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Military and diplomatic documents were sometimes written only in Manchu.
Yet the Manchus themselves walked the path of sinicization. By the late 19th century, even Beijing Manchus couldn’t pronounce their language properly. By 1906, the only Manchu documents in the imperial court were memorials wishing the emperor long life. Political and military success came at the price of ethnic identity.
![[WIA Languages Day 7/221] Manchu – From Imperial Courts to Village Lullabies](https://www.thekorean.today/imgdata/smilestory_kr/202510/2025100204388946.png "[WIA Languages Day 7/221] Manchu – From Imperial Courts to Village Lullabies") |
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[Image: The bilingual Chinese-Manchu plaque at the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. Golden Manchu script gleaming majestically, with Qing emperor’s dragon robes and the Eight Banner armies in the background]
🌾 Between Hope and Despair
Language Status
| Category | Information |
| 🏷️ Language Family | Tungusic |
| 🗣️ Native Speakers | Fewer than 10 (Critically Endangered) |
| 📍 Region | Sanjiazi & Dawujia villages, Heilongjiang, China |
| 👥 Ethnic Population | Over 10 million (mostly Chinese-speaking) |
As of 2025, only 3 villagers over 80 in Sanjiazi speak fluent Manchu, with about 15 others over 70 conversant to some degree. Even Ji Jinlu, the youngest native speaker at 71, admits “Those who could really speak authentic Manchu have already passed away.”
Yet 40-year-old Shi Junguang is different. When he first saw Manchu script in fifth grade, he declared, “Writing in Manchu is like painting a beautiful picture.” He has devoted his life to preserving the language. Since 2006, he has taught Manchu two hours weekly at Sanjiazi Manchu Elementary School, recording elders’ voices, desperately trying to catch the language before it slips away.
💎 Unique Beauty
Distinctive Manchu Expressions
- ilan boo [ee-LAHN boh]
“Three houses” – Sanjiazi’s Manchu name, marking where three families first settled - adulara ucun [ah-doo-LAH-rah oo-CHOON]
Herding song – traditional folk songs sung while riding horses across the steppes - ulabun [oo-LAH-boon]
Traditional Manchu oral storytelling, transmitting history and myths through song - abka-i fejergi [AHB-kah-ee feh-JEHR-gee]
“Under heaven” – the Qing Dynasty’s name for itself as the Celestial Empire
Manchu is an agglutinative language, building meaning through suffixes attached to stems. Verbs have special suffixes indicating direction of movement—away from the speaker (-na/-ne/-no) or toward the speaker (-nji). This linguistic feature reflects the spatial awareness of a nomadic people.
🌐 Technology Creating Records
WIA’s Digital Preservation Project
“We don’t just translate.
We preserve records digitally.
We make language materials permanently accessible.
We build digital archives for future generations.”
In 2022, researcher Wang Di’s team at the Academy of Social Sciences of Heilongjiang began using AI to save Manchu. They collected voices from Sanjiazi’s last speakers to develop ManWav, the first Manchu speech recognition model. Though imperfect, this AI provides draft transcriptions that researchers can revise.
Heilongjiang University’s Manchu Language Research Center teaches Manchu as an academic tool for reading Qing archives. Manchu clubs have formed at universities nationwide. In Xinjiang, the Xibe people still speak a language similar to Manchu, serving as modern custodians of the written tradition.
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[Image: Sanjiazi Manchu Elementary School classroom. Children writing Manchu script on electronic boards while AI speech recognition converts an elder’s voice to text. Traditional and modern Manchu script posters blend on the walls]
🎭 Why It Must Not Disappear
If Manchu disappears, we lose half of Qing Dynasty history. Millions of Manchu documents contain information absent from Chinese translations. Military campaigns on the northern frontiers, wars with the Dzungars, diplomatic correspondence with Russia—many exist only in Manchu.
More importantly, it’s a mirror showing how an empire lost its identity. The process by which builders of history’s fourth-largest empire forgot even their own language demands deep reflection on cultural assimilation and identity.
“If we lose Manchu, we don’t just lose a language—we lose who we are. Language is our soul, the wisdom of our ancestors.” – Meng Xianren (85), Sanjiazi’s oldest Manchu speaker
🔮 The Tomorrow We’ll Create
Since 2017, China has taught Manchu at Sanjiazi Elementary School as part of a minority language pilot program. Though political changes have reduced the program, Manchu ethnic consciousness grows stronger.
Singer-composer Akšan spent 20 years traveling northeastern China searching for “lost rhythms.” His recording of “Herding Song” created waves online, showing young generations Manchu’s beauty. While revival as a daily language seems unlikely, Manchu finds new life in the digital age as cultural heritage.
“221 days later, when all languages are digitally recorded, we will finally have a complete record of humanity. Manchu is the 7th chapter of that record.”
🌟 Resonance of Souls
Manju niyalma akū ombi”
[MAHN-joo gee-SOON ah-KOO oh-chee, MAHN-joo nee-YAHL-mah ah-KOO OHM-bee]
“Without Manchu language, there are no Manchu people”
May the language of empire, now a village lullaby,
Strike the strings of your soul
And resonate across time and space
With WIA, every voice is eternal
🌍 Become a Language Guardian
Started by one, completed by all
Be a witness to this history
📅 Tomorrow’s Miracle
Day 8/221: Jedek – Malaysia
280 voices hidden in the jungle, a language of peace awakens digitally.
WIA Languages Project
Connecting the world through 221 languages
A quiet revolution, humanity’s digital archive
📚 WIA Languages: wialanguages.com
🌐 WIA Tools: wia.tools
📰 The Korean Today: thekorean.today
Day 7/221: Manchu (ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ)
“Quietly, unwaveringly, one step at a time”
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Made with passion, without compromise, for humanity.
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