SUN Yan
2026, 40(5): 183-196.
The Qianlong Emperor articulated the essential principle of governance,as follows,“to align with our teaching of the voice”This concept aimed to harmonize differences within a unified cultural order grounded in“the teaching of the voice”,which refers to enlightenment through ritualmusic education or verbal instruction and can also denote the cultivation of civilization,building upon an inclusive approach to the customary traditions of the empires multiple ethnic groups. Compared to the Song and Ming dynasties,the Qing rulers and ministers revitalized the classical Confucian tenet of“carrying out the teaching of the voice without limits”It not only transcended the singular Confucian model of cultural edification,thereby legitimizing the integration of diverse ethnic cultures to“align with our teaching of the voice”,but also instituted a dual mechanism of internal and external application with differentiated levelsWithin the imperial territory,the policy described as the teaching of the voice was operationalized through direct political and moral control,as well as the routine disciplining of the populace in different localitiesFor external polities,the Qing court emphasized persuasive soft power,seeking the symbolism of ritual order through rituals like accepting imperial edicts,adopting the Qing calendar,and performing tributary rites to achieve“unification through the teaching of the voice”The evolution of the concept of the teaching of the voice during the Qing Dynasty reconfigured the civilizational meaning of the wellknown“Chinese teaching of the voice”and fostered the ideology of“the unification of both the Chinese and the foreign” and the saying that“the polities of China and foreign countries share one body”On the one hand,these concepts help consolidate internal ethnic cohesion and project an external image of“allunderHeaven”lordship,and,on the other hand,they likewise entrenched a vague sense of celestial superiority,thereby shaping the trajectory of the empires foreign relations in its later decades.