hostilities were resumed, the Manchus chiefly occupying themselves in
devastating the country round Peking, their numbers being constantly
swelled by a stream of deserters from the Chinese ranks. In 1643, Abkhai
died; he was succeeded by his ninth son, a boy of five, and was later on
canonised as T`ai Tsung, the Great Forefather. By 1635, he had already
begun to style himself Emperor of China, and had established a system
of public examinations. The name of the dynasty had been "Manchu" ever
since 1616; twenty years later he translated this term into the Chinese
word _Ch`ing_ (or Ts`ing), which means "pure"; and as the Great Pure
Dynasty it will be remembered in history. Other important enactments of
his reign were prohibitions against the use of tobacco, which had been
recently introduced into Manchuria from Japan, through Korea; against
the Chinese fashion of dress and of wearing the hair; and against the
practice of binding the feet of girls. All except the first of these
were directed towards the complete denationalisation of the Chinese who
had accepted his rule, and whose numbers were increasing daily.

So far, the Manchus seem to have been little influenced by religious
beliefs or scruples, except of a very primitive kind; but when they
came into closer contact with the Chinese, Buddhism began to spread its
charms, and not in vain, though strongly opposed by Abkhai himself.

In 1635 the Manchus had effected the conquest of Mongolia, aided to a
great extent by frequent defections of large bodies of Mongols who had
been exasperated by their own ill-treatment at the hands of the Chinese.
Among some ancient Mongolian archives there has recently been discovered
a document, dated 1636, under which the Mongol chiefs recognised the
suzerainty of the Manchu Emperor. It was, however, stipulated that, in
the event of the fall of the dynasty, all the laws existing previously
to this date should again come into force.