Author Description

This dissertation examines the state formation of the Zunghar Principality, the last centralized state of the Eurasian steppe. Based on Manchu, Mongolian, Oirad, Chinese, Russian, and Persian sources, this research argues that the Zunghar state formation was a long-term process characterized by consistent transformations of the state ruling system. The Zunghar Principality ultimately originated from an administrative unit of the Oirad Empire in the fifteenth century. With the disintegration of the Oirad Empire, the semi-autonomous Zunghar unit transformed into an independent principality ruled by the Zunghar aristocratic house. Facing external threats from the Mongols and Kazakhs, the Zunghar Principality allied with other Oirad principalities, becoming a constituent statelet of the Four Oirad Confederation by the early seventeenth century. Having defeated its external enemies, the Four Oirad Confederation considerably expanded its territory during the mid-seventeenth century. Meanwhile, the component Oirad principalities engaged in internal conflicts to attain supremacy within the confederacy. In the late seventeenth century, the Zunghar Principality overwhelmed all of its rivals and developed into a centralized state, functioning as the regional hegemon in Central Asia. In the eighteenth century, the Zunghar Principality consolidated its centralized state system by strengthening the Zunghar autocracy at the expense of the Oirad aristocracy. The Zunghar supreme ruler (khungtaiji) installed appanages ruled by Oirad princes and administrative units controlled by high officials (jaisangs) simultaneously at the local level. By doing so, the khungtaiji effectively precluded Oirad aristocratic houses from monopolizing a certain region, forestalling an Oirad aristocracy from emerging as a powerful contender for the throne. In contrast, the khungtaiji monopolized the vast region along the Ili and Tekes Rivers as his appanage-cum-power base. In this way, the khungtaiji over