The control of the Szechuan-Kweichow frontier regions during the late Ming : a case study of the frontier policy and tribal administration of the Ming Government

Abstract

Building upon the frontier policies and the handling of tribal affairs of previous dynasties, the Ming Court systematised the t'u-ssu chieftain institution as an instrument for controlling tribal administration in southwestern China. At the same time, t'u-kuan prefectural governments in which the official status and administration were the same as those of the regular prefectural government were established. The headship of both was conferred upon chieftains, but the registrars and secretaries of the t'u-ssu government and the deputies and subordinates of the t'u-kuan government were mostly Han civil servants. After the abolition of a t'u-ssu, the Court had to consider whether the use of a fragmentation strategy or the application of kai-t'u kuei-liu was more advantageous. The former being a policy of establishing many small, weak territories ruled by new chieftains and Han officials was usually adopted for reasons of economy. The kai-t'u kuei-liu policy which led to the change from tribal to regular government and the replacement of tribal chiefs with regular officials required considerable financial investment to be successful. In carrying out this transformation, the Court achieved its two greatest successes in the establishment of Kweichow province after the suppression of the t'u-ssu governments of Ssu-chou and Ssu-nan in 1413 in the early Ming and in the creation of the two prefectures of Tsun-i and P'ing-yueh by the abolition of the Po-chou t'u-ssu government in 1601 in the late Ming. The Yang family had ruled over Po-chou for seven and a quarter centuries since 876 A.D. By following an opportunistic policy, the Yang family had maintained good feudal relations with a succession of dynastic houses. Having suffered official oppression and judicial trials from provincial authorities, the twenty-ninth ruler Yang Ying-lung revolted against the government. Displaying his antagonism towards five subordinate tribal chiefs and seven prominent local families, Yang Ying-lung confiscated their lands and property to provision his Miao troops in fighting against government forces and making raids over a wide area in northern Kweichow and southern Szechuan for several years. Thus the feudal relationship was broken and the social order severely disrupted. The local government forces failed to subjugate the uprising and the central government could not organise a new campaign because of the massive military commitment to keep Korea resist Japanese aggression. After the end of the Sino-Japanese War (1592-1598) in Korea, a government tribal united force of 240,000 was recruited to conduct a suppression campaign against Yang Ying-lung. Finally, in 1600, Ying-lung was defeated and committed suicide. Owing to the expense of the military campaigns and the request for political reforms, the Ming authorities implemented a kai-t'u kuei-liu policy. The rule by the Yang family was abolished and Po-chou was divided into two new prefectures under the jurisdiction of Szechuan and Kweichow respectively. Show more