The Chinese Empire in Local Society: Ming Military Institutions and Their Legacies (The Historical Anthropology of Chinese Society Series)

This book explores the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) military, its impact on local society, and its many legacies for Chinese society. It is based on extensive original research by scholars using the methodology of historical anthropology, an approach that has transformed the study of Chinese history by approaching the subject from the bottom up. Its nine chapters, each based on a different region of China, examine the nature of Ming military institutions and their interaction with local social life over time. Several chapters consider the distinctive role of imperial institutions in frontier areas and how they interacted with and affected non-Han ethnic groups and ethnic identity. Others discuss the long-term legacy of Ming military institutions, especially across the dynastic divide from Ming to Qing (1644-1912) and the implications of this for understanding more fully the nature of the Qing rule. This book explores the Ming dynasty (1368â••1644) military, its impact on local society, and its many legacies for Chinese society. It is based on extensive original research by scholars using the methodology of historical anthropology, an approach that Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Information 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of contents 6 Maps 8 Contributors 9 Acknowledgments 11 1 State institutions, local society, and historical continuity: Ming military institutions from the perspective of ... 14 Notes 36 2 The social impact of changing patterns of military recruitment and logistics in Yongzhou, Hunan 39 The establishment of Taochuan Battalion and the institutional decline of the military 40 “Paying taxes to both the county and the Battalion” 43 Killers (shashou) in the Barracks system, and encouragement of permanent settlement 45 Guarding the mountain passes and the Barracks system 48 Conclusion 50 Notes 51 3 Military colonies and localization in Yongchun, Fujian 55 The military colonies of Yongchun and their soldiers 56 Colony lineages “enter lijia registration” 61 The Taiping Li 61 The Dapu Lin 63 The Tang of Dali 67 Marriage networks of colony lineages 68 Colony lineages and local public affairs 71 Conclusions 74 Notes 75 4 The evolution of temples in Jinxiang Guard and the localization of state institutions 78 The rise and fall of the Military Banner (Qidao) temple and the gradual abandonment of the imperial military ritual canon 80 The establishment of the Guard Daoist temple and the transmission of local Daoist sects 82 The spread of the cult to Duke Yan and the integration of coastal populations 85 The construction of Old Man Yang auxiliary temples and the militarization of a local deity 87 Conclusions 90 Notes 92 5 State and local society in the reform of the garrison system in the Qing Dynasty: A case study of Yuzhou Guard 95 Social unrest in the mid- and late Ming and the structure of local power 97 The Li lineage and the dispute over integration of the subprefecture and the Guard during the Ming-Qing transition 99 Converting the Guard to a county and the disputes over the integration of the subprefecture and the Guard during the early Qing 103 Cultural activities in Yuxian County and the eventual integration of the subprefecture and the county 105 Conclusion 108 Notes 109 6 Where are the Western Aborigines?: Ningfan Guard and the transformation of local society in southwestern Sichuan in ... 112 Garrison, household registration, and Xifan-Han relations 114 Private soldiers, family servants, and Han surnames 117 Surveying military colony fields, compiling genealogies, and status transformation 119 The garrison military households’ role in shaping frontier society and the significance of the Ming-Qing state 123 Notes 124 7 The Green Shoots Crop Protection Associations of Taozhou, Gansu: Ming identities/Qing histories 128 Introduction 128 Social change sparked by the dissolution of the Guard and its conversion into a subprefecture 130 Community formation and land disputes 132 Han-Fan disputes and community formation 133 Hui rebellion and local power organization 136 Conclusion 138 Notes 139 8 The “civilianization” of military colonies and the reorganization of military households: Ningxi Battalion and the ... 141 Land and household registration in the history of the garrison system 142 The common trajectory of tax and corvee reform in early Qing southern China 147 Contractual colony households (hetong tunhu) and land reclamation 150 Qing military colony reform and its political and social significance 154 Notes 156 9 Military lineages and the Qing tribute grain system: The “Xie/Chen/Liao Barge” of Ganzhou Guard, Jiangxi 158 Introduction: Tribute grain military households and imperial governance 158 The “Xie-Chen-Liao Barge” 159 The reorganization of the tribute grain barge system in the early Qing and the restructuring of the tribute grain soldiers 161 Military household lineages and tribute grain communities 167 Conclusion: Tribute grain and the Qing “integration breakthrough” 174 Notes 175 10 The tribute grain system, military colony lands, and transport soldier lineages in Ming and Qing: The case of ... 179 The inheritance: The evolution of the Ming garrison military household 180 Tasks of the garrison soldiers and reorganization in the early Qing 185 Military corvee, colony fields, and lineage formation 187 Disputes over tribute grain transportation 190 Conclusions 192 Notes 194 Appendix I: Ming and Qing reign periods 196 Appendix II: Ming weights and measures 197 Appendix III: Glossary and character list 198 References 205 Archives 205 Gazetteers 205 Genealogies 207 Inscriptions 208 Other primary sources 209 Secondary sources 211 Index 219 This book explores the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) military, its impact on local society and its many legacies for Chinese society. It is based on extensive original research by scholars using the methodology of historical anthropology, an approach that has transformed the study of Chinese history by approaching the subject from the bottom up. Its nine chapters, each based on a different region of China, examine the nature of Ming military institutions and how they interacted with local social life over time. Several chapters consider the distinctive role of imperial institutions in frontier areas and how they interacted with and affected non-Han ethnic groups and ethnic identity. Others discuss the long-term legacy of Ming military institutions, especially across the dynastic divide from Ming to Qing (1644-1912) and the implications of this for understanding more fully the nature of the Qing rule