The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933
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The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Schluessel, Eric T. 2016. The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493602 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933 A dissertation presented by Eric Tanner Schluessel to The Committee on History and East Asian Languages in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History and East Asian Languages Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April, 2016 © 2016 – Eric Schluessel All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Mark C. Elliott Eric Tanner Schluessel The Muslim Emperor of China: Everyday Politics in Colonial Xinjiang, 1877-1933 Abstract This dissertation concerns the ways in which a Chinese civilizing project intervened powerfully in cultural and social change in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang from the 1870s through the 1930s. I demonstrate that the efforts of officials following an ideology of domination and transformation rooted in the Chinese Classics changed the ways that people associated with each other and defined themselves and how Muslims understood their place in history and in global space. Chinese power is central to the history of modern Xinjiang and to the Uyghur people, not only because the Chinese center has dominated the area as a periphery, but because of the ways in which that power intervened in society and culture on the local level. The processes and ramifications of the Chinese government in late-Qing and early Republican Xinjiang demonstrates strong parallels with colonialism in the context of European empire. This dissertation does not focus on the question of typology, however, but instead draws on methods from colonial history to explore the dynamics of a linguistically and religiously heterogeneous society. In order to do so, I draw on local archival documents in Chinese and Turkic and place them into dialogue with the broader Turkic-language textual record. This dissertation thus proceeds from the inception of the ideology that drove the civilizing project, through its social ramifications, to the innovations that emerged in Islamicate literature and history in Xinjiang in this period. iii Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 I. Xinjiang ....................................................................................................................... 7 II. Xinjiang in Qing Empire .......................................................................................... 11 III. The Colonial Process .............................................................................................. 15 IV. Sources and Methodology ...................................................................................... 22 V. Chapter Outline ........................................................................................................ 27 Chapter One: The Formation of the Colonial Ideology and Civilizing Mission .............. 29 I. The Prehistory of Hunanese Colonialism .................................................................. 33 II. A Community and an Ideology ................................................................................ 43 III. The Xiang Army in the Northwest .......................................................................... 45 IV. Zuo’s Heirs and the Government of Xinjiang ........................................................ 58 V. The Fall of the Hunanese and Rise of the Modernists ............................................. 83 VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 100 Chapter Two: Interpreters and Interpretation ................................................................. 104 I. Creating an Interpreter Class ................................................................................... 106 II. Muslim Authorities and Local Government ........................................................... 124 III. Baojia, Taxation, and Security .............................................................................. 134 IV. Merchant Associations and Representation .......................................................... 140 V. Layers of Interpretation and Representation: a Case Study from the Turpan Yamen ..................................................................................................................................... 143 VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 155 Chapter Three: Life Under Li ......................................................................................... 158 I. Li and the Hunanese Civilizing Mission ................................................................. 162 II. Fixing Families ....................................................................................................... 168 III. Hard Times and Difficult Choices: Marrying Out ................................................ 176 IV. Temporary Marriage and the Image of the Sexually Available Turki Woman .... 181 V. Trafficking Women ................................................................................................ 187 VI. Clerics and the Socio-Moral Order ....................................................................... 194 VII. Mountain Spirits and Houses Along the Highway .............................................. 199 VIII. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 214 Chapter Four: “Oh, the Chinese Bones!” ........................................................................ 219 I. Scattered Bones and Orphaned Children ................................................................. 223 II. Common Ancestors ................................................................................................ 236 iv III. Memorial ............................................................................................................... 250 IV. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 255 Chapter Five: Numinous Territoriality: Making Place, Claiming Space ........................ 259 I. Ruins ........................................................................................................................ 262 II. Rebuilding .............................................................................................................. 271 III. Pacification ........................................................................................................... 278 IV. Mosques ................................................................................................................ 294 V. Drama ..................................................................................................................... 301 VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 310 Chapter Six: The Great Khan in Beijing Brings Justice to the Muslim People .............. 313 I. The History of ʿAdā lah in Eastern Turkestan Before the Muslim Uprisings .......... 317 II. ʿAdā lah as Explanation .......................................................................................... 326 III. Doing Justice ......................................................................................................... 340 IV. ʿAdālah and Chinese Colonialism ........................................................................ 349 IV. The Emperor’s Ghost ............................................................................................ 358 V. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 365 Chapter Seven: The Story of How, In the Beginning, the Emperor of China Became a Muslim ............................................................................................................................ 367 I. In Search of the Emperor of China .......................................................................... 369 II. Sacred History and Subjecthood ............................................................................ 377 III. The Chantou of Khā qā nistā n ................................................................................ 397 IV. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 415 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 417 Appendix: Short Biographies of Late-Qing Officials in Xinjiang Mentioned in the Text ........................................................................................................................................