The Development of the Southeast Asian-Chinese Border Zone
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The Development of the Southeast Asian Border Zone A Social Theory Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn vorgelegt von Florian Anderhuber aus Graz Bonn, 2019 Gedruckt mit der Genehmigung der Philosophischen Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich- Wilhelms-Universität Bonn Zusammensetzung der Prüfungskommission: Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (Vorsitzende/Vorsitzender) Prof. Dr. Christoph Antweiler, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (Betreuerin/Betreuer und Gutachterin/Gutachter) Prof. Dr. Dr. Manfred Hutter, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (Gutachterin/Gutachter) Prof. Dr.Ralph Kauz, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (weiteres prüfungsberechtigtes Mitglied) Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 30.10.2019 Table of contents I. Theoretical background………………………………………………………………………… 7 1. Introduction and questions………………………………………………………….………….7 1.1. Terminology…………………………………………………………………….……….11 1.2. Theoretical background…………………………………………………………...……..12 1.2.1. The state of border studies…………………………………………………...…...12 1.2.1.1. Basic constructivism and spatial dimensions in border studies……..........13 1.2.1.2. Temporal dimension of border studies……………………………….......20 1.2.1.3. Criteria of demarcating space…………………………………………….23 1.2.2. Considerations of the role of the state……………………………………………27 1.2.3. The nexus between social and state borders……………………………….……..29 1.2.4. Borders as result of state-formation and territorialization………………………..32 1.2.5. State-sanctioned performance of otherness…………………………………........36 1.3. States and borders as social actions……………………………………………………...38 1.4. Agency of borders…………………………………………………………………….…39 1.5. Integrating borderlands: state-action within the national and international system……..44 1.6. The nexus of border-creation and institutionalization………………………..………….48 1.7. The case for Southeast-Asian – Chinese borderlands: a global perspective………...…..51 1.7.1. The view from Southeast Asia………………………………………………...….52 1.7.2. The view from the Chinese side……………………………………………….... 65 1.7.3. A consolidated view: global and systemic mutual influences…………………...72 1.8. Development of the Model………………………………………………………………74 1.8.1. The top-down approach to territoriality and border making………..……………78 1.8.2. Bottom-up parameters in the bordering and territorialization process…………...88 1.8.3. Merging top-down and bottom-up approaches: borders as asymmetric equilib- ria…………………………………………………………..………………………100 1.8.4. Factors shaping the borderland………………………………………………….103 1.8.5. Integration, marginalization, border-construction and state-building…..………108 1.8.6. Complementing Zomia………………………………………………………….111 1 II. Application of the model…………………………………………………………………….120 2. Cycles and disruptors……………………………………………………………………….120 2.1. Cycle 1 Early state formation and consolidation (until the 15th century)……………..123 2.1.1. Charter states and bordering…………………………………………………….125 2.1.2. Power accumulation and territorial control: territorial filling…………………..129 2.1.2.1. Tai States………………………………………………………………..131 2.1.2.2. The Chinese-Vietnamese border………………………………………...144 2.1.3. Trade and tribute……………………………………………………………..….150 2.1.4. Standardization of rule…………………………………………………………..155 2.1.5. The shake-up of the equilibrium………………………………………………...157 2.1.5.1. The Mongol attacks on Southeast Asia…………………………………158 2.1.5.2. The advent of Tai principalities…………………………………………164 2.1.5.3. The Ming dynasty‘s relations to its borders…………………………….168 2.2. Cycle 2: 1450s-1600: Second consolidation of restored empires and Tai states………175 2.2.1. Parameters of consolidation: Burmese warfare and administrative centering….177 2.2.1.1. Shan states and the Toungoo dynasty…………………………………...179 2.2.1.2. Burmese state reformation Toungoo and restored Toungoo……………184 2.2.2. Tai states: disappearance and consolidating statehood…………………………188 2.2.3. Ming China: functionalization of the borderlands……………………………...191 2.2.3.1. Administrative renovation: the yellow registers and tax-reform…..........192 2.2.3.2. Strategic overhaul of the tributary system and relation construction…...194 2.2.3.3. Reinforcing a cultural border……………………………………………205 2.2.4. Đại Việt: stabile border-fragmentation………………………………………….208 2.2.4.1. Reordering of tributary relations………………………………………..212 2.2.4.2. Territorial fragmentation among Trinh, Nguyễn, Lê and Mac………….213 2.2.4.3. Chúa Bầu – utilizing the border to maintain power at the center……….215 2.2.4.4. Mạc – continued fluidity in the border-area…………………………….216 2.2.4.5. The end of the interregnum – restoring order through rituals and rites…218 2.2.5. Upending the era of stability in the 16th and 17th centuries……………………..219 2.3. Cycle 3: Re-consolidation under new banners (1600s to the 19th century)…………….226 2.3.1. Zoning through trade and commerce……………………………………………227 2 2.3.1.1. Exploitation of the Burmese borderlands ………………………………229 2.3.1.2. Border blurring through commodity frontiers…………………………..236 2.3.2. Demarcating through administration and warfare………………………………245 2.3.2.1. Burma‘s enlarged zone of influence…………………………………….245 2.3.2.2. Qing China's territorial reach towards Southeast Asia………………….251 2.3.2.2.1. The changing character of native chieftains…………………….257 2.3.2.2.2. The expansion of the bureaucratic state…………………………262 2.3.2.3. Maintaining a Lao space………………………………………………...269 2.3.2.4. Đại Việt: grappling with chieftains……………………………………...272 2.3.3. Structural issues and the onset of decline……………………………………….278 2.4. Cycle 4: Solidification of the boundary as a result of stagnation………………………285 2.4.1. Increased administrative capacities and routinization at the fringes……………293 2.4.1.1. Solidification of border-institutions……………………………………..294 2.4.1.2. Economic spill-over impacts of state-functioning at the border………...299 2.4.1.3. Routinization of mediating the state to the border………………………307 2.4.2. Routinization turns into weakening……………………………………………..317 2.4.2.1. A constant stream of rebellions…………………………………………317 2.4.2.1.1. Large scale rebellions as root of border destabilization………...319 2.4.2.1.2. Local rebellions…………………………………………………325 2.4.2.2. Endemic banditry in the border-region………………………………….329 2.4.3. European influence in state reform……………………………………………...332 2.4.3.1. Upending the regional balance of tributary systems…………………….342 2.4.3.2. Hardening of boundaries………………………………………………...353 2.5. Epilog: outlook into a territorialized 20th century……………………………………..370 3. Conclusion and limits……………………………………………………………………….398 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….415 3 List of Maps Map 1: Map of the border area ……………………………………………………………………9 Map 2: Different conceptualizations of Zomia ………………………………………………....113 Map 3: Zomia in Southeast Asia………………………………………………………………..113 Map 4: Territorial concepts of Zomia …………………………………………………………..114 Map 5: Major trading routes through the border area in the 10th century……………………...152 Map 6: The silk roads during the Ming and Qing era…………………………………………...194 Map 7: Distribution of military colonies in Guangxi…………………………………………...199 Map 8: Chieftains in the Guangxi-Đại Việt area 1580………………………………………….210 4 List of Graphs Graph 1: General depiction of cross-border interaction………………………………………….88 Graph 2: Model of social interactions across the border area……………………………………95 Graph 3: Locating elites in the social cross-border interactions………………………………….98 Graph 4: Factors penetrating the border area…………………………………………………...108 Graph 5: Cycles of equilibria and disruptors……………………………………………………109 5 List of tables Table 1: Possible constellations of internal situations of states at the border……………………96 Table 2: Factors determining border-equilibria…………………………………………………105 6 I. Theoretical background 1. Introduction and questions While major border-areas as well as inter-state borders have been thoroughly analyzed with re- gard to their coming into being and the relevant underlying factors, the case of the Chinese- Southeast Asian borderlands – despite its fascinating multitude of cultures, ideas of statehood and imperial ambitions - is hardly examined. This thesis strives to first create a model to explain the particularities of the process of the coming into existence of the borderlands between what is now China, Viet Nam, Laos and Myanmar of firstly drawing from methodologies of historical sociol- ogy, political theories of state formation, political geography, political economy and cultural the- ory, and secondly, tracing the historical developments leading to the emergence of the borderland alongside the model. The case of the borderlands between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors is particularly in- teresting since the entities were in many regards hardly affected by Westphalian ideas of state- hood up to the era of colonization. Consequently the manifestation of clear boundaries was only a recent result. The main models on the construction of borders – politically and socially – however, require the existence of a clearly demarcated territorial entity that is then later modified according to the states‘ interests. The major polities – imperial China, Vietnam, Burma and the Lao states – followed different ideas statehood, such as the Galactic Polity Model or the Mandate from Heav- en that can exist without a demarcated territory. Still, they simultaneously regarded the area that is now adjacent to a political borderline as fringes of their power for centuries, even if geograph-