STUDIES ON ETHNIC GROUPS IN CHINA Stevan Harrell, Editor STUDIES ON ETHNIC GROUPS IN CHINA Cultural Encounters on China’s Ethnic Frontiers, edited by Stevan Harrell Guest People: Hakka Identity in China and Abroad, edited by Nicole Constable Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China, by Jonathan N. Lipman Lessons in Being Chinese: Minority Education and Ethnic Identity in Southwest China, by Mette Halskov Hansen Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928, by Edward J. M. Rhoads Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China, by Stevan Harrell Governing China’s Multiethnic Frontiers, edited by Morris Rossabi On the Margins of Tibet: Cultural Survival on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier, by Åshild Kolås and Monika P. Th owsen Th e Art of Ethnography: A Chinese “Miao Album,” translation by David M. Deal and Laura Hostetler Doing Business in Rural China: Liangshan’s New Ethnic Entrepreneurs, by Th omas Heberer Communist Multiculturalism: Ethnic Revival in Southwest China, by Susan K. McCarthy Religious Revival in the Tibetan Borderlands: Th e Premi of Southwest China, by Koen Wellens In the Land of the Eastern Queendom: Th e Politics of Gender and Ethnicity on the Sino-Tibetan Border, by Tenzin Jinba Empire and Identity in Guizhou: Local Resistance to Qing Expansion, by Jodi L. Weinstein China’s New Socialist Countryside: Modernity Arrives in the Nu River Valley, by Russell Harwood Empire and Identity in Guizhou Local Resistance to Qing Expansion ※ JODI L. WEINSTEIN UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS / SEATTLE AND LONDON Publication of this book was supported by a generous grant from the Association for Asian Studies First Book Subvention Program. © 2014 by the University of Washington Press Printed and bound in the United States of America Composed in Minion, a typeface designed by Robert Slimbach 16 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. University of Washington Press PO Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145, USA www.washington.edu/uwpress Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Weinstein, Jodi L. Empire and Identity in Guizhou : local resistance to Qing expansion / Jodi L. Weinstein. — 1st edition p.cm. — (Studies on Ethnic Groups in China) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-295-99326-3 (hardback : alk. paper); 978-0-295-99327-0 (paperback : alk. paper) 1. Bouyei (Chinese people)—China—Guizhou Sheng—History—18th century. 2. Guizhou Sheng (China)—Ethnic relations—History—18th century. I. Title.II. Title: Local resistance to Qing expansion. DS793.K8W4442014 951'.3400495919—dc232013 020635 Th e paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984.∞ CONTENTS Foreword by Stevan Harrell vii Acknowledgments xi Maps xiv 1 / Guizhou and the Livelihoods Approach to Zhongjia History 3 2 / Natural, Human, and Historical Landscapes 11 3 / Th e Consolidation of Qing Rule 37 4 / Livelihood Choices in the Mid-Eighteenth Century 59 5 / Th e Nanlong Uprising of 1797 83 6 / A Legacy of Fragile Hegemony 119 Notes 135 Chinese Glossary 179 Bibliography 185 Index 201 FOREWORD An old Chinese saying goes, “Th ose on top have policies; those below have counterstrategies” (Shang you zhengce, xia you duice). Th is adage sums up several millennia of relationships between East Asian imperial regimes, which ruled from the productive and powerful center in China, and their poorer, less powerful subjects living in the borderlands. It is still true in the twenty-fi rst century: the People’s Republic tries to consoli- date its control over its border regions and solidify the loyalty of border peoples to the regime, while border peoples (now called shaoshu minzu, or “minority nationalities”) deal with the state’s eff orts in various ways. Th ey do not always resist or always accommodate, but they act strategically, joining in when it appears advantageous or when they have no choice, but resisting when it appears intolerable not to. Since the regime they deal with assumes itself to be morally as well as economically and materially stronger, peoples on the periphery face the prospect not just of being ruled, but of being absorbed into the more “civilized” culture and polity of the center. Th is kind of relationship is not new. Th e last empire with an actual emperor, the Qing (1644–1911), was not even ruled by ethnic Chinese, but rather by Manchus, originally a peripheral people from the northeast. But in its southwestern domains, the Qing, like its predecessors, assumed the moral superiority of the center and attempted to balance the advantages vii viii /Foreword of letting peripheral peoples be, against the costs of trying to consolidate their control and assure the peripheral people’s loyalties. One of the peripheral peoples the Qing regime had considerable trou- ble controlling were the Zhongjia, a Tai-speaking group of Guizhou, now incorporated into the Buyi or Bouyei minzu, or “nationality.” Well before the Qing, the Zhongjia were formulating counterstrategies as both Chi- nese immigration and imperial policy impinged on their livelihoods and social structures. By the time Jodi Weinstein’s narrative begins, in the mid-Qing, the Zhongjia were practicing the familiar mix of going along and joining the civilization with resisting and defending their local auton- omy and their own livelihoods. Weinstein tells the story of the counterstrategies of the Zhongjia in the eighteenth century. She begins with the history of Qing attempts to consolidate their rule, switching from indirect rule through native leaders to direct rule by appointed magistrates. She then gives us a rich account of how some Zhongjia resisted, indirectly through schemes of trickery and evasion and more directly through rebellion, in the Nanlong area in 1797. Importantly, though, not all Zhongjia resisted, and not all resistance was direct confrontation, let alone military confrontation. Th is story points out to us, in clear and lively fashion, how little has changed even as so much has changed. Th e People’s Republic is orders of magnitude more powerful than the Qing state; it can deploy not only force but also persuasion much more pervasively than could its Qing pre- decessor. But it still faces the same problems, and peoples of the border- lands buy in when they see it as advantageous or resist when they see it as necessary. Th is story is also important for another reason. Th e state narrative of the People’s Republic stresses that the Qing was a Chinese regime, an earlier version of themselves. Th at the rulers were Manchus is of little import in this telling of history; Manchus were then and are now one of the many groups that makes up the Chinese nation. Th is state narrative has been strongly challenged by advocates of the “New Qing History,” who are much more inclined to see the Qing as a multinational empire than they are to see it as a Chinese nation that happened to be ruled by a monarch in sumptuous robes instead of by a committee of bureaucrats in dark, pinstriped suits and red neckties. But Weinstein’s book tells a more complex story: the Qing emperor and the twenty-fi rst-century bureau- Foreword/ ix crats were facing the same problems: ethnic and cultural diff erence com- bined with unequal power leading to the disinclination of ruled people to submit uncritically, but leaving open to them various strategies of accom- modation and resistance. Finally, the book is noteworthy because it introduces another historical narrative alongside those coming from the center and from outside critics: the narrative of the Zhongjia themselves. As Weinstein examines the dif- ferent stories of the rebellion coming from the offi cial Qing history and the oral history collected from the rebels’ descendants, we see clearly that not only are policies from above opposed by counterstrategies from below, but also historical narratives from above are countered by diff erent stories from below. Weinstein’s sensitive and multifaceted account of one small corner of Guizhou in the eighteenth century helps us, in the words of Prasenjit Duara, rescue history from the nation. STEVAN HARRELL June 2013 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the many years since I started this project, I have benefi ted from the advice, wisdom, and encouragement of many people, and it is now my pleasure to acknowledge them. First, I must thank Beatrice S. Bartlett for drawing me into the world of eighteenth-century China and inspiring me to explore the uncharted landscapes of Guizhou. Th anks are also due to Jonathan Spence, James C. Scott, John Faragher, Annping Chin, and Jona- than Lipman, whose work inspired many of the theories examined here, and to the late Hugh Stimson for his instruction in literary Chinese. Th is book would not have been possible without support and encour- agement from my students and colleagues in the Department of History at the College of New Jersey. I wish to express my gratitude to the depart- ment chair, Professor Celia Chazelle, for creating such a welcoming place to teach. I also wish to thank the current and former students who have contributed to this book in more ways than they can image. I hope they will enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed craft ing it. I am especially grateful to Professor Daniel Croft s for his comments on successive draft s of the manuscript, and for our many fruitful conversations about Gui- zhou history.