Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers

studies on ethnic groups in china Stevan Harrell, Editor henry m. jackson school of international studies 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 Jonathan N. Lipman Lessons in Being Chinese: Minority Education and Ethnic Identity in Southwest China Mette Halskov Hansen Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861–1928 Edward J. M. Rhoads Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China Stevan Harrell Governing China’s Multiethnic Frontiers Edited by Morris Rossabi GOVERNING CHINA’S MULTIETHNIC FRONTIERS Edited by morris rossabi University of Washington Press Seattle and London In Memory of Michel Oksenberg Copyright © 2004 by the University of Washington Press Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo- copying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. University of Washington Press P.O. Box 50096-5096 Seattle, WA 98145, USA www.washington.edu/uwpress Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Governing China’s multiethnic frontiers / edited by Morris Rossabi. p. cm.—(Studies on ethnic groups in China) Papers presented at conference “China’s Management of Its National Minorities,” held in Washington, D.C., Feb. 2001. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-295-98390-6 (alk. paper) 1. Minorities—Government policy—China—Congresses. 2. China— Ethnic relations—Political aspects—Congresses. I. Rossabi, Morris. II. Series. jq1506.m5g68 2004 323.151—dc22 2003064505 The paper used in this publication is acid free and recycled from 10 percent post- consumer and at least 50 percent pre-consumer waste. It meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. 8 Contents Preface vii Introduction morris rossabi 3 1 / White Hats, Oil Cakes, and Common Blood The Hui in the Contemporary Chinese State jonathan n. lipman 19 2 / The Challenge of Sipsong Panna in the Southwest Development, Resources, and Power in a Multiethnic China mette halskov hansen 53 3/ Inner Mongolia The Dialectics of Colonization and Ethnicity Building uradyn e. bulag 84 4/ Heteronomy and Its Discontents “Minzu Regional Autonomy” in Xinjiang gardner bovingdon 117 5/ Making Xinjiang Safe for the Han? Contradictions and Ironies of Chinese Governance in China’s Northwest david bachman 155 contents 6/ Tibet and China in the Twentieth Century melvyn c. goldstein 186 7/ A Thorn in the Dragon’s Side Tibetan Buddhist Culture in China matthew t. kapstein 230 Bibliography 270 Contributors 285 Index 287 vi Preface The essays presented in this volume evolved from a conference that was inspired by conversations between Michel Oksenberg of Stanford Uni- versity and myself in 1999. Professor Oksenberg suggested that I invite leading specialists on the minority minzu (ethnic groups) of China to write essays appraising the Chinese government’s administration of the minority regions, an important lacuna in studies of modern China. After dis- cussions with colleagues at Stanford and Columbia Universities, I invited the prospective authors to provide overviews of state relations with the minority peoples since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, analyze the present status of these relations, and suggest policy alternatives for the United States if crises should erupt in a minority region. For publication in the Studies on Ethnic Groups in China series, we have eliminated the u.s. policy dimension. The conference, titled “China’s Management of Its National Minori- ties,” convened in Washington, d.c., in February 2001. The authors met for three days to discuss papers that had circulated well in advance of the meetings to suggest revisions. After the conference, I reread the papers and suggested additional revisions to each author. Later, we made fur- ther adjustments in response to comments by those who evaluated the manuscript for the University of Washington Press. These published essays are thus the result of several rounds of criticism and refinement. Professor Oksenberg’s interest in the conference persisted until the onset of his final illness. His contributions to this particular project and to so much else in the field of Chinese studies were so manifold that the authors wish to dedicate this work to his memory. He helped conceive the project, and he actively supported eªorts to locate funding for the conference. For this assistance, the authors are grateful. The Smith Richardson Foundation provided a grant for the conference, a subvention that facilitated our work. Dr. Samantha Ravitch, its former program o‹cer for East Asia, assisted enormously in planning the conference. The Asia Society and its vice president for public and corporate programs, Robert Radtke, administered the grant e‹ciently and supplied much-appreciated logistical support. The authors benefited from the suggestions of Stephen Kotkin of Prince- vii preface ton University and Pamela Crossley of Dartmouth College, who acted as discussants at the conference. Professor Kotkin, a historian of Russia, oªered comparative insights, and Professor Crossley, a specialist on Qing China, provided historical context. Morris Rossabi City University of New York Columbia University September 2003 viii GOVERNING CHINA’S MULTIETHNIC FRONTIERS Introduction morris rossabi Since the first identifiable and attested dynasty in the second millennium b.c.e., China has gradually expanded from its original base along the bend of the Yellow River to incorporate additional territory and to rule over other people. Each accession of land has translated into the absorption and gradual assimilation of native peoples, who have themselves con- tributed cultural or linguistic traits to the dominant group. Even if a for- eign kingdom or khanate managed, through superior weapons or tactics, temporarily to occupy parts of China, it needed, according to historians, to adopt and use Chinese institutions in order to rule. On the other hand, when China acquired land at the expense of other groups, the natives on occasion preserved their unique traditions and institutions, challenging the Chi- nese dictum that they would naturally assimilate. Nonetheless, as the Han (206 b.c.e.–c.e. 220), Tang (618–907), and other great dynasties gained power, the o‹cial ideology of a culturally superior China, surrounded by less sophisticated peoples, developed. Accord- ing to this view, as the non-Chinese (or non-Han, with “Han” coming to signify the dominant, ethnically Chinese population) recognized the glory of Chinese civilization and the brilliance and goodness of the Chinese emperor, they would gravitate toward the Chinese court and seek to inte- grate into Chinese civilization; in the Chinese formulation, they would “come to be transformed.” The wiser and more virtuous the Chinese ruler, the greater the number of foreigners who acquiesced to Chinese governance and adopted Chinese ways. Even the embodiments of steppe nomadic culture such as the Khitans (who established the Chinese-style Liao dynasty, 907–1115) and the Mongols (who founded the Chinese- style Yuan dynasty, 1271–1368) were reputedly entranced by Chinese civilization, and some assimilated with the Han population. Yet the survival of such groups as the Mongols belies the Chinese view that foreigners, many of whom were nomadic pastoral peoples residing north of China, sought integration with China because of its “more advanced” economy and culture. Instead, relations between China and its northern neighbors alter- nated between trade, disguised as tribute oªerings to the Chinese emperor, 3 morris rossabi in the capital and commerce along the frontier. Unlike its policy in the north, China strenuously attempted to incorporate the non-Chinese peoples of the southwest into the Middle Kingdom. By Ming times (1368–1644), Chinese o‹cials had reached a consensus that China ought not to compel neighboring peoples to the north into political integration. Instead, these northern foreigners ought voluntar- ily to seek the benefits of Chinese culture. The o‹cials also agreed that China ought not to initiate aggressive forays to expand into territory beyond its cultural boundaries, though military expeditions designed to overwhelm the non-Chinese peoples in the southwest persisted. Such expansion in the north would have been counterproductive because it would have entailed vast expenditures on military forays and occupation forces to rule over restive and often rebellious foreigners. As the first Ming emperor said to his o‹cials, The ancients have a saying: “The expansion of territory is not the way to [achieve] enduring peace, and the over-burdening of the people is a cause of unrest.” For example, the Sui Emperor Yang sent his forces to invade Liu-ch’iu, killing and injuring the for- eign people, setting fire to their palaces and homes, and taking several thousand of their men and women as prisoners. Yet the land which he gained was not enough to furnish him with sup- plies and the people he enthralled could not be made to serve him. For vain glory he exhausted China.1 The first Ming emperor eschewed military means in the north and opted instead for a Song dynasty (960–1279) policy of being a “lesser empire” and remaining within what was perceived to be the traditional territories of China (which, however, included the southwest).2 His successors pur- sued this policy throughout the Ming era, the only exceptions coming early in the fifteenth century with adventurist and abortive military expeditions in Mongolia and Vietnam.3 qing expansionism and its aftermath The rise of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644–1911) witnessed the aban- donment of these injunctions.

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