CHAPTER FIVE The Buddhist Qing and Mongol Localization in the Nineteenth Century The bones of my beloved mother, The ashes of my holy lama, The plain of my Daichingtala, What of these will be cut off by the pawning Of our Da Wang, who rules us as master? —Khorchin folksong During the Muslim Hui uprisings of the 1860s the banner of Otog of the Yeke Juu League in Ordos suffered greatly.1 Not only did Muslim rebels attack its citi- zens and ransack Buddhist monasteries, but the people of Otog were also vic- tims of their own local government. In particular, they chafed under the despotic rule of the regent Rashinamjil. He was ruling because Chagdurjab (1862– 1881), the rightful Chinggisid heir and banner prince, was still a child. Never- theless, both of these problems eventually passed. The Hui uprising was suppressed by Qing forces, and the reign of the regent Rashinamjil was challenged by the people of Otog Banner through a petition sent to Beligbadarkhu, the Bureau of Colonial Affairs’ appointed chairman of the Yeke Juu League. Unfortunately, Beligbadarkhu was not interested in resolving the peoples’ grievances with Rashinamjil; rather, he was more concerned with resolving a long-simmering land dispute between the neighboring Otog and Üüshin banners.2 Beligbadarakhu wanted the government of Otog ¤nally to re- linquish all claims to the land that his own Üüshin banner had been offered in 1827 by Otog banner in exchange for money, so that the Otog monastery of Shine Usun Juu could afford to join the new craze for masked cham dances. To this end, he rejected the people’s complaints, and in turn he supported Rashi- namjil as long as he agreed to con¤rm Üüshin’s claims to this contested territory with a letter bearing the imperially bestowed of¤cial seal of Otog Banner. Rashi- namjil concurred, and shortly thereafter the Üüshin government, which was short of funds, sold a part of this territory to the Belgian Scheut missionaries so they could build their community of Borobalgasu. The government of Otog was appalled at this turn of events. At ¤rst it sent 127 128 / Localization in the Nineteenth Century troops into the area and demanded that, not only the Catholic Church and its followers, but also that all the people living in this disputed territory pay taxes to Otog and not Üüshin Banner. It eventually went to court in Ningxia, and with the support of the church, Otog won the court case and the residents of Borobal- gasu were to pay taxes to Otog. At the same time, however, people in the area continued to pay taxes to Üüshin. Thus the dispute over the land and who was to pay taxes continued. The problem was only further exacerbated when Otog Banner was ordered to pay huge indemnities as reparations for the Boxer Rebellion. During the rebel- lion Borobalgasu had been burned to the ground, and its Christian converts killed. Unfortunately, the Otog government was very poor, so it took a loan of sil- ver from the Scheut mission in order to pay its debts, and when it was unable to pay this loan back, the government offered the church a piece of land adjacent to the Üüshin border. When the government of Üüshin heard of this arrangement they felt that Otog had given land to missionaries that was not rightfully theirs. In order to resolve this dispute, the church fathers dispatched a group from Borobalgasu to discuss it with Arbinbayar, the prince of Khanggin Banner, who then held the rotating position of Yeke Juu League chairman. But members of Üüshin Banner kidnapped these representatives. Wanting to ¤nally resolve the dispute and con¤rm their actual territorial holdings, the Scheut missionaries set up a new meeting. Yet at the same time as these proceedings were going forward, the Manchu resident general of Suiyuan, Yigu, was pressing the banner princes of Yeke Juu League to open up their territory to Chinese colonization. Thus, in order to curry favor with Yigu, the prince of Üüshin offered up the disputed ter- ritory for Chinese cultivation, and it was in this atmosphere that the following letter was composed. Letter from Arbinbayar, Chairman of the Yeke Juu League with the privi- lege of walking in the Emperor’s presence, ruling prince of an Ordos ban- ner, with the rank of Banner Beise, with four additional honorary ranks and registered three times, holding the title Jinong; sent to Yan Mingzhi [Ed- mund Vereenooghe] priest of the Catholic religion, with a view to making a communication. If we examine the ¤les: the banner administration of the Beile of Otog claims that the banner of Üüshin has taken advantage of its power to steal a piece of land given to the foreign church for “repayment of silver,” and in order to adjudicate this affair which has resulted in a law suit and quarrel, the of¤ce of us, League Chairman,...sent and delegated the scribe with rank Jakirugchi, Rinchendorji, and the Taiji and Jalan-u janggi with the Localization in the Nineteenth Century / 129 rank of Meyiren, Mergen. These subordinate functionaries whom we have sent, have presented to us the following report: “With a view to making a report. We, insigni¤cant functionaries, following our instructions, on the six- teenth of the ¤rst winter month of this year [December 4, 1903], reached such designated placed as the Khargantu-yin Monastery, and as we ar- rived, we convened with the delegates Ochirbatu, a taiji holding the of¤ce of Gatekeeper Meyiren, with the rank of Jakirugchi, and one addi- tional rank, and the Jalan-u janggi Garmasiddi, Taiji with the rank of Meyiren, sent by the of¤ce of the League’s vice-chairman with the privi- lege of walking through the Qianqing Gate, ruling prince of Üüshin Ban- ner, with the rank of Beise and the honorary rank of Beile; with the delegates Öljeibatu, Taiji of the fourth rank, and who has been awarded the peacock feather, whose former commission was Jakirugchi, Janggi with one additional rank, and others, sent by the of¤ce of Cimeddorji, Taiji with one additional rank, minister judging banner affairs of the Otog banner prince with the title Imperial Beile, and with the delegates sent by the of¤ce of the Catholic priest, Yan Mingzhi, Bandar, holding the rank of Jakirugchi, Masidelger, holding the rank of Jakirughci, and Chogdüüreng, holding the rank of Jakirugchi. “Sonomyarpil, Jarguchi and Meyiren, with the rank of Jakirugchi, and Tümen, with the rank of Janggi, and others from Üüshin banner, stated that the banner of Otog relying on its power previously had without proof, secretly and stealthily, sold land of our banner, namely the one piece of land given to the foreign church for ‘payment-silver.’ The of¤ce of Ming Yuqing, Catholic Bishop with the honorary rank of Güng, by Papal command in charge of the administration of Mongol and Chinese Chris- tians, has reported thereon in detail. “When we arrived at the place and took out the maps of the string of border marks between the two banners Üüshin and Otog, and inspected them, we found that within the territory of Otog banner they mentioned the landmarks of Bayan-deresü, Tabunang Ubasi-yin Usu, Amasar-un Sübe. When on this occasion we asked Seringdongron, Jakirugchi with the rank of Meyiren of Otog Banner, and other guardians of the borders, they stated as follows: ‘Previously in the fourth year of Badaragultu Törö [1878] our two banners delegated of¤cials who set up new landmarks starting from Aguljar-un Eriyen Tologai to the border of the sand northwest of 130 / Localization in the Nineteenth Century Boro-Tologai, namely erected seven landmarks, and then peacefully separated. But the remaining old frontier landmarks; Bayan-deresü, Tabunang Ubasi-yin Usu, as far as Chagan Düise and Amasar-un Sübe, we Janggi Duruga have been guarding as before, and it is abso- lutely not true that we have “hooked” that section from Üüshin terri- tory and given it illegally to the church.’ Moreover, if we inspect the old records of both banners Üüshin and Otog we ¤nd that on the sixteenth of the middle month of the winter of Tengriin Tedkügsen’s fourth year [December 16, 1739], Liu Bayar, im- perial of¤cial regulating Sino-Mongol Affairs, and Ciwangbaljur, with the rank of Beise, and Chairman of the Yeke Juu League, came together at Nangsu Monastery. They drew up a map of the banner boundaries with the seals of the seven banner princes on it and in a letter presented to the proper Bureau [of Colonial Affairs] they stated that the boundary is at Bayan-deresü and from there to Tabunang Ubasiin Usu, and from there to Amasar-un Sübe. So if we functionaries carefully re¶ect upon this, the present row of boundary marks between the two banners of Üüshin and Otog, and the old archives, perfectly agree with each other, and it is not true that the land previously given by Otog banner to the foreign church was “hooked” away from Üüshin; since it is land really belonging to Otog banner, the church must be allowed to take posses- sion as before. “And we of¤cials from the various parties together with the Jar- guchis, Meyirens and Jalans from both banners Üüshin and Otog have re-established the one old landmark of Bayan-deresü, and entrusted it as before to those responsible for surveillance of the landmarks; but as soon as we said that from there to the two remaining landmarks Tabunang Ubasi-yin Usu and Amasar-un Sübe, cairns and landmarks would be repaired, a hundred or so Taijis, functionaries, and common people, evil companions of Sonomyarpil, Jarguchi and Meyiren, with the rank of Jakirugchi of Üüshin banner, assembled and came over to take him [i.e., Sonomyarpil] forcibly away, and as we were thus unable to re- establish the two landmarks we made a sketch of the con¤guration of the terrain, and peacefully dispersed, and we reported this.