Amid the Clouds and Mist

by Herman, John E.

• ISBN13: 9780674025912
• ISBN10: 0674025911
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-30
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Council on East Asian

Summary

In 1200, what is now southwest China--Guizhou, Yunnan, and the southern portion of Sichuan was home to an assortment of strikingly diverse cultures and ruled by a multitude of political entities. By 1750, China's military, political, sociocultural, and economic institutions were firmly in control of the region, and many of the area's cultures were rapidly becoming extinct. One purpose of this book is to examine how China's three late imperial dynasties--the Yuan, Ming, and Qing--conquered, colonized, and assumed control of the southwest. Another objective is to highlight the indigenous response to China's colonization of the southwest, particularly that of the Nasu Yi people of western Guizhou and eastern Yunnan, the only group to leave an extensive written record.

Table of Contents

Maps and Figures	p. xi
Dates of Selected Eras	p. xii
Weights and Measures	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Revisiting China's March Toward the Tropics	p. 3
New Sources, New Narratives: The Nasu Yi of Guizhou	p. 6
Ming China's Southwest Frontier	p. 8
Ming Sinicization of the Southwest: A Different Perspective	p. 12
Organization of the Book	p. 15
A Southern Kingdom, Mu'ege	p. 19
The Physical Setting: Shuixi	p. 21
The Origins of the Mu'ege Kingdom	p. 24
Mu'ege During the Tang-Nanzhao Wars	p. 28
The Song Prelude: Mu'ege Under Assault	p. 39
The Mongol Conquest of China's Southwest Frontier	p. 45
The Mongol Campaign Against Dali	p. 47
Sayyid 'Ajall Shams al-Din and Mongol Rule in the Southwest	p. 50
The Final Piece to the Yuan China Puzzle: Mu'ege	p. 57
Mu'ege Becomes a Pacification Commission	p. 62
Mu'ege Dating the Yuan-Ming Transition	p. 71
The Traditional Nasu Yi Administration of Shuixi	p. 72
The Ming Enter Qian: Hongwu Meets She Xiang	p. 78
Capturing Qian and Encircling Shuixi	p. 85
Enclosing the Frontier: The Creation of Guizhou Province	p. 94
The Periphery Within	p. 103
Tusi Offices: Dual Sovereignty in the Internal Frontier	p. 105
The Long Fifteenth Century	p. 117
The Vanishing Frontier	p. 131
To Reclaim Our Ancestors' Glory	p. 144
The Ming-An Relationship	p. 146
Shuixi's Changing Political Economy	p. 152
Prelude to Rebellion: An Guoheng, An Jiangchen, and the Ming State in Guizhou	p. 158
Origins of the She-An Rebellion, 1621-29	p. 171
The Siege of Guiyang	p. 181
Ode to Shuixi	p. 186
Trampled Earth	p. 189
The Ming-Qing Transition in the Southwest	p. 191
Building a Fiefdom: Wu Sangui in Yunnan and Guizhou	p. 195
Prince Wu in Shuixi	p. 201
The Rebellion of the Three Feudatories	p. 216
The End of the Shuixi Pacification Commission	p. 220
Conclusion	p. 223
Reassessing the Role of the State	p. 226
Appendixes	p. 239
Reference Matter
Notes	p. 253
Works Cited	p. 301
Character List	p. 329
Index	p. 335
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.