A Brief History of the Tujia — The Tujia After Gaitu Guiliu (II)
II. Major Political and Economic Changes After Gaitu Guiliu — (I) The Qing Court's Political and Military Measures: After gaitu guiliu, the Qing court directly appointed rotating officials to replace hereditary native officials, dissolved the tusi, and established prefectures and counties consistent with the rest of the country. In western Hunan, Yongshun Prefecture was established, governing Yongshun, Baojing, Longshan, and Sangzhi counties. In western Hubei, Shinan Prefecture was established, governing...
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II. Major Political and Economic Changes After the Replacement of Native Officials with Appointed Officials
(1) The Qing Court's Political and Military Establishments
After the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, the Qing court directly appointed circulating officials to replace hereditary native officials, disbanded the native chieftain system, and established prefectural and county local government structures consistent with those throughout the country. In western Hunan, Yongshun Prefecture was established, governing four counties: Yongshun, Baojing, Longshan, and Sangzhi. In western Hubei, Shinan Prefecture was established, governing six counties: Enshi, Xuan'en, Xianfeng, Laifeng, Lichuan, and Jianshi, along with Hefeng Department and Changle County. In southeastern Sichuan, Youyang Directly Subordinated Department was established, governing two counties: Youyang and Xiushan. Shizhu was changed to a subprefecture. Native officials in the former border garrison areas were all abolished and merged into neighboring counties. Below the prefectures and counties, baojia systems were established to replace the banner system. Every ten households had a paitou (card head), ten pai had a jiazhang (tithing head), and ten jia had a baozheng (hundred-household head), to strengthen the Qing court's control over grassroots governance and prevent resistance by the Tujia people.
These political reform measures were progressive for their time. They broke the prohibitions since the Yuan and Ming dynasties that "barbarians shall not leave their territory, and Han shall not enter the caves," and were conducive to national unity, to free interaction and economic and cultural exchange between Tujia and Han peoples, and to the development from feudal lord economy to feudal landlord economy.
In order to exercise effective rule, the Qing court also directly dispatched troops to garrison the Tujia region: Shinan and Yongshun prefectures established xie (brigades), with a deputy general leading about a thousand officers and soldiers stationed there; each county established a ying (battalion), with a guerrilla officer leading over six hundred officers and soldiers stationed there; important military locations and passes had ying, tang, and xun posts established, with external officers leading troops on patrol. During the Qianlong reign, the Qing court ordered the establishment of tuanlian (local militia) to organize local armed forces. They patrolled villages by day and guarded roads and checkpoints by night to prevent resistance by the Tujia people.
(2) The Development of the Feudal Landlord Economy
With the abolition of the native chieftain system, the feudal lord economy also disintegrated, and the landlord economy developed rapidly.
After the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, of the large tracts of fertile land held by native chieftains and officials, part was retained in the form of "granted land" for subordinate native officials of the chieftains, who thereby lost their lord status and became landlords. The remaining majority of the land was confiscated by the Qing court. Apart from a small amount kept as "official estate land" to provide salaries for officials, most of the land was cultivated by the local people; in Longshan County alone, land that people were allowed to occupy freely amounted to over 290 qing. The official mountains held by native chieftains were freely reclaimed by the people: "The official mountains of the native chieftains shall be reclaimed and cultivated by the people at will. Their fish ponds, tea gardens, bamboo, timber, forests, cliff wax, and other items shall be collected and used by the people, without any prohibition, and shall not be preserved as public property; the people all leisurely take from them, regarding them as their own." The fields that peasants reclaimed and cultivated belonged to them as long as they paid the annual "autumn grain silver" to the Qing court. As for landlords' ancestral properties, whether purchased at a price or reclaimed through tenant recruitment, as long as the value and quantity of already cultivated fields were reported, local officials would issue certificates confirming that "households with property shall have it as a perpetual hereditary estate," so that the interests of the landlord class would not be infringed upon.
To guarantee the legal right to purchase land, the Qing court also promulgated the decree "Prohibiting Violations in Disputing the Redemption of Land Sold in Distant Years," which stipulated that for land "sold at a low price before the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, or land given to others by contract," as long as there were "no redemption clauses and the property had been lost for many years without any evidence, no forced redemption or additional claims shall be permitted... Violators shall be strictly arrested and punished according to the law, without leniency." These decrees protected the right of free land transactions and cleared obstacles for the development of the landlord economy. Land transactions in the Tujia region thus became even more prevalent, and land prices grew increasingly expensive. In the twenty years after the replacement of native officials with appointed officials in Yongshun Prefecture, large numbers of Han peasants entered the mountains to reclaim land, merchants moved in, bought property, and settled, and land prices rose day by day. Whenever land was offered for sale, people would vie to negotiate prices and snap up the land, causing many peasants to lose their land successively and become poor peasants and hired laborers, with land increasingly concentrated in the hands of the landlord class. "Wealthy clans lived in luxury, with two or three such families per li," and the power of the landlord class grew steadily.
After the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, various corrupt regulations that had hindered production during the native chieftain era were abolished. Land was surveyed, autumn grain was levied according to acreage, and a unified tax system replaced the backward system of forced collection under such names as "fire pit" and "hoe" imposed by native chieftains. Government runners were given labor fees, and the amount of the labor fee silver was carved on stone tablets "so that everyone may know," replacing the heavy unpaid labor services of the native chieftain era. Officials, whether taking up their posts or touring the countryside, were strictly forbidden to accept gifts. All miscellaneous levies and private exactions were strictly prohibited. These reform measures played a positive role in lightening the burden on the Tujia people and promoting social and economic development.
To consolidate the achievements of the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, the Qing court also stabilized taxes within the limits paid during the native chieftain era. The four counties under Yongshun Prefecture paid 280 taels of autumn grain silver annually; before the land was surveyed, all was exempted, and after measurement, it was collected per mu without additional surcharges. The two years' autumn grain of Shinan Prefecture was also fully exempted in the early Qianlong reign. Grain taxes in the Youyang area of Sichuan were somewhat reduced. This was, of course, conducive to production and to the development of the landlord economy.
(2) The Development of Social Production
After the abolition of the native chieftain system, the vast number of serfs threw off their personal dependence on feudal lords and became free peasants, possessing their own reclaimed private land. Their tax burden was "less than one-tenth" of that during the native chieftain era, so their enthusiasm for production increased, promoting the development of social production in the Tujia region.
After the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, Han peasants and merchants moved in large numbers, bringing various advanced production tools and techniques, greatly transforming the backward agricultural production in the Tujia region. Wooden plows and wooden harrows were rarely used; they were replaced by iron plows, iron harrows, and other iron farm tools. Ox-drawn plowing was widely used: "Fields high and low are all plowed with oxen... Where ox plowing cannot reach, human labor is used." Ponds were dug and weirs built, with attention to water conservancy. Irrigation tools included water wheels for lifting water, tube wheels, hand-cranked "centipede wheels," as well as bamboo tubes for channeling water, and water-powered trip-hammers, water mills, and water grinders for hulling rice, grinding flour, and pressing oil. The area around Shatuoping, Tongziyuan, and Niucheping southwest and east of Laifeng County town was relatively flat but had been left barren due to lack of irrigation. The neighboring Tujia people, at the initiative of the county magistrate, cut through hills and built canals to channel water for irrigation, transforming wasteland known as Maocao Tan into fertile fields.
The Qing government encouraged the local people to reclaim wasteland and recruited poor Han peasants to go and cultivate it. For families too poor to manage, as long as the baozheng provided certification, the government would lend them farm tools and seeds, with a deadline for reclaiming the land into cultivated fields; those who reclaimed over a hundred mu would receive "substantial rewards." Many barren hillsides and slopes were gradually reclaimed into fertile fields. In just twenty years, the counties under Shinan Prefecture alone reclaimed over 55,000 mu of cultivated land.
The variety of crops also gradually increased, becoming roughly the same as in nearby Han areas. Rice included middle and late varieties; Guzhangping Department had 9 varieties, and Laifeng had over 20. However, because the region is mountainous, grain crops were still mainly corn, millet, buckwheat, and sweet potato. The ratio of rice to miscellaneous grains in cultivation area was generally "three parts rice to seven parts grain." Cotton, previously not planted or planted very little, also came to be widely cultivated in the Tujia region. Sideline production such as tung oil, tea oil, tea, beekeeping, and herb gathering all developed considerably. In farming methods, the Tujia people absorbed the advanced experience of the Han, changing the extensive slash-and-burn system of the past, in which "farmers knew nothing of manure, and gardeners likewise knew nothing of manure." Fields were sown, double-cropped, fertilized, and weeded according to season, and production experience was accumulated in fallowing, overwintering rice paddies, and composting green manure. Improvements in production tools, water conservancy facilities, and farming methods significantly raised crop yields. After the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, artisans of all trades from Han areas entered the Tujia region in large numbers, settling in towns large and small and even in villages, promoting the development of handicrafts. Rural household textile production, where "women are diligent in weaving, and every household has the sound of looms," occupied an important position in handicrafts. Tujia women used the cotton and ramie they grew to spin yarn and weave cloth to meet their families' needs; some also sold products, "weaving patterned cloth at home and selling it in various places as a regular occupation." But the looms used were low and small, and the cloth was less than one chi wide. Han artisans brought relatively advanced foot-powered spinning wheels with high efficiency, capable of spinning eight liang of yarn day and night, and of good quality; the local people "gradually followed suit." The division of labor in handicrafts became increasingly fine: "Carpenters, masons, bamboo workers, stonecutters, tailors, weavers, and the like each had their own specialty." Some artisans gradually separated from agricultural production and made a living by selling handicraft products: "Some set up workshops to make goods for sale, or made things for others on commission, charging a fee according to the work completed." The number of artisans steadily increased; in Jianshi County alone, at marketplaces such as Banqiaozi and Gaodianzi, there were dozens of blacksmith shops manufacturing various farm tools. Local artisans learned Han handicraft techniques, and their skill levels rose rapidly. Carpentry carving and engraving, foundry and metalwork in casting guns, forging blades, and making all kinds of farm tools were all produced exquisitely and durably. Handicraft products were not only for local use but also sold to distant places. The Liji Bridge built in Yongshun County, 26 zhang long, 1.8 zhang wide, and 3.2 zhang high, shows that construction techniques had reached a fairly high level. Handicraft workshops based on hired labor had already appeared. Some handicraft workers who made a living solely by selling their labor were organized to produce in the same workshop. These handicraft workshops were closely integrated with rural household handicrafts. On market days, nearby rural women brought their own spun yarn to weaving workshops to exchange for cloth or cotton: "Both town and country are good at spinning... but not good at weaving; village markets all have weaving rooms. Cloth is all woven by professional weavers." Handicraft workers' wages were low and their income unstable. In good years, daily wages barely supported a family of two or three; in famine years, they generally could not even feed themselves, let alone support a family. The lives of handicraft workers at that time were very hard.
Mining also developed. Iron mines at Pukouche, Ciyantang, Xishaping, and other places in Longshan County; copper mines at Shuiruitaipu and Pengjiashan in Sangzhi County; and saltpeter mines in Xianfeng, Enshi, Laifeng, Jianshi, Youyang, Xiushan, and other counties were successively exploited during the Qianlong reign. However, mining relied mainly on manual labor, with high costs and low output. The copper mine at Pengjiashan in Sangzhi employed over a thousand taels of silver in annual labor costs but produced only just over 1,500 jin of copper; the government took 300 jin as its 20 percent share, leaving the mine owner with no profit. In addition, the Qing court alternately banned and permitted mining, so the development of the mining industry was extremely slow.
After the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, the native chieftains' restrictions and extortions on merchants entering and leaving were abolished, and goods flowed freely. Han merchants from neighboring provinces and as far away as Fujian and Guangdong came in succession to conduct purchasing and marketing activities, and commercial trade in the Tujia region became unprecedentedly active. Trade routes were divided into water and land routes. The water route went via the Yuan River and You River to Yongshun Prefecture; via the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake one could reach Shinan Prefecture, Hefeng Department, and Shizhu Subprefecture; going upstream along the Wu River one reached Xiushan, Youyang, and Qianjiang in Sichuan. The land route went from Taoyuan and Li County to Baojing and Longshan, and from Sichuan and Guizhou through Laifeng to nearby counties. At this time, Laifeng had become a key thoroughfare connecting the four provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou. The seats of prefectures, departments, and counties and the market towns at key water and land transport junctions had become important trading markets where merchants gathered from all directions and goods of every kind concentrated. The cattle market north of Longshan County had become a major collecting and distributing center for cattle. "Cattle from Sichuan and Guizhou gather and are driven here in succession. From Chenzhou and Changde to Changsha, most are sold from this market. Those sold from Taoyuan are also trafficked from here." In these towns and markets, there were not only stall vendors on market days but also resident merchants with shops; in Guzhangping Department, oil merchants who also ran money houses had already appeared. Urban-rural exchange of goods and rural market trade were quite active; transactions were "held either every three days or every five days, and the trading areas, called chang, were also sometimes known by the names of market towns and street shops." The Tujia people brought their agricultural and sideline products to market to sell and bought farm tools and daily necessities. Transactions were especially large in iron farm tools, cloth, tung oil, tea oil, salt, and alkali. In Guzhangping Department alone, the oil and alkali trade at Luoyi Creek amounted to tens of thousands of gold annually, accounting for eight-tenths of the total commodity value in trade. Salt sales increased greatly. During the native chieftain era, salt was expensive, and only wealthy families could eat it; ordinary people might not even know its taste in their entire lives. After the replacement of native officials, special merchants were appointed to handle it, and shops were set up in town and country to retail Huai salt and Sichuan salt. Yongshun Prefecture sold over 3,200 yin annually (one yin equals 344 jin), and Shinan Prefecture sold over 1,400 yin of Sichuan salt in the third year of Qianlong. As commodity exchange developed, merchants who separated from agriculture and specialized in trade appeared among the Tujia, changing the former situation in which "the Tujia people did not engage in commerce." "The natives can also trade, mostly trafficking in rice and grain." Even in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, Guangdong, and other provinces, the footprints of Yongshun merchants could be found. The development of the commodity economy promoted the development of production and the improvement of people's lives in the Tujia region.
The implementation of the replacement of native officials with appointed officials objectively conformed to the needs of social and economic development in the Tujia region, promoted the region's social development, and met the demands of the people. But it was, after all, a top-down reform carried out by the Qing court, replacing one system of exploitation with another. Although the burden on the Tujia people was somewhat lightened after the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, their position of being oppressed and exploited did not change. In addition, in the process of implementing the replacement of native officials with appointed officials, the Qing court also pursued a policy of forced assimilation. It listed some of the Tujia people's inherent customs and habits as corrupt native chieftain regulations and forcibly abolished them, so that certain ethnic characteristics of the Tujia were gradually lost.