A Brief History of the Tujia — The Tujia Before the Sui (I)
Chapter 2: The Early Feudal Period — Section 1: The Tujia Before the Sui — After Qin conquered Ba, the Ba people's territory became part of the Qin empire. This period can be roughly divided into two phases: the commandery-county system from Qin to Sui, and the jimi prefecture-county system of the Tang and Song. I. Tujia Politics from Qin to Sui: After Qin unified the six states, it established three commanderies in Ba territory — Ba, Nan, and Qianzhong...
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Chapter Two: The Early Feudal Society
Section One: The Tujia Before the Sui
After Qin destroyed Ba, the Ba people's region became a component part of Qin territory. This period can roughly be divided into two stages: the commandery and county system from Qin to Sui, and the establishment of the Jimi prefectures and commanderies in the Tang and Song.
I. The Politics of the Tujia from Qin to Sui
After Qin unified the six states, it established three commanderies in the Ba people's dwelling areas: Ba Commandery, Nan Commandery, and Qianzhong Commandery. It merged part of the territory of Ba, Chu, and Wu Commandery into Nan Commandery and Qianzhong Commandery and ruled them separately. The Western Han followed Qin and renamed Qianzhong Commandery "Wuling Commandery." Within Wuling Commandery it established Qianling County (including present-day Baojing, Xiushan, and other places), Youyang County (including present-day Yongshun, Longshan, Qianjiang, Youyang, and other places), Lingyang County (including present-day Longshan, Yongshun, Cili, and other places), Chong County (including present-day Sangzhi, Dayong, Laifeng, Xuan'en, and other places), Yuanling County (including present-day Yongshun, Luxi, and other places), and Henshan County (including present-day Changyang, Wufeng, and other places); Nan Commandery established Wu County (including present-day Badong, Jianshi, Enshi, and other places). The Eastern Han followed the Western Han system, and the administrative divisions did not change, except that in the Louzhong area, below the commandery and county level, grassroots institutions such as "li" and "ting" were established. From the Three Kingdoms to Sui, because the feudal dynasties were long in a state of division and instability, their control over this region was sometimes weak and sometimes strong, with relatively great changes. The Book of Jin records that Wu and Jin each had a Jianping Commandery, governing Wu, Jianshi, Shaqü, and other counties; Wu established Yidu Commandery, controlling Jiashan, Yizao, and other counties below it; Wu established Tianmen Commandery, controlling Lingyang, Louzhong, Chong, and other counties. Although the jurisdiction of Wuling Commandery was smaller than in the Han, it still retained Yuanling and Qianling, and split off Qianyang County (present-day Longshan) and other places from Youyang County. Shu once established the "Badong Dependent State" in present-day eastern Chongqing, later changed to Fuling Commandery, with six counties below it including Danxing (present-day Xiushan, Qianjiang) and Hanjia (present-day Pengshui). After Sui unified China, it continued to strengthen its rule over the border region of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou. In the early Sui, it changed Shizhou, which Jingzhou had administered under Northern Zhou, into Qingjiang Commandery (present-day Enshi and other places), governing Kaiyi (present-day Xianfeng, Qianjiang), Jianshi, Yanshui, Bashan (present-day Changyang), and other counties; it changed part of Tianmen Commandery into Lizhou, governing Shimen, Cili, and other counties. In the ninth year of Kaihuang (589), it established Chenzhou, directly governing Yuanling, Daxiang (present-day Yongshun and other places), and five counties. Northern Zhou changed the original Qianyang area in southeastern Chongqing to Qianzhou, and Sui again renamed it Qian'an Commandery. In the seats of these commanderies and counties, the feudal central dynasty directly sent officials to control them. For chiefs who expressed willingness to submit, it granted them official titles and ranks to govern their lands, or imposed light corvée and taxes, gave generous rewards, and even intermarried with them to show conciliation; once they resisted, it sent troops to suppress them. In the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang used Ba chiefs and conscripted large numbers of Ba people to pacify the Three Qin. Later, Emperor Wu of Han, in managing Nanyue and the Southwest Yi, repeatedly conscripted large numbers of Ba people and adopted measures "to transform Ba customs." In the Eastern Han, Ba chiefs were still used to govern their lands, and the Jimi policy continued to be implemented.
From the Three Kingdoms to Sui, various forces successively and fiercely contended for the Xiajiang and Wuxi regions, and chiefs among the Tujia became important objects for them to win over. Some chiefs attached themselves among the various sides, or were sometimes with one and sometimes with another, to benefit their own rule. When Wu and Shu contended for Jing and Xiang, after Wu captured Nan Commandery, "the lords and chiefs of the Man and Yi all surrendered; Lu Xun requested gold, silver, and bronze seals to grant them to those who had newly submitted," using their chiefs to resist Shu. Liu Bei "established a continuous siege line from the Wu Gorge and Jianping to the Yiling border... and used gold, brocade, and noble titles and rewards to entice and move the various Yi," and also used the "Jianping Man" to resist Wu. In the Western Jin, after Ying Zhan summoned the "Tianmen Man" and "Wuxi Man," he adopted the method of "breaking bronze tallies to make a covenant" in order to pacify the various ethnic groups in the Tianmen and Wuxi regions. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, beginning with Sima Rui, the Jimi policy continued to be implemented. In the third year of Daxing of the Eastern Jin (320), Xiang Hong and Xiang Ge, kings of the Yi of Jianping, expressed submission, and Emperor Yuan of Eastern Jin enfeoffed Xiang Hong as General of Breaking Through the Enemy and Marquis of Pingxiang. In the Liu Song of the Southern Dynasties, Zhang Buzhi and fifty others of the "Jianping Man," and Tian Sheng and 113 others of the "Yidu Man" submitted to Liu Yu and all received generous rewards. By the Southern Qi, in memorials on governing the "Man Left," the matter of conferring titles on chiefs of various ethnic groups was already described as "chieftains hereditary from generation to generation, the matter shining in former leaves." This shows that among Tujia chiefs the hereditary system had long been prevalent.
As for the internal social organization of the Tujia on the border region of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou, inferred from sparse and discontinuous historical materials, they lived together according to surname or scattered in adjacent streams and caves, engaging in production or going out to battle. The chiefs who led them in battle, among the "Lingyang Man" of the Wuling region, called themselves "Jingfu." Between the "Jingfu" and the common people, internal ties within the group were still maintained by bonds of common descent or clan bloodline.
Among the various Tujia groups, there was no fixed form of political connection; they often acted independently and were not subordinate to one another, so that in struggles against the control of the feudal central dynasties and in uprisings, they were mostly defeated one by one, or failed because "good Man" groups attacked "rebel Man" groups. From Wei and Jin through the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, contacts among Tujia groups gradually increased, and they often joined together to carry out struggles against feudal dynasties. In the gorge region and adjacent areas, the Ran, Xiang, and Tian clans had large populations and strong power, while other surname groups ranged from ten thousand families for the large ones to a thousand households for the small ones. They joined with the "Qianyang Man" (also written Qianyang) Tian Wudu, Tian Dutang, and others to cut off the river route; the "Xinzhou Man" Ran Lingxian, Bo Li, Ran Anxi, and Xiang Wuzi, Xiang Baosheng, and others once jointly resisted the Northern Zhou army, or garrisoned the gorge region and proclaimed themselves kings and marquises.
In short, from Qin to Sui, although various feudal dynasties established commanderies and counties in Tujia areas and appointed officials, their control was relatively loose and intermittent. In addition, warfare was relatively frequent and society remained unstable for long periods. Within Tujia society, the strength of internal forces rose and fell considerably, and the scope of activity expanded and contracted from time to time, so it remained in a not very stable state.