Study of Institutional Culture in Ancient Tujia Society—Political System Culture (I)
Chapter 1: Political System Culture. In the relatively closed and independent ancient Tujia society, the feudal ruling class successively used the Jimi prefecture system, chieftain system, and baojia system to achieve state control over Tujia society, extending state concepts and public power into Tujia settlements. These measures both consolidated the central...
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Chapter One Political System Culture
In a relatively closed and independent ancient Tujia society, the ruling class of the feudal dynasty successively used the jimi junxian system, the tusi system, and the baojia system to realize the state regime's control over Tujia society, thereby extending the concept of the state and public power into Tujia inhabited areas. The implementation of these ruling measures not only consolidated the central regime's political rule over Tujia society, but also promoted the further development of Tujia society's economy and culture.
Section One The Jimi Junxian System
The junxian system was an important political institution in ancient Chinese history and also a basic institution by which feudal dynasties, beginning with the Qin Dynasty and continuing through the Tang and Song periods, carried out political rule and administrative management over minority regions.
I. The Historical Evolution of the Jimi Junxian System
In 316 BC, Qin conquered Ba. This was a major event in the history of the Tujia people, marking the end of slave society and the entry into feudal society in the Tujia region, and also marking Qin's formal administration over the Tujia region. In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang completed the unification of China, establishing for the first time in Chinese history a unified, centralized feudal dynasty. In order to achieve political rule over the Tujia region, the Qin Dynasty established Ba Commandery, Nan Commandery, and Qianzhong Commandery in the areas where the Ba people, ancestors of the Tujia, lived in concentrated communities, using the frontier commandery system to govern the Ba settlements. Historical records state that in 279 BC, the Qin general Bai Qi attacked Chu, capturing five cities including Yan and Deng. The following year, Qin forces again seized the Chu capital Ying, and attacked eastward to Jingling and southward to capture Dongting, Wuzhu, and Jiangnan, establishing Nan Commandery. In 277 BC (the thirtieth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin), the Shu governor Zhang Ruo attacked Chu, "taking Wu Commandery and Jiangnan to form Qianzhong Commandery." Wu was the Chu Wu Commandery; Jiangnan referred to the area south of the Yangtze River around the Chu capital Ying (present-day Jiangling) and Zhijiang; Qianzhong was the territory of the original Chu Qianzhong Commandery. In terms of geographical scope, Qianzhong Commandery during the Qin Dynasty included most of present-day Hunan Province, eastern Chongqing, western Hubei, eastern Guizhou, and parts of Guangxi and Guangdong. The central administrative area of Qianzhong Commandery was the middle and lower reaches of the Yuan River, where the indigenous inhabitants were then called "Nanman, Nan Commandery Man," and together with the indigenous inhabitants of Ba Commandery were collectively called "Ba Commandery and Nan Commandery Man."
In the early Western Han Dynasty, the central dynasty changed the Qianzhong Commandery established during the Qin into Wuling Commandery, and established many counties under Wuling and Nan Commanderies as administrative divisions of grassroots governance. From the perspective of present-day administrative divisions, Wuling Commandery during the two Han dynasties mainly included today's Changde region of Hunan Province, Zhangjiajie City, Xiangxi Tujia Autonomous Prefecture, and Huaihua City, as well as parts of eastern Guizhou, southern Chongqing, and some counties (cities) of Hubei Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. These places were precisely the distribution areas of the "Qunman" and "Baipu" during the Chu state period. Because they all belonged to Wuling Commandery, they were named after the commandery, and the ethnic minorities here were commonly called "Wuling Man." During the reigns of Emperor Shun and Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han, a branch of the Ba people called the "Bandun Man" rebelled many times. In order to ease tensions, in the second year of Guanghe (179 AD), the emperor followed Cheng Yuan's suggestion and issued an edict of pardon to the "Bandun Man," "entrusting them to the provinces and commanderies" and granting them kingly titles. According to the "Ba Commandery Tujing" from the reign of Emperor Huan, Ba Commandery, where the Ba people lived in concentrated communities, had 14 subordinate counties: Jiangzhou, Dangqu, Quren, Langzhong, Yufu, Guijiang, Zhi, Fuling, Dianjiang, Anhan, Pingdu, Chongguo, Xuanhan, and Hanchang. Each county had officials specifically in charge of salt, iron, and other matters, and "the five officials of salt and iron each had assistants and scribes." From then on, the commandery and county system in the Tujia areas of western Hunan, western Hubei, eastern Chongqing, and eastern Guizhou was fully established. It should be said that the two Han dynasties continued the Qin Dynasty's active exploration of local political institutions and ultimately established a relatively complete two-tier local administrative system—the commandery-county system, that is, commanderies governing counties, with commanderies and counties each fulfilling their duties. At the same time, the two Han dynasties creatively extended the commandery-county system to the Tujia region, using the Jimi commandery-county system as an institutional arrangement for handling relations between Tujia local regimes and the central regime and as a strategic choice in the structure of political power. This achieved an organic unity of direct political rule over the Tujia region through the commandery-county system and indirect administrative management through the Jimi system, thereby providing later generations with an institutional paradigm and framework for handling ethnic relations.
During the Three Kingdoms, Two Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods, because the Central Plains were in a state of chaotic warfare, the central dynasty's rule over the Ba people's region weakened somewhat. Rulers used means such as gold and silver rewards or granting official titles and noble ranks to win the Ba people's allegiance and maintain a peaceful situation. Once the time was ripe, the dynastic regime would strengthen direct management of the Tujia region. In the first year of Taikang of the Western Jin (280 AD), the central government established the Southern Man Colonel to govern the "Man and Yi" south of the Jianghan and in the Wuling region. During the reign of Emperor An of the Eastern Jin, it again "established the Ningman Colonel in Xiangyang." During the Liu Song period of the Southern Dynasties, special administrative regions called "Left Commanderies and Counties" were established in areas where "Man people" lived in concentrated communities. According to statistics, during the Song and Qi dynasties, more than 40 left commanderies and more than 140 left counties were established in today's Hubei Tujia region. In the fifth year of Taishi of Liu Song (469 AD), because "Bazhou's Three Gorges were dangerous and obstructed, and mountain Man were bandits and thieves," the court "divided five commanderies of Jingzhou and Yizhou to establish the Three Ba Colonel," with its seat at Baidi (present-day Fengjie, Chongqing), which was subsequently abolished and reestablished several times. Due to military needs, the commandery and county institutions of this period placed greater emphasis on military management functions, with the primary purpose of suppressing resistance from Man chieftains. Looking at the overall situation of Tujia society during this period, although various feudal dynasties established commanderies and counties in the Tujia region and appointed officials, the central dynasty's control over this region was intermittent and relatively loose.
During the Tang Dynasty, the central dynasty's ruling policies toward the Tujia region underwent great changes. On the one hand, it continued to adopt conciliatory measures to pacify the Tujia region, extensively using submissive Tujia leaders to achieve the goal of "governing Man with Man"; on the other hand, it changed institutional arrangements, replacing the commandery-county system with the prefecture-county system, strengthening direct management of the Tujia region. It can be said that the ethnic policies implemented by the Tang Dynasty in the Tujia region both inherited the commandery-county system of the Qin and Han periods and laid the foundation for the Yuan Dynasty's implementation of the Tusi system in the Tujia region. In 618 AD (the first year of Wude), Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an and established the Tang Dynasty. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, numerous leaders in the Tujia region successively submitted to the Tang Dynasty. Thereupon, the Tang Dynasty decided to adopt the method of "establishing their chieftains to pacify and govern them" to manage the Tujia region, that is, generally establishing Jimi prefectures and counties and other governing institutions in the Ba people's region, changing the original four commanderies of Chen, Yuan, Jing, and Qian into 56 Jimi prefectures, and imperially appointing Ba leaders as prefects and county magistrates. "The Man and Yi gradually submitted internally, and their tribes were organized into prefectures and counties. The larger ones became commanderies, with their leaders as commanders and prefects," allowing Tujia leaders to manage the affairs of the Jimi prefectures and counties. The 56 Jimi prefectures were in turn divided among the three commanderies of Jingzhou, Kuizhou, and Qianzhou. In the early Wude period, "in strategic border areas, governors-general were established to command troops, with the added title of imperial commissioner, which was the duty of the Han prefects. In the seventh year (624 AD), the title of governor-general was changed to commander, with the larger ones commanding more than ten prefectures and the smaller ones two or three prefectures." In the fourth year of Zhenguan (630 AD), a commandery was established at Qianzhou. In the twenty-sixth year of Kaiyuan (738 AD), a surveillance and disposal commissioner was established in Qianzhong (later adding a military commissioner), with the Qianzhou commander as the commissioner, all dispatched by the central dynasty. The Tang Dynasty also established the Qianzhong Circuit and the Wutai Army military commissioner above the Jimi prefectures and counties, overseeing the military and political power of the Ba people's region. Clearly, compared with the Qin and Han periods, the Tang Dynasty further strengthened its rule over the Tujia region.
After the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, it inherited and developed the political system of the Tang Dynasty for governing the Tujia region. The Jimi system of "establishing Jimi prefectures and counties, subordinate to commander ies, with their leaders as prefects" was further developed. The Song court, toward the Tujia region, "divided their tribes, with the larger ones as prefectures, the smaller ones as counties, and the even smaller ones as dong," successively establishing 87 Jimi prefectures and counties in the Tujia region. Among the Jimi prefectures with greater historical influence were Xizhou, Shizhou, Gaozhou, Fuzhou, Zhenzhou, Qianzhou, Guizhou, Xiazhou, and so on. In view of the abuses of arrogant regional military governors during the Five Dynasties, and to prevent local regime power from becoming too heavy and threatening the authority of the central regime, the Song Dynasty adopted measures to abolish branch prefectures to weaken the power of military commissioners, strengthening direct management of prefectures and counties, including local regimes in ethnic minority areas. In the early Northern Song, the power of local prefectures and counties was still in the hands of military commissioners. In addition to governing their own prefecture, military commissioners also concurrently administered several nearby prefectures, called "branch prefectures." Military commissioners effectively became local emperors of several prefectures. In the first year of Qiande (963 AD), after Emperor Taizu of Song pacified Jingnan and Hunan, he issued an edict abolishing the power of the original Qianzhong Circuit and Wutai Army military commissioner, making prefecture and county officials in the Tujia region directly responsible to the imperial court. The Northern Song Dynasty also established the Sanmao Xuanfu Office in present-day Laifeng County, Hubei, the Badong Anfu Office in Badong Commandery, and the Shizhu Anfu Office in Nanbin County, Zhongzhou, "establishing their chieftains to govern themselves, always accommodating the Man and Yi." The Xuanfu and Anfu offices established during the Northern Song were mainly military-oriented institutions, different from the previous single civil governance-oriented Jimi commanderies, prefectures, or counties. The establishment of such institutions had a tremendous impact on the later military-civilian integrated Tusi system. Therefore, at this time the Tujia region already presented a situation of coexistence of two political systems, the prefecture-county system and the Tusi system, thereby maintaining relative stability in the Tujia region.
II. Basic Characteristics of the Jimi Commandery-County System
The Jimi commandery-county system was a basic policy pursued by feudal central dynasties in ancient Chinese history when governing southern ethnic groups, permeated by the idea of "governing through Jimi." As for what Jimi means, the "Records of the Grand Historian: Sima Xiangru: Suoyin" provides this explanation: "Ji is a horse halter. Mi is a cow rein. The 'Han Guan Yi' says 'horses have ji, cows have mi,' meaning that controlling the four Yi is like cattle and horses being restrained by halter and rein." The core of the "governing through Jimi" idea was to restrain and bind frontier ethnic groups. In the political practice of feudal rulers, this idea gradually developed into winning over frontier ethnic groups, and most feudal dynasties since the Han Dynasty pursued this policy. As successive rulers gradually strengthened their rule over the frontier, by the Tang and Song periods the Jimi policy gradually intensified. After unifying the various frontier regions, the Tang established Jimi commander ies, prefectures, and counties in the territories under the jurisdiction of leaders in the Tujia region, and appointed Tujia leaders as commanders, prefects, and other positions, which could be hereditary. The Song Dynasty also followed this system in the Tujia region, establishing Jimi prefectures, counties, and dong. The fundamental purpose of successive rulers in adopting the Jimi commandery-county system to govern the Tujia region was to incorporate the Tujia region into the political system of feudal regime.
From the perspective of the form of state structure, the Jimi commandery-county system achieved joint governance between the central dynastic regime and the local regime led by Tujia leaders. Thereby, Tujia society was placed under the control of the central regime, and the organizational form of political power at that time exhibited an organic combination of absolute centralization and moderate decentralization. Therefore, the Jimi commandery-county system pioneered the historical precedent of ethnic local autonomy. In a certain sense, this institutional design affirmed the rationality of the governance form of "governing according to their customary laws" in ethnic regions. "The Han established seventeen initial commanderies, and governed them according to their customary laws." The governance method of "governing according to their customary laws" was, without changing the ruling status of the original rulers in ethnic regions, to establish a joint rule politically between the central regime and ethnic local regimes. Whether it was the commandery-county system of the Qin and Han periods or the prefecture-county system of the Tang and Song periods, the central dynasty's control over Tujia society was achieved through the power of Tujia chieftains. The central dynasty did not change the Tujia people's original mode of production, nor did it deprive Tujia chieftains of their ruling status, but instead appointed them as local officials of the imperial court. Although the central government also directly dispatched a certain number of "flowing officials" to exercise moderate restraint over local "native officials," this restraint was limited and clearly defined. Therefore, the Jimi commandery-county system demonstrated the existence of an entirely new form of political power structure, namely the existence of a central-local power-sharing form, thereby achieving a rational transformation of the governing mechanism, that is, the transformation from managing residents through blood relations to managing residents through territorial relations. Clearly, this institutional form provided strong political guarantees and institutional support for the long-term stability and peace of a unified multi-ethnic country.
The institutional setup and governing methods of the Jimi commandery (prefecture)-county system differed from ordinary commanderies (prefectures) and counties. The "New Book of Tang: Geography Treatise" relatively clearly summarized the governing characteristics of this political system. First, "their tribes were organized into prefectures and counties." The division of Jimi prefectures was often determined by the natural areas formed by a certain powerful clan or prominent family, and could be divided into one prefecture or several prefectures. Because tribes varied in size, the prefectures established also varied greatly in size. The large ones covered several hundred li with tens of thousands of households, while the small ones had fewer than a thousand households, and there were even prefectures with "fewer than a hundred remaining, vast land but no soldiers." The establishment of prefectures also led to "various Man" being named after their prefectures, such as "Shizhou Man," "Xizhou Man," and so on. Second, "their leaders were appointed as commanders and prefects, all of whom could inherit the position." The prefects of various Jimi prefectures, as well as their subordinate dong chiefs and head officials, were all filled by original tribal leaders. After the early Tang acquired the Kuixia region, the Jimi prefectures and counties established all took "sons and younger brothers of Ba chieftains, appointed to office according to ability, placed at their side." The "Laifeng County Gazetteer" records: "In the early Tang, Man chieftains of the streams and caves who submitted were granted hereditary prefect positions, and Jimi counties were established, subordinate to commander ies; this was the beginning of granting hereditary offices." According to Volume One of the Daoguang "Hefeng Prefecture Gazetteer": "In the first year of Yuanhe (806 AD), Tian Xinggao of the Tang, having followed Gao Chongwen in suppressing Liu Pi, was appointed as the Zhaotao Bazhe Commissioner of Shi, Qin, Rong, and Wan, and later added the titles of Minister of War, Ziguang Luxu Dafu, and Prefect of Shi Prefecture, still overseeing military affairs of the four prefectures of Qin, Wan, Xi, and Rong." It can be seen that appointing Tujia leaders as officials was relatively common at that time. At the same time, in order to prevent Tujia leaders from becoming too powerful, the court often used transfer as a means of restraint under the pretext of appointment or promotion and demotion. Third, "tribute and household registers mostly were not submitted to the Ministry of Revenue." That is, the court generally did not directly levy fixed taxes on residents of Jimi prefectures and counties, but the prefectural leaders, as court-appointed officials, had to regularly pay tribute to the court. Tribute generally consisted of local products and specialties, such as cinnabar, musk, medicinal materials, and large timber. On the surface, tribute seemed to be an economic link between the court and Jimi prefectures; however, in fact, the political significance of tribute far exceeded its economic significance, as it demonstrated a political subordinate relationship of the local regime in the Tujia region to the central regime. Moreover, the court often used the pretext of "cutting off tribute due to crime" to punish Jimi prefectural leaders. It can thus be seen that tribute became a political obligation and a symbol of political allegiance of the local regime in the Tujia region to the central regime.
The Jimi commandery (prefecture)-county system constructed an entirely new institutional framework, namely the dual-structure framework of administrative management system in ethnic minority regions under imperial rule. This basic system, under the principle of maintaining and upholding the political rule of a unified multi-ethnic country, incorporated all ethnic communities within the state into the unified political structure of imperial power, thereby establishing the dual structure of imperial politics—ethnic politics on the realistic basis of mutual recognition of each other's political interests. The establishment and effective operation of this basic system satisfied the interest pursuits of both sides. On the one hand, it allowed the Tujia region to continue its traditional economic, political, and cultural patterns, retaining its original forms of social organization and administrative management methods, thereby satisfying the political and economic needs of Tujia social members, especially those of the Tujia upper class; on the other hand, Tujia social members, under the dominance of the concept of national identity, to a certain extent accepted the supreme political rule and administrative management of the dynastic regime, thereby satisfying the central imperial power's unified aspiration of "ruling all under heaven." The Jimi commandery (prefecture)-county system also provided an institutional paradigm for effective administrative management in a multi-ethnic country, although this system itself had an inherent dual contradiction. On the one hand, it exhibited harmony and unity with the traditional culture of ethnic minorities during a certain historical period; on the other hand, due to differences in institutional culture and the unevenness of political development, it would produce conflict and opposition with the political system dominated by imperial politics.
III. The Impact of the Jimi Commandery-County System on Tujia Society
The Jimi commandery-county system, as a historical choice of ethnic policy under the domination of imperial politics, possessed a certain rationality and scientific nature. In a certain sense, the profound changes in Tujia society benefited from the policy effects produced by the Jimi commandery (prefecture)-county system.
First, the implementation of this system promoted changes in the modes of production and ways of life of Tujia society. Having long lived in mountain forests, the Tujia people were confined by high mountains, dense woods, rushing waters, and deep gorges, with inconvenient transportation and an extremely closed natural and geographical environment. This not only kept the Tujia mode of production at the low level of slash-and-burn cultivation for a long time, but also made the Tujia way of exchanging products usually take the simple form of barter. The system of Jimi prefectures (zhou) and counties broke the long-standing closed state of Tujia society, guiding and advancing the process of economic integration through political integration, and thereby also promoting the economic development of Tujia areas. In their economic exchanges with surrounding areas, residents of Tujia areas could not only share the fruits of others' labor and the social wealth created by residents of other areas, but also had more opportunities to exchange production techniques and experience with one another, especially to learn and master the advanced production techniques and tools of Han Chinese areas. Therefore, changes in political and administrative systems often became a powerful inducement for qualitative changes in the productive forces, and also a powerful inducement for changes in the relations of production and the entire social landscape. Looking broadly at the history of civilized development in Tujia society, we can readily find that changes in its mode of production were all stamped with the imprint of changes in political systems.
Second, the implementation of this system maintained the relative stability of social order in Tujia areas. Taking "different peoples and distinct regions" as its starting point, the system of Jimi prefectures (zhou) and counties emphasized "distinguishing the Yi and Di" and "differentiating inside from outside," strictly distinguishing the ruling ethnic group from the ruled ethnic groups and carrying out "divide and rule"; it also adopted different methods of rule according to different conditions in the interior and the frontier, as stated in the "Biography of Xu Jian" in the New Book of Tang: "The Man and Yi are kept attached through loose rein and should not be governed by the same laws as China proper." Through the system of Jimi prefectures (zhou) and counties, the central dynasty established covenant relations with the powerful chiefs and leaders of Tujia areas in order to maintain social stability in Tujia areas and harmonious coexistence among members of various ethnic groups. As early as the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Ma Xifan of the Chu state established the "Xizhou Bronze Pillar" with Peng Shichou, the prefect of Xizhou, and concluded a covenant. The Song dynasty also erected the "Tiansheng Stone Pillar" in the southern border of Shizhou to maintain peaceful coexistence with the leaders of Jimi prefectures. The Tang and Song dynasties, in turn, used tributary relations to consolidate covenant relations with local Tujia leaders. It can thus be seen that the implementation of the Jimi prefecture (zhou) and county system reflected the complex process by which a multi-ethnic state moved from dispersal toward unification, and reflected the phased nature and particularity of "joint rule by native and appointed officials." This system relatively well resolved the problem of political interests existing between the central dynasty and local minority regimes, and resolved the contradictions between rulers and ruled caused by differences in stages of social development and differences in economic foundations. "The result was that it stabilized the social order of the various ethnic groups in the south, consolidated the central dynasty's rule in the southern ethnic areas, and established, consolidated, and developed a unified multi-ethnic state." The system of Jimi prefectures (zhou) and counties enabled Tujia feudal lords to exchange submission and allegiance to the central dynasty for the legitimate political right they needed to rule the native people, thereby enabling social order in Tujia areas to remain relatively stable for a fairly long period.
Finally, the implementation of this system contributed to the birth of the Tujia as an ethnic community. The system of Jimi prefectures (zhou) and counties strengthened various ties among the indigenous residents living in the border areas of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou. In their common political and economic life, they gradually formed an ethnic centripetal force and ethnic cohesion centered on the Ba people, and their ethnic consciousness also continuously strengthened. Through constant combination or division, these indigenous residents formed, in the contiguous border area of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou, a new people's community of considerable scale—the Tujia. It should be said that, since the Qin and Han dynasties, the prefecture (zhou) and county system promoted by feudal dynasties broke the long-existing ruling pattern in Tujia residential areas in which powerful clans and great surnames dominated one region each. Areas once called "Kuizhou Man," "Xinzhou Man," "Pengshui Man," "Shizhou Man," and "Xizhou Man" gradually became linked into one continuous area; economic and cultural exchanges among the people constantly increased; and factors such as a common ethnic consciousness and ethnic culture gradually grew up within a common territory, enabling the Tujia to develop gradually into a stable ethnic community.