Reorienting the Manchus: A Study of Sinicization, 1583–1795

Chapter IV. Frontiersmen and Transfrontiersmen

127 Chapter IV Frontiersmen and Transfrontiersmen As China’s northeastern frontier, Manchuria was a meeting place for cultures and peoples, even in prehistoric times. It was the “ocean gateway” of Mongolia and the end of the eastern drives of the nomads from as far away as Central Asia. It stood as a bridge, over which Chinese culture and politics reached Korea.1 Within its boundaries, the mountains, rivers, wooded areas, and administrative barriers created internal frontiers. Tribes, clans, and clusters of communities were dispersed. Their economic activities differed with their ecological conditions, developing into specializations and bringing trade among communities and with more advanced states, such as China and Korea. Out of these international and domestic frontiers emerged a frontier society, from which arose frontiersmen and transfrontiersmen, who helped further the sinicization of the Manchus. 1. Frontier Society of Liaodong The word “frontier” is hard to define because it may be associated with geographical, political, economic, military, and scientific fields, individually or in combination. Historians have not achieved a definition. Herbert Franke and Denis Twitchett interpret it as “a broad transitional zone in which identities, loyalties, and authority were constantly changing and striking new balances.” In his Studies in Frontier History and Inner Asian Frontiers of China, Owen Lattimore defines the frontier as the edge of a zone, or the geographical area between communities, shaped by material and cultural conditions and 128 Chapter IV changeable. The Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences contains a long entry entitled “Frontier,” dealing with the subject in terms of American history. Some scholars identify it as a sphere of transition or a zone of interaction between distinctive cultures or ways of life. It is also interpreted as “a linear border dividing two states.”2 It seems advisable to specify how the word is used in this book. Here the term “frontier” is considered to be a transitional border between different cultural, economic, or political institutions. There were frontiers between Chinese and Jurchens, between Jurchens and Koreans , Jurchens and Mongols, Chinese and Mongols. Lands that separate communities of similar instituions, such as those between Jurchen tribes, are here regarded as clan or tribal boundaries. Of course, the distinction between frontier and boundary is not always clear, for there are also various interpretations of the term “boundary.”3 China’s presence in southern Manchuria must begin with the coming of Chinese Neolithic culture, represented by the Yangshao and Longshan cultures. These relations brought political contact. Because of its geographical proximity and long connection with China Liaodong became the center of Chinese culture. Since the Warring States period (403–221 bc), the region had been integrated with the kingdom of Yan, one of the seven contending states. Despite vicissitudes of China ’s control, it remained a hub of Chinese culture.4 With the rise of the Ming dynasty, China strengthened its position there, and from it Chinese culture radiated to other parts of Manchuria. The Ming government devoted the last three decades of the fourteenth century to clearing the Yuan army from Manchuria and stabilizing control there. During the early years of the fifteenth century the Yongle emperor aggressively pushed the Chinese frontier north to the Amur River, all the way from the Mongolian border eastward to Sakhalin. For the first time, the government established dominance over all of Manchuria. It was put under special administrative structures and peopled by diversive groups. The administrative structure in Manchuria was known as the guard-post system, fundamentally a military institution installed throughout the Ming empire. Under its commander (zhihui shi) a guard unit functioned at the district level, with 5,600 men. Below the guard were chiliarchy units—each composed of 1,120 soldiers—and Frontiersmen and Transfrontiersmen 129 century units of 112 each. At the top of the system was the Military Commission (dusi), headed by the regional commander (du zhihui shi), who supervised guards under him and took charge of military affairs at the provincial level.5 There were two varieties of the guard-post system in Manchuria: the Liaodong Military Commission and the Nurkal Military Commission . Geographically, the Liaodong Military Commission covered southern Manchuria, roughly the province of Liaoning today. It took charge of civilian and military affairs, with such cities as Guangning and Liaoyang as administrative centers. Among places under its jurisdiction were Anle zhou and Zizai zhou, two districts inhabited chiefly by Jurchens. In time, a regular administrative structure, such as the offices...