Hsieh-Tou: The Pathology of Violence in Southeastern China

-1HSIEH -TOUi THE PATHOLOGY OF VIOLENCE TJf SOUTHEASTERN CHINA Harry J. Laaley university of Hawaii The rebellions, popular uprisings and banditry, so conspicuous in Ch'ing history, have attracted, considerable scholarly attention in recent years. Buch less notice has been paid to another major type of Ch'lngperiod disorder? feud strife manifested In massive armed affrays, termed " "hsleh-tou"j»S ffW p*j(literally, "crowd-gathering armed affrays"), suggesting the massive size of such outbreaks , came into vogue during the Ch'ien-lung reign and subsequently appeared 14 in official documents of the nineteenth and twnetleth centuries. In another sense, however, the expression "crowd-gathering" was misleading. The numerous combatants who participated in hsieh-tou disturbances In southeastern China did not all flock together in crowds as if by chance. Instead, -8the mainstay of the fighting forces invariably consisted of trained feud bands with duly constituted leaders and prearranged battle schedules. In effect, these types of massive hsleh-tou outbreaks required careful planning, considerable numbers of recruits, and relatively large expenditures. Such features of southern hsleh-tou buildups are important to note. For communal feud strife was not confined to backward areas where so-called "stupid people" living In poverty carried on perennial feuds, as some officials alleged. On the contrary, massive hsleh-tou affrays, entailing extensive alliances and buildups, were more apt to occur in wealthier rural areas and prosperous urban locales (market and port towns or commercial suburbs outside of walled cities). Hsleh-ton disorder, In fact, proved to be an urban phenomenon as well as a rural one although most disturbances broke out In the countryside and reflected long-standing rural grievances. Major Forms of Armed Fends Generalizations about hsleh-ton disorder are apt to be Imprecise unless the major forms that armed feuds assumed in China are carefully delineated. The clan fends reported In southern Fuklen and eastern Kwangtung early In the eighteenth century were the first type to be categorized under the hsleh-tou label. Thereafter, hsleh-ton disorder was most frequently associated with clan feuds in southeastern China, at least in official documents, even though other forms of massive armed feuds became prevalent during the Ch'ing period. The attention that clan feuds received is understandable. For during the latter half of the eighteenth century such fends spread over many parts of Fuklen and Kwangtung as well as into other provinces where powerful lineages held sway In local areas. The Ch'ien-lung Emperor dealt at length with the odious nature of this strife, as had the Yung-cheng Emperor previously. Court officials and provincial authorities also grew concerned over clan disturbances that proved so difficult to settle. In 1822, a substatute prescribing punishments for those guilty of serious crimes committed during hsleh-tou disturbances was added to the Ch'ing penal code. This substatute specifically designated Fuklen, Kwangtung, Kwangsl, Klangsi, Hunan and Cheklane, situated in southeastern China and the Yangtze Valley, as the provinces worst afflicted. Nevertheless, clan feuds continued to prevail. They remained most frequent In Fuklen and Kwangtung even though another Ch'ing substatute of the same year specified that local officials were to Intervene in the management of clans that instigated hsieh-tou outbreaks 17 In these two provinces. Reports of clan feuds in southern Fuklen and eastern Kwangtung during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries contain classic accounts of local power buildups and orsanized fighting between rival kinship groups. These accounts reveal that clan leaders subsidized paramilitary operations throueh the use of income from temple lands and other clan investments. Outsiders were recruited and "substitutes" contracted, oftentimes with pensions 18 and other benefits promised to families of the deceased. In some areas these practices led to the use of professional mercenary bands hired to fight for one side or the other whenever vendettas were staged. The Red and White Banners of Chang-p'u hsien in Chang-chou and Hui-an hsien In Ch'flan-chou, along with the Red and Black Banners active In the Hal-feng and Lu-feng coastal areas of Hui-ehou prefecture in eastern Kwangtung, are examples of local mercenary bands that lasted well Into the twentieth century. As elan feuds developed into...