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Management of Ethnic Minorities and Border Security in Yunnan 165 7 Management of Ethnic Minorities and Border Security in Yunnan, 1826–35 After Canton Ruan Yuan was Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou in Southwest China. Topographically, the region was ‘rugged with high local relief, and the canyons of western Yunnan (were) characterized by a vertical zonation of climate, soils, and vegetation’.1 These mountainous provinces boasted a multicropped agrarian economy, in addition to copper and salt mining. Therefore, although a ‘relatively primitive frontier region … by the end of the 18th century, (it) had developed into one of the principal regional economies of Qing China.’2 Geographically, the provinces bordered on Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, and Tibet, then already a part of the Chinese Empire. Externally, the provinces linked the Chinese Empire with Southeast Asia. Guizhou did not have a frontier, but Yunnan shared a common boundary with the tributary states of Burma (Myanmar) and Vietnam.3 Much of the population on the other side of the border was the same as the heterogeneous tribes of the two provinces. Tax revenue from salt production and copper mining had been in deficit, so necessitated vigilant administration and supervision. Opium was a major problem, for in Yunnan and Guizhou poppies were cultivated and then processed into opium. Secret societies continued to expand, and the Daoguang Emperor looked to provincial officials to identify the groups, to curtail their activities, and hopefully, to eliminate their existence altogether. The assignment of Ruan Yuan to the provinces was in keeping with the court’s policy of sending competent officials to areas of strategic significance.4 1. Caroline Blunden and Mark Elvin, Cultural Atlas of China (1983), p. 170. 2. James Lee, ‘The Southwest: Yunnan and Guizhou’, in Nourish the People: The State Civilian Granary System in China, 1650–1850, edited by Pierre-Étienne Will and R. Bin Wong (1991), p. 431. 3. Today the borders have remained more or less intact. On the other side of Yunnan and Guizhou are Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Vietnam. 4. See Qian Shifu (錢實甫), Qingdai Zhiguan Nian Biao (清代職官年表) (1980), volume 2, tables of governor’ general. Holders of this office were mostly Manchu or Mongol officials with military background. Ruan Yuan was the first Chinese to hold this post for more than a few months. After him, the office went to a Manchu. 166 Ruan Yuan, 1764–1849 In 1826, the Daoguang emperor needed a man who had at least a modicum of understanding of economics in addition to administrative and military experience to serve in Yunnan and Guizhou. Ruan Yuan saw as his top priority keeping the tribes under control and to avoid border incidents involving the Southeast Asian states. There was already a large contingent of troops all along the borders of the two provinces, in any case. When he was at Kunming, Ruan Yuan continued to adopt traditional policies when and where he saw fit. As an application of the principle of using barbarians to control barbarians, Ruan Yuan moved the Tibeto-Bruman Lisu (𣳈僳) people to where they are living today, as a measure of security and control.5 Journey from Seaside to the Mountains After an emotional departure from the scholars and students at the Xuehaitang and the people on the streets Ruan Yuan left Canton in August 1826.6 He was sentimental at the start of the journey, particularly because by this time his records showed that he had travelled 10,000 li since 1799, when he first became a provincial governor. The Prince Cheng, a friend from his days in the Imperial Study, had come to bid him farewell and had wished him good luck on the outset of ‘a journey of ten thousand li’.7 Ruan Yuan went with his family as far as Zhaoqing (肇慶). From there he sent the women and the young grandchildren to the mountains to stay until the Mid-Autumn Festival (that year fell on 16 September) in order to escape having to travel in the intense summer heat, and took off for his new post. The journey by water through Guangxi, Hunan, and Sichuan took more than two months. At one point the water level was so low he almost had to abandon the boat to travel on land, but was saved by a sudden storm. When the rains swelled the river again, the journey by water resumed. Travelling by boat 5. Anthropological studies do not normally give any information on history of the migration of the Lisu people. In a...

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