부산대학교 도서관

Previous studies on the relationship between ethnic minority societies and state power during the Ming and Qing dynasties have emphasized the confrontation between the state, which sought to expand its influence, and ethnic minority societies, that resisted it. The conflict often involved Han Chinese migrants from outside and indigenous communities. It was commonly assumed that the response of ethnic minorities would be resistance to “Sinicization” (漢化). Additionally, the changes in ethnic minority societies since the 16th century, driven by the timber trade, have not been fully considered. Therefore, this paper focuses on various aspects of the relationship between ethnic minority societies and state power through the narrative of the rise and fall of the Yao Baiwan(姚百萬) family, a representative migrant family in the Qingshui River basin, and the ‘Lawsuits over the right to trade on the Qingshui River(爭江案)’, a notable dispute over the order of the timber trade in the region. In particular, it aims to reveal the impact of social change on the relationship between ethnic minority societies and state power in the Qingshui River basin, where the timber trade flourished during the Qing dynasty due to abundant forest resources and rapidly developed into a commercial economy. To succeed in the timber trade, the Yao Baiwan family married with local ethnic minorities, relocated to trading centers, accumulated wealth, and grew to become ‘Mountain Tourists(山客)’. In their pursuit of safeguarding and expanding their wealth and interests, they employed a strategy of borrowing and utilizing state authority and power. This included participating in the Imperial Examinations (科擧) and intermarrying into bureaucratic families. The former reflects the minorization of Han Chinese migrants as a reterritorialization strategy, while the latter illustrates the voluntary and proactive subjecting of indigenized migrants to state control. The decline of the Yao family also exemplifies the voluntary and proactive subjecting of ethnic minority societies to state control, as they sought to attract state power to gain an advantage in the internal competition for economic benefits among ethnic minority groups. The ‘Lawsuits over the right to trade on the Qingshui River’ provides a typical example of planned and strategic subjecting to state control, where the state implemented a plan to efficiently measure and manage forest resources in ethnic minority areas. These diverse strategies of reterritorialisation and forms of subjecting to state control demonstrate that the penetration and expansion of state power in the Qingshui River basin occurred in various and complex ways. This included not only the Sinicization of ethnic minorities but also the minorization of Han Chinese migrants, the voluntary and proactive subjecting of ethnic minority societies to state control, and the planned and strategic state-led subjecting.