The Ethnic Fusion And Social Change Of Guishan County During Song, Yuan And Ming Dynasty

Guishan County, which was located in southeast of Guangdong Province, was the settlements of the indigenous peoples called Yue and Li before the Song Dynasty. Although Guishan had continuously accepted people migrating from the Central Plains, the indigenous peoples's assimilation into Han was relatively slow, therefore, she was considered by people from the Central Plains to be a "wild land" for a long time. Until the Song and Yuan Dynasty, with the arrival of the continuously large scale of Han immigration, this situation became to significantly change. On the one hand, Han replaced Li to be the main ethnic, on base of which the latter was urged to be assimilated into Han and disappeared. On the other hand, other ethnics such as Yao, She and Jurchen migrated to this area, which caused the multiple pattern of the ethnic structure whose main part was Han to appear. Until the Ming Dynasty, the multiple ethnic structure continued to change into the binary one. Firstly, the development of ethnics such as Yao was relatively limited and they were basically integrated in Han after the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Secondly, the relationship between Han and She became the main relationship of ethnic relations. There was conflict of interest based on the competition for economic resources between the She people and Han, as well as united rebellions needed for resisting the Ming government. In the form of iron and blood, She was also basically assimilated into Han. Conflict and Fusion not only occurred between one ethnic group and another, but also occurred between different branches within Han. In the late Ming Dynasty, Hakka Moved on large scale to Guishan County whose main culture was Cantonese. During this period, struggles between the "native" and "Hakka" occurred which could be considered as the collision and conflict between the Cantonese and Hakka. As a result, the Cantonese and Hakka were mixed with each other on which language could be taken as evidence. Ethnic Fusion is closely related to the development of economy and culture. One, it could clearly be seen that Han had become the main ethnic of Guishan County through her remarkable development of agriculture, handicraft industry, business and education during the Song and Yuan Dynasty. Two, the most remarkable areas in economy development were also the settlements of the minority. It was also obvious that Ethnic Fusion did promote the development of culture. The evidences were that Confucianism had a solid social foundation in Guishan County, facilitating some prevailing custom of Confucianism. The Ethnic Fusion and Social Change of Guishan County in the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty was the process of integration between Han and other ethnics as well as different branches within Han, the process of the development of economy and culture and also the the process of the local society gradually integrated into the the rule system of the central dynasty.