Migration And Social Changes In Northeast In The Qing Dynasty: 1644-1911

Compared with Central China, Northeast was a borderland. For a few thousand years, there had been great migrations of people and the trend was that the minority nationalities from the north kept moving down while the Han people from Central China continued migrating up. The two met each other in the lower reaches of the Liao River valley and formed a cultural transition belt differing from Central China and border areas.In the Ming Dynasty, two headquarters were set up in the south and north of Northeast respectively to administrate it. At the turn of the Ming dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, Nuerhachi moved many minority nationalities in the north down in the hope of having an upper hand in population. Migrants occupied Liaoning and then moved on down. Meanwhile, a large population were moved to Liaoning from Mongolia, Korean Peninsula, and especially Central China, making the population in Liaoning reaching an ever high. In 1644, the Qing Dynasty entered Shanshai Pass, leaving the number of the population in the south of Liaoning and the north and west reduced to approximately 30,000 and no more than 200,000 respectively. In 1653, the government encouraged people to move to Liaoning to open up wasteland. During the following years, the decision-makers in the Qing Dynasty had been in a dilemma of developing and banning Northeast from development. It was the contradiction that made it possible for the policies on migration in Northeast to change. The processes of changing migration policies can be divided into the following phases: Phase 1(1653-1667), the Qing Dynasty basically encouraged people to move to Northeast to open up wasteland and people did; Phase 2 (from Year 7 of Rang Xi to the early period of Qian Long), the Qing Dynasty adopted a passive policy, and the speed of migration slowed down; Phase 3(from the early period of Qian Long to the early period of Jia Qing), the Qing Dynasty banned Northeast from development. But just during this period, a large population poured in and Fengtian and Rehe in the south of Northeast became from migrant importing areas migrant exporting ones; Phase 4(periods of Jia Qing and Dao Guang), the Qing Dynasty rulers were in adilemma of developing and banning. Total banning was impossible, and they were reluctant to open Northeast to migrants. Therefore, they developed in the process of banning and banned in the process of developing; Phase 5: After the early period of Jian Feng, migrants had moved to the north of the Songhua River, and what the rulers banned were only enclosed fields and hills. Towards the period of Tong Zhi and Guang Xu, enclosed fields and hills were allowed to be opened up. After the Jiawu War, Northeast was eventually open to migrants.With migrants constantly moving in, the social structure in Northeast also changed. In political structure, the administrative system by both Flag and People's Office became a People's Office dominated one with People's Office expansion; More land was taken over by people from Flag in terms of land system structure; Culturally, building temples fully demonstrated the close tie between people's faith structure and migrants' sources and the combination of migrants' faith structure and local faith structure. Thus, a new cultural system different from that in Central China took shape in Northeast..With migrants continuously moving in, the functions of Northeast region also changed gradually. Through migrants' activities. Northeast became from a grain importing region a grain exporting one, more produces were sold, transportation developed rapidly, and cities sprang up. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Northeast had been unified economically. Meanwhile, as a borderland, with migrants constantly moving in. by the end of the Qing Dynasty, Northeast had reached the Heilong River. Not all migrating activities were to stabilize the borderland directly, but those activities did stabilize the borderland and eliminate the threat to Northeast, a border area from the Great Powers. Never before had Northeast, a borderland been...