| Green Standard Army , the main military force of the Qing Dynasty, ruled the whole nation chiefly by instituting xuntangs at all levels throughout the country. Therefore, the study of these troops and the related xuntang system is an integral part of research into the Qing Dynasty history. The Qing Dynasty played a significant role in the development and strengthening of the unified multi-ethnic China, to which the troops undoubtedly made great contributions. In this sense, the troops must be highly stressed in the research of China's frontier history. As we know, Yunnan is a southwestern frontier province inhabited by numerous ethnic groups, but the number of lüying soldiers deployed here was among the largest in comparison with that of other provinces under the direct control of the Qing government. Consequently, frontier's stability, the development and change in society, economy and culture, population and ethnic groups in Yunnan are closely connected with the troops and xuntang system. So a thorough study of the development, change as well as the significance they played will greatly help to broaden and deepen research into the Qing Dynasty and China's frontier history, and facilitate the research of Yunnan'local history and its ethnography. Professors Fang, Mu, and Lin have all definitely affirmed in their relevant works the contribution made by xuntang system to the development of Yunnan's frontier and mountainous areas, from which my dissertation benefits a lot. Based on this point, this dissertation is a research into Green Standard Army in Yunan during the Qing Dynasty, with the description and analysis of the whole developing process as the prerequisite, xuntang system as the focus, and their effect as the purpose. The main contents are as follows. Green Standard Army were first set up in the 16th year of Shunzhi's administration and came to be well established in the year when emperor Kangxi came to the throne. Afterwards, the system of these troops underwent a cut down in number at the beginning of Kangxi's administration and a rebuilding after the suppression of Wu Sangui-led rebellion in the 20th year of Kangxi times. In Yongzheng and Qianlong times, both the system of troops and the distribution stepped into a steady phase as it extended to the border areas on a large scale. Its decline began during Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, and the virtual fall was largely due to the destructive impact brought about by anti-Qing rising headed by Du Wenxiu when Xianfeng and Tongzhi were in the throne. Then in the following years, the number of soldiers varied much from time to time and the system experienced a series of changes. And the troops finally came to an end with the fall of the Qing empire. The Green Standard Army were basically composed of soldiers stationed in towns/cities and those in the suburban or rural areas. Xuntang system developed from town-garrisoned system in mid-or late-Ming Dynasty and the military system was formed by the enlisted soldiers, and later developed into the most basic unit of Green Standard Army in the Qing Dynasty. The areas garrisoned by such troops were sub-divided into many connecting xuns, commanded by qianzong, bazong, and waiwei respectively at different levels. In addition, every xun set up tangs on vital communication lines and at strategically important places, and soldiers were deployed there. Xuntangs were established across the country, the system of which became an important measure of ruling practiced by the Qing Dynasty. The tangs had such a close connection with Ming's guanshaos (a kind of checkpoints) that some of them were set up just where guanshaos used to be, but tangs did not include guanshaos because the latter were completely abolished in the Qing Dynasty. The xuntang system of Yunnan became well established with the building up of the Green Standard Army after the 16th year of Shunzhi's administration and was improved as the troops spread to the borders in Yongzheng times. Up to Daoguang'administration, the system got consummate, then it started to decline after the rising occurred in Xiangfeng and Tongzhi times and came to an end with the termination of the Green Standard Army. The soldiers and their family members came to Yunnan from other provinces, then continued to move from inland areas to frontiers, from flatland or basins to remote areas. This formed three types of population migration directly triggered by the troops, which was a major part of Yunnan population movement during the Qing Dynasty. The troops safeguarded the frontiers and the mountainous community, and protected all kinds of communications, which gave rise to the population migration from other provinces and central areas of Yunnan to the frontier and mountainous areas. By setting up military bases both in towns and at other places, the troops achieved the most extensive rule in wide areas from towns to the countryside, from the inland to the frontier, from flatland to mountains, creating the most complete and in-depth rule over Yunnan by the Dynasty throughout the history. This greatly helped to stabilize the southwestern frontier and develop the unified multi-nationalities country.The fact that army men and their families became totally blended with Yunnan's economy during the Qing Dynasty directly or indirectly speeded up the development of such sectors as agriculture, mining, and commerce in Yunnan. The Green Standard Army played an important part in the developing and constructing of Yunnan's frontier and mountainous areas owing to the extension of the troops and xuntang after Yongzheng's and Qianlong's administrations. The distribution pattern of ethnic groups was greatly changed as a result of the migration of the troops and their families from the inland area to the frontier, from flatland to mountains, together with the migration from other provinces or inland Yunnan to mountains intensified by the soldiers. Another result is that the distribution of the Hans spread over a larger area. This affected the distribution and making-up of ethnic groups in frontier areas. Also, this resulted in many areas changing from a purely ethnic-inhabiting situation to the blending of ethnic groups and the Hans, which lead to the distribution pattern of ethnic groups in the frontier in modern time——remote areas inhabited by both ethnic groups and the Hans, the areas closer to cities dominated by the Hans, and cities virtually by only the Hans. The change in the distribution of nationalities helped build a closer relationship between their economy and culture, a great improvement of which was thus realized. This in one of the most striking features of the social and cultural changes took place in Yunnan during the Qing Dynasty. |
