The Research On Opening Wasteland To Migrants In Northeast Of China: From 1860 To 1911

Modernize was the main problem the society of Chinese Northeast had to face with since 1840. As an important aspect of modernization, the opening wasteland to migrants in Northeast had profound influence on the course of local history. Therefore, the opening wasteland to migrants in Northeast is a major issue for historical research on land exploitation, migration and social development.Since the Xianfeng and Tongzhi, the massive immigration to Northeast had been beyond restraint and the prohibition policy actually was hard to maintain. At the same time, the invasion of Western powers broke the original order of Northeast and worsened the situation. Under above-mentioned background, the government of Qing Dynasty was forced to open wasteland to migrants with the purpose of consolidate the borderland, in order to sustain its rule in Northeast. After 1880, as the Western powers gradually enhanced the scramble for sphere of influence, the government of Qing Dynasty had to shifted the policy focus to consolidate defense in Northeast, relieved the prohibition of governmental paddock, rangeland and tribute district, and then fully opening wasteland to migrants. During the early of 20 th century, government of Qing Dynasty pursued New Deal throughout the country to sustain its rule. In the Northeast, new departments such as Quanye Bureau, agricultural testing agency, agricultural research institution and peasant association were established in succession, which promoted the administration of land development and agricultural plantation, popularization of farming knowledge, and increase of plough yield. Those measures accelerate the wastelands’ exploitation and improved the actual effect of the policy. Accordingly, the modernization of Northeast began therewith. Although the opening wasteland to migrants promoted the social and economical development of Northeast, the policy couldn’t made contribution to maintain sovereignty in the region, nor remit the borderland crisis.The paper includes seven sections. The first section is introduction. The research subjects are defined in this Part. The achievements on migration in the Northeast in modern times are systematically concluded and evaluated. Furthermore, survey of the materials, research methods, general framework and novelties are elaborated. The second section focuses on the introduction of land system general situation and prohibition policy in the earlier stage of Qing Dynasty. The third section mainly discusses the background for limit opening wasteland to migrants, including the refugee private reclamation, Western powers invasion and financial embarrassment. The basic procedure and characteristics of policy during this stage are summarized. The forth section focuses on the analysis of influence of Western powers invasion on opening wasteland to migrants policy, and the feature of policy in this stage is concluded. The fifth section discusses the influence of modernize measures on opening wasteland to migrants. Based on the summary of the cause and characteristics of opening wasteland to migrants, the sixth section of paper focuses on the analyzing the outcomes of the policy, including the increase on agricultural acreage, fiscal revenue, population gross and local administration organization setting.The problems arose during the implementation of the policy are also pointed out. The seventh section is conclusion, summarizes the basic clues and characteristics of the opening wasteland to migrants during 1860 till 1911.