Kang Province Study

The establishment of Xikang Province is regarded as a significant event in the modern history of the administrative system in the border area of China where the ethnic minorities live. The initiative to establish Xikang Province came out in the late Qing Dynasty and Xikang Province was eventually set up on Jan. 1st, the 28th year of the Republic of China (1939). The central government formulated decisions on this issue many times. The whole process went twists and turns through more than thirty years. This area was administered as Chuanbian Dao in the late Qing Dynasty, as Chuanbian Special Administrative Region by the Beijing Interim Government, and was established formally as Xikang Province by Nanjing KMT Government in the time of Anti-Japanese war. This successive change is closely related to the politics of the country and demonstrates that the border area where the ethnic minorities live serves for different political goals and needs of the state against different historical ages and backgrounds. It provides a good perspective to observe political changes. With the theories and methodology of history and politics, this thesis combs the whole process of establishing Xikang Province, and elaborates on its significance to the early modernization in the history of Xikang and the development of Xikang People's awareness of being a province. This thesis constitutes of three parts:The first part is Introduction which reviews and briefs the current research status and the previous research findings in this field, and extracts the main questions this thesis discusses.The second part is the main body including three chapters and appendix.