From "Inland" To "Outland":the Management And Controlling Of Ming To Hami

The Ming Dynasty operated Hami from Yongle to Jiajing,which lasted more than 120 years.Hami played an important role in the northwest frontier system of Ming Dynasty.The Emperor regarded Hami as a territory of Ming Dynasty rather than outland.Ming Ch'eng-tsu governed Hami as the official territory of the Ming Dynasty.He exerted political and military control on Hami by sending officials to take important positions as"ZhangShi","Ji Shan",etc to manage the affairs of Hami as well as sending a large number of troops in Gansu.However the steady steps of Hami's inlandization were interrupted by the unexpected death of Tuotuo.Because Hami did not accept Tuotuo's governance,Ming Ch'eng-tsu had to nominate another king called ZhongYi to stabilize the situation in Hami.Because of ZhongYi's hospitality,he gradually won the emperor's trust.Therefore Ming Ch'eng-tsu did not nominated another new king and send other officials to Hami.This situation continued until the period of Xuande.The mechanism established in Yongle that officers were sent to assist the King of ZhongShun to manage Hami was abolished.For Ming Dynasty,to control Hami they could continue to exert influence on the whole western deeply,while withdrawal would lead to the loss of the northwest border barrier,influencing Shanxi and Gansu's security.To Turpan,Hami,located in the Silk road,meant a large population and a large amount of wealth.Driven by their respective interests,Ming Dynasty and Turpan scrambled for Hami.The Ming court believed that as long as the grip of Hexi Corridor was under control and the channel between Gansu and the center remained unblocked,there was nothing to worry about.It was just a transient problem that Turpan harassed Hami.In response to the issue of Turpan,Gansu had a voice,but the central distrusted Gansu.The central government did not pay much attention to opinions of the local.After the local general reported wrong message to the central,they lost the right to participate in making decisions on the issue of Turpan.Turpan treated Hami as their own property grabbed from the Ming Dynasty.But Turpan as an oasis Kingdom,in addition to the needs of treasure and population,they did not show much interest in the land.On the contrary,the Ming court treated Hami as ancestral territory,which is completely different from Turpan.Regarding Hami issue from the emergence,development,upgrading and the final settlement as a long and dynamic course as well as investigating different views on Hami issue of different groups including emperor,master,lower officials,local officers and scholars in each period of Ming Dynasty,it was concluded that Ming Dynasty's formulation of Hami policy was influenced by those groups,especially the scholar-bureaucrat.It was a result of the parties' game.The solution of the Hami issue also reflected the transformation of the Ming Court frontier thinking.At the same time,we should pay attention to the position of Hami given by the Northwest nomads.Their cognition on the Hami issue was totally different from the Ming dynasty.The difference was also an important reason for the military conflict between Ming Dynasty and Turpan.