冕宁土司制度探析

An Exploration of Mianning Chieftain System

冕宁境内的土司制度形成于元朝,最终在民国时期彻底衰败,土司后裔转变为平民,但一直没有明令废除。由于元明时期史料缺乏,但鉴于元朝"罚而不废"的制度,以及当地藏族长期保持较强大的势力,这里结合史书的记载与田野调查的材料,认为冕宁县从元朝到清朝一直有土司存在。冕宁世居的少数民族有藏族和彝族,其土司状况与其他以单一少数民族为主体的土司地区有不同的特点。即:从元朝到清朝经历了一个由整体到分散、由高级到低级的过程,土司制度在这个过程中被逐步削弱,最终消亡,这个过程也是中原王朝对该区域的统治逐步加强的过程。

The chieftain system in Mianning County was established and developed in Yuan Dynasty and de-cayed in the period of Republic of China.The chieftain descendants became common people,yet the system were not officially abolished.Despite the insufficiency of historical materials of Yuan and Ming dynasties,consid-ering the punishment-rather-than-abolishment regulation in Ming Dynasty and the longtime powerful force of local Tibetan nationality,the author of this article,combining historical documents and materials from field in-vestigations,believes that the chieftain always existed in Mianning County from Yuan Dynasty to Qing Dynasty.Both Tibetan and Yi nationalities have long lived in Mianning,making the chieftain situation there different from chieftain areas with only one ethnic minority.The chieftain system in Mianning went through a process from whole to dispersion,and from high level to low level.During this process it was gradually weakened and went ex-tinct.This process was also a time when the central government strengthened its reign over this area.