略论西南土司政区地理的形成与终结

A Discussion on the Formation and End of the Political Geography of the Tusi in Southwest China

历史上的土司制度设立之初,其辖区与经制州各有畛域,互不侵犯,即所谓"蛮不出峒,汉不过境",土司政区的地理沿革相对稳定,大多沿袭传统地域。但随着明代后期中央王朝与西南边地民族关系的紧张及其土司之间土地的侵夺,土司辖区时有扩张与盈缩;土司政区的起源与形成有三种,世袭领地、朝廷赐封与战争扩张。明清时期西南的强势土司大多侵占吞并周邻地盘形成领地纠纷。如明代播州、容美、酉阳土司甚至公然侵夺卫所屯堡。土司之间的领地纠纷往往由地方经制州长官的仲裁与调整,而土司的领地扩张与领地纠纷引起的民族地区冲突也是明季至清代前期中央王朝大规模施行"改土归流"的重要原因之一。

Although the origins,formation and the size of the territory of the southwest Tusi( native officials in imperial China) differed,their existence as a geographical entity is indisputable.The formation of tusi political territory can be classified into three types: hereditary,bestowed by the imperial court,and expansion through war. The first type refers to those tusi regions which were inherited by the indigenous tribes for generations,and were granted by the central court in the Song and Yuan dynasties. The second type is the tusi’s geographical space granted by the central court due to chaos caused by war or the central court’s pacification of rebellions. The third type is when officials from the central court were ordered to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion and invasion of"barbarians"in the border areas,and later,when the dynasty declined or ended due to war in the Central Plains,the officials in the border areas declared themselves protectors of the area. They gradually became the local kings,and were later transformed into tusi during the Yuan and Ming dynasties.The tusi system,as the administrative management system of ethnic areas during the imperial era,also had geographical problems. The officials and jurisdiction of the tusi political district were clearly recorded in the documents. However,official documents relating to the background and detailed process of the demarcation of the boundaries between tusi administrative districts and the central prefecture( county) administrative districts were lacking. The question was how to resolve the boundary disputes and the land use rights among the tusi,and between the tusi and the Han con-trolled areas? Some local stele inscriptions provide clues for exploring this question. Concerning the disputes among the tusi or between the tusi and Han about demarcation and land use,as well as their settlement process,a typical example is a stele called the hantu jiangjie bei,which stands at the border between Wufeng county and Changyang county of Hubei. This stele records the large-scale land ownership dispute between the Rongmei tusi and the Han area of Changyang county in Hubei which took place in the third year of Yongzheng during the Qing dynasty. It records the whole process of the formation,investigation,examination and final judgment of a series of land disputes between the Han and the tusi. From the perspective of historical geography,the text of the stele reveals the frequent occurrence of land disputes between the tusi and the feudal prefecture( Han area) in this tusi region,and that the local high level government played a mediating role in solving the disputes on behalf of the central court. In addition to this stele,there are several similar steles in other places. For instance,the fu zheng yi xiang jie beiji in Qianjiang records that the military troops of the Ming dynasty settled down in Qianjiang,southeast Chongqing,to open up fields and grow grain.Over time, they had land disputes with the Youyang tusi. This dispute lasted for a long time,finally alarmed officials of Qian,Wu and Peng counties made a joint survey of the boundary,and finally successfully resolved the problem through a consultation with tusi,troops,and local people.The Gui ding yang wang di jie bei is a stele also worthy of attention. It records the disputes regarding the use of forest and firewood between the Miaopeople,central troops and the tusi. All these inscriptions provide valuable materials for studying the land disputes between the tusi and officials in the Han area,and they deserve special attention within the study of the historical geography of the tusi.The conflicts in ethnic areas caused by territorial expansion or territorial disputes which are reflected in these inscriptions are also one of the important reasons for the large-scale implementation of the gaitu guiliu policy( replacement of native officials with officials appointed by the central court) by the central courts from the Ming to the early Qing dynasty. The gaitu guiliu policy reflects a political transformation of the tusi system in the Ming and Qing dynasties,which aimed at strengthening the governance of the ethnic minority areas.Its main purpose was to replace gradually the hereditary native officials with officials directly appointed by the central court. Due to the different background of the times and national situation,the degree of perfection and thoroughness of the gaitu guiliu policy in the Ming and Qing dynasties differed,as did the "transformation"of administrative divisions in different tusi districts. So,it is necessary to give an in-depth discussion on the similarities and differences from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The transformation can be roughly divided into the following two situations: 1) the tusi was eliminated through military suppression as a result of their rebellions; 2) the tusi themselves took the initiative to accept the gaitu guiliu policy.The former mainly occurred in the Ming dynasty,while the latter predominated in the Qing dynasty.The gaitu guiliu policy replaced the hereditary native official by the liuguan( officials appointed by the central government) in the former tusi region,and also set up and widely implemented the prefecture/county system of the central dynasty in the southwestern ethnic minority areas. There is no doubt that these measures further strengthened and consolidated the central dynasty’s rule over the southwestern area,including the most basic level in the rural areas.