Colonisation and Aboriginal Land Tenure: Taiwan during the Qing Period (1684-1895) and the Japanese Period (1895-1945)

<p>This thesis is concerned with the land rights of the aboriginal peoples of Taiwan. It explores how under the Qing (1684-1895) and Japanese (1895-1945) regimes, laws and policies regarding aboriginal land in Taiwan resulted in aboriginal land tenure changes and loss of land. The thesis also explores how the respective legal systems and legal cultures of the Qing and Japanese states influenced policy-making concerning aboriginal land. The thesis examines the different effects of the Qing and Japanese administrations on aboriginal land tenure in Taiwan. It analyses Qing policies towards land settlement in Taiwan, the extent of the government’s recognition and protection of aboriginal land rights, the changes that the distinctive Qing property law regime, including the Chinese customary land practice, brought to aboriginal land tenure, and the aborigines’ interaction with the government and settlers regarding their land. To a lesser extent and as a comparison, the thesis then discusses the Japanese government’s attitudes towards the aborigines and aboriginal land tenure, and Japan’s reforms of land tenure in Taiwan. The thesis puts the study of Taiwan aboriginal land policies into the wider framework of the administration of Taiwan by two governments whose legal systems were quite different: the Qing government, which in many respects was a traditional Chinese imperial regime, and Japan, which by the time it colonised Taiwan had reformed its law along European lines and which was considered to be a modern and European-style state. Ultimately, this thesis attempts to find out what role the Qing legal system played in shaping the policies and in the transformation of aboriginal land tenure, and how the Japanese legal system, largely westernised after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, influenced Japanese policies regarding aboriginal land in Taiwan. Thus a central concern of the thesis is the connection between law and colonial policy. This thesis concludes that the Qing colonisation of Taiwan was different from the later Japanese colonisation of Taiwan and from Western styles of colonisation. Shaped by its legal culture, constitutional framework, administrative system and property law regime, the Qing government had very little or no intention and took little action to transform aboriginal land tenure. Rather the Qing legal tradition allowed for or enabled Chinese settlers to manipulate aboriginal land tenure and impose Chinese culture on the aborigines, an effect often unintended by the government. In contrast, Japan colonised Taiwan with a specific intention to exploit the resources of the island and thus the government played a strong role in changing aboriginal land tenure in Taiwan.</p>

Colonisation and Aboriginal Land Tenure: Taiwan during the Qing Period (1684-1895) and the Japanese Period (1895-1945)

<p>This thesis is concerned with the land rights of the aboriginal peoples of Taiwan. It explores how under the Qing (1684-1895) and Japanese (1895-1945) regimes, laws and policies regarding aboriginal land in Taiwan resulted in aboriginal land tenure changes and loss of land. The thesis also explores how the respective legal systems and legal cultures of the Qing and Japanese states influenced policy-making concerning aboriginal land. The thesis examines the different effects of the Qing and Japanese administrations on aboriginal land tenure in Taiwan. It analyses Qing policies towards land settlement in Taiwan, the extent of the government’s recognition and protection of aboriginal land rights, the changes that the distinctive Qing property law regime, including the Chinese customary land practice, brought to aboriginal land tenure, and the aborigines’ interaction with the government and settlers regarding their land. To a lesser extent and as a comparison, the thesis then discusses the Japanese government’s attitudes towards the aborigines and aboriginal land tenure, and Japan’s reforms of land tenure in Taiwan. The thesis puts the study of Taiwan aboriginal land policies into the wider framework of the administration of Taiwan by two governments whose legal systems were quite different: the Qing government, which in many respects was a traditional Chinese imperial regime, and Japan, which by the time it colonised Taiwan had reformed its law along European lines and which was considered to be a modern and European-style state. Ultimately, this thesis attempts to find out what role the Qing legal system played in shaping the policies and in the transformation of aboriginal land tenure, and how the Japanese legal system, largely westernised after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, influenced Japanese policies regarding aboriginal land in Taiwan. Thus a central concern of the thesis is the connection between law and colonial policy. This thesis concludes that the Qing colonisation of Taiwan was different from the later Japanese colonisation of Taiwan and from Western styles of colonisation. Shaped by its legal culture, constitutional framework, administrative system and property law regime, the Qing government had very little or no intention and took little action to transform aboriginal land tenure. Rather the Qing legal tradition allowed for or enabled Chinese settlers to manipulate aboriginal land tenure and impose Chinese culture on the aborigines, an effect often unintended by the government. In contrast, Japan colonised Taiwan with a specific intention to exploit the resources of the island and thus the government played a strong role in changing aboriginal land tenure in Taiwan.</p>

The Hand of Law and the Body of Family. Family, Fear and the Court of Law in Qing China

The article, through the lens of crimes and court cases, explores the complex relationship between the individual, family and state in China in the XVII-XIX centuries. The research is based on archival court cases and fiction literature of traditional China. The author examines crimes committed within the family, analyses the testimony of criminals and witnesses, as well as sentences and government decrees; compares the real transcripts of court hearings with the depiction of family conflicts, investigations and trials in adventure novels and short stories by Chinese writers. As a result, the author comes to a number of conclusions, in particular, that the Qing government gradually shifted the emphasis from the value of filial piety and generational hierarchy to the special importance of marriage relations; while in public mindset, on the contrary, the inertia of Confucianism and the desire to protect the integrity and autonomy of the family body from interference by state power were extremely strong. Speaking about the reaction of the Chinese family to the crime that occurred within its ranks, the author identifies several typical ways of responding, with the choice of method being often determined by the gender of the conflicting parties.

Mining off the Map: Fulongchang and Silver Mines in the Qing Empire’s Far Southwest

A donation stele discovered in the 1980 records that the community of the Fulong silver mines raised some 4500 liang of silver to build a temple dedicated to the God of Wealth in 1814. The site in a remote mountain range in northern Yunnan evidently was a prosperous and populous mining town. Yet it appears in no government record. Centered on the case study, this paper provides insights into social self-organization of communities and the structures within the Qing government that allowed the operation of mines that were registered with the local governments and submitted taxes yet kept out of the communications with the central government. The analysis contributes a specific example of communal governance structures and explains the two layers in late imperial administration, one which was official and documented in gazetteers and central records, and another which was customary and usually undocumented.

Rethinking Qing Manchuria's Prohibition Policies

Historians hold that to preserve the Manchu homeland the Qing court instituted a “policy of prohibition” (Ch: fengjin zhengce), forbidding Han immigrants from settling in the region until the final decades of its rule. Using Manchu-language archives from the garrison of Hunčun (Ch: Hunchun), this article questions whether such a prohibition guided local governance. In some jurisdictions in Manchuria, including in Hunčun, the Qing state did not always have an overarching policy towards Han migrants. Migration, in fact, was often less of a concern to the state than poaching. We can reassess the history of Manchuria accordingly. Modern historians have been preoccupied with the coming of Han migrants to Qing Manchuria; the Qing government in Hunčun was not.

Flood disasters and social resilience during the decline of the Qing Dynasty: case studies of 1823 and 1849

Based on historical records and crop harvest scores extracted from historical documents, this study reconstructed the spatial-temporal distribution and severities of floods in the Yangtze-Huai River valley in 1823 and 1849. We also summarized the effects of the floods on society and identified government measures taken to cope with the floods in the context of the economic recession in the period of 1801–1850. The 1823 flood, which was caused by the heavy precipitation of the Meiyu period and typhoons, severely affected areas in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Meanwhile, the 1849 flood, triggered by long-term, high-intensity Meiyu precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, mainly affected areas along the Yangtze River. The 1849 disaster was more serious than the one in 1823. In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the 1849 flood caused the worst agricultural failure of the period 1730–1852. To deal with the disasters, the Qing government took relief measures, such as exempting taxes in the affected areas, distributing grain stored in warehouses, and transferring grain to severely afflicted areas. These relief measures were supplemented by auxiliary measures, such as exempting commodity taxes on grain shipped to disaster areas and punishing officials who failed to provide adequate disaster relief. The flood disasters disrupted the water system of the Grand Canal and forced the Qing government to transport Cao rice by sea beginning in 1826. This laid the groundwork for the rise of coastal shipping in modern China. With the economic recession of the 19th century, Chinese society was not as resilient to floods as it was in the 18th century. Compared to droughts, floods are more difficult to deal with and pose greater threats to infrastructure and to normal life and work in the cities.

Through the ‘Indian Lens’

This chapter examines the Chinese views on India in late Qing Chinese travel writings. There were two distinct modes of observation and critical reflection. On the one hand, by observing and analyzing India, the Chinese authors tried to gain knowledge of the British rule in India and the Western culture. On the other hand, seeing a reflection of China in India, they pondered China’s own international crisis. Huang Maocai, the first official sent by Qing government to British India, utterly praised British governance in India, but the observers after Huang were more eager to find out the reasons why India became colonized by the British Empire. By studying these travelogues, this chapter reveals a key transition of Chinese intellectuals’ views towards Western colonial power in the nineteenth century, from ‘positive confrontationism’ to ‘resistant nationalism’.

Mob Ideology or Democracy: Analyzing Taiping Rebellion’s Defeat and Revolution of 1911’s Triumph in Ending the Qing Dynasty

This paper investigates the underlying factors that caused the Qing Dynasty of China to survive the Taiping Rebellion yet crumbled upon the Revolution of 1911. It first examines the ideological differences between the two attempts of regime change, followed by an exploration into the extent of foreign interference in determining the outcomes of the two events. Subsequently, the author analyzes the conflict between the constitutionalists and the absolute monarchists within the Qing court during the time of the Revolution in 1911. Ultimately, this paper concludes that the Qing dynasty survived the Taiping Rebellion yet crumbled upon the Xinhai Revolution because the latter’s San-min Doctrine, also known as the “Three Principles of the People,” drew support from within the Qing regional governments as its ideology gave them hopes of preserving powers, while the Taiping Rebellion’s mob ideology achieved the contrary; on top of this, the Revolution of 1911 faced a Qing government weakened by internal conflicts over constitutional reforms, and it also successfully prevented foreign powers from intervening on behalf of the falling imperial dynasty.

Ганден Пходранг: правительство Далай-ламы в XVIII в.

Introduction. The article examines the structure and features of Ganden Phodrang (Tib. dGa’-ldan pho-brang) — Tibetan traditional Government founded by the 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso (1617–1682) in 1642 — in the context of interaction with institutions of the Qing administration in the 18th century. Diarchy based on the principles of unity of monastic and secular government (Tib. Сhos-srid) became the basis of the political and legal system of the Tibetan state and was reflected in some specifics of relations with Buddhist countries and peoples. The influence of the Qing Empire in the region by the end of the 18th century increased, and that was traced in formal characteristics but did not affect the functioning laws of Ganden Phodrang. Goals. The paper reviews and analyzes the origins, structure and features of the Dalai Lama’s traditional government Ganden Phodrang (1642–1959); identifies the main changes in the political structure of Tibet during the period of the greatest influence of the Qing government institutions in the 18th century; clarifies the position and role of the Dalai Lama as head of state, as well as the importance of regents and Qing ambans in governing the country. Materials and Methods. In addition to Qing sources, the article uses works by German and French Tibetan scholars (in English), as well as studies by Indian and Chinese Tibetologists. In Russian historiography, special attention is paid to the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas, their relations with the Qing emperors, as well as to such administrative institutions of the Qing as ambans, legislative acts, and the Golden urn lot. Methodologically, the study employs historical and comparative approaches, and the problem-chronological principle. Conclusions. The article concludes that the Dalai Lama’s Government was uniquely independent in the 18th century, and tulku regents possessed special ‘dual’ status and significance. It is necessary to emphasize the importance of studying the topic in the context of international polemics around classification of the socioeconomic structure of Tibet in the Middle Ages, and its status in relation to China.

From the Open Seas to the Guangzhou System

The transformation from the open sea policies of the early Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) to the rise of the Guangzhou System was a process that took many years. It began with the capture of Taiwan from the Zheng family regime in 1683 and the opening of multiple Chinese ports to trade in 1684. Over the next four decades, Qing officials experimented with different ways of managing trade, and by about 1700, Guangzhou had emerged as one of the most successful at attracting foreign ships. The practices that were found to be most effective at maintaining control—while at the same time encouraging foreigners to return each year—were gradually incorporated into the city’s commercial policies. By the 1720s, all of the basic features of what came to be called the Guangzhou System were firmly in place. In 1757, the Qing government closed other Chinese ports to foreign trade, which guaranteed that Guangzhou would remain the center of commerce up to the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842.