Description
Book SynopsisAs analysis of the revenue available to Qing garrisons in Xinjiang reveals, imperial control over the region in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries depended upon sizeable yearly subsidies from China. In an effort to satisfy criticism of their expansion into Xinjiang and make the territory pay for itself, the Qing court permitted local authorities great latitude in fiscal matters and encouraged the presence of Han and Chinese Muslim merchants. At the same time, the court recognized the potential for unrest posed by Chinese mercantile penetration of this Muslim, Turkic-speaking area. They consequently attempted, through administrative and legal means, to defend the native Uyghur population against economic depredation. This ethnic policy reflected a conception of the realm that was not Sinocentric, but rather placed the Uyghur on a par with Han Chinese.
Both this ethnic policy and Xinjiang's place in the realm shifted following a series of invasions from western Turkestan st
Trade Review
-Peter C. Perdue, -Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Table of Contents
Preface Note on transliteration Abbreviations Introduction 1. Landmarks 2. Financing new dominion 3. Official commerce and commercial taxation in the Far West 4. 'Gathering Like Clouds': Chinese mercantile penetration of Xinjiang 5. The merchants and articles of trade 6. Qing ethnic policy and Chinese merchants Conclusion: toward the domestication of Empire Epilogue: the Xianfeng fiscal crisis: statecraft thinkers and Qing Xinjiang: the question of Qing imperialism Character list Notes Bibliography Index.
