Description
Book SynopsisChina''s Last Imperial Frontier explores imperial China''s frontier expansion in the Tibetan borderlands during the last decades of the Qing. The empire mounted a series of military attacks against indigenous chieftaincies and Buddhist monasteriesin the east Tibetan region seeking to replace native authorities with state bureaucrats by redrawing the politically diverse frontier into a system of Chinese-style counties. Historically, at all the strategic frontier locations, the state had been for the most part outstripped by local institutions in political, military, and ideological strengths. With perceived threats from the Anglo-Russian Great Game accentuating Qing vulnerability in Tibet, the Sichuan government took advantage of the frontier crisis by encroaching upon local and Lhasa domains in Kham. Even though the Kham campaign was portrayed in Qing official discourse as a part of the nationwide reforms of New Policies (xinzheng) and administrative regularization (gaitu guiliu), its
Trade ReviewXiuyu Wang's book is an excellent narrative and analysis of the last frontier expansion project of the Qing, in the Tibetan region of western Sichuan. China's troubled relationship with its Tibetan population is one of the legacies of this early twentieth century effort. Wang combines geographical, ethnographic, and historical approaches very well, and connects his study to comparative literature on imperial expansion. This is a fascinating and impressive contribution to the study of modern China's frontier and ethnic history. -- Peter Perdue, Yale University
This is a finely wrought study of the expansion of the late Qing state on the southwestern frontier. It not only illuminates the political debates over how best to tame the 'wild west' of Kham, but gives a penetrating analysis of the connections between those policies, efforts at military modernization, and the rising tide of revolution in Sichuan. Carefully researched using original Chinese sources, Wang’s account is a valuable addition to the growing literature on the place of the frontier in the making of modern China. -- Mark Elliott
One of the main strengths of the book is Wang’s use of Chinese-language sources, including some Grand Council archival documents and hitherto unexplored Qing officials’ accounts of Tibet. Wang provides a good analysis of the Qing motives and global issues that propelled aggressive frontier policies.... [T]he book is strong in its use of Chinese sources and does provide a good assessment of late Qing polices toward Tibet and Sino-Tibetan border regions. Xiuyu Wang’s China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarly works on Kham, the Sino-Tibetan frontier. * Journal of Asian Studies *
Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Qing Discourse and Capability in Eastern Tibet Chapter 2. Frontier Society and Power Chapter 3. Lu Chuanlin’s “Great Game” in Nyarong Chapter 4. Frontier Incident and War Making Chapter 5. State Violence and Local Resistance: the Kham War Chapter 6. “Regularization” Reconsidered: Variants of Gaitu Guiliu in Northern Kham Chapter 7. Fashioning an “Inner Region beyond the Pass” Chapter 8. Developing the West: Opening Kham Lands, Mines and Young Minds Conclusion Abbreviations Bibliography Character List Index
