The Formation,Development And Transition Of Guizhou Gentry(1413-1911)

The dissertation takes Guizhou gentry from 1413 to 1911 as the research object.This paper combs the formation and development of Guizhou gentry from a long-term macro-perspective,and focuses on the transformation of Guizhou gentry in the political changes in the late Qing Dynasty with the micro-narrative method.After the founding of Guizhou Province in Ming Dynasty,Guizhou gradually changed from "exotic" to "old Xinjiang".In the process of "inland" and with the development of Confucian education and the implementation of imperial examination system,the gentry group in Guizhou was initially formed.In the early Qing Dynasty,the gentry in Guizhou developed further.They set up schools,participated in local cultural undertakings and paid attention to local charities.Although the Qing Dynasty limited the power of the gentry,in the process of participating in local affairs,the gentry group in Guizhou developed further.After the Xiantong Uprising,along with the uncontrolled local order,gentry gradually infiltrated power into the military field.But on the whole,before the end of the Qing Dynasty,the gentry groups in Guizhou had always been consistent with the imperial power,and made use of their special status between the officials and the people to promote learning and educate talents,so that Confucian culture gradually became the mainstream culture in Guizhou.In this process,the power of the gentry in Guizhou gradually expanded.After the abolition of the imperial examination system in the late Qing Dynasty,the gentry in Guizhou lost the bridge of upward mobility,deposited in the regional society,began the modern transformation and became the local elite.Gentlemen began to differentiate at the same time of transformation.Some of them joined the League after studying in Japan and became the pioneers of Guizhou revolution.But more of them chose to promote the local self-government movement,taking the Advisory Bureau as the main battlefield,competing with local officials in Guizhou,and finally achieving Guizhou local self-government in the 1911 Revolution.Before the revolution,various political forces,such as the Guizhou Consultative Bureau,the Autonomous Society and the Preparatory Committee for Constitutional Government,had reached a compromise and formed a joint force.Relying on the gentry group,these political forces were transformed from the traditional gentry.Therefore,the 1911 Revolution in Guizhou was the result of the ultimate development of gentry power.Compared with the achievements of gentry research in the south of the Yangtze River,the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and South China,few scholars pay attention to the gentry in Guizhou plateau.At the same time,the combination of macro-vision and micro-narrative in a long period of time can further expand the breadth and breadth of the gentry study in Guizhou.Different from the study of Guizhou modern history based on the antagonistic model of "constitutionalism" and"revolution",this dissertation focuses on Guizhou’s political situation in the late Qing Dynasty on the basis of long-term macro-study,and analyses the changes of Guizhou’s political situation in the late Qing Dynasty and the 1911 Revolution in Guizhou from the perspective of gentry transformation,which provides a new perspective for the study of Guizhou modern history.