A Study Of The Frontier Defence In The Altai Region Of The Late Qing Dynasty

At the Northwest frontier defence system of the Qing Dynasty,the Altai region had an extremely important strategic position.Since Qianlong emperor conquered Junggar,the Altai region had been unified into the territory of the Qing Dynasty.Qianlong emperor carried out a series of effective frontier defence constrction in the Altai region,such as the organization of Meng(盟) and Qi(旗),the establishment of military government agencies,the building of Karen(卡伦) and military stations and the reclamation of wasteland by army etc,which not only layed a solid foundation for frontier defence in the Altai region of the Qing Dynasty,but also provided an important safeguard for the latter relative stability of over a hundred years in the Altai region.It was the important turning point that the Sino-Russian border in northwest China was surveyed and redemarcated for the first time during the early years of Tongzhi,which completely broke the calm of frontier defence in the Altai region and marked great change in the formation of frontier defence in the Altai region.Since then,the frontier defence in the Altai region went into a grim complex and crisis-ridden historical phase,when a lot of contradictions and problems emerged and interchanged in the region.In view of outside situation,Altai was adjacent to strong Russia and in the first line of frontier defence,facing a huge threat to the Czar of Russia;In view of internal facts,Altai was located in the border area between Xinjiang and Outer Mongolia,where Mongolia Kazakh and other nomadic people lived.Because of the complexity of ethnic relation and the great difference in religious belief,it might become acute even though the slightest mistake was made.Many major historical events happened in the north-west region during the late Qing Dynasty,such as the two times of border demaracation between China and Russia in the years of Tongzhi and Guangxu,the great uprisings of people and the invasion of foreign enemies in Xinjiang in the years of Tongzhi,the dispute about the Lended-land between Kobdo(科布多) and Tarbaghatai(塔尔巴哈台),the administrative division of Altai from Kobdo in the end of Qing,the implementation of the New Policies Reform in late Qing in Altai region and so on, were related directly to Altai region and had a major impact on the frontier defence of Altai.It can be said that the frontier defence in Altai region was the microcosm of the Northwest frontier defence during the late Qing Dynasty and a key to study the history of the north-west frontier defence of the late Qing.It also can be said that the frontier defence in Altai region was a great specimen to study the history of the north-west frontier defence in the late Qing Dynasty.It was the two demarcation of Sina-Russia border in the north-west area during the years of Tongzhi and Guangxu that brought tremendous and profound changes to the frontier defence of Altai,which not only led to a heavy loss of land for Altai,but also resulted in a large-scale contraction of Sina-Russia boundary line in Altai region.The inner land in Altai region became border land and the situation of the frontier defence in Altai region was seriously deteriorated.The two demarcation of Sina-Russia border forced the eight Karens in the northwest part of Altai to undergo a tortuous process of inward-move,abolition, re-establishment and inward-move again,which damaged greatly the protection system in Altai region built in the period of Qianlong.Since being moved inwardly twice,the eight Karens had no any border-protected capacity and could not in fact carry out the functions of defensing foreign enemies and keeping internal stability.The two demarcation of Sina-Russia border also resulted in a great internal migration of Kazakh herdsmen who originally lived outside the line of Karen into the pasture-land of Altai Uriangkhai(阿尔泰乌梁海) and other Mongolia tribes.It was inevitable that the large number of Kazakh immigrants competed for resources such as water and pasture with the local Mongolia tribes,which led to intensive conflicts between Kazakh immigrants and Mongolia herders and brought a serious threat to the security and stability in Altai region.The turmoil and unrest lasted more than 10 years in Xinjiang which was caused by the great uprisings of the people of all nationalities and the invasion of foreign enemies during Tongzhi period,had a significant effect on the frontier defence in Altai region.It was an extremely severe test to border defence of Altai.As an natural barrier to the North Road Mongol(北路蒙古),Altai region played a more important role in the frontier defence.Under the impact of the turmoil and unrest in Xinjiang area,many serious problems of frontier defence system in Altai were revealed and highlighted.For example,the ability of military mobilization for the Qing government in Mongolia region declined seriously and it was more and more difficult to make a material and personnel requisition.Under the system of Meng and Qi,the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian soldiers went greatly down and the centrifugal force of the Mongolian nobilities to the central government of Qing was extremely enhanced.Obviously,the political league of Man and Mongol(满蒙政治联盟) was facing a serious crisis.The military stations in Mongolia region were unable to bear the transportation of troops and materals because their burden was so heavey and their capacity of transportation was nearly up to the limits.At the same time,Mongolia stations were constantly attacked by the rebellious people of Hui(Muslim,Moslem,回族),which made the stations more slack and broken-down.Because relevant officials were negligent of their duties,a number of drawbacks occurred in the process of management and use of Mongolia stations.All the problems mentioned above indicate that the systems and the facility of border defence in Altai region,which established in the early Qing Dynasty,could not adapt to the dangerous border situation during and after the period of Tongzhi.It was urgent and necessary for the government of Qing to update the concept of ruling border areas and explore more effective regimes of frontier defence.However,at that time,the Qing Empire was on the decline and not only had no financial resources to resolve the crisis,but also no vigour and courage to reform completely.The division in administration between Kobdo and Altai in the end of Guangxu was in fact connected tightly to the whole situation of border defence in the northwest areas during the late Qing,altough it was only an administrative change looked in surface.The administrative division between Kobdo and Altai was initially due to the dispute on the Lending-land between Kobdo and Tarbaghatai.It was the dangerous and grim border situation in the Altai region in the years of Tongzhi and Guangxu that made the dispute about the Lending-land between Kobdo and Tarbaghatai lasted more than 20 years and intensified gradually.Behind the dispute between Kobdo and Tarbaghatai,we can see the key factors of internal migration and resettlement of Kazakh,which,however,caused by the aggression and expansion of the Tsarist Russia.Therefore,the dispute about the Lending-land between Kobdo and Tarbaghatai,in essence,was a problem of border defence,which involved the content of resettlement Kazakh,as well as the consideration of defence against Russia.Just in the process of dealing with the dispute about the Lending-land between Kobdo and Tarbaghatai,the central government of Qing realized step by step the importance of the west-part of Altai in the whole systems of the north-west frontier defence.In order to strengthen the management and the forces of border defence along the Altai Mountains,the Qing court decided to set up the office of the Minister for Altai Affairs(阿尔泰办事大臣) in the west-part of Altai region and stationed troops there.It has been proved that the division in administration between Kobdo and Altai played an positive role in strengthening and consolidating the border defence along the Altai Mountains.The New Policies Reforms in late Qing were a self-strengthening movement with an extremely wide range in the early 20th century,which were implemented across the whole country in order to save the ruling crisis of Qing Empire.In the border areas,the implementation of the New Policies Reforms was relatively slow,but its significance should not be underestimated.After the administrative division between Kobdo and Altai in the end of Guangxu,Xiheng,the first Minister for Altai Affairs,tried vigorously to strengthen the frontier defence in Altai region,which mainly involved in training the new army,improving the weapons and equipments,developing agriculture and reclamation,buliding military stations,seting up wires of telegram establishing scools and so on.During the period of the New Policies Reforms in late Qing,there was a great progress in Altai region whether in the change of the concept of ruling border areas,or in the constraction of armed forces and infrastructures for border defence,or in the development of politics,economy and culture which was closely related with border defence of Altai.In my opinion,the New Policies Reforms in late Qing played an important role in strengthing and consolidating the frontier defence in Altai region and its positive significance on the border defence of Altai should be fully affirmed.The frontier defence in Altai region in late Qing Dynasty left many important lessons from which we can draw inspiration for the boeder defence in the new era.First,the concept and policies of ruling border areas should be changed with time passing and should be adjusted to the circumstances and conditions.Second,it is very important to handle properly the ethnic and religious issues in border areas and to formulate correct ethnic and religious policies.Third,we should pay great attention to the economic development of border areas and try to narrow the ecnomic and cultural gaps as soon as possible between inner-land and border-land.Finally,the funding investment for frontier defence should be greatly increased and improved.A strong border defence will be the best safeguard for the national development and people's living and production.