The Research On Land Cultivation In East Inner Mongolia From The End Of The Qing Dynasty To The Period Of The Republic Of China

Regional history is an important component of the research on modern history of Inner Mongolia. Currently, the research on modern history of East Inner Mongolia focuses on the monographic studies of the policies on Mongolians, immigrants, and the social and economic changes from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the period of the Republic of China (including the Weiman Times). However, most of the existing land cultivation research has been carried out on the independent land reclamation incidents while little research has been conducted on a systematic study of policies on land cultivation, agricultural work, and scales of land reclamation. Mainly based on the investigations conducted by Japanese from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the period of the Republic of China and the existing literature, this paper restored the change of policies on land cultivation, the expansion of land reclamation, and the development of cultivation force in East Inner Mongolia from1840till1945, employing the research methods of history, sociology and geography. This paper consisted of the following five parts.Chapter One:The Agriculture and Social Economy of East Inner Mongolia in History. By systemizing the archaeological studies of East Inner Mongolia in human history, this chapter established a historical framework of the agricultural development in East Inner Mongolia in almost ten thousand years. It also analyzed the natural background of the land cultivation development in the area by referring to the records of modern climate change and disasters.Chapter Two:The Land Release and the Development of Land Cultivation in East Inner Mongolia in the late Qing Dynasty. Based on reviewing the process of "Beseeching for Land Reclamation" in the Mongolian territory in the mid and late Qing Dynasty, by taking Zhelimumeng as an example, this chapter analyzed the proportion of the released land to the reclaimed land in East Inner Mongolia in the period of "Official Release in the Mongolian Banners". This chapter also delved further into the macro-characteristics of the land cultivation development in East Inner Mongolia by analyzing the process of setting up of refugee management institutions, such as Fu, Zhou, Ting, Xian, and etc. It turned out that the moving in of refugees and the development of land reclamation were closely related with the geographical position and natural environment of East Inner Mongolia.Chapter Three:The Land Reclamation and the Development of Land Cultivation in East Inner Mongolia during the Period of the Republic of China. By recognizing the rate of land reclamation in Zhelimumeng in the early years of the Republic of China, this chapter discovered that in the early years of the Republic of China, the land released by the Mongolian Banners were not completely reclaimed while some unreleased land were actually reclaimed; and that the development of land cultivation in this period was largely motivated by warlords’stationing troops to open up wasteland and the Mongolian nobility’s secretly releasing land.Chapter Four:The Land Cultivation in East Inner Mongolia in the Manchuria Times. This chapter analyzed the speed, scale and main force of land reclamation in the Mongolian Banners of East Inner Mongolia by sorting out the implementing processes of various land policies in the Manchuria Times. It was found that the Mongolian Banners in the northeastern part of Zhelimumeng reclaimed land at top speed, especially Zhalaite Banner; and that the main force of land reclamation was composed of local or foreign Mongolian peasants.Chapter Five:The Development of land cultivation force in East Inner Mongolia in modern times. This chapter analyzed the density of population and the change of Mongolian population in East Inner Mongolia during about half of a century by means of a large amount of existing literature. It was found that the average population density in East Inner Mongolia in1941was five times that in the early years of the Republic of China; and that the Mongolian population in East Inner Mongolia in1941was1.6times that in the early years of the Republic of China.In the Conclusions, this paper summarized its characteristics and limitations.