In The Late Qing Early Buteha Research

Butha is a word of the language of Man Nationality, which means "hunting" in Chinese. The Qing government compiled and put various nationalities including Sauron, Daur and Oroqen, etc, which distributed in the vast areas from Jingqili River to Ergun River as well as the middle and upper reaches of the Amur River that is south of Stanovoy Range into unified administration; since the people living there hunted for a living, this organization was called "Butha Hunting Agency"; and when it was listed into the Eight Banners organization, it began to be called as Butha Eight Banners. The area under its administration included today’s Morin Dawa Autonomous Banner, Arun Banner, Zhalantun City and Oroqen Autonomous Banner of Hulunbeier City in Inner Mongolia and Nehe City of Heilongjiang Province, etc.As early as the times of the Emperor Shunzhi, people of Sauron Daur Tribe dwelling in the upstream area of Amur River migrated south in large scale and scattered in the vast region including the area of Nenjiang River, etc; the Qing Government compiled the migrated people and established supervisors for unified administration by setting up the "Butha Hunting Agency". In the10th year of Emperor Yongzheng, the Qing Government officially listed it into the Eight Banners Organization and established Butha Eight Banners. This administration organization was able to be improved during the times of Emperor Qianlong. And it has not substantially changed until the times of Emperor Tongzhi. During the last few years of the Qing Dynasty, the social situation has undergone dramatic changes, and the Butha Eight Banners System suffered from severe impact; during the times ruled by Emperor Xuantong, the Butha Eight Banners System began to break up along with the end of Qing Dynasty. However, the title of Butha Supervisor existed for a long time and it was called off till the founding of Manchuria. It played a significant role through the whole Qing Dynasty. The present thesis attempts to take Butha Eight Banners as investigation objects and analyze the historical process of its establishment, evolution and death. And the emphasis of this subject lies in the era from late Qing Dynasty to the early years of the Republic (which is from the times ruled by Emperor Guangxu to the10th year of the Republic). During this era, the region of Butha underwent a series of significant affairs, such as the invasion of Czarist Russia, the new policies of latter stage of Qing Dynasty, rescinding a prohibition and opening up lands, etc. Thus the region during this era presented a situation with severer turbulence, openness and changes. The transformation of the situation has brought unprecedented impact upon the Butha Eight Banners System. And the changes happened during these decades even surpassed that happened during the more than200years of the Qing Dynasty. The reform of the system, the re-establishment of institution and the evolution of functions, etc, have all changed the traditional management system as well as its operational mode. The present study thus aims at reveal the evolution of Butha Eight Banners as well as the social influences of Eight Banners System upon Butha through the investigation of various issues including the administration organization system, management organization, military establishment and military system of Butha Eight Banners.Most of the previous studies of Butha Eight Banners at home and abroad laid more stress upon the early years of the Qing Dynasty, especially before the times ruled by the Emperor Qianlong, which have not only made abundant research achievements, but solved a lot of key issues of the studies in Butha Eight Banners. However, there is still neither monograph nor papers focusing on the studies of Butha Eight Banners after the times ruled by Emperor Guangxu; and the overall researches on Butha Eight Banners society from late Qing Dynasty to early years of the Republic remains blank; therefore, in-depth and intensive studies in Butha Eight Banners during this era will not only be of great academic value, but facilitate the research and analysis in the Eight Banners System of the Qing Dynasty. The present study applied various historical files and data including Daur Data Set (Volume Ⅸ Files), Oroqen Compiled Files in Both Man and Han Languages, Anthology of Heilongjiang Historical Files, and Memorial of General of Heilongjiang in the Era of Emperor Guangxu, etc, in the discussion of a series of issues, namely the institutional adjustment, functional evolution, transformation of military system and the systematic reform, etc, of Butha Eight Banners in the late Qing Dynasty, so as to analyze the reasons and influences of such changes.Chapter One of this thesis is "The Establishment of Butha Eight Banners", which raveled out the migration of all nationalities of Butha Eight Banners, fundamental organizations during the early phase, and the establishment of Butha Eight Banners from the Era of Tiancong to the times ruled by the Emperor Jiaqing, and analyzed the background and process of the founding of Butha Eight Banners as well as its basic characteristics. Chapter Two is "The Evolution of Butha Eight Banners in the Late Qing Dyansty", which discussed the governmental adjustment and reform of the Butha Eight Banners due to the changes the political situation in the late Qing Dynasty and the changes of management organization, scope of jurisdiction as well as management styles, etc, in the level of administration; the evolution of military system, training and functions from the perspective of military affairs; the series of changes impelled the transformation of the military-political system of Butha Eight Banners toward civil administration system. Chapter Three is "The Disintegration of Butha Eight Banners in the New Deal Period in Late Qing Dynasty", which analyzed the dramatic changes of Butha Eight Banners during this era. Along with the implementation of the "New Deal", the reform carried out by the Qing Government upon Butha Eight Banners also penetrated into various levels of social life. During this time, either the administrative system or the military function of Butha Eight Banners went through fundamental changes. Chapter Four is "The Military-political System transformed into Civil Administration System in Butha Region during the Republican Period". The management organization of Butha Eight Banners still existed, yet it had transformed into an organization department specially managing the affairs of the banners (which was not eventually called off until the founding of Manchuria). The Butha region finally realized the transformation from military-political management system toward the civil-administration management system. Chapter Five is "The Influences of Butha Eight Banners System", which discussed the influences of Butha Eight Banners upon the political, economic, cultural lives and ethnic relations of various nationalities of Butha, and analyzed thoroughly the Butha Eight Banners through the discussion of the historical course from the founding, development, evolution to the death of Butha Eight Banners.As the management organization of the minority area in the northeast of China for the Qing Government, Butha Eight Banners linked with the destiny of the Qing Dynasty, which underwent the whole historical process of establishment, development, improvement, adjustment, reform and destruction in the end. The Butha Eight Banners System, which mirrored the evolution of the ruling policies conducted by the Qing Government in border areas and minority areas, and showed the ethic policy of the Qing Government that acted according to circumstances and customs, reflected one single perspective of the governance by the Qing Dynasty. The Butha Eight Banners System came into being in accordance with the demand of Butha social development, died out and eventually retreated from the arena of history also due to the social development and changes. It yet exerted profound influences upon Butha society during its developmental process.