Research Of Animal Husbandry Industry Of Xixia

Tangut’s livestock were numerous in variety.Horses,camels,goats and cattle(including yaks)were four types of official livestock.The kind of horse and camel were the main draught animals in Tangut.The purpose of horse was for military affairs.And troops had first priority for the utilization of horses in law.In addition to the use for military affairs,camels were regarded as the traffic tools for residential and commercial affairs and even just for official business.The number and quality of horses in Tangut were considerable.Horses were not only strategic resources,but also the important presents in diplomatic affairs.Sheep(mainly refers to the goat)were the most important economic breeds in animal husbandry.Farmers and herdsmen,especially herdsmen,depended on then for their livelihood,so,goats were distributed all over areas in Tangut.There were two types of cattle in Tangut:yak and cattle,yaks were shepherd at high altitudes,such as Helan Mountain and Yanzhi Mountain.However,cattles were widely distributed and often used for farming.The production mode of animal husbandry in Tangut were numerous in variety and nomadic pastoralism played a dominant role.In the view of many historical materials.Herdsmen have lived in a non-resident life and carried livestock by tribe.The nomadic people circularly moved with season,so did herdsmen in Tangut.And they divided their work in autumn,it means:some people fattened livestock up,others harvested the grass;Herdsmen went into the winter farm in October(lunar calendar),bulit a "Winter bar" to prepare for the winter,and went out in February;In July and August,they moved to the farthest place and began to return.Just as the method of many regimes managed herders,Tangut’s government also detailly divided the boundary to control its tribe.In addition,herders always engaged in trade,robbing,hunting,gathering,planting,as auxiliary means of livelihood to supple the shortcoming of single economy structure.Nomadic mode of production of Tangut generally existed in many tribes and the official farm.Furthermore,there was resident feeding and stocking in the farming families universally in Tangut.QunMuSi(a kind of institution that manage Tangut’s animal husbandry)and all pastures under its control were the main manufacturing system in Tangut’s official animal husbandry,which clearly inherited from Tang and Song Dynasties grazing system,it’s a total-separate structure:intensively embodied in QunMuSi commanded the central,the pasture scattered all around.Compared with the grazing system which under gradually management system in Tang and Song Dynasties,the pasture of Tangut had a distinctive feature,for example,the interior of some pastures were quite complex,the official and private boundaries were not very clear,the official also accepted the landless victims under certain conditions like the drought.People in pasture still retained tribe organizations mode,Tangut’s government ordered herders to raise official livestock,levied "tax" regularly and appointed the leader of primary manufacturing organization(village)as grazing watchdog,who was responsible for registering quantity,age and breeding of official livestock.Many tribal leaders elected a Ying Neng who is in charge of "Haoyin".Tou Jian(QinShiGuan,a kind of official position)taken charge of a place and levied livestock products.Tangut’s herdsmen were different from"Mu Zi"who were employed by Tang-Song government.These herdsmen managed all official livestock and brought them into the manufacturing system in tribes,and payed the tax timely.The government didn’t care about the details of the manufacturing items.Tangut’s government generally imposed most of the young animals which bred by official livestock that became the basis of the development of official livestock and "principal".But the most of milk-based products were left for herdmen and became means of livelihood.This contractual economic relations,enabled both parties to benefit,becomed economic ties which herdsmen and tribe tightly attached to official pastures.Tangut’s government formulated a series of management system to guarantee the orderly development of official animal husbandry,such as number printed,correction,matriculation,cancellation,compensation and so on.They usually used the register to manage livestock.Some of them obviously inherited the Tang-Song Dynasty system.Meanwhile,some system were based on its national conditions and have a strong ethnic characteristics.Tangut was vast in its boundary.The development of animal husbandry has obvious regional differences."Bei Hequ herd" of the Tang Dynasty located in Ordos region,where was the main wrangler area in Tangut.This area was abundant in horses and animal husbandry,and it’s stocking rate was very considerable.It is comparatively complex in the boundary region between the Song and Tangut Dynasties:Riching in horses,Heng Shan region’s stocking rate was quite abundant.The land was very poor in Han Hai,where produced horses,but rarely.And the amount of livestock owned by the tribe was rare.In Mount Tian Du,the stocking rate and the average level of per capital livestock holding were high,but there was rarely produced horses,cattle and goats played a dominant role.Hui Zhou and its western areas were abundant in horses,animal husbandry developed well.Agriculture played a dominant role in Hetao Plain,so did cattle and goats,there were plenty of livestock.In Alashan,the kind of camels played the dominant role in this areas,cattle and goats were bred in surrounding areas.And there were other kinds of livestock in Khara-Khoto areas.He Xi Corridor was blessed with advantageous natural conditions,in where the kind of livestock was complete with a high yield.