| It is noteworthy that some important figures among the Fengtian local elite at the close of the Qing period were Chinese bannermen. This dissertation investigates the historical background of these Chinese bannermen elite and their rise in the world of Fengtian local politics at the end of the Qing period. In particular, I examine the case of Yuan Jin-kai who was a powerful leader of the Fengtian local elite from the close of the Qing through the Manzhouguo periods.; In the early part of the seventeenth century many Ming soldiers, landlords, and peasants who surrendered to the Manchu dynasty for their safety in Liaodong area were organized as Chinese bannermen by the Qing dynasty. Large areas of lands surrendered by the Han landlords to the Manchus were classified as public lands, e.g., manor lands of the Qing court and of its nobles. The former landlords, now Chinese bannermen, were usually allowed to manage these public lands and functioned there as pseudo-landlords. At the beginning of the twentieth century those pseudo-landlords were able to acquire full ownership of the lands they had managed. They obtained ownership by buying land disposed of by the Qing dynasty for financial purposes. After the Russo-Japanese War the Qing dynasty also tried to re-establish its effective control over Manchuria by integrating local power into the provincial administrative system. Leaders of the local elite, including the new landlords of the former public lands, began to participate in provincial politics as members of the Provincial Assembly and of the county assemblies. During the confusion of the 1911 Revolution, the local elite controlled provincial politics in tandem with Qing provincial officials. This was the first step toward realizing the principle that Fengtian natives should govern Fengtian Province. Yuan Jin-kai, a former powerful Chinese bannerman landlord in Liaoyang and Vice Chairman of the Provincial Assembly, was a leader of the Fengtian local elite and, together with Zhao Erxun, the Governor-General of Dongsansheng, played a central role in crushing the anti-Qing movements in Fengtian at the time of the 1911 Revolution. |
