A Study Of The Tusi Lu Family In Liancheng In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

The Lu clan in Liancheng was a representative Local Officials clan(Tusi clan)in the Ganqing area during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.In the early Ming Dynasty,the ancestors of the Lu clan descended to the Ming Dynasty and became a naturalized military guard and a hereditary local officials of Zhuanglang acropolis,that governed the indigenous soldiers and people.The Lu clan led troops to fight,guarded the area,and established a lot of military merits.Lu Jian,Lu Lin,and Lu Jing were three famous generals at that time,with high prestige and status,and the Lu clan became a wealthy clan of local officials in the northwest.Due to the strong power of the Lu clan,there was talk of weakening the Lu clan in the court.In the early years of Wanli,some officials represented by Shi Maohua took advantage of the opportunity of "Yihai clamoring" to try to divide and weaken the Lu clan's power.Although it failed in the end,since Lu Jing,the Lu clan has not achieved much military merit,its reputation has declined,and it has gradually fallen into a state of silence.In the last years of Wanli,Lu Guangzu assisted Zheng Luo to pass through the Mongolia in Qinghai,and in the early years of Chongzhen,Lu Yinchang ordered thousands of miles to aid Liao,which showed that the Lu clan still has the military power that the court can rely on.In the early Qing Dynasty,the Lu clan returned to the Qing Dynasty and still inherited the official positions of the Ming Dynasty.With the merger of the acropolis system or the reorganization of the state system,the original Zhuanglang acropolis eventually became Pingpan County,and the Lu clan also changed from the local officials of the acropolis system to the military chief of Pingfan County.The Lu clan's basic function changed from taking on the important responsibility of war and defense to the daily governance of the indigenous people,and the indigenous soldiers were only "auxiliary local armed forces".Compared with the Ming Dynasty,although the Lu clan in the Qing Dynasty was still a famous clan with the status of a chieftain,it was almost in a marginal position in the military and political aspects.No matter the local officials of the acropolis,or the chieftains of the state system,the Lu clan has continued its political and cultural life within the dynastic system in the Ming and Qing Dynasties for more than 500 years.In terms of politics,the Lu clan served the Ming and Qing dynasties loyally and obtained the corresponding military and political titles.In terms of culture,the Lu clan catered to the orthodox Confucian culture,and respected all kinds of Taoist gods,forming a significant"Culturalization" tendency and the closeness and integration of Chinese culture.The Lu clan used this method to dissolve their political and cultural barriers and prejudices.The Lu clan also tried to flaunt the concept of "loyalty to the emperor and filial piety" through the compilation of clan genealogy and other means,and established the image of clan members as "loyal ministers and good generals".However,as a descendant of Mongolia,the Lu clan lived in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural area.While following the orthodox dynasty politically and culturally,they also tried their best to maintain some of their own cultural characteristics,so that they would not lose their "foundations" and resources in place.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the Lu clan believed in Tibetan Buddhism for generations and had a very close relationship with Tibetan Buddhism.On the one hand,it was in line with the religious policy of the Ming and Qing dynasties to support Tibetan Buddhism,and on the other hand,it undoubtedly provided the Lu clan with more abundant and extensive social and cultural resources.It was the embodiment of the cultural selection strategy of the Lu clan,and it was also a cultural balance that the Lu clan sought between dynasties and localities based on their own development needs.