A Study On The Rise And Fall Of The Monastery Economy During The Qing Dynasty In Inner Mongolia

The monastery economy is an important type of economic form in Inner Mongolia in the Qing dynasty. With its unique formation, inside structure and form of operating, it had much effect on the development of politics, economy and culture in the Qing dynasty. The study of the rise and fall of the monastery economy not only helps to understand the social history of Inner Mongolia over the past 300 years, particularly for economic development of Inner Mongolia, but also has important research value and theoretical meanings in studying Mongolian history, religion and culture in the Qing dynasty.This paper systematically discusses the situation of monastery land in the Qing dynasty according to the remaining Mongolian records, related documents, local history, and social survey reports. This is done through combining the study methods of comparative history.This paper consists of a preface, text and conclusion totaling more than thirty thousand words. The preface briefly introduces the purpose and the meaning of the choice of the subject, research situation, the related documents, the originality of the paper and the research methods. The first part of the text mainly discusses the background and reasons for lopsided development of the monastery economy. This includes the politics of the Qing government regarding the use of fostering and encouragement of Tibetan Buddhism. It also includes the Mongolian nobles and people'worship, the formation of the Living Buddha, the Hoddot, and Zaseg Lama system and the distributing of the monasteries. These are the main reasons for its lopsided development. The second part discusses the expression of the lopsided development of the monastery economy. It includes the appearance of its based economy—land and livestock, the formation of the Shabnar class, and the earning of multi-economy and affairs of Buddhism. The third part mainly discusses the main reasons for the economic decline of the monasteries in Inner Mongolia. This is done from the aspects of Qing policies regarding Mongolian religion, economic decline and the huge expenditure and corruption of the Hoddot, the Living Buddha and senior lamas.