A Study On The Relationship Between Youyang Tusi And Shizhu Tusi And The Ming Dynasty

Tusi System (a system of appointing national minority hereditary headmen)served as a basic system in the Ming and Qing dynasties to govern the southwestfrontier ethnic regions. This system made a great contribution to consolidation anddevelopment of the unification of a multi-ethnic feudal state in Chinese history. Sinceancient times, the southeastern part of Sichuan has been a gathering place forminorities. In the Ming Dynasty, so the government established a number of Tusi inthis region, among which Youyang and Shi Zhu were the two Tusi with the strongestpower. In this paper, based on the previous study, a study is made on the establishmentof Youyang Tusi and Shizhu Tusi, and the relationship concerning administrativegovernance and military governance between the Ming Dynasty and them. The paperconsists of three parts.In the first chapter, a description is made on the background of establishingYouyang Tusi and Shizhu Tusi in the Ming Dynasty, and on their official positionsetting. Tusi System was established in the Ming Dynasty due to the followingobjective reasons: the southeastern area of Sichuan was mountainous and inhabited byaboriginal tribes. And the Yuan Dynasty implemented a control measure of “usingbarbarous people to subjugate their own races”. Youyang and Shizhu were establishedrespectively in Year5(1372AD) and Year7(1374AD) of Hongwu Period in the MingDynasty. In Year8(1375AD), the Ming court adjusted the ranks of Youyang andShizhu, and set up an institution of management and leadership to improve TusiSystem.The second chapter focuses on describing the relationship concerning administrative governance between the Ming Dynasty and Youyang Tusi and ShizhuTusi. In the Ming Dynasty, the institutions directly governing Youyang includedSichuan Dusi, Chongqing Wei and Chongqing Fu. The institutions directly governingShizhu included Chongqing Fu, Chongqing Wei, and Kuizhou Fu. In order tostrengthen military control over the southwest border, the Ming court began to use aprovincial institution of “Dao” to exercise control power over Youyang Tusi andShizhu Tusi mainly regarding military affairs. In general, local governments governedthem from the aspects of levying land tax, judicial supervision, and qualifyingexamining of Tusi officials. And, the central government governed them by means oftribute. Thereby, a dual mode of local and central governance came into being.Although the Ming Dynasty aimed to make use of this mode of restrict and limit Tusiofficials, the latter took advantage of the loophole in this mode to obtain politicalresources and good reputation from the central government to commit all kinds of evils,and to confront the local officials over punishment, so the court failed to effectivelygovern the two Tusi.The third chapter weaves around the process of Youyang Tusi and Shizhu Tusibeing ordered up to fight against the Late Jin in North-East area, and around therelationship concerning military governance between the Ming Dynasty and them.Because the Ming army was successively defeated in North-East area battlefield, somecourtiers proposed to deploy army forces of Youyang and Shi Zhu. After nearly fivemonths of trade-offs, the proposal was passed. This process of deploying shows thatarmy forces of Youyang and Shi Zhu were always controlled by the central government.In March of the first year of Emperor Mingxi (1621A.D.), Youyang and Shizhu battledagainst the Later Jin army in the Hun River outside Shenyang, and ultimately suffereddefeat. Nevertheless, their bravery in the battle was still recognized unanimously bythe government and the public. They thus upgraded themselves from Xuanfusi toXuanweisi. Meanwhile, this battle also strengthened Tusi officials’ nationalidentification and their sense of loyalty to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.In summary, Tusi system served as a special part of administrative system of theMing Dynasty, and was carried out within a system similar to autonomy. Tusi officials had relatively great power at the local place, but they were also restricted by the MingDynasty. The examples of Youyang and Shi Zhu show that the Ming Dynasty exerciseda powerful control over them, and that there was very close interaction between theMing Dynasty and them.