The "Internal Frontier" And Power Games:A Study On An-Guoheng, The Aboriginal Official Of Guizhou In16Century

This paper focus on An Guoheng(安国亨), the Pacification Commissioner of Guizhou(贵州宣慰使) in late16th century, by studying the main events"the strife of An Family" and "the tribute conflicts", we try to put An Family, the governors of Guizhou and chancellors in a interactive network to explain the mixing character of Tusi/the Aboriginal Officials(上司), clarify the power game between Tusi, governors and chancellors, and find out why Tusi and their families were hard to control.Seven parts of this paper:Introduction. Tracing back research achievements in four parts:the research of ’Yixibuxue(亦奚不薛)’ and the history of An Family in ShuiXi(水西), the study of Tusi system of Guizhou in Ming Dynasty, relationship between ethnic groups in Shuixi and Ming Government, the important people and events in ShuiXi history. Tusi system and family trees of Tusi studies have been highly achieved in the existing achievements.Basing on relevant historical documents and from the Tusi’s point of view, this paper tries to light up the life history of An Guoheng, the Pacification Commissioner of Guizhou.Chapter Ⅰ:the power structure of Shuixi in Ming Dynasty."Zexi"(则溪制度) was the original political system in Shuixi depending on Tusi families and the land.But it was changing when the power of Ming Government spread and a three-leveled power structure was newly formed, called "Ming Government-Guizhou Governors-Tusi’ structure. This structure mainly contained five parts. Through interactions between the five, some principles also the power game between Tusi, governors and chancellors can be seen clearly.Chapter Ⅱ:Rebellion or not? The strife of An Family and the attitudes of governors. The cause, after and the results were carefully returned to the original condition. Then by studying the relevant letters and memorials of governors, contradictions between governors and chancellors were uncovered. These contradictions lead to a serious consequence to the An Family.Chapter Ⅲ:The tribute conflicts. An Guoheng was deprived his position after the strife and he did a lot to get it back, including paying tribute to Ming Court. But a series of conflicts between Tusi, governors, chancellors and even the Emperor were turned up because of paying tribute.Chapter Ⅳ:Families of Tusi crossing Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan Province and the measurements of Ming Government. Two cases were given to tell that families of Tusi crossing three provinces often caused strives especially on position inheritance. Another two cases were given to reveal that Ming Government often borrowed military strength of Tusi to suppress rebellions of other ethnic groups.Chapter Ⅴ:Tusi was not unenlightened-the mixing character of Tusi and revelations of the power game between Tusi and Ming Government. Conclusions were made in this part that AnGuoheng was not a self-reclusive or isolated in Shuixi, but a powerfully armed, active and sophisticated, hard controlled local strongman. Facing An and his family, chancellors of Ming Court as Gao Gong(高拱), Zhang Juzheng(张居正) and Shen Shixing(申时行) had summarized their own experiences. In the interactions between the Empire and Tusi, knowing the truth of the mixing character of Tusi and the laws of the power game, shall we understand how difficult Tusi’s area became an organic part of China.Appendix:three parts contained, Chronology of AnGuoheng, The list of governors and governor-generals of Guizhou in1562-1593and Geneological table of An Family.