The Political Integration And Ethnic Evolution Of Southwest Area From Han To Sui Dynasities

The research objective of this paper is the historical vicissitude of southwest China between Han and Sui Dynasties.Through views of political integration and ethnic evolution,this study discussed the way that the power of Central Plains Dynasties entered into southwest area.And in the process of political integration,the ethnic group has changed.During the reign of Emperor Han Wudi,here have been three changes in the strategic positioning of the southwest area.Considering its important strategic position,the southwest area was gradually incorporated into the empire.When this area has been initially under control,an effective ruling institution,which integrated the system of prefectures and counties and the local tribal rules,was instituted by Han Empire.This institution not only inherited the historical tradition of the administrative system,but also compromised on the political geography of southwest China.That's showed the political wisdom of Emperor Han Wudi.Take this ruling measure as background,we can analyze the power distribution structure in southwest China,and find out the way that local minority chieftains get into the imperial order.During the Three Kingdoms period,southwest area controls by Shu Han Kingdom.Unlike the Eastern Han Dynasty,in order to meet the need of the war,Shu Han cracked down on the old tribal groups and putted them in a tight political order.This area was transformed into the rear of Shu Han.The Sinolization of Nianzhong which was the core district of southwest China reached an unprecedented breadth and depth.From the late Eastern Han Dynasty,powerful families got involved in local politics.It's broke the previous relationship of the imperial and local minority chieftains.The Cuan family which was the typical representative of them seized the local power of Nanzhong district from 3 to 6 centuries.The main pedigree and family memories of Cun have been constructed a lot.Their purpose is to shape the family as the local dominator in history.The rose of the Cuan family was profiting from the warfare in this area.And they rose as soon as they're localized.Cuan family replaced local minority chieftains.They relied upon a mixed military which including local minority and Han migrants,and became a potent force in the region of Nanzhong.Different from existing studies,this study base on the hundred years of history of the Cuan family,believes that this family never transformed into a political group,so there was difficult to monopolize the political power of Nanzhong in a long time.Several short times when the Cuan family had a monopoly on power,benefited from political turmoil or the leading of some outstanding family members.It was an outcome of a particular situation.And the ‘Liao people' also took as a subject in this research.To discuss the concept construction and evolution of its groups,the ethnic evolution in southwest China will be presented.The earliest written records of Liao people found in the Three Kingdoms period.At that time,Shu Han Kingdom was trying to consolidate the rule in Nianzhong.There were parts of people had been identified as Liao by Hua-Xia people under the background of intense ethnic conflict.The nature of all these groups might be ‘regional cultural group'.At the beginning of "the Liao people entering the Shu area",the boundary of the ethnic group was significantly expanded.They had millions of people,and became the name of all the barbarians who entering the Shu area.Finally Liao became identification of the southwestern ethnics.In Sui and Tang Dynasties,the description of Liao was confined to the dilemma of coexistence between history and reality.Whereupon as the paragon of barbarians a group named Nanping Liao appeared.They were last survivors in the Sinolization.The complete historical prospect of southwest China between Han and Sui Dynasties was formed by those political integration and ethnic evolution.