The Study On The Cognition To Yunnan Frontier Ethnic Areas And Their Neighboring Countries In The Early Qing Dynasty (1644-1840)

The Qing Dynasty which was founded by Manchu,inherited the ancient traditional view of ‘tianxia'(referring to the world),using the tributary system to make the neighboring countries under its rule.As the center of the world,Qing dynasty ruled its territory and vassal states in a differentiate pattern.At the same time the Qing Dynasty continued and strengthened the thought of "Chinese centralism",so it had certain sense to distinguish China and foreign countries.So when dealing with the border affairs,the Qing dynasty had a certain understanding of the distinction between inside and outside.This thesis takes the Yunnan frontier ethnic areas and their neighboring countries as the research object,and investigates the cognition of the two in the Qing dynasty.The main content of this thesis is mainly reflected in the following three points:First of all,the development of the view of ‘Yi and Xia'(referring to Han nationality and other minorities)in early Qing dynasty was expounded.This part mainly discusses the development of culture and geography in Qing dynasty.The distinction between the Chinese and the barbarians in Yongzheng period and the view on barbarians in Qianlong period,especially the titles of "barbarians in neighboring countries" and "barbarians in frontier areas" can be reflected.The criteria for the debate of the ‘Hua and Yi' in the Qing dynasty included both "culture" and "geography" factors.Secondly,this thesis expounds the understanding of "governing" as the key point in Yunnan frontier ethnic areas and "defending" as the main direction for the neighbouring countries of Yunnan which were based on the geopolitical and territorial views of the Qing dynasty.Under the influence of the debate of ‘Hua and Yi' and the increasing awareness of "China",the Qing dynasty formed two visions of "inside" and "outside",and thus adopted different countermeasures while dealing with problems of Yunnan frontier ethnic areas and their neighbouring countries.Thirdly,although in the early Qing dynasty,the ruler's clear cognition on internal and external had a certain sense of territorial sovereignty,there are inevitably somelimitations under the dynastic rule based on ‘Chinese centralism'the internal conservatism and the external boundaries had an influence on the scope of southwest China.