Analysis Of The Social Status Of Tianshui In Ming And Qing Dynasties From The Stone Inscriptions

Located in the west of Longshan Mountain,Tianshui is an important city on the silk road west of Chang 'an.Preceding the Sui and Tang Dynasties,Tianshui was adjacent to the political center,and it was a strategically important region as the main traffic routes in Shaanxi,Gansu,and Sichuan Province.Since the beginning of the Song Dynasty,Tianshui was getting farther and farther away from the political center.However,as the origin of Zhao(a Chinese surname),Tianshui still had a glorious history.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties,Tianshui was far from the political center and lost its traditional political advantage.Its status was similar to that of today.By collating and researching a large amount of stone inscriptions data from the Ming and Qing Dynasties,this thesis shows the social situation of Tianshui at that time,and will provide a new perspective on understanding and building modern Tianshui.By analyzing the time and region of 205 stone inscriptions,this thesis finds that the existing stone inscriptions of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Tianshui are unevenly distributed in space and time.In time,most of them are from the Qing Dynasty;in space,the majority of them are in Qinzhou.This distribution characteristic is not only affected by the objective factors,such as times,regions and the preservation conditions,but also reflects the imbalance of social development of Tianshui in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.An analysis of their shapes reveals that most of the stone inscriptions are made of local materials.Their decoration and form are affected by the content.On this basis,this thesis analyzes the socio-economics of Tianshui in the Ming and Qing Dynasties from the content of the stone inscription,finding that the local chronicles often describe the development history of a place roughly,and some historical details are unavoidably skipped.The stone inscriptions can fill some gaps.For example,the local chronicles often give a sketchy description of the construction of water conservancy facilities in Tianshui in the Qing Dynasty,but the stone inscriptions specifically describe the construction and effectiveness of certain canals and dikes.On the basis of agricultural economic development,the education and religious undertakings in Tianshui in the Ming and Qing Dynasties also flourished.Finally,by analyzing the relevant information of stone inscription,such as the author and the nominee,this thesis finds that stone inscriptions are used as a carrier to describe local social situation and to demonstrate the use of the discourse right by local society.The discourse right of important matters such as religion and education often belongs to the authority,not ordinary people.Outside the official control,people use official authority to protect their own interests.When the stone inscriptions describe the local society,it is recounting the history of Tianshui.This process also completes the construction of Tianshui's history.