Study On The Land Order In The Borderland Of West Yunnan In The Qing Dynasty

The important basis of land order is the distribution and possession of land.In the traditional borderland society under the rule of the minority hereditary headmen,the land is divided into different types according to its use and possession.Except for the territorial ruling group,which has a fixed territory,the most majority of the villagers are collected land regularly.With the change of human-land relationship within the border society,the original land distribution pattern is loosened.More critically,the migration tide has accelerated the process of acquiring land by means of buying,selling and renting,not only changing the composition of landowners,but also bring the customs of the land in the mainland to the border.It accelerated the disintegration of the original land distribution pattern in the borderland society,forming a new land possession,that is,the land is stably occupied,and regular distribution is no longer the mainstream.The land will flow from “this person's possession” to “the other person's possession”.This dynamic process is reflected in the contractualization of land transactions.The land contract of the border society has been similar to the Han contract in terms of form.The land contract documents mean that the land transfer transactions are mostly the same pattern and content.At the same time,the land contract documents in the western Yunnan still have some local characteristics,which is manifested in the fact that the minority hereditary headmen is both a transactional and a land order manager in the transaction process of the land.Land transaction is not completely subject to the clan patriarchal relationship and there is a tendency to simplify the form.In the Qing Dynasty,the regulation of the land order in the border areas was gradually promoted with the deepening of state power to the southwestern region.However,since the western Yunnan border areas were not completely converted,minority hereditary headmen and their governance were still,and the appearance of the land order is multi-layered.On the one hand,the government itself is negligent in mastering the land situation for various reasons.On the other hand,the area under minority hereditary headmen is relatively independent on the land issue.Therefore,the state power cannot regular the land order in the border society.The state that the government is trying to maintain is not exactly conform to the actual situation.