Weisuo,Tusi and Fufan Ting:The Administrative Evolution and Local Ethnic People Governance of Taozhou Area of Southern Gansu in the Qing Dynasty
The administrative system in the border areas of Ming and Qing dynasties usually showed the mutual nesting and transformation of different systems,such as the Weisuo,Tusi and Fu-Ting-Prefecture-County systems.Taozhou area on the border of Gansu,Qinghai and Sichuan experienced a system transformations from the concurrent administration of Taozhou Wei,the separate administration of the Weisuo and Tusi,and the exclusive administration of the Taozhou Fufan Ting.The local ethnic people's tax obligations to the country gradually changed from"paying for military horses"to"paying grains and money".In the early Qing Dynasty,Taozhou Wei local officials have won many Qing court awards for their suppression of rebellion and recruited tribal locals,and gradually became an influential Tusi family;Taozhou Wei set up Shoubei to manage civil affairs and appointed them as literati,Weisuo and Tusi are equally existed and are not affiliated to one another.During the reign of Qianlong,the Qing court abolished Weisuo and set up Ting,with Gongchang Fufan Tongzhi stationed in Taozhou to control Tusi.Taozhou Fufan Ting could directly appoint Tongshi and Zongguan(general manager)in the name of"Fen Fu"to manage the money and grain affairs of the local ethnic people and Tusi"Fanhu"(ethnic households).The grassroots ethnic people are not only managed by Tusi,but also"paying grain and money"to Fufan Ting,"Fanhu"thus became the basic taxation unit for the Gansu Province ethnic people to pay their money and grain.As Weisuo and Tusi gradually became part of the Ting system,the Fufan Ting's governance of the grassroots ethnic people has been strengthened and continues the institutional tradition of"governing the ethnic people with ethnics",reflecting the elastic space and multiple facets of grassroots governance in the unified China.The adaptation and integration of the system of Weisuo,Tusi and Ting-Prefecture-County system in the ethnic areas of Gansu Provincial area in the Qing Dynasty,did not only reshape the social structure and grassroots governance order of the Gansu border region,but also accelerated the historical process of interaction and exchange between the Han and local ethnic groups and their integration into the Chinese national community.