Laws Regulating Human Trafficking in Qing Mongolia

The Qing administration established regulations about human trafficking in the Menggu li or laws exclusively applicable to ordinary Mongols. These are (1) a law enacted in 1683, (2) a law enacted in 1772, and (3) a law enacted in 1839 and revised in 1843. An examination of the relevant provisions in the Chinese, Mongolian, and Manchu versions shows that (1) prohibited selling commoners and making them slaves, wives, concubines, or descendants and that (2) and (3) obstructing the performance of state corvée labor by selling commoners. These laws restricted the human trafficking of commoners, only allowing the trafficking of slaves within the same banner. These provisions also appeared in the laws enacted by Bogd Khan’s regime in 1918, after the Mongolian declaration of independence.However, as seen in a collective family suicide caused by a woman Dasiǰid in the final years of the Qianlong, neither the Qing authorities nor the emperor condemned the trafficking of commoners if they were being sold by their parents, local lords, or officials within the same banner. In another incident which came to light in 1799, commoners and slaves were sold to Guangjuesi, a Tibetan Buddhist temple, in Urad Rear Banner of Ulaančab League. The sold commoners were merely returned, and the penalties imposed on the banner and league leaders by the Board of Frontier Affairs and the Jiaqing Emperor were extremely lenient. Trade in commoners in Qing Mongolia was subject to legal restrictions, but in practice was tacitly tolerated as long as it did not cross banner borders.