The Willow Palisade∗

The functions of the Willow Palisade, a barrier of trees developed in China during the Ch'ing dynasty illustrate the Manchu government's attitude towards the Tungpei region. The location of gates and personnel, travel accounts, and hsien gazeteers reveal changes in the Palisade during the two hundred and fifty years of Ch'ing rule. Study of the Willow Palisade contributes to an understanding of traditional China's frontier viewpoint and illuminates contemporary China's attitude towards its northeastern border with the Soviet Union. Notes ∗ I wish to thank Akizuki Toshiyuki, Jim Delehanty, Mali Edmonds, Norton Ginsburg, Hatano Masataka, Paul Wheatley, and Yang Shu-sen for their encouragement and suggestions. This study was supported by grants from the Center for Far Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago and the Monbusho of the Japanese government. 1 For some examples of Chinese frontier fortifications, see: Owen Lattimore, "Origins of the Great Wall of China: A Frontier Concept in Theory and Practice,"Geographical Review, Vol. 27 (1937), pp. 529 49 (the Great Wall of North China); Owen Lattimore, The Mongols of Manchuria (New York: The John Day Company, 1934), pp. 43–45 (the Hsingan Wall of the Tungpei region); Ronald G. Knapp, "Chinese Frontier Settlement in Taiwan,"Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 66 (1976), p. 58 (the t'u-niu-kou dirt ridge of T'aiwan); and Shou P'eng-fei, Li-tai Ch'ang-ch'eng K'ao (A Discussion of the Great Wall Through the Ages) (Te T'ien-lu Hsü-kao chih 2, 1941) (all North China frontier barriers). 2 The social ecological framework formulated by Erik Cohen, "Environmental Orientations: A Multidimensional Approach to Social Ecology,"Current Anthropology, Vol. 17 (1976), pp. 49 70 provides a multidimensioinal approach to classifying the relationship of man to his environment. Cohen divides the ways man views landscape features into four environmental orientations: instrumental (resources), territorial (control), sentimental (attachment), and symbolic (significance), each with two suborientations: instrumental—technological and economic, territorial—strategic and political, sentimental—primordial and prestigious, and symbolic—aesthetic and moral-religious. The Willow Palisade is a physical manifestation of Cohen's territorial orientation. In his own words (p. 54) "Boundaries in the political sphere correspond to the price in the economic sphere: they are the endproduct of a bargaining process and represent the agreed-upon division of a territory between competing groups or interests." 3 The Chinese measures used in this paper varied from province to province and by time period. The metric and English equivalents given should be considered only approximates and are rounded. Yang Pin. Liu-pien Chi-lüeh (Notes on the Willow Frontier), Hsiao-fang-hu-chai Yü-ti Ts'ung-ch'ao Hsü-pien (The Little Square Vase Studio Geographical Series): chih 1, ts'e 5, Wang Hsi-ch'i, comp. (Shanghai: Chu-i T'ang, 1894), p. la gives T'iao-tzu-pien as an alternate name for the Willow Palisade. Chang Shang-hsien, "Ken-pen Hsing-shih Shu" ("A Description of the Form of our Dynasty's Roots"), Huang-ch'ao Ching-shih Wen-Pien (Collected Essays on Statecraft Under the Reigning Dynasty), Ho Ch'ang-ling, comp., chüan 80, "Ping-cheng 11, Sai-fang-shang," p. 7b employs the name I-t'iao-pien. Lucien Gibert, Dictionnaire Historique et Géographique de la Manchourie (Hong Kong: Imprimerie de la Société des Missions-Étrangères, 1934), p. 567 translated Liu-t'iao-pien as "Barrière des saules" and gave "Barrière des pieux" as an alternative. T'iao and pieux can be translated as 'stakes' or 'pale' since portions of the Willow Palisade may have been composed of stakes. Owen Lattimore, Inner Asian Frontiers of China (New York: American Geographical Society, 1940), p. 108, footnote, derived his term "Chinese Pale" from Gibert and the concept of the "English Pale" in Ireland. Liu means 'willow,' while the I in I-t'iao-pien means 'single' or 'one.' For reference to the levees, see Shou, op. cit., footnote 1, p. 25a. Chi Shih (Yang Shu-sen), "Liu-t'iao-pien ti Li-shih ho Su-hsiu ti Miu-lun" ("The History of the Willow Palisade and the False Theories of Soviet Revisionism"), [Lishi Yanjiu], No. 3 (1975), p. 112, says the trees were planted in groups of three, spaced five ch'ih apart. The figure for the height of the trees comes from Kao Shih-ch'i, comp., Hu-tsung Tung-shun Ji-lu (A Diary of an Eastern Journey in the Emperor's Entourage) in Shih-liao Hsü-pien, Vol. 41 (T'aipei: Kuang-wen Shu-chü, 1968), chüan hsia, p. 3b. Man has often used features of the physical landscape such as trees to delimit boundaries. Paul Guichonnet and Claude Raffestin, Géographie de frontières (Vendôme: Presses Universitaires de France, 1974), p. 15 point this out in the statement: "La délimitation territoriale peut s'accompagner d'une démarcation au sens moderne, sinon politique, du terme dans la mesure o[ugrave] le support de la frontière est constitué par des cours d'eau ou des marques dans le paysage, sur les arbres par example." Demarcation of boundaries by a combination of trees and ditches was not unique to China but rather widely practiced among traditional societies. George Wynn Brereton Huntingford, The Galla of Ethiopia: The Kingdom of Kafa and Janjero (London: International African Institute, 1955), p. 116 provides an interesting comparative example from the Kafa: The kingdom was surrounded, where there were no natural defences, by deep and wide ditches defended by tree-trunk palisades and crossed at intervals by narrow bridges. … Bieber gives the dimensions of the ditches as 6 metres in width and 3 metres in depth; he describes the gates, kell[otilde] as consisting of circular fenced enclosures entered by drop-gates. Customs dues were collected at these gates. Outside the line of fences was a strip of unoccupied land like the moga of the Galla states. At points where Galla attacks were expected, the gates were additionally defended by a high rampart and several lines of entrenchment, a form of defence much admired by the neighbours of the Kafa. The gates were manned by Manj[otilde] under a Kafa commander." 4 Sa-ying-e, Chilin Wai-chi (A Private Account of Kirin), (1810?) Hsiao-fang-hu-chai Yü-ti Ts'ung-ch'ao Tsai-pu-pien, III, chih 1, ts'e 71, Wang Hsi-ch'i, comp. (Shanghai: Chu-i T'ang, 1894), p. 1b; Yang Pin, op. cit., footnote 3, p. la; and Liu Hsüan-min, "Ch'ing-tai Tung-san-sheng I-min yü K'ai-k'en ["The Colonization of the Three Eastern Provinces During the Ch'ing Period"], Shih-hsüeh Nien-pao [Historical Annual], Vol. 2, No. 5 (1938), p. 70. Yang Shu-sen?, [Qingdai Liutiaobian] (The Ch'ing Willow Palisade) (Liaoning Jen-min ch'u-pan-she, 1978?), p. 31 says the trench was only 8 ch'ih wide at the mouth, 8 ch'ih deep, and 5 ch'ih wide at the bottom. 5 Inaba Iwakichi, Z[otilde]tei Manshũ Hattatsu Shi (A Revised History of Manchurian Development) (T[otilde]ky[otilde]: Nippon Hy[otilde]ronsha, 1935), pp. 323–24. A traveler in Liaohsi (western Fengt'ien) during the late Ch'ing told Inaba about a report which an official at Chang-wu-t'ai gate had shown him. The report, which was given to the Fengt'ien Military Governor, concerned repairs of Chang-wu-t'ai gate and the surrounding area:. 6 This traveler also found out other information by talking to the gate official. The levee was 3 ch'ih high and 3 ch'ih wide. The trench was 5 ch'ih deep and 5 ch'ih wide so that together the trench and the levée were 8 ch'ih high and 8 ch'ih wide. The wall was in the middle of the levee. It was said that on the inside a 7 ch'ih wide and 4 ch'ih deep trench was dug, and on the outside an 8 ch'ih wide and 4 or 5 ch'ih deep trench was also excavated. Two willows were fastened horizontally to the trees or willow branches were woven together and fastened. The willow trees were spaced about 1 ch'ih 7 ts'un apart or roughly three trees every 5 ch'ih. Inaba was compelled to believe this report since there were only a few tree stumps left when he investigated part of the western section of the Palisade in 1907. The distances between the various segments of the Palisade from Chang-wu-t'ai to Pai-t'u-ch'ang given in the above report do not total to the figure of 162.5 li. Such inaccuracies are abundant in reports on the Willow Palisade. 6 The reference to elms comes from Gibert, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 567. Henry Evan M. James, The Long White Mountain or A Journey in Manchuria (London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1888), p. 6 refers to the Palisades: "They consisted of long lines of wooden chevaux-de-frise, in the shape of St. Andrew's crosses, and made it difficult for men, and especially for cavalry, to pass." No Chinese references talk specifically about wooden stakes although the interpretation of the texts is open to speculation. James states that the Willow Palisade was constructed by the Ming dynasty and lists erroneous reasons for its construction: "to keep out Manchu and Tartar robbers." I doubt the accuracy of James' remarks but since he wrote in 1888 and since Inaba (footnote 5) and Gibert (footnote 3) both indicate the use of stakes, it seems likely that stakes were erected late in the Ch'ing to replace the willow trees. 7 Paul De Lapradelle, La frontière: étude de Droit international (Paris: Les Éditions internationales, 1928), pp. 14–15 among others suggested the zonality of frontiers prior to Lattimore. Guichonnet and Raffestin, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 16, point out that zonality, as opposed to linearity, was equally applicable to the Roman frontier. 8 Lattimore, op. cit., footnote 3, pp. 3–4. 9 Lattimore, op. cit., footnote 3, pp. 240, 480–83. 10 Lattimore, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 547. Chilin is Chinese for the Manchu term Kirin. I use Kirin to refer to the Ch'ing province and Chilin to refer to the Chinese People's Republic's province. This is necessary since Ch'ing Kirin occupied what is now the eastern half of Chilin, eastern Heilungchiang and portions of the Soviet Union. 11 Lattimore, op. cit., footnote 3, pp. 106–09. Lattimore's work leads me to believe that in the macro picture of China's inner Asian frontiers he views the Willow Palisade as an extension of the Great Wall and in the micro view of Tungpei the Palisade is a "reservoir wall" between the Tungpei "reservoir" in the south and the zones of the Manchus and Mongols to the north. Owen Lattimore, "Chinese Colonization in Manchuria,"Geographical Review, Vol. 22 (1932), pp. 180 82; and Norton S. Ginsburg, "Manchurian Railway Development,"Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1949), pp. 398 400 regard all of Tungpei as a frontier region. Robert H. G. Lee, The Manchurian Frontier in Ch'ing History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970) concentrates his study on the outer zone of Kirin and Heilungchiang. Lattimore, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 496 talks about a first marginal zone and a second marginal zone along the Great Wall frontier. Lattimore's comments are directed at the Inner Mongolian frontier, but with some modification this is the best way to view the Ch'ing Manchurian frontier. The Fengt'ien (Liaotung) region or what Lattimore calls "Lower Manchuria" and the "Chinese Pale" represents a zone where Han-Chinese intensive agriculture was practiced long before the Ch'ing, but during the first half of the Ch'ing was still a zone of frontier contact. North of the Palisade was yet another zone which was definitely a frontier zone during the second half of the Ch'ing dynasty. 12 Chi Shih, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 113 describes the Palisade's shape as similar to the character jen. 13 During the Republican period the Willow Palisade's extreme western portion served as the border between Jeho and Liaoning provinces. Today it is the border between Chaoyang Diqu (region) and Chinchou Diqu in Liaoning province. 14 Chi Shih, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 112. 15 Shengching T'ung-chih (Complete Gazeteer of Shengching), chüan 16, pp. 8b–10a; Ta Ch'ing Huitien Shih-li (Cases and Precedents of the Collected Statutes of the Great Ch'ing Dvnasty), (1908), chüan 1146, "Pa-ch'i Tu-t'ung, Ping-chih;" and Liu, op. cit., footnote 4, pp. 70, 73, and 106, note 55. According to the Pa-ch'i T'ung-chih Ch'u-chi (Complete Eight Banner Gazeteer, Initial Part), chüan 151. "Ming-ch'en Lieh-chüan 11," p. 4b the 1679 expansion over 20 li of the portion connecting Ming-shuit-t'ang, Kaot'ai-pao, and Nien-p'an-kou gates was undertaken by the Fengt'ien Military Governor, An Chu-hu. 16 I-hsien-chih (Gazeteer of I-hsien), chung-chüan 1, "Ti-yü-chih,"ts'e 3 (1931), p. 30b. 17 Lattimore, Mongols of Manchuria, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. 45–46. Chi Shih, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 112; and Yang Shu-sen (pen name: Chi Shih), "Tsai-lun Liao-t'iao-pien ti Li-shih" ("A Further Discussion of the Willow Palisade's History"), [Jilin Shida Xucbao], No. 1 (1978), p. 44 gives a 1661 date for the completion of both the eastern and western sections, but his references are to gates on the western section. In [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, pp. 34–35, it is recorded that the portion of the eastern section from Feng-huang to Chien-ch'ang gates was constructed in 1638 in order to prevent Koreans from entering Fengti'en to gather ginseng. The majority of my data suggests the 1672 date for the eastern section (Table 1). Lee, op. cit., footnote 11, p. 4, notes that in 1653 Tungpei administration was split into two units, one administered from Shengching and the other from Ninguta. It is possible the timing of this split is related to the construction of the eastern section. 18 Jean Baptiste Bourguignon D'Anville, Atlas général de la Chine, de la Tartarie Chinoise, et du Tibet (Paris: Dezauche, 1737?); and "Fengt'ien Fu Nan-fen Chiang-yü-t'u," in the Ku-chin T'u-shu Chi-ch'eng (Compendium of Ancient and Modern Works), Chiang Yen-hsi, ed. (T'aipei: Wen-hsing Shu-chü, 1964 reprint), map no. 13, show the terminus of the eastern section near Fenghuangch'eng City. However, the "Fenghuang T'ing-t'u, Ch'in-ting Ta Ch'ing Huitien-t'u (Collected Statutes of the Great Ch'ing Dynasty: Maps), (1908), chüan 147; and A-kuei, comp., Shengching, Chilin, Heilungchiang Teng-ch'u Piao-chu Chan-chi Yü-t'u (An Annotated Atlas of Military Monuments in Shengching, Kirin, and Heilungchiang Provinces and Other Places) (Talien: Manshū Bunka Kyokai copy of a 1778 Chinese and Manchu bilingual edition, 1935) both have hills between the eastern section's terminus and the coast. As settlement increased in the area the Palisade could have been extended this 90-odd li from Fenghuangch'eng. 19 Chia Ch'ing Ch'ung-hsiu I-t'ung-chih (A Comprehensive Imperial Geography of the Realm sponsored by the Chia Ch'ing Emperior) (Shanghai: Shang-wu (Commercial Press) copy of the Ch'ing-shih-kuan volumes, 1934), chüan 60, "Fengt'ien Fu 2," p. 21b. The Shengching T'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 15, chüan 16, p. 9b says the eastern and western sections were over 1800 li long. 20 Chilin T'ung-chih (Complete Gazeteer of Kirin), chüan 15, "Yü-ti-chih 3, Chiang-yü-shang," p. 3a; and the Chia Ch'ing Ch'ung-hsiu I-t'ung-chih, chüan 60, "Fengt'ien 2," p. 21b; and Yang Pin, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 1b note that the name Lao-pien'Old Border' was used to refer to the eastern and western sections since in large part they followed the Ming Liaotung Wall. Most scholars adopt the view that the eastern and western sections were a single unit, with the northern section as a separate division. This idea comes from the Lao-pien and Hsin-pien distinction. Distinct administration of the gates in three groupings leads me to believe it best to divide the Palisade into three sections. Chi Shih, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 113 refers to the northern section as i-t'iao tan-pien'a single palisade' in contrast to the Lao-pien. Possibly he means there was only one levee or perhaps there was no ditch. See also [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, p. 40. 21 Chia Ch'ing Ch'ung-hsiu I-t'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 19, chüan 68, "Chilin 2, Kuan-yu," p. 25b. 23 Sa-ying-e, op. cit., footnote 4, p. 1b; and Lee, op. cit., footnote 11, p. The Shengching T'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 15, chüan 16, pp. and chüan 19, pp. lists gates although the in the two The Ch'in-ting Ta Ch'ing op. cit., footnote chüan 8, Shengching and chüan Chilin lists but to Yang Pin, op. cit., footnote 3, p. the Shengching T'ung-chih notes gates which he I found the gate of the western section. The Chia Ch'ing Ch'ung-hsiu I-t'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 19, chüan Fu 2, p. says gate was in The Shengching T'ung-chih was in the while the Ta Ch'ing was first in and used prior to The Ta Ch'ing and gate was from the data at that time or was the of the gate before gate only on the Yü-ti found in the Shengching T'ung-chih, p. op. cit., footnote 5, pp. says the gates were or and a and a Manshū (A Diary of Manchurian or (T[otilde]ky[otilde]: p. also lists No other these gates, and Inaba the of and as as and as separate gates which one doubt the of his It is possible and were late in the Ch'ing or that and are the Chang Atlas of Ch'ing (T'aipei: p. map of "Fengt'ien Fu Jeho a to the of gate along the Palisade which is It is to the where gate on and gates were only found in [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, pp. Shengching T'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 15, chüan 16, p. and chüan 19, p. and Chia Ch'ing Ch'ung-hsiu I-t'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 19, chüan Fu 2, p. Sa-ying-e, op. cit., footnote 4, p. 1b the of several gate Chang-wu-t'ai alternate in the Atlas of the of Vol. 3, North ed. by Chang The p. and this gate was the way to the land under the Mongols for the Imperial Feng-huang gate was shown as or gate which to Manshū Shi (A Gazeteer of Manchurian Ancient Vol. 2 (Talien: Manshū pp. is a name used in this region since while Fenghuangch'eng only from Ming According to Yang Pin, op. cit., footnote 3, p. was a Chinese for of the while [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, p. says it is a from Manchu to but Lattimore, Mongols of Manchuria, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. notes that in Manchu means or to and he between and Sa-ying-e, op. cit., footnote 4, p. 1b that from in Mongolian while comes from the Manchu for was a with a on it south of the The an from the and gates were from the Manchu which in a by the [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, pp. says and Feng-huang gates were a Chinese of the Manchu has another which means derived from a 10 and wide of the This was like an The gave the gate this second name while 15 li of the gate at in Liu, op. cit., footnote 4, p. 106, footnote made the of and as two separate gates as Inaba (footnote and gates were Ming but gate was for the in the alternate Chinese for this [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, p. says the alternate name comes from the Manchu It is possible that gate is a was of Manchu and with Chinese can be found in the Chia Ch'ing Ch'ung-hsiu op. cit., footnote 19, chüan "Chilin pp. and Gibert, op. cit., footnote 3, pp. 27 Chi Shih, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 113 says that to the Shengching T'ung-chih the from gate used by to all points in Kirin and Heilungchiang while the points in Kirin and Heilungchiang while the connecting with Heilungchiang Gibert, cit., footnote 3, p. notes that during Ming the Chinese used to from the at the location which gate seems to have been the point along the Palisade. no Manshũ (An to in Manchuria, Man Vol. No. 3 (1931), p. 44 has the Emperor's second Tungpei on and with the entering Kirin Wang comp. and (Gazeteer of chüan p. says the and gates of the eastern section had and According to the Chia Ch'ing Ch'ung-hsiu op. cit., footnote 19, chüan "Chilin p. comes from the Manchu The were to the of the Shengching while the were under the Shengching Military Other information in this from the is It is possible that in some the and were the since Gibert, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 567 was the of gate or two as the above In the the may have been in of the gate and the in of the The Chia Ch'ing chüan pp. only lists one for each The were or in The Chinese (Shanghai: p. 20 states that comes from the Manchu which means The gate were to in Chinese as or while were and the or A of gate for the eastern and western sections can be found in the Fengt'ien T'ung-chih (Gazeteer of chüan Sa-ying-e, p. lists various of in the Kirin the a total of a a or 11 to 15 of a and 12 for the four northern section gates 4 and 12 have been The total for Kirin was which means that gate for of the Ch'ing Kirin op. cit., footnote 5, p. [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, p. a which says gate had two on of the one for Most likely these were were to the Liu, op. cit., footnote 4, p. says each and other and each gate 16 from a total of of to Sa-ying-e, op. cit., footnote 4, p. says that the four gates of the northern section to 31 Shengching T'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 15, chüan 16, p. and Sa-ying-e, op. cit., footnote 4, p. reference to may have been for the northern section Lattimore, Mongols of Manchuria, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. the or Mongols were gate on the Willow Palisade. The Chinese and other similar to these such groups were considered the Ch'ing of China See Lattimore, op. cit., footnote 3, p. op. cit., footnote 16, chung-chüan 1, p. 30b. Gibert, op. cit., footnote 3, p. 567. The were in Chinese as or Shengching T'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 15, chüan 16, pp. In there were but Shengching had only to the of and The were as of the Ch'ing Dynasty), chüan 4, p. The op. cit., footnote 16, chung-chüan 1, p. gives an into the administration of along the Palisade. The li portion of the western section between gate and a point 19 li of gate was under an and his likely were in a The li to the of the above li of gate and at Pai-t'u-ch'ang was According to the Shengching T'ung-chih, op. cit., footnote 15, chüan p. and the chung-chüan 2, p. in a of the Palisade was at Shou, op. cit., footnote 1, p. comp., Ta Ming I-t'ung-chih (Complete Gazeteer of the Great Ming Dynasty), chüan p. The of the of the Great in Liaoning province to a of information the of 41 Gibert, op. cit., footnote 3, p. Shou, op. cit., footnote 1, p. and Chang Liaotung History of the Frontier of Ming Shih-hsüeh Nien-pao [Historical Annual], Vol. 2, No. 1 p. such as An Atlas of Norton Ginsburg, ed. Company, pp. and (A Chinese Geography (T'aipei: as to location and time were in For our it is to note that wall although not at the location of the Willow Palisade. op. cit., footnote chüan 2, p. says the portion of the Ming wall in was constructed during the The date comes from Inaba Iwakichi, no ("The Ming Liaotung Manshū Vol. 2, No. 7 p. See also Chang op. cit., footnote p. and [Qingdai Liutiaobian], op. cit., footnote 4, p. (Complete Gazeteer of in Fu et 2, p. 25a. 44 Discussion of the repairs and of the Ming Liaotung Wall can be found in Chang op.