“The Boundary Disputes of Villagers”: the Qing Empire and the Micropolitics of the Pamirs

Drawing on Manchu-language reports filed by frontier officials in Yarkand, this article elucidates the extent and nature of Qing engagement with the Pamir and Karakorum regions in the second half of the eighteenth century, with a focus on the mirdom of Shughnan. These Qing sources shed considerable light on Pamiri political dynamics in a period poorly documented in local written and oral history. While Qing officials often disavowed any desire to intervene, I analyse here how these political dynamics led them to seek to regulate regional relationships until the mid-1780s, including through the use of loyal Kirghiz allies as enforcers of imperial will.