Ming Dynasty Sichuan Tusi: An Overview

This thesis provides an overview of the Tusi system as implemented in Ming-dynasty Sichuan, translating and synthesizing a 2005 M.A. dissertation by Zhang Ting. It examines how the Ming state exercised indirect rule over the ethnically diverse, frontier regions of what is now Sichuan, Chongqing, and adjacent areas of Yunnan and Guizhou through hereditary native chieftains known as Tusi. The study draws extensively on primary historical sources (notably the rare manuscript Sichuan Tuyi Kao by Tan Xisi) (四川土夷考) and modern scholarship in Chinese to document the establishment, governance, and eventual transformation of these native domains. The translated work retains the original structure of the Chinese thesis (chapters on Tusi distribution, institutions, state relations, rebellions, and the policy of gaitu guiliu or replacing native rule with regular administration) and also reconfigures the content into a Western academic format. The thesis finds that while the Tusi system facilitated Qing imperial expansion and local autonomy in the short term, it had inherent drawbacks—leading to periodic unrest and prompting gradual integration into the centralized bureaucracy via gaitu guiliu. The work’s value lies chiefly in its compilation and annotation of archival sources and regional records (especially Sichuan Tuyi Kao), contributing detailed documentation of Sichuan’s Tusi lineages, territories, and interactions with state power. However, it offers limited new theoretical insight, reflecting the academic perspective of two decades ago. The translation preserves the scholarly tone and terminology appropriate to discussions of Chinese imperial governance, Ming–Qing frontier history, and anthropological perspectives on Southwest China. Citations are provided in Harvard style, and a bibliography of Chinese sources is included.