ABSTRACT
The widespread outbreak of rebellions in the mid-nineteenth century resulted in an extensive militarization of Chinese society, including both rebel forces and the forces of order that opposed them. Under these circumstances, the control of local military forces, specifically militia, became a key component of local-elite power. The overall process of this militarization has been effectively described by Philip Kuhn. 1 Nonetheless, there is a paucity of supporting studies showing how militia leadership in the late Qing functioned in practice for specific elite families in the establishment, maintenance, or expansion of local power. 2 This essay seeks to meet this deficiency with a case study of the role of military power in the rise of one family, the Lius of Xingyi County in Guizhou province, to a position of local, and eventually provincial, dominance.
