ABSTRACT
From Wu Sangui’s rebellion (1673) to the Qing-Burmese campaigns (1765) to Du Wenxiu’s Rebellion (1856), big and small revolts occurred in the interlude between these major events in Yunnan and continued after the collapse of the Qing Empire in 1911. For over two centuries, the Manchu rulers depended on the Han, Hui, Tai, and other ethnic elites to cooperate with the imperial officials and govern this tumultuous multi-ethnic border region. This book has identified these local elites as the state agents who acted on their own behalf or on the behalf of their communities while assisting the state in governing its borderlands. The key difference between the state agents and the representatives of the state, who were often government officials assigned to Yunnan, lay in that the former prioritised local interests whereas the latter emphasised the state’s agenda. More importantly, the latter relied on the former to fulfil their duties because of their limited knowledge about the place and their restricted means of mobilising local resources. There was not always, however, a clear distinction between the state agents and the state representatives, especially after the mid-nineteenth century when the local elites became government officials or state military leaders to pacify rebellions across the province. Due to this reason, the state government fostered closer relationships with local actors in Yunnan, and, through the state representatives, mobilised more state agents to serve in various venues of state affairs that were not limited to intelligence collecting and border surveys. These state agents were not necessarily Han; however, the Han in particular, and some Confucian-educated non-Han elites, stayed closer to state power, possessed more privileges and upward mobility, maintained a higher level of social and economic status, and established cultural hegemony as well as dominance in literary traditions and local historiography.
