Some Problems on the Ch'ing Rule over Hui-chiang : Based on a document about Yarkand in the 19th Century

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to introduce a document found in the Ooki Collection at the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, and to point out some aspects of Ch'ing rule over the Hui-chiang 回彊 territory, namely the Southern part of Sinkiang based on the document. In the first section, the formule and contents of the document entitled Yeh-erh-chiang ch'eng chuang li shu hui hu cheng fu ko hsiang ts'e 葉爾羌城荘里数回戸正賦各項冊 is introduced. The second section. Judging from the format and the contents, the document appears to have been compiled as a taxation ledger between 1849 and 1854, and been kept at one of the Administrative Offices of the Ch'ing Government at Yarkand. The third section. From the above document, the author concludes the following : (1)So-called "Bek Officials" were stationed in the main cities and towns of the territory for special duties at the beginning of the Ch'ing rule. With the development of rural villages, however, the Beks became general administrators in the rural districts. Furthermore, two types of assistant officials were placed under the Beks, and through them, the Ch'ing Government indirectly ruled the Uighur people by organising them into units of a hundred households. (2).Of the two main categories of the Ch'ing taxation system in Hui-chiang, the amount of land tax doubled from the 1760's to the middle of the 19th century, while the poll tax scarcely increased. The difference between the two was a direct reflection of the disparity between the Uighur population and their cultivated acreage, registered by the Ch'ing Government. (3).In other words, the registered Uighur population was far from reality, while the registered cultivated acreage was close to the actual size. Because the registration work was performed by native officials, i.e. Beks and their assistants, the gap found between the number registered and the real figures of the population is due to the fact that these native officials, who were all Muslims, regarded the poll tax as a humiliating system imposed on them by heretical conquerors, so that they were unwilling To collaborate with the Ch'ing Government in compiling population figures for the poll tax.