淸代 貴州省 錦屛縣의 少數民族社會와 栽手 ― 淸水江文書의 林業租佃契約을 중심으로 ―

Abstract

The Qingshuijiang Documents, discovered in Jinping County of the southeast Guizhou Province, are important records for studying the ethnic minorities of this region. The planters of forestry, the tenants for forestry who appear in the forestry tenancy contract of the Qingshuijiang Documents, afforested mountain areas to plant the China-fir trees in Jinping County. Researches on the planters of forestry have mostly been conducted in the process of researching the forestry tenancy contract or the agrisilviculture in the Qingshuijiang River basin. However, studies have hardly ever been conducted on the planters of forestry in the minorities society of Jinping County in the Qing period either in the domestic or foreign field. Thus, this study examines the life and the social status of the planters of forestry who afforested mountain areas in Jinping County in the Qing period. Jinping County, located in the southeast Guizhou Province, has a moderate climate and a high precipitation. Also, the county has plenty of water because Qingshuijiang River flows through the area and it is abundant in forest resources such as China-fir trees. Timber merchants flocked to Jinping County due to the dredge of the stream of Qingshuijiang River in Yongzheng years(1722-1735). In this process, the minorities society of Jinping County began to reforested the mountains to support the demand for wood. This artificial reforestation seems to have been started in the late Ming period and boosted in the middle of the Qing period. Jinping County in the Qing period enjoyed prosperity, strangers began to inflow, some of them seem to have acted as the planters of forestry. The planters of forestry signed a contract with the forest owners, grow trees up to Chenglin(a term of the contract which means the time when China-fir trees become about 5 years old), When this was achieved, they could get a certain amount of China-fir. Because of, the planters of forestry tried to secure food by making a contract called Dianqi(tenancy contract). After Chenglin, they tried to secure their share for China-fir by making the Split Contract. They engaged in afforestation risking mortgaging the lands. They even afforested the faraway mountain areas where the forest owners couldn’t afforest by themselves. In any case the forest owners had a higher status than the planters, judging from the fact that the forest owners controlled the planters life and took a practical action against them if the contract was broken. Next, I looked at why planters of forestry diligently cultivated mountainous areas, but that they had no choice but to make a living. The planters of forestry who became members of the minorities society in Jinping County had to face the long cycle of forestry. Afforestation through making the forestry tenancy contract was an important thing for them, but they needed to produce cereals for livelihood during the growth of the trees. Once the trees had grown, however, the land couldn’t be arable. So it was impossible for them to maintain their livelihood. They eventually had to make the periodic move to other regions after selling timbers that reached Chenglin. In addition, the ratio of division of profits changed from 1:1 to 3:2 as time went by. In this condition the planters, who experienced lack of food, were compelled to sell timbers to secure food. Furthermore, most of the planters seems to have been treated unfairly in the process clan-organized(宗族化) of minorities society in Jinping County. The majority of the planters in Wendou Village and Pingao Village, who didn’t have the surname of Jiang(姜), had to submit to lower ratio of division of profits than Jiang family planters. Also, It seems that most of the planters failed to become forest owner. Only a few planters whose surname were Jiang rose to forest owner. In other words, the planters of forestry had to face not only the long cycle of forestry but also clan-organized minorities society. To sum up, The planters of forestry were people who supported timber production in the mountain areas of Jinping County in the middle of the Qing period, and they contributed to the prosperity of Jinping County in consequence. Most of the planters, however, were no more than outsiders in the minorities society who had to manage instable and poor life because of the fabric of forestry.