19세기 전반기 귀주성 淸水江 下流 地域의 이주민 유입과 土ㆍ客 충돌

Abstract

This study examines migrant inflows into the lower reaches of the Qingshui River in Guizhou during the first half of the nineteenth century and the conflicts that ensued with local residents, drawing on forestry tenancy contracts (林業租佃契約) and Board of Punishments routine memorials (刑科題本). Against the backdrop of land scarcity following the eighteenth-century population surge in inland China, the expansion of the timber trade in the lower Qingshui River became a key driver of nonlocal migration. Contract evidence on places of origin indicates that approximately 10–20 percent of forestry tenants came from outside the county; among these out-of-county tenants, around 90 percent originated from Tianzhu County (天柱縣) and southwestern Hunan (湘西南). Inflows peaked from the early Jiaqing through the early Daoguang reigns (ca. 1800s–1830s) and then declined as the state tightened migration controls and Miao uprisings persisted. The memorials show that clashes most often centered on the allocation of tenancy rights and the right to collect fuelwood. Although these were not ethnic confrontations between Han Chinese and the Miao or Dong peoples, they arose from intensified social closure associated with the expansion of lineage organizations within local society and from competing economic interests in resource use. In this way, facing multiple constraints on everyday rights compared with those of indigenous residents, migrants were compelled to seek survival through various means.