THINKING ABOUT “MINGCHINA” ANEW: THE ETHNOCULTURAL SPACE IN A DIVERSE EMPIRE —WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE “MIAO TERRITORY”

Abstract

AbstractBy examining the cultural identity of China's Ming dynasty, this essay challenges two prevalent perceptions of the Ming in existing literature: to presume a monolithic socio-ethno-cultural Chinese empire and to equate the Ming Empire withChina(Zhongguo, the “middle kingdom”). It shows that the Ming constructedChinaas an ethnocultural space rather than a political entity. In essence,Chinawas defined as a Han domain that the Han people inhabited and where Han values were produced, practiced, and preserved in contrast to those of non-Han “barbarians,” be they domestic or foreign. The “Great Ming”—the dynastic title—cannot be confused withChina, the ethnocultural space. For the Ming ruling elite, the “Miao territory” in western Huguang and eastern Guizhou provinces represented a land “beyond the pale of civilization” (huawai), which was outside and different fromChina. The Ming construction of the ethnoculturalChinaconnects the imperial heritage to China's modern identity.