Native Chieftains and Chinese Judges. The Struggles for Power and Property in the Eighteenth-century South China Frontier

Abstract

In the article the social, political and economic situation of the XVIII-century Southern Chinese frontier is viewed through the lenses of court felony trials. Two cases from different parts of this vast, culturally and ethnically diverse frontier zone are analyzed in detail. The article is a study of mutual relations of the local peoples and the Chinese administrations, it singles out some strategies of communication and self-presentation employed by locals in their dealings with the Qing officials. I also analyze problems of property and power within the native communities. These problems gave rise to typical conflicts in the frontier region, while the Chinese empire played its role both in provoking and in settling the conflicts.