Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2014

 

Dual Tax Reporting and Payment to County and Garrisons: Survival Strategies on the 'Four Major Branches of the Non-military Yao' of Yongming County in Hunan Province

(Abstract)

 

Wu Tao

 

Towards the end years of Hongwu reign in the Ming Dynasty, the two thousand-household garrisons stationed in Taochuan and Pipa of Yongming County between Hunan and Guangdong provinces were additionally established. The soldiers reclaimed wasteland for farming, so that land owned by the garrisons and that of the prefectures and counties showed a crisscrossed pattern in the area. Some Yao people transferred from “Shengyao(生瑶)”, or aboriginal Yao to become “Shuyao(熟瑶)”, or Yao within the administrative system by virtue of their promises of cultivating and safeguarding the land, and enjoyed the privilege of tax and corvee exemption. Along with the weakening of the military function and the disbanding of the garrisons in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Yao people’s choice for proportions of taxes on farm land to the county and prefecture changed accordingly. In addition, the reform of the conscription system led to more diverse sources of troops, which also boosted the Yao people to break away from military system to local civil system. Entering the Qing Dynasty, new policies such as the reform of the garrison, land measurement and special enrollment quota in imperial examination significantly affected the process of self-aggregation of the Yao people. As a result, the Shuyao began to split within their community, leading to the formation of the “four major branches of non-military Yao.”