Inter-ethnic Violence on the Qing Frontier
Another response to population growth was migration to the mountainous regions of the south-west, which historically had been a contested frontier of Chinese civilisation. Until the early eighteenth century the Qing court had actively encouraged migration to Sichuan province, where the population had declined precipitously during the dynastic transition from Ming to Qing.
Interestingly, homicide reports recorded the home county of the accused killers. In a five-year sample of homicides for Sichuan province during the Qianlong reign (1736-95), 63 of 125 homicides relating to land disputes involved migrants from counties in the provinces of Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Gansu, Guangxi, Hubei, Shaanxi and Yunnan.[598] The frontier conditions in Sichuan and the influx of single male migrants alone was a volatile mix. To make matters worse, migration also ignited bloody confrontations between Han Chinese settlers and the indigenous Miao and Yi populations. Ethnic conflict was undoubtedly a factor in the eventual reversal of the official policy to facilitate resettlement of Sichuan.Han Chinese encroachment on Yi lands had deadly consequences for two Yi men, Yuezi and Baoshou of Ningyuan county in Sichuan.[599] In 1772 a local Yi leader, Lu Jingyao, had conditionally sold his land to a Han Chinese settler, Fan Tianren, who in turn leased it to Han tenants HuangJunshang and two brothers, Deng Zhaohou and Deng Zhaolian. In the winter of 1777 Lu Jingyao redeemed the sale, but because the field had already been planted, Lu agreed not to repossess the land until the next year. The field was adjacent to land owned by Yuezi and his father Xiage, who asked Lu Jingyao if they could lease it. Lu agreed but told them they could not occupy it until the following year. According to the homicide report, Yuezi was impatient and did not wait.
Perhaps anticipating a confrontation, Yuezi invited four other Yi men, Baoshou, Abei, Naizu and Jiebie, to accompany him to dig an irrigation ditch, setting the stage for a deadly confrontation in the spring of 1778.When the five Yi men arrived at the field, Deng Zhaolian ordered them to leave. Baoshou picked up a rock and hit Zhaolian. Armed with a spear, Huang Junshang came to Zhaolian's defence. When Yuezi pulled a knife Junshang lanced him with his spear. Dropping their weapons, Junshang and Yuezi grappled. Yuezi would not let go of Junshang's queue so Junshang picked up Yuezi's knife and fatally stabbed him. Meanwhile, Deng Zhaohou saw his brother Zhaolian lying on the ground surrounded by several Yi men, so he loaded a makeshift firearm with shot and lit the fuse. Claiming he only intended to frighten the assailants, Zhaohou fired and killed Baoshou, leaving twenty-one wounds in his back. The shot also struck Apei in the neck. Zhu Junren, a Han Chinese neighbour of the Dengs, heard the commotion and arrived armed with a wooden stick, and he drove Naizu and Jiebie off the land. Interestingly, all the Han migrants were twice or more the age of their Yi victims. Based on evidence of similar violent encounters over land, it is likely that the ‘advanced' ages of the migrants indicated they were single men who had migrated without their families. Had there been sons or nephews nearby, they would probably have joined the affray.
With multiple deaths and numerous participants, the homicide record was quite long. In addition to reconstructing events, assigning guilt and meting out punishment, central government officials who reviewed the case raised concerns about Han migrants tilling Yi land. The senior judicial official who reviewed dozens of capital case records every year would have immediately noticed several troubling signs in this case. Land disputes were typically protracted affairs and verbal confrontations usually preceded violence. In this event, moments after the Yi men arrived the confrontation escalated into violence.
Finally, the use of firearms, which were illegal under any circumstances, would immediately command the attention of higher-level judicial officials. Uncharacteristically, the broader issue of Han-Yi relations was also addressed in the case record. In addition to sentencing Deng Zhaohou to beheading with imprisonment awaiting final approval at the autumn assizes and sentencing Huang Junshang to strangulation and imprisonment awaiting final approval at the autumn assizes, the Board of Punishments ordered an investigation of Han encroachment on Yi land. If Han were found to be renting Yi land, the Board ordered that the land should be returned to the Yi owners. There is no way of knowing if this was carried out, or how much Yi land was cultivated by Han, but the order, albeit an impractical one, was an unmistakable sign that inter-ethnic violence aroused the attention of the central government. Yet even if the provincial officials had implemented it, it was unlikely to counteract the powerful demographic imperative that drove Han encroachment on Yi land.