Empire and Identity in Guizhou

Download or read book Empire and Identity in Guizhou written by Jodi L. Weinstein and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2013-10-13 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historical investigation describes the Qing imperial authorities� attempts to consolidate control over the Zhongjia, a non-Han population, in eighteenth-century Guizhou, a poor, remote, and environmentally harsh province in Southwest China. Far from submitting peaceably to the state�s quest for hegemony, the locals clung steadfastly to livelihood choices�chiefly illegal activities such as robbery, raiding, and banditry�that had played an integral role in their cultural and economic survival. Using archival materials, indigenous folk narratives, and ethnographic research, Jodi Weinstein shows how these seemingly subordinate populations challenged state power.