Lasting Impact of Tuntian System in Frontier Social Changes in Modern Time

Abstract: This paper uses hydraulic affairs of Jinta county, Gansu province between 1719-1949 as the main axis to analyze evolution features of frontier society that came into being in a span of over two hundred years because of the military-agricultural colonies (tuntian) system. During the Qing Dynasty tuntian period, hydraulic affairs of Jinta county were completely controlled by the government and were returned into the hands of the people after the tuntian period. However, due to the government’s preconceived notion that local public figures in a frontier society were prone to instigate social instability, local gentry were deliberately rejected from the management of hydraulic affairs. During the Republican period, with the outbreak of externally induced hydraulic crisis, external “fight for water” became a matter of life and death for regional societies. The government turned to support local gentry to actively “fight for water”, allowing them to take control of county hydraulic affairs. The gentry that succeeded in the “fight for water” rapidly slacked off and deteriorated, resulting in the abandonment of hydraulic affairs within Jinta county as well as social conflict. The non-pressing “external fight for water” became the only social consensus. From tuntian to the “fight for water”, in most of modern time, Jinta society has always been drawn by a one-dimensional social control target, and had yet to embark on a prosperous, orderly and vibrant path of development. Complex political and environmental elements bear intersecting impact amid this, yet the remnant institutions of the tuntian period continue to play a crucial role. Though only for a short period, tuntian activities brought forth the type of long term “tuntian society” on the frontier, with lasting impact to this day.