國立故宮博物院 National Palace Museum

Historical Setting and Cultural Scenery of Guizhou

In 1413, the Ming 明 central government established a Provincial Administration Commission in the Prefecture of Guiyang 貴陽, making Guizhou 貴州 one of the thirteen provinces of the Ming Empire. It soon went on to phase out the hereditary native chieftain system that had been in practice since the Yuan dynasty, replacing tribal headmen with administrative officials appointed by the central government. During the reigns of the Yongzheng 雍正 and Qianlong 乾隆 emperors, the Qing 清 court too was keen on implementing the policy of bureaucratizing native officials. With enlisted soldiers and recruited officers, it adopted a dual strategy of suppressing and pacifying. Many official documents, gazetteers, biographies, and maps were thus produced, which were to be used as administrative aids and consulted for information on local customs. The Zhigongtu 職貢圖 (Illustrations of Tribute Missions) and the Miaomantu 苗蠻圖(Illustrated Album of the Miao Minority) in the collection of the National Palace Museum are two such works that provide vivid graphic depictions of the general conditions and daily lives of the peoples in the region. Others, such as palace memorials and official histories, give accounts of the impressions Qing officials had of the local ethnic minorities, their experiences in interacting with different nationalities, and their administrative ideals; they also offer detailed records on the distribution of the minority groups, local customs and produce, various cultures and religions, and ethnic conflicts. Documented from different perspectives, the exhibits on view in this section are valuable source materials for historical studies.

Guizhou Quansheng Daoli Zongtu
Complete Map of the Province of Guizhou

Colours on silk
Qing dynasty

Complete Map of the Province of Guizhou

The map is drawn in the traditional Chinese qinglü shanshui 青綠山水, or blue-and-green landscape, style. It is cut in the middle into two halves, and the four directions are identified on the margins. This north-up map is rich in content, covering all natural and human landscapes, as well geographical features. Chalk lines and colours are applied to denote mountain contours and hydrological characters; textural annotations are vertically given in pink-based red-lined boxes. Red lines are set to represent the boundaries of such administrative areas as sheng 省 (provinces), fu 府 (prefectures), zhou 州 (counties), and wei 衛 (forts), and dotted lines the roads, the temples, and the walls of various administrative areas. Together they offer a general outlook on Guizhou during the Qing dynasty. The various markings of travel distance around the indicators of prefectural capitals as well as the delicate and neat paintwork suggest that the map might have been drawn in connection to the compilation of the Daqing Yitongzhi 大清一統志 (Unified Gazetteer of the Great Qing) during the Kangxi 康熙 reign, which required that cartographic drawings of all geographic locales be submitted and assembled. (Lu Shueh-yen)

Zhigongtu
Illustrations of Tribute Missions

Xie Sui
Colours on paper
Qianlong reign (1736-1795),
Qing dynasty

Illustrations of Tribute Missions

There are seventy-eight sets of illustrations of ethnic men and women from the frontier provinces of Yunnan 雲南 and Guizhou 貴州 in the fourth juan 卷 of the Zhigongtu by Xie Sui, a court painter of the Qianlong reign. Each illustration is accompanied by an introduction in Manchu and Chinese texts to the history, costumes, and customs of the corresponding tribe. In the entry for the people of Hua Miao 花苗 (Flower Miao), for example, a woman is shown wearing a blue, wide-sleeve coat decorated with twelve small square patterns, and the sleeves come with similar decoration. While the small square patterns are somewhat unclear, the textual introduction indicates that they were bright and made with batik fabric. Such decorative patterns can still be seen today in the apparel of the Huamiao people. Although the text does not offer a description of the square pattern, it is nevertheless featured in the illustration, leading us to surmise that the illustrator might have referred to other images of decorative patterns at the time of drawing. Another example is the Hei Miao 黑苗 (Black Miao) people of Guizhou. A Hei Miao woman is depicted as wearing a black outfit with hair held in place by three long hairpins, and the neckline and sleeve seams are decorated in red, dark blue, blue, dark green, and green. The image coincides with the description in the introductory text, but differs significantly from the decorative style of Hei Miao costumes seen today. The sources that the drawings and texts in the Zhigongtu were built upon may therefore be varied; some are imaginative conjectures, and others are authentic representation of different ethnic costume patterns, forming a repository of valuable records of the apparels of China's ethnic minorities. (Chiu Shih-hwa)

Illustration of garrison campsites in the Niupijing area of Guizhou

 

Illustration of garrison campsites in the Niupijing area of Guizhou

After Governor Šucang's inspection tour to Niupijing had finished, he submitted a palace memorial proposing the removal of troops stationed there for tuntian purpose, along with the illustration of garrison campsites shown here. In this south-up illustration, such places as Leigongdi, Huanggaoqing, and Oushouyung are all situated within the Niupijing area, stretching for several hundred li 里 into Bazhai in the south, Danjiang in the west, Guzhou and Dujiang in the east, and Qinjiang and Taigong in the north. Drawn in the traditional landscape style, the work depicts the topography of the Niupijing area rather succinctly. The roads connecting the garrison campsites are represented by red dotted lines, and the yellow sticky notes give basic information of the campsites, such as the number of stationed soldiers, the distance to Leigongdi, and why they are deemed unfit for land cultivation. (Tsai Cheng-hao)

Palace memorial offering a status report of the Niupijing area

Presented by Šucang, Governor of Guizhou
27 January 1780

Palace memorial offering a status report of the Niupijing area

Governor Šucang of Guizhou left for Niupingjing on the inspection tour on 11 December 1779. Much to his chagrin, he found that the somewhat flatter land was rocky and overgrown with wood, and that it did not have much soil. Compounding the matter was the cloudy and cold weather, which allowed little time for ploughing and sowing. Realizing that the cultivation had been fruitless, and that the farming efforts on the part of the fifty some garrison soldiers assigned there had been wasted, he proposed that the public opinion of terminating the practice of army farming be observed, and that the military men be relocated to Jijiangxun 雞講汛 for patrol and defensive assignments. Having carefully read over the memorial, the Qianlong emperor marked "Proposal granted" in vermilion ink, thus abandoning the tuntian scheme. (Tu Hsiao-mei)

Miaomantu
An Illustrated Album of the Miao Minority

Anonymous
Colours on paper
Qing dynasty

An Illustrated Album of the Miao

The Miaomantu is but one of the many existing versions of the Baimiaotu 百苗圖 (Illustrations of the Miao Minority Groups, or Miao Album), and the original on which it is based is thought to be the Bashierzhong Miaotu Bingshuo 八十二種苗圖並說 (Eighty-two Miao Illustrations with Explanatory Notes) by Chen Hao 陳浩 of the Jiaqing 嘉慶 reign of the Qing Empire. It depicts the customs and way of life of various ethnic nationalities of Guizhou during the Qing dynasty, and the minority groups include what is known today as Yi 彝, Miao 苗, Dong 侗, Bai 白, Gelao 仡佬, Bouyei 布依, and their ethnic divisions. The color illustrations are all rendered in the traditional elaborate and realistic gongbi 工筆 style, and the activities portrayed are expressive and lively. Thirty-six of the illustrations are accompanied by explanatory notes of various length in the kai 楷, or cursive, script. The references in the texts to such prefectures as Xingyi 興義, Zhenfeng 貞豐, and Pingyue 平越 suggest that the Miaomantu was produced no earlier than 1797, and it might have, when juxtaposed with the Bashierzhong Miaotu Bingshuo by Chen Hao, been bound in two volumes. (Lu Shueh-yen)

Palace memorial on discreet preparation for dispatching troops from Guizhou to Fujian, in compliance with an imperial decree

Presented by Fugang, Governor-general of Yunnan-Guizhou
26 September 1787

Palace memorial on discreet preparation for dispatching troops from Guizhou to Fujian, in compliance with an imperial decree

A large-scale anti-Qing uprising led by Lin Shuangwen 林爽文 broke out in Taiwan in 1786. The rebellion shook the island, and for nearly a year the Qing government's actions to suppress the rebels had not been successful. At the suggestion of his court officials, Emperor Qianlong decided to deploy troops experienced in mountain combat from Guizhou and other provinces to assist in the campaigns in Taiwan. On 26th of September, 1787, Governor-general Fugang of Yunnan-Guizhou submitted a memorial to the throne reporting that he had selected two thousand men and several courageous and capable officers, with supplies and munitions all in place, and that the troops in four batches would sail down the river to arrive in Fujian via Guangxi and Guangdong 廣東, and then cross the waters for combat. (Tsai Cheng-hao)

Anshun Dushushan Huayandong Tu
The Huayan Cave of Dushu Mountain in Anshun

Liu Ershi
20th century

The Huayan Cave of Dushu Mountain in Anshun

Liu Fengzhang 劉奉璋 (1914-1952), also known as Liu Ershi 劉峨士, was a native of Tianjin 天津. When the Palace Museum moved its collections westward, to avoid the flames of war brought about by the Japanese militarists, and arrived in Anshun, Guizhou, an office was set up by Zhuang Yen, and Liu Fengzhang was recruited at Zhuang's invitation. Years later, Liu was to accompany the Museum's collections to Taichung of Taiwan. In 1944, the collections that were stored in Anshun were transported through active war zones to Feixianyan 飛仙岩 in Ba County 巴縣, Sichuan 四川. Once settled, Zhuang asked Liu to paint the Anshun Dushushan Huayandong Tu, reminiscing their years of caring for the national treasures in Huayan Cave. More than ten literati were invited to contribute inscriptions to the work, of whom many were associated with the Palace Museum, including the then Director Ma Heng 馬衡. The painting is characterized by free and fluent brushwork, straight vertical lines, and well-defined shades of color. The natural scenery and humanistic atmosphere of the Huayan Cave are vividly and beautifully portrayed. The work's layout is ever-changing, and the mountain rocks and tree branches are rendered in a way that reminds us of the styles of Ma Yuan 馬遠 (1160-1225) and Xia Gui 夏珪 (fl. 1195-1224). The Anshun Dushushan Huayandong Tu was recently donated to the National Palace Museum by the three brothers of Chuang Yin 莊因, Chuang Che 莊喆, and Chuang Ling 莊靈. (Ho Yen-chuan)