Abstract
This dissertation offers a revision on the nature of the native officials (tuguan/tho quan) in the China-Vietnam borderlands from the fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries. Scholars have generally considered the native officials as the elite hereditary leaders in southwestern China under government control, sometimes serving as useful pawns for facilitating state expansion or Han Chinese migration into the frontier. However, how can we explain the native officials’ unusual expressions of power in the Left River Region of Guangxi during the early modern era? To rethink the concept of native officials and complicate narratives of state expansion into the southwestern borderlands, this dissertation makes three major arguments. First, while the native officials represented themselves as loyal, Confucian-oriented officials towards the Ming (1368-1644) state, they behaved like mandala or “galactic polity” overlords towards Dai Viet and their own domanial subjects. Second, the native officials posed a challenge for the developing Le (1427-1789) state. Despite the formation of a powerful polity under Le Thanh Tong (r. 1460-97), conventionally known as one of the greatest rulers in Vietnamese history, Dai Viet never had consistent success in expanding its sphere of influence over the Left River Region. This misfire was an example of problems that the Le dynasty was already facing before the rise of factional strife and the Mac dynasty (1527-92). Finally, this dissertation finds that the relationship between the Ming state and the native officials was based on a patron-client relationship reminiscent of traditional Southeast Asian kingdoms and even early modern European states.
First, while the native officials represented themselves as loyal, Confucian-oriented officials towards the Ming (1368-1644) state, they behaved like mandala or “galactic polity” overlords towards Dai Viet and their own domanial subjects. Second, the native officials posed a challenge for the developing Le (1427-1789) state. Despite the formation of a powerful polity under Le Thanh Tong (r. 1460-97), conventionally known as one of the greatest rulers in Vietnamese history, Dai Viet never had consistent success in expanding its sphere of influence over the Left River Region. This misfire was an example of problems that the Le dynasty was already facing before the rise of factional strife and the Mac dynasty (1527-92). Finally, this dissertation finds that the relationship between the Ming state and the native officials was based on a patron-client relationship reminiscent of traditional Southeast Asian kingdoms and even early modern European states.