History of Yunnan
Encyclopedia
Prehistory
Notable prehistoric finds include the Yuanmou ManYuanmou Man
Yuanmou Man , Homo erectus yuanmouensis, refers to a member of the homo genus whose remnants, two incisors, were discovered near Danawu Village in Yuanmou County in southwestern province of Yunnan, China. Later, stone artifacts, pieces of animal bone showing signs of human work and ash from...
, a Homo erectus
Homo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
fossil unearthed by railway engineers in the 1960s and determined to be the oldest known hominid fossil in China.
Neolithic
By the Neolithic period. human settlements existed in the area of Lake DianLake Dian
Dian Lake or Kunming Lake is a large inter-land lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to Kunming, Yunnan, China. Its nickname is "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland," and it was the model for the Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace in Beijing.It is a freshwater fault lake at above...
, close to modern day Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
, Yunnan's capital. The inhabitants used stone tools and constructed simple wooden structures.
The Kingdom of Dian
The Dian Culture was distributed around the Lake Dian
Lake Dian
Dian Lake or Kunming Lake is a large inter-land lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to Kunming, Yunnan, China. Its nickname is "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland," and it was the model for the Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace in Beijing.It is a freshwater fault lake at above...
area and dated, though controversial, between the 6th century BC and the 1st century AD. The culture is divided in to an early and a late phase. The late phase begins in 109 BC, the year when the kingdom officially became a vassal state of the Han empire
History of the Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty , founded by the peasant rebel leader Liu Bang ,From the Shang to the Sui dynasties, Chinese rulers were referred to in later records by their posthumous names, while emperors of the Tang to Yuan dynasties were referred to by their temple names, and emperors of the Ming and Qing...
.
Han Dynasty
In 109 BC, Emperor Wu sent General Guo Chang (郭昌) south to Yunnan, establishing YizhouYizhou
Yizhou , formerly Yishan County , is a county-level city located in Hechi Prefecture, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in the southern part of the People's Republic of China....
commandery and 24 subordinate counties. The commandery seat was at Dianchi county (present day Jinning 晋宁). To expand the burgeoning trade with Burma
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
and India
Greater India
Greater India is a term that refers to the historical spread of the culture of India beyond the Indian subcontinent...
, Emperor Wu also sent Tang Meng (唐蒙) to maintain and expand the Five Foot Way, renaming it "Southwest Barbarian Way" (西南夷道). By this time, agricultural technology in Yunnan had markedly improved. The local people used bronze tools, plows and kept a variety of livestock, including cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs and dogs. Anthropologists have determined that these people were related to the people now known as the Tai
Tai peoples
The Tai ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which speak languages in the Tai family and share similar traditions and festivals, including...
. They lived in tribal congregations, sometimes led by exile Chinese.
In the Records of the Grand Historian
Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name Shiji , written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the Magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time...
, Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian was an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Han Dynasty...
(d. 113 BC) and Sima Qian
Sima Qian
Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
(145-90 BC) make references to "Sendhuk", which may have been referring to the Indus Valley
Indus River
The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
(the Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
province in modern Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
), originally known as "Sindhu" in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
. When Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
was annexed by the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, Chinese authorities also reported a Sendhuk" (Indian) community living in the area.
In 109 AD, the Han court established Yunnan county, a part of Yizhou (益州) commandery. Because the county seat was south of Mount Yun (云山), the county was named "Yunnan" - literally "south of Yun".
Nanzhao Kingdom
In 649 AD the chieftain of the YiYi people
The Yi or Lolo people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 8 million, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
Mengshe tribe, Xinuluo (細奴邏), founded a kingdom (Damengguo 大蒙國) in the area of Lake Erhai. In the year AD 737,Piluoge（皮逻阁） united the six zhaos in succession, establishing a new kingdom called Nanzhao.
In 750, Nanzhao invaded the Tang Dynasty. In retaliation, the Tang sent an army against Nanzhao in 751, but this army was soundly defeated at Xiaguan. In 754, another army was sent, this time from the north, but it too was defeated. Bolstered by these successes, Nanzhao expanded rapidly, first into Burma, then into the rest of Yunnan, down into northern Laos and Thailand, and finally, north into Sichuan. In 829, Chengdu was taken; it was a great prize, as it enabled Nanzhao to lay claim to the whole of Sichuan province, with its rich paddy fields.
The Tang dynasty retaliated and by 873, Nanzhao had been expelled from Sichuan, and retreated back to Yunnan. Taking Chengdu marked the high point of the Nanzhao kingdom, and it was a watershed: from then on, the Nanzhao Kingdom slowly declined. n 902, the Nanzhao dynasty was overthrown, and it was followed by three other dynasties in quick succession, until Duan Siping seized power in 937 to establish the Kingdom of Dali.
Dali Kingdom
Dali (simplified Chinese: 大理国; traditional Chinese: 大理國; pinyin: Dàlǐguó) was a Buddhist Bai kingdom. Established by Duan Siping in 937, it was ruled by a succession of 22 kings until the year 1253, when it was destroyed by an invasion of the Mongol Empire. The capital city was at Dali. In 1274 the Province of Yunnan was created, and the region has since been incorporated within China.Yunnan under the Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty
The MongolsMongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
established regular and tight administrative control over Yunnan. In 1253 Mongke Khan
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan , born Möngke, , was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from July 1, 1251 – August 11, 1259. He was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign...
of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
dispatched the prince Kublai to take Yunnan. The Mongols swept away numerous native regimes, including the leading Dali kingdom. Later Yunnan became one of the ten provinces set up by Kubilai Khan. Kublai Khan appointed Turkmen
Turkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar
Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar
Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar al-Bukhari was Yunnan's first provincial governor in history, appointed by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty....
governor in Yunnan in 1273. Before that, the area had been ruled by a local king and a Mongol prince under the Great Khan. The Yuan provincial authorities conferred various titles on many native chieftains, who were obliged to pay taxes. When the Mongols were expulsed from China in 1368, Yunnan was thrown into chaos and anarchy for a number of years. The Ming Dynasty defeated the last of the Yuan
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
loyalists in 1381.
Ming Dynasty
The newly-proclaimed Ming DynastyMing Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
did not send armies into Yunnan until 1381. The central government allowed the general Mu Ying
Mu Ying
Mu Ying was a general during the Ming Dynasty, and an adopted son of its founder, the Hongwu Emperor . Mu Ying was a Chinese Muslim. Mu Ying was one of the few capable generals who survived the massacre of the Hongwu Emperor....
, foster son of dynastic founder Zhu Yuanzhang, to set up a hereditary feudatory system in the province. Throughout the Ming, the Mu family developed tremendous influence in Yunnan.
From the end of the 15th century, the Toungoo Dynasty
Toungoo Dynasty
The Toungoo Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Burma from the mid-16th century to 1752. Its early kings Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung succeeded in reunifying the Pagan Empire for the first time since 1287, and in incorporating the Shan States for the first time...
in Myanmar began encroaching on Yunnan. In the 16th century Chen Yongbin, the governor of Yunnan, held back a Myanmar invasion. After the war, he built eight passes along the border in Tengyue subprefecture to mark the demarcation between the two countries.
Qing Dynasty
After the fall of the Ming in northern China, Yunnan became the last Southern Ming regime headed by Zhu Youlang. Supported by rebels-cum loyalists, he persisted in resistance against the Qing conquest even after the Qing capture of Kunming in 1659. Zhu and his men then fled into Myanmar to seek refuge in Ava, but were treated as prisoners. Zhu's armed followers savaged Upper Myanmar in an attempt to rescue him. General Wu SanguiWu Sangui
Wu Sangui was a Ming Chinese general who was instrumental in the succession of rule to the Qing Dynasty in 1644...
, then still loyal to the Qing, invaded Myanmar in 1662 with a sizable army, and demanded Zhu's surrender. Although he hesitated, King Pye finally decided to hand Zhu over to avoid hostility.
Pingnan Sultanate
Waves of conflict between the Muslim Hui peopleHui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
in Yunnan and the Qing government escalated into an all out rebellion in 1856. The rebels in western Yunnan under the leadership of Du Wenxiu became the major military and political center of opposition to the Qing government. They turned their fury on the local mandarins and ended up challenging the central government in Beijing. The rebellion successfully captured the city of Dali, which became the base for the rebels' operations, and they declared themselves a separate political entity from China. The rebels identified their nation as Pingnan Guo (平南国 The Pacified Southern Kingdom) and Du Wenxiu was styled Qa´id Jami al-Muslimin ('Leader of the Community of Muslims'), but is usually referred to in foreign sources as Sultan) and ruled 1856 - 26 December 1872. The sultanate reached the high watermark of their power and glory in 1860.
The Sultanate's power declined after 1868. The Chinese Imperial Government had succeeded in reinvigorating itself. By 1871, it was directing a campaign for the annihilation of the obdurate Hui Muslims of Yunnan. Though largely forgotten, the bloody rebellion caused the deaths of up to a million people in Yunnan. Many adherents to the Yunnanese Muslim cause were persecuted by the imperial Manchus. Wholesale massacres of Yunnanese Muslims followed.
For a period of perhaps ten to fifteen years following the collapse of the Panthay Rebellion, the province's Hui minority was widely discriminated against by the victorious Qing, especially in the western frontier districts contiguous with Burma. During these years the refugee Hui settled across the frontier within Burma gradually established themselves in their traditional callings – as merchants, caravaneers, miners, restaurateurs and (for those who chose or were forced to live beyond the law) as smugglers and mercenaries and became known in Burma as the Panthay
Panthay
Panthays form a group of Chinese Muslims in Burma. Some people refer to Panthays as the oldest group of Chinese Muslims in Burma. However, because of intermixing and cultural diffusion the Panthays are not as distinct a group as they once were.-Etymology:...
.
Republican China
Following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Yunnan came under the control of local warlords, who had more than the usual degree of autonomy due to Yunnan's remoteness. They financed their regime through opium harvesting and traffic.People's Republic of China
For example, Colonial French
Colonial French
Colonial French or Colonial Louisiana French is one of the three dialects into which Louisiana French is typically divided . Formerly spoken widely in what is now the U.S...
and English had been active at sites in neighbouring northern Laos, Vietnam and Burma, and even inside of modern Yunnan at sites like Tengchong and Gejiu. In fact, between 1904-1909 the French had built the 885 km long Sino-Vietnamese Railway which ran from Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
to Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
via Hekou
Hekou
Hekou may refer to the following in China:*Hekou District , Dongying, Shandong*Hekou Group, geological formation in Gansu*Hekou Yao Autonomous County , of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan...
, with an offshoot to Gejiu. The English tried to match the French effort with a railway from Burma, but failed to complete it prior to the outbreak of war, with the project ultimately abandoned.
The PRC also saw a bitter Sino-Vietnamese War
Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino–Vietnamese War , also known as the Third Indochina War, known in the PRC as and in Vietnam as Chiến tranh chống bành trướng Trung Hoa , was a brief but bloody border war fought in 1979 between the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...
fought along Yunnan's south eastern border, which was properly demarcated only on 23 February 2009, with renewed agreements taking effect as late as 14 July 2010.
In the southern region of Xishuangbanna, little or no Han dominance was felt as late as the end of the 19th century. This is illustrated by Otto E. Ehlers' (1855–1895) account of his walk from Rangoon to Jinghong
Jinghong
Jinghong romanised as chiang rung, chiang hung, chengrung, cheng hung, jinghung, keng hung and muangjinghung) is the capital of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China, and the historic capital of the former Tai kingdom of Sipsongpanna.-Location:Located between 100°25' -...
, recording upon his arrival that the annual Chinese tribute mission from northerly Simao
Simao
Pu'er City is a prefecture-level city in Yunnan Province, China. In 2007, the city of Simao changed its name to Puer city . By doing so, it has had an effect the size of the official Puer tea production area. The urban administrative center of Pu'er is Simao District, which is also the former...
was in town and, whilst they were happy to allow him to stay on the south of the Mekong river, he was not to be lent assistance in crossing over. He had no trouble crossing with the aid of a local, regardless.
Further reading
Giersch, Charles Patterson (2006): Asian borderlands. The transformation of Qing China's Yunnan frontier. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.Yang, Bin (2009): Between winds and clouds. The making of Yunnan (second century BCE to twentieth century CE). New York, Chichester: Columbia University Press.