Ep. 330 | The History of Yunnan Province (Part 3)

In this latest installment of the Yunnan History series, we take the narrative up to the Qing Dynasty in the 1800s. The province had been relatively peaceful since the late 13th-century Mongol conquest. Then, not so much come the accession of the Yongzheng Emperor. This episode takes a very quick look at Yunnan literary figure Yang Shen followed by a retelling of the story of Wu Sangui and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories. Then, the scourge of the local tribal chieftains of Yunnan, Ortai (È’ěrtài 鄂尔泰) is introduced. And in preparation for Part 4 which will focus on the Panthay Rebellion, I'll also explain some background info on the Hui People of Yunnan, beginning with Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar al-Bukhari. My thanks to you all for taking the time to listen.

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/Term	Chinese	English/Meaning
Wú Sānguì	吴三桂	1612-1678, he was a notorious Ming dynasty military officer who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing. In Chinese folklore, Wu Sangui is regarded as a disreputable Han Chinese traitor who played a pivotal role in several historical events, including the Battle of Shanhai Pass, Manchu invasion of China, the suppression of Southern Ming resistances and the execution of the Yongli Emperor, and eventually double-crossed both of his masters, the Ming and the Qing dynasties.
Yáng Shèn	杨慎	1488-1559, great Ming poet and literary figure who got himself banished to Yunnan following Thre Great Rites Controversy
Yúnnán	云南	A landlocked province in the southwest of the PRC. Population is around 50 million. The capital of the province is Kunming. Yunnan borders the provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Tibet as well as Southeast Asian countries: Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar.
Míngdài Sān Cáizǐ	明代三才子	the three literary greats of the Ming. Yáng Shèn 杨慎, Xiè Jìn 解缙 and Xú Wèi 徐渭
Wáng Yángmíng	王阳明	1472-1529, also known as Wang Shouren 王守仁, a celebrated Chinese calligrapher, general, philosopher, politician, and literary figure during the Ming dynasty. He made major contributions to the field of Neo-Confucianism
Jiājìng emperor	嘉靖帝	Ming emperor who reigned 1521-1567
Yǒngchāng	永昌	Today known as the cirty of Baoshan, a prefecture-level city in Western Yunnan. Baoshan is the second-biggest metropolitan area in western Yunnan after Dali.
Bǎoshān	保山	See above Yongchang
Dàlǐ	大理国	Once a state situated in modern Yunnan, from 937 until 1253. Dali today is the county-seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan. Dali City is administered through 12 township-level districts, two of which are also commonly referred to as Dali. Dali City is located in western Yunnan, approximately 25 km (160 mi) northwest of the provincial capital of Kunming
Sìchuān	四川	Province in southwest China with its capital at Chengdu
Shānhǎiguān	山海关	Also known as the Shanhai Pass. It's one of the major passes in the Great Wall, being the easternmost stronghold along the Ming Great Wall, and commands the narrowest choke point in the Liaoxi Corridor. It is located in Shanhaiguan District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei province
Dorgon	多尔衮	1612-1650, a Manchu prince and regent of the early Qing dynasty
Míng Dynasty	明朝	Dynasty that ran from 1368 to 1644
Chóngzhēn Emperor	崇祯帝	The final emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He reigned 1628-1644
Lǐ Zìchéng	李自成	A Chinese peasant rebel leader who overthrew the Ming dynasty in 1644 and ruled over northern China briefly as the Yongchang Emperor of the short-lived Shun dynasty before his death a year later in 1645
Shùn Dynasty	大顺朝	Officially called the Great Shun. Also known as Li Shun 李顺. This was a short-lived Chinese dynasty that existed during the Ming–Qing transition, 1644-45
Shǎnxī	陕西	Northwest province of China. Capital is in Xian
Southern Míng (Nán Míng)	南明朝	Also known as the Later Ming. It was a dynasty of China and a series of rump states of the Ming dynasty that came into existence following the fall of the dynasty in 1644. The Southern Ming was overthrown in 1662.
Emperor Yǒnglì	永历帝	The fourth and final emperor of the Southern Ming. He led the remnants of the Ming loyalists with the assistance of peasant armies to resist the Qing forces in southwestern China, but he was then forced to exile to Toungoo Burma and eventually captured and executed by Wu Sangui in 1662. His era title "Yongli" means "perpetual calendar".
Kūnmíng	昆明	Capital of Yunnan Province and location of Lake Dian and the ancient Dian Kingdom
Yúnnán Fǔ	云南府	Former name of the city of Kunming. It means "Yunnan Capital" (or government seat)
Píngxī wáng	平西王	The king or prince who pacifies the west, the title given to Wu Sangui
Miáo	苗族	The Miao are a group of linguistically-related peoples living in Southern China and Southeast Asia. The Miao live primarily in southern China's mountains, in the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Hainan. Some sub-groups of the Miao, most notably the Hmong people, have migrated out of China into Southeast Asia. Following the communist takeover of Laos in 1975, a large group of Hmong refugees resettled in several Western nations, mainly in the United States, France, and Australia.
Yí people	彝族	The Yi ethnic minority people of Yunnan. Also called the Nuosu people. Historically known as the Lolo, the Yi are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Numbering nine million people, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the PRC. They live primarily in rural areas of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, usually in mountainous regions
Gěng Zhòngmíng	耿仲明	1604–1649, a Chinese military general who lived through the transition from the Ming to the Qing, during which he served both sides. His grandson Geng Jingzhong (see below) was one of the Three Feudatories who rebelled against Qing rule in the 1670s
Fújiàn	福建	Coastal province in southeast China
Jìngnán Wáng	靖南王	The prince who pacifies the South, the title given to Geng Zhongming that he passed down to his son, Geng Jimao
Gěng Jìmào	耿继茂	Died 1671, a Chinese prince and military leader. He inherited the title of Jingnan wang, "Prince who pacifies the South", from his father Geng Zhongming, along with his lands. He then passed it on to his son Geng Jingzhong.
Gěng Jīngzhōng	耿精忠	Died 1682, a powerful military commander of the early Qing dynasty. He inherited the title of "King/Prince of Jingnan" from his father Geng Jimao, who had inherited it from Jingzhong's grandfather Geng Zhongming. Geng Jingzhong was the one who rose up and fought the Qing in the Revolt of the Three Feudatories
Shàng Kěxǐ	尚可喜	1604-1676, was a Chinese general of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Shang died in 1676 and was succeeded by his son Shang Zhixin who joined the Revolt of the Three Feudatories shortly after but was defeated by the Han Chinese Green Standard forces of the Qing in 1677
Guǎngdōng	广东	Coastal province in southern China with its capital at Guangzhou
Píngnán wáng	平南王	Tge King or Prince who Pacifies the West, the title given to Wu Sangui
Fān	藩	a feudatory
Qīng Dynasty	清朝	China's last imperial dynasty lasting from 1644-1912
Kāngxī emperor	康熙帝	Long-reigning Qing emperor who reigned 1661-1722
Fānwáng	藩王	A king or prince of a feudatory
Shàng Zhīxìn	尚之信	Son of Shang Kexin, see above
Zhōu Dynasty	周朝	Ancient Bronze-Age dynasty in China that lasted from 1046 to 256 BC
Northern Zhōu	北周	A Xianbei-led dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern dynasties of China's Northern and Southern dynasties period, it succeeded the Western Wei dynasty and was eventually overthrown by the Sui dynasty
Wǔ Zétiān	武则天	624-705),personal name Wu Zhao, was the de facto ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empress consort of the Tang dynasty (as wife of the Emperor Gaozong) and then, after his death, empress dowager (ruling through her sons Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong)
Wǔ Zhōu	武周	Wu Zetian's dynasty where she ruled as empress of China from 690-705
Hòu Zhōu	后周	a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty (951-960) and the last of the Five Dynasties that controlled most of northern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Founded by Guo Wei (Emperor Taizu),it was preceded by the Later Han dynasty and succeeded by the Northern Song dynasty
Húnán	湖南	Province in south central China with its capital at Changsha
Héngyáng	衡阳	Major city in southern Hunan
Zhāng Shìchéng	张士诚	1321－1367, born Zhang Jiusi (張九四),he was one of the leaders of the Red Turban Rebellion in the late Yuan dynasty. The Red Turban Rebellion ran from 1354-1367
Panthay Rebellion	杜文秀起义	Also known as The Du Wenxiu Uprising. This was a rebellion of the Muslim Hui people and other (Muslim as well as non-Muslim) ethnic groups against the Qing dynasty in southwestern Yunnan, as part of a wave of Hui-led multi-ethnic unrest. The name "Panthay" is a Burmese word, which is said to be identical with the Shan word Pang hse. It was the name by which the Burmese called the Chinese Muslims who came with caravans to Burma from Yunnan. The name was not used or known in Yunnan itself
Tai People	台语民族	Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan),Lao, Tai Ahom, and Northern Thai peoples. The Tai are scattered through much of South China and Mainland Southeast Asia, with some inhabiting parts of Northeast India. Tai peoples are both culturally and genetically very similar and therefore primarily identified through their language
Dǎi People	傣族	One of several Tai-speaking ethnic groups living in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture of China's Yunnan Province. The Dai term can apply to groups in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar when Dai is used to mean specifically Tai Yai, Lue, Chinese Shan, Tai Dam, Tai Khao or even Tai in general
Lake Diān	滇池	also known as Kunming Lake, it's a large lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to Kunming. Its nickname is the "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland" 高原明珠) and it was the model for the Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace in Beijing. Its name is the source of Yunnan's Chinese abbreviation 滇.
Diān Kingdom	滇国	The Dian Kingdom, established by the Dian people, a non-Han metalworking civilization from the late Spring and Autumn period until the Eastern Han dynasty. The Dian language was likely one of the Tibeto-Burman languages. The Han Empire's annexation of the Dian Kingdom in 109 BC eventually led to the establishment of the Yizhou commandery. Dian culture started from at least the 8th century BC, until it fell under the control of the Han dynasty in 109 BC
Xīshuāngbǎnnà	西双版纳	Xishuangbanna, Sibsongpanna or Sipsong Panna, shortened to Banna, is an autonomous prefecture for Dai people in the extreme south of Yunnan Province, China, bordering both Myanmar and Laos. The prefectural seat is Jinghong, the largest settlement in the area and one that straddles the Mekong, called the "Lancang River" in Chinese
Tǔsī	土司	Tusi, often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. They ruled certain ethnic minorities in central China, western China, southwestern China, and the Indochinese peninsula nominally on behalf of the central government.
Yōngzhèng emperor	雍正帝	The fourth Qing emperor who reigned from 1722 to 1735. A hard-working ruler, the Yongzheng Emperor's main goal was to create an effective government at minimal expense. Like his father, the Kangxi Emperor, the Yongzheng Emperor used military force to preserve the dynasty's position
È’ěrtài	鄂尔泰	An eminent Manchu official from the Sirin Gioro clan, belonging to the Bordered Blue Banner, during the Qing. He served both the Yongzheng and the Qianlong Emperors. Ortai governed the southwestern region of the Qing empire, Yun-Gui (modern day Yunnan and Guizhou),from around 1726–1731, and was responsible for putting down several Miao uprisings. He fell ill and died in 1745
Yún Guì Zǒng Dū	云贵总督	the Viceroy of Yunnan and Guìzhōu
Gǎi Tǔ Guī Liú	改土归流	changing out the local chieftains for a more traditional bureaucratic system with the ultimate objective of frontier security and turning on the tax revenue spigots
Guìzhōu	贵州	Interior province in west China bordering Yunnan
Guǎngxī	广西	Province in southwest China with its capital at Nanning
Zhènyuán	镇沅	Today, an autonomous county under the jurisdiction of Pu'er City, in the west central part of Yunnan
Wēiyuǎn	威远	Today, a town in and the county seat of Jinggu Dai and Yi Autonomous County
Pǔ’ěr	普洱	Made famous for the tea that carries this Pu'er name, today it is a prefecture-level city in southern Yunnan. The urban administrative center of Pu'er is Simao District (see below),which is also the former name of the prefecture-level city itself
Six Dynasties Period	六朝	A collective term for the six Han Chinese-ruled dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD, between the end of the Han and beginning of the Sui.
Liù Dà Chá Shān	六大茶山	The Six Great Tea Mountains of the Dǎi Autonomous Region in Xīshuāngbǎnnà: Gédēng 革登山, Mánzhuān 蛮砖山, Mángzhì 芒智山, Mànsā 曼撒山 and Yōulè 攸乐山, and Yībāng shān 倚邦山
Láncāng River	澜沧江	Better known in some places as The Mekong River, the Lancang runs right through Xīshuāngbǎnnà before it continues on, marking the border between Laos and Myanmar and winding south along the Thai, Cambodian borders before emptying out in Vietnam
Máochá	毛茶	Literally, "rough tea" is a process to dry the leaves and keep them from spoiling. It involves minimal processing and there is no "fermentation" involved
Hāní	哈尼族	Also known as the Ho people are a Lolo-speaking ethnic group in Southern China, Northern Laos, and Vietnam
Sīmáo	思茅	See above Pu'er
Dà Yè	大叶	Big Leaf, one of the characteristics of the tea leaves grown in southern Yunnan. The tea bushes prodice a tea leaf that ios slightly larger than the average tea leaf
Wú Lǐzhēn	吴理真	The man credited with the first cultivation of tea in 53 BC. Upon returning from India on a Buddhist mission, he brought tea plants back to China and planted them on Mount Mending in Sichuan
Méngdīngshān	蒙顶山	Mount Meng, famous for its Ganlu Tea
Jīnuò	基诺族	The Jino people are a Tibeto-Burmanethnic group who live in an area called the Jino Mountains (Jinuoshan 基诺山) in eastern Jinghong, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province
Zǒngchádiàn	总茶店	General Tea Market, established by the government to manage the tea trade in southern Yunnan
Qiánlóng Emperor	乾隆帝	The fifth emperor of the Qing dynasty. Qianlong was the fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796. He lingered on longer than he should have
Punti (Běndì)	本地	The native people to a land, in this case the native Cantonese people who lived in Guangdong prior to the arrival of waves of Hakka immigration
Nàjiāyíng Mosque	纳家营清真寺	A mosque in Tonghai County, Yuxi City. The mosque was originally built in 1370. Over the past 600 years, the mosque had been expanded several times. In 2001, a new mosque building was constructed
Yùxī	玉溪	A prefecture-level city in the central part of Yunnan. The administrative center of Yuxi is Hongta District. Yuxi is approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) south of Kunming
Tōnghǎi County	通海县	is located in Yuxi Prefecture-level City. The county includes a large Muslim (Hui) population. Centers of Hui culture include Dahui and Xiaohui villages in Hexi Township, as well as Nagu Town, with its Najiaying Mosque (see above)
Huí	回族	An East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. The Hui are distributed throughout China, mainly in the northwestern provinces and in the Zhongyuan region. According to the 2011 census, China is home to approximately 10.5 million Hui people. Ouside China, the 110,000 Dungan people of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are also considered part of the Hui ethnicity
Sàidiǎnchì Shànsīdīng	赛典赤山思丁	1211-1279, Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din Omar al-Bukhari was Yunnan's first provincial governor, appointed by Kublai Khan after the pacification of Yunnan. He sptread Islam throughout the province and Confucian learning
Níngxià	宁夏	Province in northwest China, also known as the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
Gānsù	甘肃	Province in northwest China. The capital is Lanzhou
Xīnjiāng	新疆	Province in China's northwest. Also China's largest province based on area
Admiral Zhèng Hé	郑和	1371–1433?, was a celebrated Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty, and often regarded as the greatest admiral in Chinese History. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Commissioned by the Yongle Emperor and later the Xuande Emperor, Zheng commanded seven expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433
Nàsùládīng	纳速剌丁	Nasr al-Din, died 1292, was the second provincial governor of Yunnan during the Yuan dynasty, and was the son of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar (see above)
Yí	夷	A generic name given to ancient tribes to the east of China. It came to be used to describe any non-Han people
Yí	彝	The character for the Yi ethnic group of people but used also during the Yuan and Ming to describe any of the non-Han ethnic groups of Yunnan
Qīngzhēn jiào	清真教	Islam, literally, the “Pure and True Religion"
xǐchéng	洗城	The "cleanse" the city

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