著者

並木 頼寿

出版者

東洋文庫

雑誌

東洋学報 (ISSN:03869067)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.62, no.3, pp.p320-358, 1981-03

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Throughout Chinese history, to defend villages from outside enemies, villagers often constructed forts around their communities. Those forts were called yü 圩, chai 寨, and so on. During the White Lotus Rebellion, the Ch'ing government encouraged fortification as a policy that was known as Chien-pi ch'ing-yeh 堅壁清野, or strengthening the walls and clearing the countryside. In the late Ch'ing and the early Republican period, there were many fortified villages in North China. The building of the forts was an influence of the Nien Rebellion in the Taiping period.The Nien Rebellion was strongly characterized by its close relationship with native villages. Nien members lived in villages fortified by yü-chai, organized their corps based on each yü-chai, and went out from yü-chai to battle against enemy forces or to plunder rich gentry property. For the Ch'ing forces, it was very difficult and dangerous to advance against areas that bristled with the yü-chai of the Nien.The Nien Rebellion has been characterized by Fu I-ling as an anti-centralization rebellion of feudal power induced by the medieval t'u-hao 土豪, or local strongmen, and he said, in contrast, with the Taiping movement, the Nien Rebellion cannot be included among peasant rebellions. One of his main arguments is that yü-chai, as the base of the Nien, were ruled by t'u-hao.But, I think, it is incorrect to think there were already many yü-chai ruled by t'u-hao in the area of the Nien before the outbreak of the rebellion. Construction of yü-chai mushroomed in response to expansion of the rebellion. This fact shows us that the organization of the Nien and the rule of t'u-hao should be distinguished. Nien members constructed forts around their communities, nevertheless they made up their own organization against the rule of t'u-hao, and their fortified villages were not equal to the fortifications constructed under gentry supervision.Thus, I think, the Nien Rebellion should be classified as a peasant rebellion, though Nien members were often deeply related by clan connections.After the suppression of the rebellion, however, the rule of t'u-hao based on yü-chai was likely to be rather strengthened in North China villages.