著者

鈴木 中正

出版者

東南アジア学会

雑誌

東南アジア -歴史と文化- (ISSN:03869040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1981, no.10, pp.3-16, 1981

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Because the Chinese Ch'ing Dynasty deemed Burma a troublemaker in the Southeastern border area of the province of Yunnan, it sent four successive expeditions to Burma during the years from 1766 to 1790. The Shan states on the borders had long been sending tribute to the Burmese court of Ava but the practice was disrupted due to the disorder in Burma caused by the dynastic alternation of the mid-eighteenth century. The newly established Konbaung dynasty claimed their right to collect tribute from the Shan states and while carring on a campaign in Ayuthaya, Siam (1764-67). The Ch'ing emperor thought it necessary to punish and expel the marauders at their borders. The Ch'ing at the zenith of its power mobilized all its resources to chastise Burma but the new dynasty in Burma made every effort to withstand the invaders.<br>The last Ch'ing expeditionary army evacuated Burma at the end of 1769, after concluding a truce agreement on reciprocal restitution of the war captives and surrenders. The Ch'en-lung emperor, however, never consented to turn over the princes of the Shan states who had surrendered to the Ch'ing side, thus putting the border area in a state of severe tension. But a rebellion occured in the province of Sze-ch'uan in 1771 diverting the emperor's concern from Burma and his resentment was gradually dissipated.<br>For the purpose of normalizing relations with the Ch'ing, Burma attempted to negotiate twice, in 1772 and in 1777. Their effort, however, was in vain because the Ch'ing emperor continued to demand from Burma, unilateral restitution of war captives. Among the Shan rulers on the borders, however, there emerged a move to normalize the relations between their two powerful neighbors in order to bring about trade relations which profitted the border states. In 1787, the prince of Keng Ma, a Shan state on the Yunnan side, sent a friendship mission to Burma disguised as a Ch'ing court mission: Burma sent a return mission to Peking in 1788. This brought the two countries' relations nearly to completion. In 1790, the prince of Bhamo on the Burmese side, sent a mission to Peking on his own initiative, unnoticed by the court of Burma. Thus the long disrupted Sino-Burmese relations came to be normalized despite the fact that the Ch'ing court declared Burma as its vassal state and Burma had no intention of accepting such a status