Frontiers and Boundaries: The Han Empire From its Southern Periphery

Allard, Francis

doi:10.1002/9780470774670.ch11

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…When Han troops eventually reached the region in 110 BC, they encountered the Dian, whom the imperial chronicler described in the Records of the Grand Historian ( Shiji 116; see Qian ) as having a powerful regional kingdom with a force of 20,000 to 30,000 men and as distinguished from other nomadic “barbarian” groups by their fields and settlements . Primarily known through archaeological sites distributed across eastern Yunnan, the material record reveals societies engaged in large‐scale production of bronze weaponry and prestige items using sophisticated metallurgical techniques (Allard ; Higham ). The discovery of a tomb containing a conspicuous display of bronze vessels and a gold seal bearing the Chinese title “king of Dian” at the site of Shizhaishan on the eastern shore of Lake Dian appeared to confirm the existence and location of the Dian polity (Figure ).…”

Section: The Bronze Age Societies Of Southwest Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Han governance confronted a succession of revolts in Yizhou. Over the course of 150 years following conquest, at least seven major tribal rebellions are documented, some of which led to the toppling of imperial government in the Dian basin and successive violent reconquests (Allard ). More significantly, the frequency of occurrence suggests that frontier subjects experienced at least one such violent episode in their lifetimes.…”

Section: The Bronze Age Societies Of Southwest Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet the continuation of funerary activity across Bronze Age cemetery sites into the first century AD suggests that local subjects returned to, if not maintained, a connection to a local political time and space (Figure ). Moreover, the inclusion of Han luxury goods in imperial period native graves indicates a taste for such goods and exchange with imperial agents (Allard ). The prevailing scholarly view has thus maintained that Han administrators and tribal chiefs continued to collaborate, and local subordination was managed through material incentives—in particular, as exemplified in the classic passage in the Hanshu , “through a square seal and a tiny amount of silk, we can pacify the border areas” (Took , 34).…”

Section: The Bronze Age Societies Of Southwest Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Politics of Time on the Southwest Frontier of China's Han Empire

Yao

2017

American Anthropologist

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In this study of the Han imperial conquest of southwest China, I argue that time is a technique of political control in precapitalist empires and a source of power asymmetry that local subjects understood and actively sought to curtail. From the expansion of political economy to the invention of universal histories, imperial policies incorporate heterogeneous geographies and subjects into unified temporal frames, thus obscuring differences in social experience. Drawing from subaltern and colonial anthropologies, I argue that resistance to state time is neither restricted to modern colonialism nor realized only in moments of organized rebellions. Archaeological research from the southwest frontier of Han China highlights how native subjects, referred to as the Dian culture, enlisted the dead to detach ideas of personhood and political agency from imperial temporalities. A focus on the resurgence of former funerary practices not only provides an overlooked point of entry to local interventions in the temporality of social reproduction but also reveals how the making of biosocial contemporaneity entangled both imperial agents and frontier subjects. This study demonstrates archaeology's contribution to a wider disciplinary engagement with the intersubjective or shared time of our subjects. [imperialism, time, China] RESUMEN En este estudio de la conquista imperial Han del suroeste de China, argumento que el tiempo es una técnica de control político en imperios precapitalistas y una fuente de la asimetría del poder que los sujetos locales entendieron y activamente buscaron reducir. Desde la expansión de la economía política a la invención de las historias universales, las políticas imperiales incorporan heterogéneas geografías y sujetos dentro de marcos temporales unificados, oscureciendo así las diferencias en la experiencia social. Basada en antropologías subalternas y coloniales, argumento que la resistencia al tiempo del estado no es restringida al colonialismo moderno ni realizada solamente en momentos de rebeliones organizadas. La investigación arqueológica de la frontera sudoeste de la China de Han destaca cómo los sujetos nativos, referidos como la cultura de Dian, incorporaron los muertos para separar las ideas de condición de persona y agencia política de las temporalidades imperiales. Un enfoque en el resurgimiento de prácticas funerarias antiguas no sólo provee un punto de entrada pasado por alto a las intervenciones locales en la temporalidad de la reproducción social sino también revela cómo la producción de la contemporaneidad biosocial involucró tanto a los agentes imperiales como a los sujetos de la frontera. Este estudio demuestra la contribución de la arqueología a un abordaje disciplinario más amplio con la intersubjetividad o el tiempo compartido de nuestros sujetos. [imperialismo, tiempo, China]

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Section: The Bronze Age Societies Of Southwest Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Bronze Age Societies Of Southwest Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Bronze Age Societies Of Southwest Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Politics of Time on the Southwest Frontier of China's Han Empire

Yao

2017

American Anthropologist

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“…These include the discovery -in tomb number 6 at Shizhaishan-of a seal whose inscription reads "The king of Dian", along with artifactual, iconographic and other archaeological indications of the prevalence of warfare, the ethnic diversity of the region, settled life based on agriculture and animal domestication, as well as the absence of palaces and defensive works. For overviews of Dian archaeology and history, as well as references to original research articles, see Allard (1998Allard ( , 1999Allard ( , 2006, Chiang (2008), Guojia Wenwu Ju (2009, Lee (2003), Murowchick (1989), Sun and Xiong (1983), and Yao (2005). This paper focuses on the impact of Han China on the Dian, both before and after the conquest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, a number of such trends have already been identified by archaeologists. Some time ago, I noted -based on a superficial analysis of grave contents and structure-that burials remained essentially 'Dian' for about 150 years following the conquest, with relatively few Chinese style objects recovered from Dian burials during this period (Allard 2006). More recently, Chiang Po-yi (Jiang Boyi) undertook a systematic review of the contents of all known Dian Culture burials, identifying in the process those artifacts which he refers to (in his most recent publication) as huaxia shi qi 华夏式器, here translated as 'Chinese style artifacts' (CSA's) (Chiang 2008(Chiang , 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%