Heart-minds and harquebuses: the Bozhou rebellion in China (1587-1600)

ABSTRACT

Many of the non-Chinese minorities inhabiting the south-western regions of the Ming empire (1368-1644) rebelled during the course of the dynasty’s existence, including the Miao, who at the end of the sixteenth century launched an uprising under the leadership of Yang Yinglong (1551-1600). The uprising and the resulting insurgency were eventually suppressed under the leadership of two civil officials, Guo Zizhang (1543-1618) and Li Hualong (1554-1611). During the early dynasty forceful suppression by the military together with the generous offering of amnesties and rewards to induce peaceful surrender had constituted the strategy for dealing with minority insurgencies. In contrast, civil officials, like Neo-Confucian thinker Wang Yangming (1472-1529), conceptualized mixed policies emphasizing moral exhortations and social engineering, in combination with military force using advanced technologies, as integrated solutions to the problem in the course of the sixteenth century. This paper will look at the extent to which these mixed policies were advocated and applied, and their relative measures of success.

KEYWORDS:

• Neo-Confucianism
• Bozhou rebellion
• Wang Yangming
• harquebus
• Guo Zizhang
• Li Hualong
• Yang Yinglong
• minority uprisings

Acknowledgments

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 758347). The author would like to thank Peter Lorge for the invitation to contribute to this special issue of Small Wars & Insurgencies. Furthermore, the author extends thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and advice on how to improve the original draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Archer et al., World History of Warfare, 204; The classic statement can be found here: Fairbank, “Introduction: Varieties of Chinese Military Experience”, 6–11; Neiberg, Warfare in World History, 39.

2. The Portuguese sought to portray China as a potential glorious conquest and Matteo Ricci thought China was a positive examplar of a polity ruled by philosopher-statesmen. See: Andrade, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History, 119–23; Hong, “On Matteo Ricci’s Interpretations of Chinese Culture”, 89–90.

3. Johnston, Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History; Wang, Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics.

4. Lorge, “Discovering War in Chinese History”, 24.

5. Swope, “Of Bureaucrats and Bandits: Confucianism and Antirebel Strategy at the End of the Ming Dynasty”, 127.

6. “Neo-Confucianism” is used by modern scholars to refer to several tendencies in Confucian thought. In its largest sense it is used to refer to the entire revival of Confucian learning from the Song dynasty onwards. In its smaller sense it often refers only to the School of Principle consolidated by Zhu Xi (1130–1200) and the more intuitive School of the Heart-Mind associated with Lu Jiuyuan (1139–1192) and Wang Yangming. For more background, see: Bol, Neo-Confucianism in History.

7. Jiang, “Thinking about “Ming China” Anew: The Ethnocultural Space in a Diverse Empire – With Special Reference to the “Miao Territory””, 48.

8. For a modern treatment of the conflict in western-language scholarship, see the following works by Kenneth Swope: Swope, “Civil-Military Coordination in the Bozhou Campaign of the Wanli Era”; Swope, ‘The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China’, 386–453; Swope, “To Catch a Tiger: The Suppression of the Yang Yinglong Miao Uprising (1587–1600) as a Case Study in Ming Military and Borderlands History”.

9. Swope, “Chinese Ways of Warfare”, 121–23.

10. Ibid, 122–23.

11. Ming, “The Luchuan-Pingmian Campaigns (1436–1449) in the Light of Official Chinese Historiography”; Swope, “All Men Are Not Brothers: Ethnic Identity and Dynastic Loyalty in the Ningxia Mutiny of 1592”.

12. The existence of this mental distinction between the spatially and temporally bounded Ming empire and the culturally normative ideal of China was recently persuasively argued here: Jiang, ‘Thinking about “Ming China” Anew: The Ethnocultural Space in a Diverse Empire – With Special Reference to the “Miao Territory”’, 42–44.

13. Sheldon, “Introduction”, 934.

14. For an overview of the political and military dimensions of this conflict, see the following articles and edited volume: Hucker, “Hu Tsung-Hsien’s Campaign against Hsü Hai, 1556”; Lim, “From Haijin to Kaihai: The Jiajing Court’s Search for a Modus Operandi along the South-Eastern Coast (1522–1567)”; Sim, The Maritime Defence of China: Ming General Qi Jiguang and Beyond; Zurndorfer, “Oceans of History, Seas of Change: Recent Revisionist Writing in Western Languages about China and East Asian Maritime History during the Period 1500–1630”.

15. Swope, “To Catch a Tiger: The Suppression of the Yang Yinglong Miao Uprising (1587–1600) as a Case Study in Ming Military and Borderlands History”, 125, 129.

16. For a recent translation of this canon, see: Sawyer and Sawyer, The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China; Tien, Chinese Military Theory: Ancient and Modern, 21–66.

17. Tang 唐, “Wu bian (before 1560)” 武编 (before 1560), 1352–53.

18. Rand, “`Martial Races” and “Imperial Subjects”: Violence and Governance in Colonial India, 1857–1914’, 14–15; Robinson, “Military Labor in China, circa 1500”, 55.

19. Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 147–49.

20. Lim, Lineage Society on the Southeastern Coast of China: The Impact of Japanese Piracy in the Sixteenth Century, 96; Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 92.

21. Swope, “To Catch a Tiger: The Suppression of the Yang Yinglong Miao Uprising (1587–1600) as a Case Study in Ming Military and Borderlands History”, 121–22, 124, 138–39.

22. Anonymous Anonymous, “Caolu jinglüe” 草庐经略, 1620; Anonymous, Ruminations in a Grass Hut 草廬經略, x.

23. Dardess, Ming China, 1368–1644: A Concise History of a Resilient Empire, 6; Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 56–105.

24. Bian 卞, Hu Zongxian chuan 胡宗宪传, 57; Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, 547.

25. Barlow, “The Zhuang Minority in the Ming Era”, 19.

26. Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 386–97.

27. Mueggler, “Lady Qu’s Inscriptions: Literacy and Sovereignty in a Native Domain, Southwest China”, 16–20.

28. Ibid, 2–5.

29. Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 402–3.

30. Ibid, 294.

31. Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 86–88.

32. Xi 郗, “Hailongtun tun ming kao” 海龙囤囤名考, 77–81.

33. Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 425–27.

34. See above 13., 934.

35. Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 92–93.

36. Filipiak, “The Effects of Civil Officials Handling Military Affairs in Ming Times”, 3–4.

37. Young, “Military Professionalism in a Democracy”, 19–21.

38. See above, note 2.

39. Di Cosmo, “Introduction”, 1–2; Ven, “War in the Making of Modern China”, 737.

40. Lorge, “The Rise of the Martial: Rebalancing Wen and Wu in Song Dynasty Culture”, 140–43; Wang, Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics, 74–75, 99–100.

41. Andrade, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History, 22–23.

42. The drive to adopt Portuguese breech-loading cannons was led by civil officials. See: Ibid, 137–43.

43. Robinson, “Military Labor in China, circa 1500”, 47–49; Robinson, “Why Military Institutions Matter for Ming History”, 297–309.

44. Dardess, Ming China, 1368–1644: A Concise History of a Resilient Empire, 5–10; Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 89.

45. Filipiak, “Der Bauernaufstand des Deng Maoqi 1448/1449 als Audrück einer Zäsur in der Geschichte der Ming-Dynastie”, 129.

46. Dardess, More Than the Great Wall: The Northern Frontier and Ming National Security, 1368–1644, 178.

47. Robinson, “Military Labor in China, circa 1500”, 47.

48. Filipiak, “Der Bauernaufstand des Deng Maoqi 1448/1449 als Audrück einer Zäsur in der Geschichte der Ming-Dynastie”, 121–24; Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 112–17.

49. Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 91–93.

50. Guo Zizhang, a civil official in charge of suppressing Yang Yinglong’s rebellion, even explicitly stated it was beneficial to have minorities attack each other. See: Jiang, ‘Thinking about “Ming China” Anew: The Ethnocultural Space in a Diverse Empire – With Special Reference to the “Miao Territory”’, 42.

51. Wang 王, “Mingdai ying bingzhi chutan” 明代营兵制初探; Wu, “The Social Impact of Changing Patterns of Military Recruitment and Logistics in Yongzhou, Hunan”, 26–27, 33, 35; Xiao 肖, Mingdai sheng zhen ying bingzhi yu difang zhixu 明代省镇营兵制与地方秩序.

52. Wu, “The Social Impact of Changing Patterns of Military Recruitment and Logistics in Yongzhou, Hunan”, 30–33, 36.

53. Herman, Amid the Clouds and Mist: China’s Colonization of Guizhou, 1200–1700, 105–10.

54. For example, against the Wokou in the 1550s. See: Lim, Lineage Society on the Southeastern Coast of China: The Impact of Japanese Piracy in the Sixteenth Century, 96.

55. Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 90.

56. Zhao, “Ethnic Relations and Imperial Border Strategy during the Reigns of Ming Emperors Longing and Wanli”, 105–6.

57. For a recent treatment of Wang’s military carreer, see: Israel, Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming.

58. In premodern Chinese conceptualization, the heart was both the seat of mental and emotional states, hence the term “heart-mind”. See: Yao, The Encyclopedia of Confucianism: 2-Volume Set, 686–87.

59. Ivanhoe, Confucian Moral Self-Cultivation, 65–66.

60. Shin, “The Last Campaigns of Wang Yangming”, 115–16.

61. Chan, “Wang Shou-Jen”, 1409–10.

62. Bian, Hu Zongxian chuan, 61–63.

63. Ibid, 57.

64. Ibid, 64.

65. Fang, “HU Tsung-Hsien”, 632.

66. Bian, Hu Zongxian chuan, 81.

67. Lim, Lineage Society on the Southeastern Coast of China: The Impact of Japanese Piracy in the Sixteenth Century, 84–85.

68. Shin, “The Last Campaigns of Wang Yangming”, 119–26; Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands, 71–72.

69. Israel, Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming, 66, 151; Shin, “The Last Campaigns of Wang Yangming”, 114–15.

70. Israel, Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming, 213.

71. Antony, Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China, 53.

72. Ming shilu 明實錄, Xuanzong shilu 宣宗實錄, juan 42, 1023.

73. Israel, Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming, 58–61.

74. Ibid, 56.

75. Wang 王, Wang Yangming quanji 王阳明全集, 531.

76. Israel, Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming, 73–75.

77. Swope, “To Catch a Tiger: The Suppression of the Yang Yinglong Miao Uprising (1587–1600) as a Case Study in Ming Military and Borderlands History”, 116.

78. Ibid, 117.

79. Ibid, 114.

80. Wang, Wang Yangming quanji, 565–66.

81. Lagerwey, China: A Religious State, 3.

82. Israel, Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming, 101–7.

83. Brook, The Chinese State in Ming Society, 35–38; Liu, Confucian Rituals and Chinese Villagers: Ritual Change and Social Transformation in a Southeastern Chinese Community, 1368–1949, 167; Molenaar, “Turning Bandits into `Good Citizens”: Coastal Violence on the South Coast of the Ming Empire in the Fifteenth Century’, 689–92.

84. Cai 蔡, “Yangming xuepai zhi jianli yu fazhan” 陽明學派之建立與發展, 267–70; Fitzpatrick, “Local Interests and the Anti-Pirate Administration in China’s South-East 1555–1565”, 35.

85. Huang, “CHENG Jo-Tseng”, 204–8; Zheng 鄭, Chou hai tu bian (1562) 籌海圖編 (1562), 1, 205.

86. Lim, Lineage Society on the Southeastern Coast of China: The Impact of Japanese Piracy in the Sixteenth Century, 77, 102.

87. For a discussion of the baojia system during the Wokou troubles, see: Zheng, Chou hai tu bian (1562), 821.

88. Lim, Lineage Society on the Southeastern Coast of China: The Impact of Japanese Piracy in the Sixteenth Century, 11–12.

89. Eichman, A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fellowship: Spiritual Ambitions, Intellectual Debates, and Epistolary Connections, 59. See note 123. Guo Zizhang was a disciple of Hu Zhi (1517–1585), who was a disciple of first generation Wang Yangming disciple Luo Hongxian (1504–1564).

90. Swope, “To Catch a Tiger: The Suppression of the Yang Yinglong Miao Uprising (1587–1600) as a Case Study in Ming Military and Borderlands History”, 128.

91. Li 李, Ping Bo quanshu 平播全書, 493.

92. Chen 陳, “Huang Ming jingshi wenbian wubai juan fuyi si juan (qi)” 皇明經世文編五百四卷補遺四卷(七), 432–35.

93. Ibid, 408–32.

94. Chang, Wang Shou-Jen as a Statesman, 141–46.

95. Li, Ping Bo quanshu, 447.

96. Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 439.

97. Ibid, 443–46.

98. A classic statement is: Headrick, The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperials in the Nineteenth Century.

99. Andrade, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History, 135–43; Wang, Wang Yangming quanji, 1266–67.

100. Huang Wan wrote a preface to Zhu Wan’s collected writings. Huang later turned into a different philosophical direction from Wang Yangming. See: Higgins, “Piracy and Coastal Defense in the Ming Period, Government Response to Coastal Disturbances, 1523–1549”, 155–56; Sun, ‘The Military Implications of Zhu Wan’s Coastal Campaigns in Southeastern China: Focusing on the Matchlock Gun (1548–66)’, 121.

101. Tang Shunzhi was heavily influenced by Wang Yangming’s thought, but was more mindful of practical statecraft later on. He did remain in close contact with many of Wang’s followers. See: Elman, Classicism, Politics, and Kinship: The Ch’ang-Chou School of New Text Confucianism in Late Imperial China, 77–81; Sun, “The Military Implications of Zhu Wan’s Coastal Campaigns in Southeastern China: Focusing on the Matchlock Gun (1548–66)”, 124–26.

102. Guo 郭, “Binyi sheng Qian cao ershisi juan, chuan cao ershier juan, shou yi juan” 蠙衣生黔草 二十四卷, 傳草二十二卷, 首一卷, 353.

103. Ibid, 353.

104. A few representative examples of this trend are: Andrade, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History; Lorge, The Asian Military Revolution: From Gunpowder to the Bomb; Sun, ‘The Military Implications of Zhu Wan’s Coastal Campaigns in Southeastern China: Focusing on the Matchlock Gun (1548–66)’; Swope, “Crouching Tigers, Secret Weapons: Military Technology Employed During the Japanese Invasion of Korea, 1592–1598”.

105. Huang, 1587. A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline, 166–71.

106. Andrade, “The Arquebus Volley Technique in China, c. 1560: Evidence from the Writings of Qi Jiguang”.

107. Filipiak, “The Effects of Civil Officials Handling Military Affairs in Ming Times”, 10; Noordam, ‘Qi Jiguang 戚繼光 (1528–1588): The Soldier as a Sage?’, 52–57.

108. See, for example: Parker, The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500–1800, 140–42; Parker, “The Limits to Revolutions in Military Affairs: Maurice of Nassau, the Battle of Nieuwpoort (1600), and the Legacy”.

109. Andrade, “The Arquebus Volley Technique in China, c. 1560: Evidence from the Writings of Qi Jiguang”, 122–28; Sun, ‘The Military Implications of Zhu Wan’s Coastal Campaigns in Southeastern China: Focusing on the Matchlock Gun (1548–66)’, 132.

110. Andrade, “The Arquebus Volley Technique in China, c. 1560: Evidence from the Writings of Qi Jiguang”, 128–30.

111. Andrade, 134–35; Andrade, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History, 144–65.

112. Andrade, “The Arquebus Volley Technique in China, c. 1560: Evidence from the Writings of Qi Jiguang”, 130–33.

113. Pang 庞, “Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong” 明中后期鸟铳在西南地区的传播与应用, 141–42.

114. Dardess, A Political Life in Ming China: A Grand Secretary and His Times, 124–25.

115. Mueggler, “Lady Qu’s Inscriptions: Literacy and Sovereignty in a Native Domain, Southwest China”, 17; Pang, “Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong”, 139, 141–42.

116. Guo, ‘Binyi sheng Qian cao ershisi juan, chuan cao ershier juan, shou yi juan’, 353; Pang, ‘Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong’, 144–48.

117. Kuba 久芳, “Chōsen no eki ni okeru Nihonhei horyo: Myōchō ni yoru rengō to shochi” 朝鮮の役における日本兵捕虜–明朝による連行と處置, 42.

118. Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 441.

119. Filipiak, “The Effects of Civil Officials Handling Military Affairs in Ming Times’, 8–12; Pang, ‘Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong”, 143–44, 148.

120. Kuba, “Chōsen no eki ni okeru Nihonhei horyo: Myōchō ni yoru rengō to shochi”, 47.

121. Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 398.

122. Guo, “Binyi sheng Qian cao ershisi juan, chuan cao ershier juan, shou yi juan”, 309.

123. Tang 唐, Tang Shunzhi ji 唐順之集, 3:875–76.

124. Guo, “Binyi sheng Qian cao ershisi juan, chuan cao ershier juan, shou yi juan”, 309; Quote via: Pang, “Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong”, 144.

125. Qi 戚, “Ji xiao xinshu (1560)” 纪效新书 (1560), 982–83, 997.

126. Filipiak, “The Effects of Civil Officials Handling Military Affairs in Ming Times”, 8–12; Noordam, ‘Qi Jiguang 戚繼光 (1528–1588): The Soldier as a Sage?’, 52–59.

127. Swope, “Civil-Military Coordination in the Bozhou Campaign of the Wanli Era”, 53, 62, 67–70; Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 261–62, 477.

128. Zhang 张, “Huoqi yingyong yu Ming-Qing shiqi xinan diqu de gaituguiliu” 火器应用与明清时期西南地区的改土归流, 89–91.

129. Pang, “Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong”, 146–47.

130. Pang, 144–45; Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 433, 435–36, 441.

131. Li, Ping Bo quanshu, 156–57.

132. Pang, “Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong”, 144–45; Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 433, 435–36, 441.

133. Li, Ping Bo quanshu, 168, 180, 270.

134. Ibid, 158, 241.

135. Swope, “The Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli Emperor, 1592–1600: Court, Military, and Society in Late Sixteenth-Century China”, 441–42.

136. Yan 颜, “Mingdai “Bozhou zhi luan” dui “She-An zhi luan” de yingxiang fenxi” 明代‘播州之乱’对‘奢安之乱’的影响分析; Yan 颜 and Cui 崔, ‘Mingdai “Bozhou zhi luan” yu “She-An zhi luan” bijiao yanjiu’ 明代‘播州之乱’与‘奢安之乱’比较研究.

137. Pang, “Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong”, 145; Swope, The Military Collapse of China’s Ming Dynasty, 1618–44, 42–44.

138. Pang, “Ming zhonghouqi niaochong zai xinan diqu de chuanbo yu yingyong”, 146; Swope, On the Trail of the Yellow Tiger: War, Trauma, and Social Dislocation in Southwest China during the Ming-Qing Transition, 7–8, 26–27, 98–100.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council [758347].

Notes on contributors

Barend Noordam

Barend Noordam is a historian of Ming China, specialising in global military history, the history of science and technology, and early modern interactions between East Asia and Europe. He is currently part of the ERC-funded Horizon 2020 Aftermath of the East Asian War of 1592-1598 project hosted by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and tracing the development, textual consolidation, and diffusion of military technology in Ming China and Chosŏn Korea after 1592.