Qianxi gazetteer production during Guizhou's tumultuous nineteenth century

Recent scholarship has explored the expansion of the Ming and Qing States into the southwest borderlands which became Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces. While many scholars have focused on the effect this expansion had on both the area's non-Chinese inhabitants and the imperial officials and military officers trying to administer them, little attention has been paid to the millions of Chinese who immigrated to the region during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This paper examines the formation of Han Chinese identity among these immigrants by analyzing local gazetteers (difangzhi) produced during the Qing era. The purpose of the paper is to examine the aims of gazetteer production; particularly during times of social unrest and violent conflict. The primary sources utilized are two gazetteers from Qianxi Department in Guizhou Province: one published in 1835 and one published in 1884. By comparing the format and content of the Qianxi gazetteers produced before and after the "Miao rebellion" of the 1850s, this paper seeks to explore these documents not only as references but as actual tools of empire. Employing this approach, the research demonstrates that the production of these gazetteers was a conscious act requiring the cooperation of local elites who utilized the process to demonstrate their loyalty to the state while simultaneously imagining themselves as part of a larger Han Chinese identity group.