Patronage and Community in Medieval China

Andrew Chittick

Description

This first book-length treatment of a provincial military society in China's early medieval period offers a vivid portrait of this milieu and invites readers to reevaluate their understanding of a critical period in Chinese history. Drawing on poetry, local history, archaeology, and Buddhist materials, as well as more traditional historical sources, Andrew Chittick explores the culture and interrelationships of the leading figures of the Xiangyang region (in the north of modern Hubei province) in the centuries leading up to the Sui unification. Using the model of patron-client relations to characterize the interactions between local men and representatives of the southern court at Jiankang, the book emphasizes the way in which these interactions were shaped by personal ties and cultural and status differences. The result is a compelling explanation for the shifting, unstable, and violent nature of the political and military system of the southern dynasties. Offering a wider perspective which considers the social world beyond the capital elite, the book challenges earlier conceptions of medieval society as "aristocratic" and rooted in family lineage and officeholding.

Andrew Chittick is E. Leslie Peter Associate Professor of East Asian Humanities at Eckerd College.
List of Maps
Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

Aristocracy and Oligarchy
Community and Identity
Patronage as a System
Regimes, Regime Change, and Other Nomenclature
An Introduction to the Xiangyang Region

2. Development, 400–465

Liu Yu’s New Policies: Immigration and Residence Determination
Liu Yu’s New Policies: Administrative
Reorganization
Princes and Patronage: The Early Career of Liu Yuanjing
Xiangyang Men on Campaign, 442–454
Xiangyang Local Culture: Honor, Vengeance, and Violence
Xiangyang Local Culture: Music and Dance
Local Society Shows Its Strength: Xiangyang
under Liu Jun’s Regime
Conclusion: The Perils of Power

3. Fragmentation, 465–500
Xiangyang Men in the Civil War of 465–466
The Evolving Structure of Relations between Court and Garrison, 466–483
Gentrifi cation and Emigration
Immigrant Clusters
Immigrant Groups with More Expansive Ties
The Crisis of the Qi Regime
Conclusion

4. Zenith, 500–530

Xiao Yan Assembles the “Xiangyang Clique”
The “Jiangling Clique” and the Jiankang Coup
Xiangyang Men at the Capital
Xiangyang Local Lore: The Evidence from Bao Zhi
Xiangyang Iconography: The Evidence from Local Tombs
The Patronage of Court-Style Buddhism
Imperial Bias against Local Culture
Competitive Spectacle: The Local Culture of Military Festivals
Conclusion

5. Sublimation, 530–600

Fighting Bands and Free-Floating Allegiances
Xiangyang under the Yuwen Regime
Vengeance and Family Ties
The Further Development of Buddhism
Conclusion

6. Conclusion

Local Community and Local Culture
Patronage and the Evolution of Court- Provincial Relations

APPENDIX A Genealogical Charts
Diagram 1: Selected Descendents of Liu Zhuo
Diagram 2: Selected Descendents of Wei Hua
Diagram 3: Relationships among Selected
Members of the Nanyang Cluster

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Military history
• Middle Ages
• History of Asia
• Asia
• China
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 02 juillet 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438428994
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

PATRONAGE AND COMMUNITY
IN MEDIEVAL CHINA
33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd i33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd i 12/7/09 11:09:43 AM12/7/09 11:09:43 AMSUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
————
Roger T. Ames, editor
33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd ii33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd ii 12/7/09 11:09:43 AM12/7/09 11:09:43 AMPATRONAGE AND COMMUNITY
IN MEDIEVAL CHINA
The Xiangyang Garrison, 400–600 CE
ANDREW CHITTICK
State University of New York Press
33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd iii33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd iii 12/7/09 11:09:43 AM12/7/09 11:09:43 AMPublished by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2009 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the
prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact
State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chittick, Andrew.
Patronage and community in medieval China : the Xiangyang garrison, 400–600 CE / Andrew
Chittick.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-2897-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Xiangyang Fu (China)—History. 2. Xiangyang Fu (China)—Politics and government.
3. Xiangyang Fu (China)—Social conditions. 4. Xiangyang Fu (China)—Social life and
customs. 5. Patronage, Political—China—Xiangyang Fu—History—To 1500. 6. Community
life—China—Xiangyang Fu—History—To 1500. 7. Social systems—China—Xiangyang Fu—
History—To 1500. 8. Garrisons—China—Xiangyang Fu—History—To 1500. 9. Jiankang
Fu (China)—History. 10. China—History—220–589. I. Title.
DS793.H75C465 2009
951'.212—dc22 2009003936
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd iv33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd iv 12/16/09 7:36:35 AM12/16/09 7:36:35 AMCONTENTS
List of Maps vii
Acknowledgments ix
ONE Introduction 1
Aristocracy and Oligarchy 2
Community and Identity 3
Patronage as a System 7
Regimes, Regime Change, and Other
Nomenclature 11
An Introduction to the Xiangyang Region 12
TWO Development, 400–465 19
Liu Yu’s New Policies: Immigration and
Residence Determination 20
Liu Yu’s New Policies: Administrative Reorganization 23
Princes and Patronage: The Early Career of Liu Yuanjing 26
Xiangyang Men on Campaign, 442–454 29
Xiangyang Local Culture: Honor, Vengeance,
and Violence 36
Xiangyang Local Culture: Music and Dance 40
Local Society Shows Its Strength: Xiangyang
under Liu Jun’s Regime 43
Conclusion: The Perils of Power 49
THREE Fragmentation, 465–500 51
Xiangyang Men in the Civil War of 465–466 52
The Evolving Structure of Relations between
Court and Garrison, 466–483 55
Gentrif cation and Emigration 60Immigrant Clusters 64
Immigrant Groups with More Expansive Ties 71
The Crisis of the Qi Regime 74
Conclusion 78
33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd v33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd v 12/7/09 11:09:45 AM12/7/09 11:09:45 AMvi CONTENTS
FOUR Zenith, 500–530 79
Xiao Yan Assembles the “Xiangyang Clique” 80
The “Jiangling Clique” and the Jiankang Coup 84
Xiangyang Men at the Capital 89
Xiangyang Local Lore: The Evidence from
Bao Zhi 94
Xiangyang Iconography: The Evidence fromLocal Tombs 100
The Patronage of Court-Style Buddhism 103
Imperial Bias against Local Culture 106
Competitive Spectacle: The Local Culture of
Military Festivals 109Conclusion 113
FIVE Sublimation, 530–600 115
Fighting Bands and Free-Floating Allegiances 116
Xiangyang under the Yuwen Regime 124
Vengeance and Family Ties 129
The Further Development of Buddhism 131
Conclusion 134
SIX 137
Local Community and Local Culture 137
Patronage and the Evolution of Court-
Provincial Relations 143
APPENDIX A Genealogical Charts 147
Diagram 1: Selected Descendents of Liu Zhuo 148
Diagram 2: Selected Descendents of Wei Hua 149
Diagram 3: Relationships among Selected
Members of the Nanyang Cluster 150
Notes 151
Bibliography 173
Index 181
33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd vi33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd vi 12/7/09 11:09:45 AM12/7/09 11:09:45 AMLIST OF MAPS
Map 1. The central Yangzi area (inset: the Xiangyang region) 14
Map 2. Yong province prior to reorganization 33
Map 3. Yong province following reorganization 46
Map 4. Military campaign of Xiao Yan, 501 CE 87
Map 5. Military campaigns in the central Yangzi, 550–552 CE 122
vii
33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd vii33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd vii 12/7/09 11:09:46 AM12/7/09 11:09:46 AM33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd viii33545_SP_CHI_FM_00i-00x.indd viii 12/7/09 11:09:46 AM12/7/09 11:09:46 AMACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For my earliest work in local history materials related to the Xiangyang area I
am indebted to the help of my advisors at the University of Michigan, including
Chang Chun-shu, Ken DeWoskin, and most especially Ray Van Dam, whose
help in navigating the scholarship on the Roman empire (especially on
patronage issues) and interested outsider perspective on early Chinese history
sparked many of the questions and suggested the approaches that informed
my later research. More recently I have greatly benef ted from the invaluable
support, encouragement, and advice of numerous colleagues in the Early
Medieval China Group, most notably Keith Knapp, Scott Pearce, and Albert
Dien. My colleagues in the Southeast Early China Roundtable have been an
invaluable sounding board for many of the ideas that went into this book;
I am very appreciative of their intellectual and social companionship over
the past decade. I have also appreciated f nancial support from the Council
for Scholarly Communication with China for study in Hubei back in 1995–
96, and from Eckerd College for faculty development funding, a hexennial
leave, and more recently a partial research leave in order to f nish up this
manuscript. I am thankful to Nancy Ellegate and others at SUNY Press for
their cheerful and prompt efforts to speed the process along. Lastly, I must
acknowledge Ruth Pettis for her joyous friendship and her gorgeous work on
the maps and the cover design, which were inspired by artwork from tombs in
the Xiangyang area. Despite all that assistance, there doubtless remain errors
and shortcomings in this book, all of my own doing.
ix
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p
1INTRODUCTION
ONE
INTRODUCTION
This work seeks to explain the development of an important provincial society,
the Xiangyang region (in modern northern Hubei province), and the
terms on which its members interacted with representatives of the southern
court at Jiankang in the f fth and sixth centuries CE. It responds to
the shortcomings of models of aristocracy and oligarchy , which have been
applied to the social system of early medieval China, by demonstrating
that a model based on patronage is far more helpful in understanding the
tremendous instability of the political system, and the process of recruitment
and assimilation of provincial leaders. It is the central thesis of this work that
patronage is the most useful model with which to understand the general
political organization of the southern dynasties.
The work further seeks to understand the effect of patronage on
local society and local culture. On this issue it responds to prior efforts to
characterize local society as a fairly integrated community , one in which local
elites developed a protective, nurturant community ethos, and for which local
men felt a signif cant sense of loyalty and identity. This idea is put to the
test and found wanting. Instead, the evidence suggests that local society was
extremely fragmented, with loyalties directed at narrowly def ned familial ties
or social subgroups. This fragmentation was perpetuated and accentuated by
the patronage system, which persistently drew men’s loyalties up and out of
their communities and into the affairs of imperial patrons; it also transmitted
the f erce succession rivalries of the imperial court into local affairs.
Despite this fragmentation, the culture of the Xiangyang region nonetheless
had distinctive features which made it quite different from the culture of
Jiankang , though the latter is often taken to be representative of “the south”
in g