THINKING about MING China ANEW: The ETHNOCULTURAL SPACE in A DIVERSE EMPIRE - With SPECIAL REFERENCE to the MIAO TERRITORY

Abstract

By examining the cultural identity of China's Ming dynasty, this essay challenges two prevalent perceptions of the Ming in existing literature: to presume a monolithic socio-ethno-cultural Chinese empire and to equate the Ming Empire with China (Zhongguo, the middle kingdom). It shows that the Ming constructed China as an ethnocultural space rather than a political entity. In essence, China was defined as a Han domain that the Han people inhabited and where Han values were produced, practiced, and preserved in contrast to those of non-Han barbarians, be they domestic or foreign. The Great Ming - the dynastic title - cannot be confused with China, the ethnocultural space. For the Ming ruling elite, the Miao territory in western Huguang and eastern Guizhou provinces represented a land beyond the pale of civilization (huawai), which was outside and different from China. The Ming construction of the ethnocultural China connects the imperial heritage to China's modern identity.