Source: Hello Daxiangxi
Around 1800, a turning point occurred in Xiangxi, and in 1795, the Qianjia Miao uprising continued, and after being suppressed, Xiangxi entered the Tuntian era, and the Qing government repaired more than 150 kilometers of "border walls" in Miaojiang, built more than 1,100 pillboxes, checkpoints, and passes, recruited 7,000 tun soldiers, prepared 1,000 brave people, and implemented the policy of "cultivating courage in the field and setting up cards to prevent seedlings". Groups of armored soldiers poured into Xiangxi and settled down, naturally, and later they disappeared into this land. However, they left a lot of things for us to touch Xiangxi 200 years ago through the fog of time, such as this "Miao Preparedness".
200 years ago, Xiangxi Encyclopedia
In the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty (1820), a book called "Miao Defense and Preparation" was printed, the author Yan Ruyu (1759~1826), a native of Yupu, Hunan Province. The book has a total of 22 volumes, divided into 14 sections, including public maps, villages, dangers, roads, customs, divisions and brigades, camps, castles, tunfang, descriptions, strategies, biographies, art and literature, and miscellaneous knowledge, and the content is quite detailed, which can be described as an encyclopedia of Miao District in Xiangxi.
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Familiar with Xiangxi, he became a staff member of the Qing army
Yan Ruyu is familiar with the folk customs of Xiangxi Miao District. When Qianjia Miaomin rebelled, he wrote to Jiang Sheng, the governor of Hunan to explain Chen Pingmiao's strategy and deal with the aftermath, which was valued by the Qing generals, but he served as Jiang Sheng's guest of Gongsheng. After the Qing army suppressed the uprising, he also referred to the documents and archives of the time and relevant local chronicles based on his personal experience, so that "those who have something to do in the future must have an audit." In the first year of Daoguang (1821), Yan Ruyu was ordered to survey the border defense of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Chu provinces, and proposed to add five halls of Chengkou, Baihe, and Taiping, and add troops to the Guanjin Fortress. He was promoted to Guizhou as an envoy, reassigned to Shaanxi, died in office, and was given a political envoy.
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In addition, he is a faithful recorder
Yan Ruyu can be said to be a geographer, paying attention to the study of the world, and concentrating on astronomy, geography, and the art of war. In "Miao Defense Preparation", he drew a public opinion map of Miao Xinjiang, claiming that "over the years, more than 100 times in the easy base, the whole map was determined." The customs contained in it describe the situation of the Miao, Tujia, Gelao, Yao and nearby Han ethnic groups in Xiangxi at that time, most of which are facts that the author heard and witnessed at that time, and provide a lot of important first-hand information for understanding the situation of ethnic minorities in this area in the late Qing Dynasty. In his lifetime, Yan Ruyu wrote books such as "Essentials of Foreign Affairs", "Miao Defense Preparations", "Three Provinces Border Defense Preparations", and "Hanzhong Fuzhi", "Paradise Banknotes and Poems" and other works handed down.
Full map of Miaojiang: (drawn by Yan Ruyu)
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Full map of Qianzhou Hall (present-day Jishou City):
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Full map of Phoenix Hall (now Phoenix County):
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Full map of Yongsui Hall (now Huayuan County):
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Full map of Baojing County:
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Full map of Yongshun County:
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Full map of Luxi County:
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Today, with the rapid change, many place names in Xiangxi no longer exist, and many townships and Miaojia Tuzhai have merged and disappeared. I believe that after a long, long time, many place names have been completely unremembered. Let's commemorate it here.
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Editor/Li Aijia, Zhou Dengyou, Huang Shasha
Review/Shang Xin Wang Xiangyuan
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