Abstract:

In imperial China, abolishing tusi (native official) offices was always justified as retaliation for disobeying the orthodoxy of the Chinese state. For example, in the early Ming period, the Heqing tusi was abolished and the chieftaincy's domain put under imperial official's direct control following such a false accusation. Next, the imperial officials constructed Confucian schools and sought to restrict Buddhist temples and beliefs, and advocated orthodox ritual among the local elite by prohibiting heterodox temples and encouraging them to revise their history. At the same time, some tusi consciously engaged in the work of establish their own proper rituals based on the Canonized Chinese Classics. In this paper, I focus on two cases, the tusis of Lijiang and Monghua, discussing how native officials rebuilt their rituals according to the standards set for the feudal lords of ancient China and utilized three strategies to declare their noble status in the eyes of the Chinese state. The first strategy was building a patrilineal ancestral hall. Second, to strengthen their superiority, they constructed written genealogies which included an origin myth and common ancestor, connecting legendary ancestors to the inherited tusi title. Third, under the feudal political system, they legitimized and promoted Buddhist temples as historical heritage to ensure claims to their territory. In Lijiang tusi's case, the paper explains the making of written genealogy not only confirmed Mu tusi's leading position among tribal society by transcript oral mythical figure into ancestor, but also legitimizing their alliance with Guzhong and Bai politics according to their brotherhood-originated story. At the same time, they built an ancestral hall as a legal institution to claim their status as Chinese ancient feudal lord, which implied they could rule their territory properly. In the other case, Monghua tusi was under maternal alliance's support, tracing their ancestor to Nanchao King. As they became the descendant of ancient king, they renovated ancient Buddhist temples and took over inherited ritual status in the native society. Through these arrangements, we can clearly observe the tusi, as the agent in border area, was able to take advantage of their historical capital to consolidate their local interests.

Key words: written genealogy, Buddhist temple, Tusi's ritual and family history, ancestral hall