Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE)

by Bin Yang

Overview

Between Winds and Clouds tells the two-thousand-year history of Yunnan, an ethnic frontier bordered by Tibet, mainland Southeast Asia, and southwest China. Yunnan's prime geographic location turned the site into a center of cross-regional trade, and consequently, it became a desirable conquest for Eurasian rivals.

Bin Yang details the fight for military control of Yunnan and its demographic, administrative, and economic transformation into a local entity. In conclusion, he discusses the impact of Yunnan's imperial legacy on modern state building, or, conversely, the way in which the modern state has contributed to the development of imperial discourse. Deploying a unique cross-regional approach, Yang brings the activities of Southeast and East Asia, Tibet, the Indian Ocean, and modern Europe to bear on the history of Yunnan, emphasizing both the local and the international forces that played a role in the region's long-term transformation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231142540
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	11/11/2008
Series:	Gutenberg-e
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bin Yang is assistant professor of history at the National University of Singapore. His research interests cross temporal, geographical, and disciplinary boundaries and focus on Chinese ethnic and frontier studies in a broad context.

Table of Contents

Dedication vii

Acknowledgments ix

1 Introduction 1

2 The Southwest Silk Road 23

3 Military Campaigns against Yunnan 72

4 Rule Based on Native Customs 102

5 Sinicization and Indigenization 141

6 Silver, Cowries, and Copper 192

7 Classification into the Chinese National Family 242

Conclusion 280

Romanized Terms 287

Bibliography 317

Editorial Reviews

Between Winds and Clouds makes an insightful survey that should be read by all those interested in the history of Southwest China.

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies - Roderich Ptak

...Greatly enriches our understanding of China's transformation from an empire into a modern nation-state.

The China Quarterly

Highly accessible... [Between Winds and Clouds] fills a void in Yunnan Studies. Yang is to be commended for taking on such a large project with such erudition.

China Review International - Michael Brose

Between Winds and Clouds makes an insightful survey that should be read by all those interested in the history of Southwest China.

— Roderich Ptak

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies