Description:
"From the 1870s to the 1940s, the construction of lineages among the Han settlers on the
frontier between China?s Yunnan province and Burma became significant. Through these
lineages the construction of Han identity was also extended toward Burma along various
transportation routes. In the continuing reformation of frontier society, gentry power, based
on lineage corporations, expanded and performed a crucial role in the construction of a
new style of border, as well as functioning as a leading force for ethnic competition by extend-ing state power into the borderland. After the colonization of north Burma by the British in
1886, new economic opportunities attracted more Chinese merchants who built networks
along transportation routes between cities in Burma and commercial centers in Yunnan,
which also changed the social landscape of the frontier. The construction of lineages as a
Han system not only overlapped with trade networks, but also provided sufficient economic
and political resources to build a Han identity, which competed with other types of identity-polity systems?such as those of the Dai, the Lahu and the Wa?between the Mekong
River and the Salween River..."
Source/publisher:
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
Date of Publication:
2014-00-00
Date of entry:
2015-10-10
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
482.77 KB