The chieftain system first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty. Before that, the Chinese feudal dynasty implemented the policy of restraint and restraint in the management of ethnic minority areas. Although there are differences between the two in terms of degree of perfection and specific refinement, their connotations, governance ideas and scope of application are generally consistent. 1. The main contents of the land of chieftains

In the border areas of southwest China, such as Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, the feudal dynasty appointed local barbarian leaders as native officials or chieftains at all levels. , official positions and positions cannot be abolished at will, and can be hereditary with approval. If they perform their duties poorly or merge with each other, the court should remove them from their posts, demote them, or punish them.

In some areas, after the local chieftains were dismissed, the imperial court reassigned exiled officials to govern the area, which was called "gaituguiliu" in history. The imperial court combined the appointment of chieftains and local officials with the local governing institutions. In the yamen where the chieftain serves, there are also officials of the same level dispatched by the court, and grassroots affairs are taken care of by low-level native officials such as chieftain and chieftain.

The institutions where native officials and chieftains serve still have a regulatory nature, but they are included in the management of the national administrative system. The native chieftains have a formal rank, and their treatment, rights and obligations are generally the same as those of the officials in the mainland.

The responsibilities of chieftains include checking household registrations, collecting taxes, commanding the army, adjudicating disputes, maintaining public security and paying regular tribute in the area under their jurisdiction. The chieftain can command the Turkish army belonging to the national army. The Turkish army is composed of strong barbarians under the jurisdiction of the chieftain. The Turkish army was mainly used to maintain local security, but it also accepted the dispatch of the imperial court and was led by superior native officials to go on expeditions in other places.

The chieftain system was successful in the southwestern frontier, and the key to it was that it coincided with the characteristics of the local barbarian society. Affected by the complex diversity of geographical climate environment and animal and plant resources, the production and lifestyle of the ethnic groups in the southwestern frontier are complex and diverse. Each ethnic group has lived in a specific natural environment for a long time, accumulated special experience in adapting to local life, and has a close connection with the land and natural resources in the place of residence.

On the other hand, immigrants from other places have continued to move in for thousands of years and gradually merged with the indigenous peoples of the southwest, making the type of southwest frontier culture similar to that of the mainland. Although their level of economic development is relatively low, they have It is economically self-sufficient and culturally close to the mainland.

Therefore, the main contradiction among the ethnic groups in the southwest frontier is within themselves, that is, the long-term struggles over resource possession and grievances within and between the ethnic groups, and thus the formation of intertwined interest relationships, or in other words, the conflicts between the ethnic groups in the southwest. The ethnic struggles are mainly local, and they are more in awe of the feudal dynasties in the interior and the ethnic forces in the southwest. 2. The impact of the chieftain system on society

The biggest impact of the chieftain system at that time was mainly on cultural identity and political identity.

The differences between the various ethnic groups and their cultures in the border areas and the mainstream culture represented by the central dynasty are obvious. Many aspects such as language, clothing, living customs and historical processes are very different from those in the Central Plains. These differences and differences have led to contradictions and conflicts. It has become a common historical phenomenon for different ethnic groups to establish relatively independent local governments and bargain with the central government.

However, their relationship with the central government cannot be severed or let go. First, they have historical economic and cultural dependence, and they have political and military protection and support from the Second World War. Third, all ethnic groups have the ambition to unify the world. Ambition, all of which led to the lack of political and cultural identification of various ethnic groups with the central dynasty.

The chieftain system happened to have an important historical impact on the construction of this identity relationship.

In terms of the cultural identity relationship between frontier ethnic groups and mainstream culture, the chieftain system has used several historical points to rise to the dependence relationship between the central and local governments under a unified political power.

In different regions and different ethnic groups, chieftains relied on the cultural promotion policies of the central government to learn, learn from and transform their own national culture, and then developed into a local culture with rich regional colors, and continued to promote and Radiate and extend.

No one questions the Chinese culture of local cultures such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Xiangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan that people have long recognized, and no one can deny their local and national character.

Take Yunnan as an example. After the establishment of the chieftain system, the changes in Yunnan were epoch-making. Before the Ming Dynasty, Yunnan was a frontier barbarian area dominated by Yi, Bai, Dai and other ethnic groups. The Han people who entered Yunnan since the Qin and Han Dynasties had all followed the local customs and were transformed into barbarians.

After the establishment of the chieftain system, the Guangxing Academy was established, and the children of all ethnic groups had the opportunity to favor the academic officials, teach the flute, make them aware of etiquette, and make beauty the custom. ?Coupled with the immigration of a large number of Han people from the mainland during the Ming Dynasty, Yunnan gradually became a "Yunnan culture" that successfully integrated Chinese traditional culture and local ethnic culture and had a strong regional flavor.

At the same time, the political recognition value of the chieftain system is beyond the reach of the border policies of any previous era. The difference between it and previous border policies is that it is a planned identity construction of government behavior and a political model acceptable to both the central and local governments. This system produces complementary results between the two.

The chieftain system gave various ethnic groups in the frontiers the legal status of national and local administrative entities. They became part of the national administrative units. There were strict institutional procedures for appointment, promotion, inheritance and punishment, and at the same time they had considerable authority. Autonomy is important.

It enables different ethnic groups to maintain their respective cultures and traditions, and has a positive interaction between cultural identity and political identity. It gradually derives a preliminary understanding of the concept of "country" and must shoulder its due national responsibilities and obligations accordingly.

For example, during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a rebellion in Luchuan, Yunnan, and chieftains from various places responded to counter the rebellion; during the Jiajing period, Guangxi wolf soldiers and Huguang native soldiers were ordered to go out in the anti-Japanese war on the southeast coast and made outstanding achievements. Another example is that in the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu's reign (1900), Zuo Xiaochen, chieftain of the Jingpo tribe in Pianma in the western border of Yunnan, led his troops to fight against the British invasion and died heroically, so that Pianma was not lost.