Across Forest, Steppe, and Mountain_ Environment, Identity, and Empire in Qing China\'s Borderlands

These immense state complexes often overlapped to accommodate

expedient transfers of excess livestock between the densely packed herd

zones, clustered just north of the Great Wall, with some outlying pas-

tures in Fengtian and Jilin (Table 6 ). Most of the main complexes, the

state’sTaipusi(Court of the Imperial Stud), the banners’military herds,

and the emperor’s ownNeiwufuShangdu/Dabsun Nuur pastures, were

administratively under the Zhili prefecture of Koubei San Ting. Cultur-

ally and ecologically speaking, however, these complexes were Mongo-

lian grassland reserves staffed by Mongolian herders, and large parts of

these pastures lie within today’s Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region

(IMAR) boundaries. The other major, and the largest, complex of

Dariganga sprawled over approximately twenty-three thousand square

kilometers well to the north on the Inner Mongolia side of its border

with Uliastai.

Congenial cultural and ecological conditions also promoted conver-

gence betweengūsaandhoshuuherds, as is visible in the management

of the Eight-Banner Pastoral Chakhar. Their oldaimaglands,“suit-

able for pastures,” had become the core of state herd complexes

during Chakhar subjection in the 1630 s. In the wake of their 1675

table 6Major Qing State Pastures in Manchuria and Mongolia

Name Locale Established Administration Main herd types

Yangxi Fengtian 1669 Neiwufu Horse, Cattle,
Sheep
Daling He Fengtian 1669 Neiwufu Horse
TaipusiL&R
Wings

Koubei San

Ting

1644 Taipusi Horse, camel

Dariganga Inner
Mongolia

1700 Neiwufu

(Shangsiyuan

andQingfengsi)

Horse, camel,

sheep

Shangdu/
Dabsun
Nuur

Koubei San

Ting

Shunzhi

period

Neiwufu

(Shangsiyuan)

Horse, camel,

cattle, sheepb

Chakhar Eight
Banners

Inner

Mongolia

c. 1636 a Lifanyuan Horse, camel

Three Upper
Banners

Koubei San

Ting

Shunzhi

period

Neiwufu

(Qingfengsi)

Cattle, sheep

Sources: Da Qing huidian(GX), 624 b, 667 b- 68 a, 856 a–b, 870 b;Da Qing huidian shili
(GX), 10 : 1010 b, 11 : 886 a, 12 : 1008 b, 1009 b, 1010 a–b, 1011 a.
Notes:aSource: Dalizhabu,“Qingdai Baqi Chakhar kao,” 2002.
bMWLF YZ 10 / 5 / 22 [ 03 - 172 - 0665 - 007 ], (sheepflocks); QL 13 / 8 / 14 [ 03 - 172 - 0681 - 002 ]

(cattle herds).

122 Across Forest, Steppe, and Mountain