space. Herding in this way was less subject to human manipulation than
agriculture, which could employ a wider range of intensive techniques.
The coordination of Mongols in banners and leagues and livestock in
flocks and herds was not exclusively determined by human constructs, but
formed in a dynamic, networked relation to steppe ecology. This ecology,
in combination with local Mongol action, complicated the state’s imple-
mentation of imperial pastoralism and forced it to adapt, often by prolif-
erating banners and herds. State inability to maintain its own sheep
quotas is one measureable ecological limitation. Study of these grassland
adaptations and limitations under the region’s extreme weather condi-
tions more precisely delineates the effective boundaries of the dynasty’s
steppe borderland.
table 7TaipusiHorse Herds, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Date Mare Herds Gelding Herds
Early Qing 40 8
1688 64 8
1694 80 8
1695 84 8
1701 87 8
1706 93 8
1710 120 8
1711 128 8
1723 152 8
1725 152 16
1740 ( 35 , 000 / 5 , 000 )a 152 16
1749 b( 30 , 766 / 13 , 117 ) 160 32
1750 b( 22 , 535 / 11 , 486 ) 160 32
1761 160 32
1764 94 16
1766 c( 37 , 600 / 6 , 400 ) 94 16
1770 94 22
1773 104 30
1776 108 30
1779 116 30
1785 116 24
1794 120 26
Notes:aFigures in parentheses record mare herd/gelding herd limits, in head of livestock,
when available
bFigures for these years come from MWLF, QL 15 / 7 / 4 [ 03 - 171 - 0374 - 008 ], QL 15 / 7 / 4
[ 03 - 171 - 0374 - 009 ].
cMaximum number of head per herdfixed at 400.
Source: Da Qing huidian shili, 11 : 889 a– 890 b