ann
(Ann)
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both natural and human resources, as opponents of Han migration such
as Giohoto recognized. It would also expand imperial arablism by multi-
plying and strengthening its connections with the Inner Mongolian eco-
tone. The results, like those of well-digging, would be not be self-
sustaining and could be inherently disruptive. Resources, such as wood,
fish, and salt, would be exhausted as agrarian connections expanded that
might render the ecotone lessflexible, or even unfit for reversion to
pastoralism under altered circumstances. There would also be an
expanded state obligation to manage human conflict over these increas-
ingly scarce resources that would also add more interethnic tension to the
cost of imperial arablist development.
Other interethnic conflicts were already being generated by new Rus-
sian expansion across China’s northern frontier. Zhang’s representative
response was, again, imperial arablist, although in a relatively more
qualified manner that acknowledged the importance of imperial pastoral-
ism. He requested that“retrained forces”(lianbing) be raised and madefit
for service from among Chakhar Mongols and“banner people”in the
vicinity of Suiyuan and the nearby Chakhar lands to resist the Russians.
He laid a particular emphasis on their deployment in“military pastoral
colonies”(tunmu), a variation on the more traditional“military agricul-
tural colonies”(tuntian) usually manned by regular troops. This form of
organization, however, which was intended to provide for Mongol pas-
toral livelihoods, nevertheless required recruits to be specially trained
because of the“ignorant character of Mongols.”^35 The details of Zhang’s
critique of this character reveal familiar disharmonies resonant in human
responses to ecological cycles.
Zhang said that the seasonally lush abundance of the steppe grass-
lands in spring and summer lulled conventional Mongol herders into a
false sense of security. Herders would let their“livestock multiply in
inexhaustible numbers”until“ice and snow covered the wilds”when,
“since they know nothing of stores,”all began to starve. Zhang held
that this poor conduct of environmental relations accounted for “the
recent feebleness of the Mongols”to resist invasion. He proposed a
“genuine consolidation of the frontiers”through a coordinated plan
“for the storage of grass against the winter”to ensure proper livestock
breeding. More straightforward measures“to promote agricultural work
and soil fertility to enrich livelihoods”would also be taken, including the
sowing of grains“in the many arable places”that ripened in summer to
avoid the early regional frosts that afflicted fall harvests. Most import-
antly, existing“unauthorized”cultivation of vast fertile tracts in the
236 Across Forest, Steppe, and Mountain
