ann
(Ann)
#1
Escalating elite imperial demand approached mass consumption of
forage over time. The earliest function of Butha Ula units from roughly
the 1620 stothe 1640 s had been to acquire forage for sacrifice at dynastic
temples and tombs. In 1700 fish foragers had to procure only sixtyfine-
scaledfish for this purpose, in addition to their sturgeon-catching duties,
imposed four years earlier. By the early 1880 s, foragers were scouring ten
rivers to obtain their quota of 5 , 382 fine-scaledfish.^34
The scale and complexity of operations such as Butha Ulafishing is
another distinguishing characteristic of imperial foraging, but the uses to
which such immense amounts of forage were put were also distinctive.
Fine-scaledfish were not intended simply for consumption, but for vener-
ation of dynastic tombs, as were the sable and otter pelt tribute from
indigenous peoples such as the Hejen and Fiyaka.^35 Indeed, the very act of
hunting and gathering these products was intended to nurture the corres-
ponding“Manchu”virtues among the various inhabitants of northeast-
ern foraging spaces. Imperial foraging in these terms was one
postconquest strategy to maintain ecological and cultural conditions for
the preservation of the dynasty’s preconquest ethnic identity. Conse-
quently, a fundamental prerequisite for imperial foraging was sufficient,
and sufficiently isolated, space, which preconquest resource competition
had already established as the cores of imperial foraging enclaves. These
enclaves, often defined by geographic features such as mountains and
rivers, fell into three basic classifications.
Each of the eight Manchu banners had access to ginseng mountains
(renshen shan), foraging mountains (caibu shan), and battue hunting
mountains (weilie shan) of between two to nineteen in each category.
Sometimes several banners shared access to a particular enclave. The two
red banners, for example, shared ten battue hunting grounds between
them. Of twenty-six foraging enclaves and forty-five battue hunting
enclaves appearing in banner records, most of those that can be located
lie scattered across the border between eastern Fengtian and southwestern
Jilin over much of the core of the original Manchu homelands. Mountains
defined such enclaves in this generally subboreal region, possibly because
their elevated boreal microclimates nurtured distinctiveflora and fauna.
Korean ginseng (Panax ginsengC. A. Meyer), for example, is a product of
the mixed broadleaf-conifer forests of southeastern Manchuria.^36
These resource enclaves were special administrative subdivisions of
northeastern space for military and foraging purposes integral to the
pursuit of a banner lifestyle. The most important, the Butha Ula enclave,
was established“in the early years of the state”as a specialized foraging
72 Across Forest, Steppe, and Mountain
