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banner region that was probably comparable in expanse to a small
modern prefectural municipality.^37 Units processed forage while execut-
ing military duties, such as patrols used to maintain enclave integrity.
Enclave authority was complicated. It overlapped for certain purposes
and at different times, mainly between theNeiwufuand Jilin’s military
governor, who could not, for example, levy taxes on Butha Ula. The
enclave’s garrison was ranked under theNeiwufumilitary hierarchy of
the three superior andfive inferior banners. These could be subject to
different foraging regulations, a statutory complexity that partly reflected
environmental diversity.^38
Specialized distinctions also arose between soldiers and foragers that
had not previously existed and that often altered relations between people
and animals. In 1682 upon returning from an imperial tour through Jilin,
the Kangxi emperor decided to reduce the burdensome foraging duties of
regular banner troops, probably about twenty-five hundred men around
this time, also stationed in Butha Ula.^39 Henceforth, the capture of
nestlings of eagles and hawks, usually pursued in early spring to“the
detriment of agriculture,”would be abolished. Foraging of“sturgeon and
otherfish,”however, would continue with specialized foragerjuhiyan
duly assigned in 1666. Finally, hunting, as the primary form of military
exercise for banner troops, would continue, but not“incessantly.”The
paramount concerns here were the preservation of the horses’condition
and protecting personnel from“undue harm”when“encountering wild
beasts.”^40
The emperor’s decision to scale back trooper’s foraging duties was
made in the context of more than a decade of Cossack incursion into
the SAH basin, which the Qing ended through military operations in the
mid- 1680 s and the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689. This victory required an
unprecedented military and administrative mobilization into regions far
north of Butha Ula, where previous dynastic presence had been sparse.
The mobilization resulted in the establishment of the territorial admin-
strations of Jilin and Heilongjiang, in 1653 and 1683 , respectively. An
increased emphasis on standing armies, a local agrarian logistical infra-
structure, and a commensurate reduction in any activities such as foraging
that hindered these measures duly ensued.^41
The conditions that arose in Jilin and Heilongjiang intensified the
influence of the imperial state on local foraging practices, traditional
indigenous expressions that had not made such absolute distinctions
between hunting, gathering, andfighting. Moreover, this cultural con-
traction in what activities legitimately distinguished a soldier from a
The Nature of Imperial Foraging in the SAH Basin 73
