84 Boundaries and Beyond
a death toll of 5,500 men. Another clash between the two sides occurred
in 1599, and led to 1,800 deaths among the Li.^107
It is therefore not surprising that Gu Yanwu claimed guarding against
the southern barbarian tribes was more difβicult than dealing with the
northern barbarians in the desert. The former were right on the door-
step and they could cause trouble any time they liked: “Their sporadic
advances and retreats are unpredictable.” He proposed that, “light levies
would serve to reward their compliance and show them parental love.
Eventually they would enter into the embrace of our cultural practices.”^108
By the early Qing, Hainan was considered the most secure island among
those along the Guangdong coast, since few people except for the most
desperate bandits wanted to visit the island,^109 but the separation between
the Han Chinese and the Li settlements, and conβlict between the two
sides, still continued. Lan Dingyuan, for instance, derided the absence
of integration between the coastal administrative units and the central
part of the island where the raw aborigines lived. He did not consider
this gulf to be appropriate to the dignity of a state. He was convinced
that the state should legitimately claim the whole island and revive a past
plan to build roads across the central region of the island and gradually
acculturate the aboriginal people.^110 Lan’s expansionist approach was
affected not so much by the need to strengthen the haifang; it was more
of a proposal to encroach on an inland region to ensure law and order.
However, past difβiculties in dealing with the raw Li caused the Qing to
move cautiously, and also contributed to the formulation of a similar
separation policy in Taiwan.
Taiwan. Taiwan fell into the category of “a land beyond reach” before
the Ming era when it was known as Dongfan.^111 In 1563, Military-
Governor Yu Dayou pursued the sea-bandit Lin Daoqian as far as Penghu.
Unfamiliar with the Taiwan coast, General Yu only garrisoned Penghu
with a detachment and sent occasional patrols to the waters outside
Lu’ermen on the west coast of Taiwan to keep an eye on Lin’s movements.
At that point in time the island had no Han Chinese settlers. Lin eventually
abandoned the island after looting aboriginal villages and moved to
Champa. The detachment at Penghu was then withdrawn.^112
- YMXSJL, 3: 40b–41a.
- For both citations, see TXJGLBS, 28: 52a–55b.
- QCHJTS, in TWWXCK, no. 155, p. 59.
- XFHZYDCC, 9: 337a–b.
- QCHJTS, in TWWXCK, no. 155, p. 118; also QLHTZXTZ, 40: 7a.
- QCHJTS, in TWWXCK, no. 155, p. 97.
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