Manchu Empire or China Historical GIS? Re-mapping the China/Inner Asia Frontier in the Qing Period CHGIS

Abstract

AbstractThis study critiques the China Historical Geographic Information System in terms of its failure to distinguish between regions of Chinese civilisation that were directly incorporated into an imperial field administration and Inner Asian regions under indigenous polities. Although the focus of this study is on eastern Tibet, specifically China’s southwestern Tibetan Frontier in Sichuan, the general methodological approach employed is relevant to the entire Inner Asian cultural region. Despite China’s long history, only some eastern Tibetan communities located along the transition zone between the eastern Tibetan Plateau and agrarian China were integrated into the traditional Chinese field administration. Most of this expansion occurred during the last dynasty known as the Qing or Manchu, c. 1644–1911.