Colonialism and Local Identity in Ancient Sichuan

• In Event: Statecraft and Cultural Diversity in Premodern China: Empire, Ethnic Identity and Religious Ideology

Abstract

Early Chinese Empires were colonial regimes. In this paper, I am going to present a case study of ancient Sichuan to elaborate on previous interpretations of cultural change and to highlight the negotiation of identity between imperial and local agents in a colonial context. In 316 BC, the state of Qin conquered the entire land of Sichuan, and this region may well have been Qin’s first colony before it finally unified China and created an empire (221 BC). Forceful military acquisitions of the land and the construction of a colonial landscape reshaped the indigenous cultures. Han took control of Sichuan after the collapse of Qin. The adoption of the metropolitan culture (traditionally recognized as “sinicization”) continued for more than three hundred years. Being colonized, peoples in colonial Sichuan demonstrated their struggles. In this paper, the past “sinicization” point of view was abandoned. Facing the colonial regime, ancient Sichuanese did not reacted passively and they were not “passive barbarians”. Under the colonial rule, ancient Sichuanese demonstrated their agency. Resistance, passivity and collaboration were the basic attitudes ancient Sichuanese chose to respond to foreign rules. The society of ancient colonial Sichuan was dynamic, composed of complex interactions among mobile individuals and groups. This paper will prove that the peoples in ancient Sichuan were not merely “sinicized,” but rather that they often played an active role in constructing their local cultural identities within greater imperial worlds.

Author

• Chuan-An Hu, McGill University