Throughout Chinese history, the southwestern region has always been an important part of China's territory. Although the Central Plains dynasties' control over the southwestern borderlands varied in different periods, political, economic, and cultural connections between the southwestern region and the Central Plains has always trended toward integration.

The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia by American scholar James C. Scott (1936–2024), creates a conceptual territory "Zomia," which includes the upland areas of Southeast Asia and Southwest China, from the perspective of what he calls the "state effect." Scott suggests that throughout history, many people have actively chosen to flee state control, turning these upland areas into "nonstate spaces."

What are the historical facts? Does this so-called "Zomia" really exist in China?

Mistake 1:

Ignoring the historical developmental trend in Southwest China

In his discussion of Zomia, Scott considers the Central Highlands of Vietnam, northeastern India, as well as all areas with elevations above 300 meters in China's Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Sichuan provinces as a region that "bestrides the usual regional designations" and may be "aptly called shatter zones or zones of refuge" to evade state control.

He discusses China's southwestern frontier and its history from the Western historical perspective, and presents an ambiguous and confused portrayal of ethnic groups, cultural diversity and complexity within this region, as well as spatial relations among China, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.

In fact, since the Qin and Han dynasties (221 BC–AD 220), the southwestern region of China has been under the control of the Central Plains dynasties, and Chinese civilization has never waned or been interrupted in this region.

As early as the pre-Qin period, the southwestern region (Ba and Shu) was an integral part of ancient China. In the late Warring States period (476–221 BC), General Zhuang Qiao of the state of Chu and his followers developed thousands of miles of fertile land around Lake Dian, actively integrating into the local population, adopting local attire, and becoming leaders of local people.

During the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BC), an important passage was constructed from present-day Yibin in Hubei province to present-day Qujing in Yunnan province, connecting the Central Plains with the southwestern uplands. Moreover, regional governments were set up in the southwestern region to incorporate some areas into the territory of the Central Plains dynasties.

During the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC–AD 8), Yizhou prefecture was established, covering today's Yunnan province in China, with its administrative center located in Dianchi county (now Jinning district, Kunming city), marking the inclusion of the entire Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the southwestern frontier of China. In recent years, a large number of mud seals and bamboo slips from the Han Dynasty have been unearthed at the historical site in Hebosuo village, Jinning district, Kunming city, along with the discovery of the foundations of large buildings and roads. The administrative and judicial contents of these bamboo slips corroborate with the mud seals, indicating that the Western Han Dynasty had already exercised governance over the borderlands of Yunnan.

During the Wei and Jin dynasties (220–420), the southwestern frontier of China, mainly comprising the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, further expanded, with its southern boundaries connecting with vassal states such as Jiaozhi (located in the Red River Basin of northern Vietnam) and the Shan States (located in northeastern Myanmar).

During the Tang and Song dynasties (618–1279), the southwestern frontier extended even further, encompassing areas controlled by Nanzhao and Dali, with its outer edges extending to the vassal states of that time such as Pyu city-states (located in present-day Myanmar), Bruneian Sultanate (located in present-day Brunei), Champa (located in central and southern Vietnam), and Annam (the ancient name for Vietnam).

During the Ming and Qing periods (1368–1911), the imperial court abolished the practice of appointing local hereditary ethnic headmen in various ethnic areas of the southwest and replaced it with the direct governance of appointed officials from the central government to implement the same local administrative system as in the interior regions. This led to a significant increase in migration from the Central Plains, deepening the integration of the political, economic, and cultural aspects of the southwestern region with those of the Central Plains.

Throughout Chinese history, the southwestern region has always been an important part of China's territory. The trend of integration between the southwest and the inland areas has been strengthened and deepened with the progression of history.

Mistake 2:

Severing ethnic relations in Southwest China's border regions

The book The Art of Not Being Governed strongly exhibits a binary opposition, establishing the concept of Zomia based on the antagonism between the state and the highland regions.

In Scott's view, evading state control is a strategically designed act of mountain people. Throughout the book, there are numerous binary oppositions such as central vs. peripheral, valley vs. mountain, sedentary cultivation vs. shifting cultivation, oppression vs. freedom, civilization vs. savagery, integration vs. evasion, etc., which suggest that everything in the mountainous environment contrasts sharply with the state.

In reality, Scott simplifies the study on the society and ethnic groups of China's southwestern borderlands, lacking in-depth analysis of historical facts. He overlooks the profound impact of governance by Central Plains dynasties on the mobility of mountain people in the southwest. During specific historical periods, indigenous ethnic groups in the southwestern uplands might flee from the dynastic rule due to ecological or political reasons, but there was no isolated "havens of refuge" in the southwestern region.

On the contrary, due to the influence of Central Plains dynasties, previously detached regions gradually became interconnected and formed a collective entity, giving rise to regional political centers that served as platforms for frequent exchanges and connections among various upland and lowland populations. This shift did not lead to large-scale flight of mountain people, but resulted in them being officially registered as commoners under the jurisdiction of Central Plains dynasties. For example, several household registers were found among the bamboo slips unearthed at the Hebosuo site in Yunnan, indicating the implementation of a household registration system by the Han court in Yizhou prefecture.

At the same time, the influx of migrants from the Central Plains facilitated significant development in the southwestern region. During periods of social upheaval, mobility and migration served as survival strategies for mountain people. However, the direction of movement was not solely outward flight; more often, it was inward, forming a centripetal trend from the periphery toward the center.

Additionally, there has always been an inseparable connection between different ethnic groups in the southwestern region. For example, during the Han dynasty (202 BC–AD 220), there was trade and other close interactions between the Central Plains region and the southwestern tribes. Border markets were established in places like Yelang (now the western of Guizhou Province) and Qiongdu (now Xichang City, Sichuan Province), despite occasional closures of trade markets by the Western Han Dynasty in Shu prefecture. Nevertheless, merchants from Ba and Shu engaged in cross-border trade even through unofficial channels. During the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties, Han Buddhism from the Central Plains had a deep influence on regional kingdoms in Yunnan, such as Nanzhao (738–902) and Dali (937–1254). Buddhism was embraced by ministers, officials, and commoners, with several rulers of Dali abdicating in their later years to become monks. The renowned Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali City also reflects a strong Central Plains architectural influence.

During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the military garrisons in Yunnan consisted of organized Mongolian troops, as well as a considerable number of Uighur troops, Han troops, and newly affiliated troops. Over the years, this military population intermarried and integrated with the local populace, and their descendants have been living in various parts of Yunnan to this day. In the middle to late Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the timber trade that emerged in the Qingshui River basin in Guizhou brought a significant number of silver ingots to the local Miao community, leading to the tradition of wearing silver ornaments, and in the Qingshui River basin, different styles of silver ornaments are very popular among the Miao people.

From this, it can be seen that the economic and cultural characteristics as well as spatial distribution differences among different ethnic groups have instead laid a foundation for their exchange and interaction. In the regional structure where mountainous areas ("highlands") are both connected to and separated from the surrounding basin areas ("lowlands"), the interaction among various ethnic groups in the southwestern region became a way to avoid livelihood risks through economic complementarity.

Mistake 3:

Significant flaws in research methodology and use of historical sources

On the other hand, Scott's book exhibits significant problems in both research methodology and the application of historical sources and basic historical facts.

The book employs interdisciplinary, especially anthropological, conceptual approaches in an attempt to explain the rationality of "upland peoples" evading state control by constructing the concept of Zomia. However, the parts regarding the history of China's southwestern borderlands lack sufficient empirical support and have been widely criticized and questioned by scholars and experts.

Despite valuing the use of various documentary materials including Han Chinese texts, Scott often relies on processed secondary historical sources, which affects the accuracy of interpretation. Moreover, there are numerous instances of deliberate or unintentional trimming, overlooking, and selective using of historical materials in his arguments.

For instance, his book mentions a so-called "Nanzhao-as-a-Thai-kingdom" argument, which has long been debunked in scholarly circles. However, in order to argue that "upland society" is a result of "state effect," Scott disregards historical facts by using the Nanzhao argument as evidence of Dai-Thai people seeking refuge southwestward or southward in response to the expansion of Central Plains dynasties. Regarding ethnic groups like the Akha, Miao, and Yao, whose histories lack written documentation, Scott nonchalantly treats oral accounts and legends of them migrating from lowland valleys to highlands as historical facts so as to argue that most mountain people migrated here to escape the state-designed plans in lowland river valleys. Scott's arguments overlook the long and complex development and evolution of China's southwestern upland ethnic groups, and excessively homogenize them to fit his assertion of unidirectional population movement.

When commenting on Scott's book The Art of Not Being Governed, Christian Daniels, the editor of The History and Culture of Upland Peoples in Southeast Asia, said that it was a pity that there were many problems in the use of historical sources, and it did not move beyond the realm of hypotheses. Other critics have pointed out that the book's portrayals of the ethnic groups of ancient southwestern China as "free" people "evading state control," and its interpretations that the integration of ethnic groups in ancient China and governance in the southwestern borderlands were a form of "conquest" and "oppression," both lack reliable historical evidence.

In fact, over an extended period, the history of China's southwestern frontier reflects the symbiotic relationship between the central government and regional authority, as well as between the state and society. It illustrates the continuous exchange and interaction among various ethnic groups, who have gradually blurred regional boundaries and ultimately merge into a single, cohesive entity.

The authors are Duan Jinsheng, Science and Technology Department of Yunnan Minzu University; and Yin Jiandong, School of Ethnology and History at Yunnan Minzu University

Liu Xian /Editor    Li Minjie /Translator

Yang Xinhua /Chief Editor    Liu Xian /Coordination Editor

Liu Li /Reviewer

Zhang Weiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

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