Caravan Mobility and Brigandage in Northern China (18th-20th centuries): Imperial Archives, Narratives and Orality（十八至二十世紀中國北方的駱駝隊移動與土匪：帝國檔案、敘事與口述）
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Abstract:
Caravan mobility in late imperial Northern China is well known by historians. It is, however, relatively little studied from the point of view of brigandage. There is certainly no lack of sources containing clues about it. Numerous Qing imperial archives (1644-1911) concerning attacks by brigands on travelling groups exist, and several narratives provide information about local practices to protect people from brigandage. Merchants and migrants indeed had to cross vast spaces subject to complex logics of territoriality and partly beyond the control of the state. This presentation will explore the possibilities of deepening our understanding of the social, professional, and lineage organisation of caravan practices when facing challenges to their mobility between the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Caravan mobility in late imperial Northern China is well known by historians. It is, however, relatively little studied from the point of view of brigandage. There is certainly no lack of sources containing clues about it. Numerous Qing imperial archives (1644-1911) concerning attacks by brigands on travelling groups exist, and several narratives provide information about local practices to protect people from brigandage. Merchants and migrants indeed had to cross vast spaces subject to complex logics of territoriality and partly beyond the control of the state. This presentation will explore the possibilities of deepening our understanding of the social, professional, and lineage organisation of caravan practices when facing challenges to their mobility between the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries.