明代遼陽の東寧衞について

Abstract

In the Ming a General Commandant for Liaodong 遼東都指揮使司 was established in Liaoyang, Liaoyang becoming the headquarters for the frontier defense of the Ming and the governance of the northeast. To the north of Liaoyang, contiguous to the city wall, there was an area called Beicheng 北城 and in Beicheng there was a government office called the Dongning Commandery. This office had been established to isolate the Jurchen and Koreans living in Liaoyang since the Yuan dynasty and those who had recently surrendered to the Ming from the Chinese living in the same area. But when the trade between the Jurchen and the Ming began to flourish from the Yongle reign period (1403-1424) on, this state of isolation was as a result discontinued, and Jurchen from all over the northeast came to live inside the city wall of Liaoyang. Among them were those who presented tribute to the Ming and occupied themselves by trade, those who were literate in Jurchen and provided facilities for written communication between the Jurchen in the northeast and the Ming dynasty, and those who had learnt Chinese and became go-betweens in the exchange of information between the Jurchen and the Ming by acting as interpreters. Because of the welcome reception given to the Koreans envoys to the Ming and the overly heavy imposition of taxand corvee in their native country, the flight of the inhabitants of the Pingan Circuit continued incessantly. Many crossed the Yalu River and entered the various parts of Liaodong, including the city of Dongning Commandery. They maintained the language, dress and culinary traditions of their home country and thus the city became multi-racial. The role played by the inhabitants of this city in the diplomatic relations between north and south and in cultural exchange is not to be overlooked. Because of the activities of these people, it was easy for Nurhaci to attain control over Liaodong at the end of the Ming.