2026-06-25 –, Room 208 (Seats 40)
The military farming policy (屯田制, tun tian zhi) promoted by Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in the 1300s encouraged Han Chinese to immigrate from the empire’s eastern coast to the southwestern frontier at Zhenyuan in present-day Guizhou Province, China. The Green Dragon Cave Temple Complex of Zhenyuan exemplifies cultural synthesis between the indigenous Hmu, i.e., Black Miao (黑苗), and the émigré Han Chinese communities.
Originally a sacrificial ground for ancestor worship and the residence of local Miao leaders, the site was converted by Han Chinese into a religious complex that included Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist temples constructed during the Ming period (1368-1644), as well as the Jiangxi Guild Hall (會館, hui guan) during the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). The syncretic architectural style was reflected in the Han’s adoption of the Miao’s ethnic markers—buffalo horns—for decoration and the technique—stilted houses (diaojiao lou 吊腳樓)—for construction. The indigenous Miao, being portrayed as a marginalized group, contributed to this site through the persistence of their distinguished culture.
A short account from an autobiography in the Supernatural Collection (fangwai zhuan 方外轉) of the Zhenyuan Gazetteer will be presented to illustrate local Han vigilance toward the Miao as an underrepresented population. An illiterate Miao monk became a cultivated, well-versed philanthropist after visiting Putuo Mountain, a famous Han-dominated Buddhist site in Zhejiang. After fundraising to repair a bridge in Zhenyuan, he was acclaimed as the “Iron Arhat” by the locals, in contrast to Han stereotypical depictions of the Miao as wild and uncivilized. Buddhism played an adhesive role between these two cultures. However, the untimely death of the Miao monk illustrated latent Miao–Han conflicts in the empire’s frontier regions, portraying the Miao as an Exotic Other in a broader historical context.
Miao and Han, ethnicity, architectural history, Ming and Qing
Diyang Zhou is an independent researcher from Bard College with a degree in Art History and Religious Studies. His research interests include ethnic and borderland studies, migration studies, and architectural history, with a particular focus on southwestern China. In addition, he has worked as a Collections Project Assistant at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York, where he conducted research on Chinese–English dictionaries in the twentieth century.