. West Hunan had the longest surviving local chieftainship in Chinese history. In the mean time, the Nation in the mind of the Hmong was almost identical to the Tusi administration. Tusi were allowed by the central government to have their own army, which were not part of the imperial army and had no military obligation towards the government except on occasions of foreign invasion, when they should follow the central government's commandments. The Tusi army was civilian at time of peace but enlisted when wars broke out. Some Hmong people joined the Tusi army and fought against invasions under central commandership as well, such as in the battles against the Japanese pirates (wokou 倭寇) who plundered the coastline of South-eastern China during the 14th to 16th century.

West Hunan entered the central government’s consideration only during Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). The first formal government set up here was the Guardianship (shoubei 守备) established in 1513. Afterwards, as the geographic and strategic importance of this place increased, accompanied by the more frequent riots and conflicts between different ethnic groups, the level of administrative institution became ever higher accordingly. The Tusi institution was abolished in 1707, and the government of Fenghuang Ting, which belonged to the hierarchy of centralised administration, was established two years later. In the early 18th century Qing rulers used two different policies and strategies to construct imperial rule in West Hunan, applying to different communities recognized with separate identities. To the communities which were under the control of Tusi (Cooked Hmong), the state political and juridical institutions of Qing were applied and replaced the native chieftainship. To the communities living outside the control of Tusi, who were mainly Hmong communities beyond the South Great Wall (Raw Hmong), certain specific census registers, conventional regulations, land policies and tax policies were applied alongside the state institutions[130]. These specific policies implied that the Qing Empire recognized the region as the frontier rather than part of the nation.

At this stage, the Hmong representatives and lower officials played an important role in forming the perception of the culture of these communities as accepted by central government, and in mediating the relationship between Qing central government and local communities. The Qing administration of Southern Xiangxi in this period, especially the land policies, led to the tragic confrontation between Hmong people and Qing State. In forming the truce agreements and other similar official negotiations, local communities gradually formed a self-recognition of a collected identity. Thisprocess also included very complicated interactions among difference local forces, and among different communities who were collectively referred to as the Hmong. As a result, the Hmong identity was officially constructed from the nation's perspective and selfconsciously constructed by local communities in West Hunan.

These archives suggest that from the 14th to the 19th century the Hmong identity was specified and officially recorded mainly due to the military and political confrontations between the central government and the local forces in West Hunan.

УДК 94(512.22) «13/19»

ЛИЦЗИН ПЭН. PhD, Национальный университет Ирландии в Мейнуте, Мейнут, Ирландия. LIJING PENG. PhD, National University of Ireland, Maynooth.