Forgotten War -- A Study of the Great Clashes Between the Local and Migrant Populations in Guangdong During the Xianfeng and Tongzhi Periods

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Features: During the Xianfeng and Tongzhi periods, a prolonged and large-scale armed conflict broke out between the Tusi and Hakka in Guangdong. The scale of this conflict, the number of casualties, and its profound impact were unparalleled in Chinese history. However, it was dismissed by the government at the time and later scholars as a "private feud," leading to its neglect. Moreover, due to major national events and wars such as the Taiping Rebellion, Hongbing Uprising, and the Second Opium War, this conflict gradually faded into the background, becoming a hidden disturbance overlooked by both contemporary politics and later scholars. In the popular field of modern Chinese history, this armed conflict has become a blind spot in collective memory. This book uses a wealth of archival records, official documents, and local gazettes to provide a detailed account and analysis of this civilian war. It reconstructs the conditions of most battlefields during that time, offering readers a new opportunity to understand the frequent civilian wars that occurred in Guangdong in the 19th century. The fortified villages, high walls, earthen dams, watchtowers, and semi-professional warriors, along with the millions of casualties and the blood-soaked battlefields, as well as the government's overwhelmed efforts to resolve the conflict—these wars, rooted in disputes over land or water resources and cultural or ethnic differences, were once not far from us.
The first part of the book explores the remote and immediate causes of this conflict. Since the Hakka immigrants and the social issues they generated were the primary causes of this conflict, this part provides a detailed analysis of the origins of the Hakka and their relationship with the Tusi. Chapter 1 discusses the origins, customs, and personality traits of the Hakka. I believe that through long-term defense and adversity, the Hakka immigrants developed a strong factor of agency (which can manifest as proactive spirit when directed positively, or as a tendency to provoke trouble when directed negatively). Chapter 2 specifically addresses the friction and conflicts that arose between the Hakka, who migrated south from Huichao to the central and western parts of Guangdong during the early Qing dynasty, and the local Guangfu people (generally referred to as Tusi in this paper). Chapter 3 narrates how the government relied on Hakka militia ("") to suppress the Hongbing Uprising, while the Hakka took the opportunity to retaliate against the Tusi, leading to the outbreak of the conflict.
The second part outlines the basic circumstances of this conflict. Chapter 4 examines the temporal and spatial distribution of the conflict, clarifying errors in previous records. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 describe and analyze the main battlefields, including counties such as Heishan, Enping, Kaiping, Xinning, Gaoming, and Yangchun, presenting the basic situation of this conflict to readers.
The third part primarily discusses the measures taken by the Qing government to address this conflict and its eventual suppression. Chapter 8 analyzes the difficulties the Qing court faced in dealing with this conflict. Chapter 9 first reviews the Qing laws regarding armed conflicts, then discusses the initial responses and measures taken by local officials and the emperor. Chapter 10 describes how the authorities eventually resolved the conflict, while also addressing its aftermath, particularly the Tusi-Hakka conflict in Danzhou, Hainan, during the early years of the Guangxu reign.
This research not only recounts a forgotten historical event but also fills a gap in the study of modern and contemporary Hakka distribution, making it significant for both historical and Hakka studies.