The Qingshuijiang Documents: valuable sources for regional history and cultural studies of the Miao frontier in Guizhou

The Qingshuijiang Documents, a collection of private documents written in Chinese, date from as early as the period in which the Qing government began developing the Miao frontier; these documents first appeared on the middle and lower reaches of the Qingshuijiang River and have remained there ever since. The Qing’s efforts to open new frontiers during the Yongzheng reign led to economic and social changes in the Qingshuijiang River valley in southeast Guizhou. These changes centered on the growth of forestry, ranging from planting and cutting trees to shipping and trading in timber. The Qingshuijiang Documents are original records of this historical process and a live reflection of it. Once widely kept in private hands, these documents are valuable not only for research on regional cultural change since the Qing, but also for formulating new perspectives and exploring methods for the study of private historical documents.