Abstract
This article examines how the Ming empire’s need for cavalry horses gave rise to a distinctive mode of pastureland and human-animal governance in the borderland ecotones of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century northwest China. Termed “bureaucratic pastoralism,” this mode involved the rationalized management of livestock, labor, and land through formal institutions, administrative oversight, and infrastructural investment. The focus is on the Shaanxi Pasturage Office in Pingliangfu and it traces the creation, transformation, and partial unraveling of horse-rearing operations within a broad context of imperial land use, labor organization, and environmental governance. These institutions provisioned horses and moreover materialized a scheme of territorial control through infrastructure, bureaucratic discipline, and regulated human-animal relations. Over time, demographic pressures and ecological constraints prompted a shift from mobile horse provisioning to sedentary agro-pastoral practices and monetized procurement. Rather than indicating institutional decline, this transformation shows the adaptive capacities of Ming governance in response to changing border conditions. By situating bureaucratic pastoralism within the trends in monetization and imperial border governance, the article contributes to a comparative understanding of state-managed pastoral regimes in premodern empires.
Keywords
bureaucratic pastoralism, border environmental governance, horse-rearing institutions, Shaanxi Pasturage Office, ecotones, Pingliangfu, Ming China
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