| Great Clearance | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 遷界令 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 迁界令 | ||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 遷海令 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 迁海令 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Coastal Evacuation Order | ||||||||
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The Great Clearance (traditional Chinese: 遷界令; simplified Chinese: 迁界令), also translated as the Great Evacuation or Great Frontier Shift, was caused by edicts issued in 1661, 1664, and 1679,[1][2] which required the evacuation of the coastal areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangnan, and Shandong,[3][note 1] in order to fight the Taiwan-based anti-Qing loyalist movement of the erstwhile Ming dynasty (1368–1644).[2]
The edict was first issued by the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1661, the last year of his rule. With the Shunzhi Emperor's death in the same year, his son, the Kangxi Emperor (1661–1722), succeeded this edict under a regency led by Oboi (1661–1669). The ban on human settlement of those coastal areas was lifted in 1669, and some residents were allowed to return. Yet, in 1679, the edict was issued again. In 1683, after Qing defeated the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu and took control of Taiwan, the people from the cleared areas according to the edict were allowed to return and to live in the cleared areas.[4][5]
Moreover, three times of the Great Clearance, which happened in the 18th year of Shunzhi (1661), 3rd year of Kangxi(1664), 18th year of Kangxi(1679) respectively, caused 'what used to be busy and prosperous streets to become ruins, and the people who used to gather in the same place as family to separate. The documents that recorded family bonds got incomplete, classic books got lost, brothers were separated and ancestors were no longer worshiped. ' (Chinese: 另外顺治十八年(1661) 、康熙三年 (1664) 、十八年 (1679)三次迁界 ,也造成了"昔之闾里繁盛者 ,化而为墟矣 ,昔之鸠宗聚族者 ,化而星散矣 ,户口凋残 ,典籍失矣 ,兄弟离散 ,神主遗之。")
In the early era of the Qing dynasty, in order to cut the connection between the coastal residents in Southeast China and the regime of Zheng retreated to Taiwan, the Qing government issued a clearance order in the 18th year of Shunzhi (1661)...(text omitted)... In the 3rd year of Kangxi (1664), the Government forced the residents to migrate again, giving the reason that "the coastal defense was an issue while the incomplete evacuation was worrisome."(Chinese: 清初为断绝东南沿海民众与退居台湾的郑氏集团的联系，于顺治18年（1661年）下令迁海。……康熙三年（1664年）政府以"以海防为事，民未尽空为虑"，再次迁民。)
The Emperor told the Minister Du Zhen and other officials who were assigned to open the border along the coast in Fujian and Guangdong, 'It is of great importance to relocate the people. You should investigate into the ownership so as to give things back to who they originally belonged to. You should work with the local high officials to make sure soldiers and civilians be in the right place. You should be self-disciplined, and do not behave like the previous officials being rude and impolite. ' (Chinese: 上谕差往福建广东展沿海边界侍郎杜臻等曰、迁移百姓、事关紧要。当察明原产、给还原主。尔等会同总督巡抚安插、务使兵民得所。须廉洁自持。勿似从前差往人员、所行鄙琐也)
In October 1683, the Kangxi Emperor ordered Du Zhen, Vice Minister of Personnel and other officials to go to the four provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to measure the coastal lands, recruiting people to farm in the previously deserted land, to make the civilians back to their original homeland. (Chinese: 康熙二十二年(1683)十月，康熙帝命吏部侍郎杜臻等往福建、广东、江苏、浙江四省勘查沿海边界，招垦荒地，让老百姓们回到原来的土地上从事耕作。)
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