Qing Dynasty Miao Albums Illustrating Ethic Groups of Guizhou Province: Attribution and Album Genealogy

Abstract

The paper addresses Qing dynasty albums containing illustrations and notes about ethnic groups of southwest China usually termed as Baimiaotu 百苗圖, or Miao albums, there are Miao albums illustrating ethnic groups of Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hainan and Taiwan. Library of St Petesrburg State University holds four hand-painted albums — two on Yunnan, two on Guizhou. Over a hundred Miao albums are scattered across the world, with most valuable early editions, some with dates and prefaces, are housed in the Western museums and universities. The paper shows approaches to systematization of the albums showing Guizhou ethnic groups, including such criteria as number of pictures (usually either 82 or 40), the position of the picture and text, special features of pictures (human figures with or without background), some conclusions are based on the typology of albums housed in Guizhou, which was proposed by Chinese scholars. The paper discusses under what circumstances the number of pictures has increased from 40 to 82 at the turn of the 19th century, what sources on Guizhou were used for annotations. The paper compares illustrations and texts from two St Petersburg University albums and those from the US collections. Conclusion about necessity of deeper study of primary sources, which provided basis for Miao albums, e. g., local gazetteers, “Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples” (1761) etc. is made.