Delegated power: rise and fall of the "tusi" in Southwest China during the late imperial period

After the incorporation of frontier areas in the Southwest of the Chinese Empire during the Yuan dynasty, the central government faced the problem of the mode of rule in these new provinces. A system of indirect control was inaugurated, which meant that the imperial court confirmed the local rulers and granted them official titles in order to integrate them into the political system. The project aims to analyze the theoretical problems of elite rule in this system, such as mechanisms of recruitment and selection, modes of representation of these local officials in the province of Yunnan from the Yuan through the Qing dynasty.