清代庫倫至恰克圖間民人的土地開墾（1755-1911）

Chinese Settlements between Urga and Kyakhta during the Qing Dynasty (1755-1911)

乾隆二十年（1755）以後，清朝與準噶爾戰爭進入尾聲，喀爾喀—土謝圖汗部秩序日趨穩定，申請理藩院部票到恰克圖貿易的民人也變多了。清朝為維持蒙古封禁隔離政策，自乾隆二十九年（1764）起，飭令庫倫商民事務衙門管理民人，發給貿易小票、地票，掌握他們在土謝圖汗部的行蹤。最初民人在土謝圖汗部境內庫倫至恰克圖十二臺站附近，沿著道路搭蓋房舍，種植小麥，孳養牲畜，儲存貨物，與蒙古人賒銷貿易。民人墾殖的足跡遍及哈拉河、鄂爾坤河、色楞格河流域，侵佔蒙古游牧地的事件也隨之頻傳，導致民、蒙關係日趨緊張。自嘉慶八年（1803）起，清朝逐年限縮種地人數與種地區域，只准民人設帳貿易，不准蓋房長住，並嚴格查緝無票民人，以保護喀爾喀游牧風俗。光緒年間，俄羅斯染指喀爾喀，清朝重新開放民人至土謝圖汗各旗種地。民人重回哈拉河、鄂爾坤河、色楞格河流域開墾。由於這些區域長期封禁、隔離，開發比較晚，當地蒙古人受到民人經濟影響甚多，甚至被迫改變游牧生活，學習貿易、種地。其次，庫倫商民事務衙門為增加收入，向民人收取查地陋規銀，加重民人負擔，降低民人墾地意願；土謝圖汗各旗也不願意清朝籌辦清墾局，為墾地政策打上折扣。再者，土謝圖汗部連年旱災、暴雪，牲畜大量死亡，蒙古人生活更加貧困，以致民、蒙糾紛頻仍。有些扎薩克、喇嘛認為清朝未善盡保護喀爾喀游牧風俗之責，轉而尋求俄羅斯，支持喀爾喀獨立。

By 1755, the Dzungar-Qing Wars were finally at an end; the Tushetu Khan region was also becoming more stabilized. Subjects of the Qing dynasty thus began applying to the Lifan Yuan (理藩院, sometimes translated as the Board for the Administration of Outlying Regions) for permission to conduct business in the Urga and Kyakhta regions. To keep Qing subjects and the Mongols separate from one another, in 1764 the Qing court issued an order to its Urga Consular Office (庫倫商民事務衙門), telling it to tighten control over Qing subjects, by requiring them to have passports and by monitoring their whereabouts in the Tushetu Khan region. At first the Qing subjects operated between Urga and the military outposts of Khyakta region. They built houses near roads, planted wheat, raised livestock, stored goods, and conducted credit trade with the Mongols. The Qing subjects settled far and wide, from the Khalkh River, to the Orkhon River, to the Selenga River basin. Contact—and tension—between Qing subjects and the nomadic Mongolians began to increase. Thus in 1803 the Qing court announced that it would gradually restrict the number of settlers allowed into the Urga and Kyakhta regions. Designated settlement areas would be curtailed as well. Henceforth Qing subjects would only be allowed to set up temporary tents for the purposes of conducting business transactions: they could no longer build long-term housing. The court also conducted extensive searches for citizens without passports, so as to protect the lifestyle of the Khalkha nomads. By the 1880s, as Russian meddling in the Khalkha region began to intensify, the Qing court once again allowed its citizens to settle in the Tushetu Khan region, and Qing citizens once more began to settle by the Khalkh River, the Orkhon River, and the Selenga River basin. These regions, which had hitherto been isolated from the outside world, were relatively undeveloped. Contact with the Qing subjects influenced the Mongols profoundly: they began to trade and to grow crops, with many of them giving up their nomadic lifestyle completely. By the 1890s, the Qing court, whose finances were not in good shape, began to increase taxes on its citizens in Tushetu Khan. This policy brought about severe economic problems in Tushetu Khan; it became more difficult, for example, to settle debts between Qing merchants and Mongolians. As a result of all these developments, many jasaghs and lamas came to feel that the Qing dynasty did not properly protect their interests and nomadic lifestyle. They turned instead to Russia for help. In the end, many Khalkha Mongols came to support calls for their independence.