Suibian jilüe 綏邊紀略

Suibian jilüe 綏邊紀略 "Strategic plans of tranquilizing the border region" is a book on the border defence compiled by Shi Zhikang 史致康 during the Qing period 清 (1644-1911). Shi Zhikang xxx, courtesy name Shuping 叔平, hailed from Shuntian 順天 (modern Fengtai 豐臺, Beijing) and occupied in succession the posts of magistrate (zhixian 知縣) of Gongxian 珙縣, Renshou 仁壽 and Chengdu 成都, Sichuan. Later on he was made subprefectural magistrate (tongzhi 同知), and then prefect (zhizhou 知州) of Jiading 嘉定.

The Suibian jilüe is a resumme of the problems Shi Shuping was confronted with concerning the management of the non-Chinese tribes (yiwu 夷務 "barbarian affairs") living within and beyond the borders of the province of Sichuan. For the sake of defending the Chinese villages against native raids, village militia (baojia 保甲) were organized throughout the province. These had to be recruited, trained and instructed, and they had to fortify their villages with war towers (diaozhai 碉寨). With the support of regular troops (bianbing tuanyong 弁兵團勇), the village militia were able to fend off attacks of native tribes and to bring a more stable situation into the border regions.

The book was compiled over a period of several years and is a quite heterogenous compilation. It is available in printed version.