Annotation:::: The paper looks at the impact of migration on the spread of Confucianism in mountainous areas of Yunnan province during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Using methods of documental study to examine a large amount of literature on the subject, the paper finds that migration of more than two million people in Yunnan during Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty soon changed the population structure of ethnic groups in the central political and economic areas of Yunnan. The Han people migrated into Yunnan before the Ming dynasty, quickly becoming the main ethnic group in Yunnan, where their political, economic, and cultural systems were introduced in the society. In the political system, some groups of ethnic minorities that were deeply influenced by the Confucian culture began to initiate the bureaucratization of native officers. Regarding the economic system, a small-scale peasant economy based on self-sufficiency in the feudal society began to play a leading role in the local economy, and thus the development level of productive forces at the local level was in accordance with that of central China.In terms of culture and education, more local people began to learn about Confucianism, the system of imperial examination became popular, the level of book writing improved greatly, and the Confucianism-led Han culture was regarded as the criterion for reconstructing the cultural customs of ethnic minorities in Yunnan. Furthermore, Confucianism had an impact on several aspects of Yunnan society, and stimulated the general social transformation in the Qing dynasty. Today in Yunnan, a great amount of Confucian culture of ancient China still remains. The authors conclude that the study of migration and the spread of Confucianism in Yunnan during the Ming and Qing dynasties is beneficial to a deeper understanding of the political, economic, and cultural links of Yunnan society to central China.
