Willow Palisade (; ) was a system of ditches and embankments that was planted with willows, was intended to restrict movement into Manchuria (including Northeast China and Outer Manchuria), and was built by the Qing dynasty of China during the late 17th century. It is often conveniently divided into three connected sections: the western and eastern sections, forming the Inner Willow Palisade around Liaodong Peninsula, and the northern section, also known as the Outer Willow Palisade, separating the traditionally Manchu areas (to the east) from the traditionally-Mongol area (to the west) north of the Inner Palisade.
Layout
Manchuria borders Mongolia in the west, the Russian Far East in the north, China proper to the south and Korea in the southeast. Manchuria has access to the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea to the south, while Outer Manchuria (Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast in Russia) has access to the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk to the east and northeast.
To the south, the Inner Willow Palisade separated Jilin from China proper; it restricted the movement of Han civilians into Jilin and Heilongjiang during the Qing dynasty of 1636–1912, as the area was off-limits to Han civilians until the Qing started colonizing the area with them from the late 18th century. Only bannermen, were allowed to settle in the area beyond the Willow Palisade. This palisade, often conventionally divided into the eastern and western sections, started in the hills near the Great Wall of China (inland from Shanhaiguan) and ran northeast toward a point located some 33 km north of Kaiyuan, Liaoning, where the Outer Palisade (see below) joined the Inner Palisade. From this junction point the eastern section of the Inner Palisade went eastward, toward the Korean border, and eventually southward, ending near the mouth of the Yalu River.
With an exception of the northernmost segment (north of Kaiyuan), both eastern and western sections of the Inner Palisade ran either outside of the old Liaodong Wall (the defensive wall built by the Ming dynasty in the 15th century to protect the agricultural heartland of Liaoning from incursions by Mongols and Jianzhou Jurchens), or, in places, reused parts of the old wall.
The Outer Willow Palisade separated the Manchu area from modern-day Inner Mongolia; it kept the Manchu and the Mongols in the area separate. This Outer Palisade, often also described as the northern section of the palisade system, started at the junction point of the three sections (north of Kaiyuan) and ran to the north-east, ending soon after crossing the Sungari River north of Jilin City, near the town of Fate (法特, within Shulan County-level city, at ).
Design
While the design of different parts of the palisade varied greatly, and changed with time, the palisades, according to the research of the modern geographer R.L. Edmonds, typically consisted of two parallel earthen levees 3 chi (just over 1 meter) high and wide, separated by a trench that was about 1 zhang (3.5 m) deep and 1 zhang wide. Rows of willow trees were planted on top of the levees, each tree's branches being tied to those of its neighbors. Certain sections of the palisades system coincided with the old (Ming dynasty) Liaodong Wall - the extension of the Great Wall of China meant to protect the Ming Liaoning from the Manchus - and there no willows needed to be planted.
The palisades system gradually deteriorated with time, so that by the late Qing it was mostly composed of only one levee with willows on top and a moat on the outer side of it.
There were a number of gates in all three sections of the Willow Palisade, each one garrisoned by a few tens of soldiers. The locations of the gates changed sometimes, but their total number stayed at 20 or 21 during most of the Qing era.
History
Construction of the western section of the system (separating Liaoning from the Mongol lands in the west) is thought to have started in 1648, just four years after the fall of Beijing to the Manchus, and to have been completed before the end of the Shunzhi era (1644–1662). The first gate officers were appointed in 1651–1654. An expansion program, using convict labor, was undertaken in 1676–1679, moving sections of the palisades 20-30 li (12–18 km) west, into the Mongol area.
The construction of the eastern section of the system (the "Inner Willow Palisade" between Liaoning and the Manchus' Jilin) is thought to have started even before the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, possibly as early as 1638, and was probably completed by 1672.
The northern section, between the Manchu and Mongol lands, was constructed , and therefore known as Xinbian ("The New Palisade").