Chieftains Into Ancestors: Imperial Expansion and Indigenous Society in Southwest China

Official Chinese history has always been written from a centrist
viewpoint. "Chieftains into Ancestors" describes the
intersection of imperial administration and chieftain-dominated local
culture in the culturally diverse southwestern region of China.
Contemplating the rhetorical question of how one can begin to rewrite
the story of a conquered people whose past was never transcribed in the
first place, the authors combine anthropological fieldwork with
historical textual analysis to build a new regional
history - one that recognizes the ethnic, religious, and
gendered transformations that took place in China's
nation-building process.