#TodayinQing (1789): The Qianlong emperor establishes a guideline on rhubarb smugglers. Andijan merchants will be punished and expelled from #Xinjiang. Xinjiang merchants, just like merchants from China Proper 內地, will be tried and punished in Lanzhou #China #law #history #otd

Pictured is a map from 新疆全图 at the Library of Congress ( https://www.loc.gov/item/2002626723/). In the red circle, you see the Jiayu Guan 嘉峪關, which @JimMillward demonstrated to have served as a symbolic, psychological boundary. In this case, it also served as a judicial boundary.