本文考察改土歸流前後黔西北區域社會制度的變革，旨在探討王朝的典章制度，在一個具有自己的文字、禮儀以及政治法律傳統的非漢族社會中，推行與表達的過程。土司制度建立之前，黔西北彞族已有自己的文字，並建立了被稱為「勾」的君長國。元、明王朝大力開拓西南，在黔西北建立了土司制度，但以則溪制度為核心，君、臣、布三者秉權的彞制仍然有效運行著。自明初以降，朝廷的各種邊政措施以及從內地向貴州的移民，逐漸對彞制產生多方面的影響，關於嫡長子繼承君長之職的規定、中央王朝對彞族各君長國相互繼承習慣的干預，以及漢人躋身「勾」政權等，都可視為彞制嬗變的重要例證。 「勾」政權在清朝初年的軍事征剿中被瓦解，清王朝變更彞制的區劃，置府設州，建立里甲制，將許多原住民籍為編戶，黔西北成為王朝的「新疆」。但朝廷沒有迅速培植起一個在儒家的意識形態中更具正統性的紳士階層，以協助官府管理地方社會，而是借助了當地既有的勢力集團──土目，這可視為「彞制」在新的政治、文化環境中的延續。布摩身分的逐漸變動，土目與地方官府、原住民、新興紳士階層等之間的微妙關係，反映出「彞制」不斷受到新的制度與意識形態的挑戰，並逐漸被削弱；黔西北逐漸被視為清王朝的「舊疆」。到上個世紀五○年代，彞制徹底崩潰，但並未從歷史記憶中消失，仍然對現實生活產生影響。

By investigating the transformation of social institutions in northwest Guizhou during the Ming-Qing period, this paper attempts to explore how a non-Han society, which had its own indigenous script, rituals, institutions and culture, might have integrated with the Chinese state.Prior to the establishment of the chieftaincy (tusi), the Yi people in northwest Guizhou already had their own script and had also established a unique form of leadership called “gou.” The Yuan and the Ming governments made every effort to expand to the southwest and thus established the imperial native chieftain system in northwest Guizhou. The gou system continued to exist, but the presence of the tusi had profoundly changed many aspects of this form of leadership. The establishment of primogeniture as the rule of inheritance, the appointment of Han people to the gou authority, and imperial intervention in the inheritance practices among various gou rulers are all illustrative of the changes in the gou system in northeast Yunan and northwest Guizhou. By the Kangxi period (1662-1722), the gou authority had fallen apart after a series of military campaigns. The Qing government abolished the native chieftainship and brought the indigenous population under state control by imposing the imperial lijia (household registration) system on the zexi (the unit of territories under the gou system). Under the Qing local administrative hierarchy, northwest Guizhou became the “New Territory” of the imperial empire. Although the Qing government could exercise more control over local affairs than its Ming predecessor, the established tumu (local chiefs) still played an important role in local society and assisted imperial officials considerably in handling taxation and judicial affairs. To some extent, the presence of the tumu affirms the continued existence of Yi institutions within the new political and cultural environment. Nonetheless, the decline in bumo status (priests who performed important administrative duties within the gou authority), and the power struggle between the tumu, imperial officials, the rising gentry, and the indigenous population, also reflect the challenge presented to Yi institutions by the newly imposed political institutions and ideologies. Gradually, northwest Guizhou came to be considered “old territory”. By the 1950s, the Yi system completely gave way to the central administrative hierarchy, however the system still left a mark on the historical memory of the indigenous people, and traces of it are still discernible in their lives today.