西部民族地区生态文明建设问题探析

Ecological civilization is a mode of civilization which is constructed on the concept of multiple-wins, such as economic benefit, social benefit and environmental benefit, etc. It requires that a harmonious relationship between man and nature permeate various aspects of civilization, such as material civilization, spiritual civilization, and political civilization, forming an ecological mode for production, living, consumption, and other behaviors. The theories and practices of eco￣logical civilization both at home and abroad, as well as the strategic planning for the construction of ecological civilization in China, have constituted important theoretical and practical guidelines for the construction of ecological civilization in the western ethnic areas of China.
Constructing ecological civilization in the western ethnic areas has important theoretical and practical significance. Compared with the eastern part of China or the whole country, the level of e￣conomic and social development in the western eth￣nic areas still lags behind; energy consumption is generally high , and the number of national key ecologically functional areas is large. Furthermore, these areas face a daunting task for their environ￣mental protection and energy saving. In addition, the most concentrated areas of desertification in China are found in the western ethnic areas, espe￣cially Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Qing￣hai. Therefore, the construction of ecological civi￣lization in the western ethnic areas has an impor￣tant role for the sustainable development of the e￣conomy and society, ecological security, energy saving and emission reduction, and the prevention of land desertification.
Generally speaking, the western ethnic areas actively participate in the national demonstration areas of the construction of ecological civilization, and constantly improve the level of ecological civi￣lization construction. However, their overall level is low, and the differences between various prov￣inces are considerable. Although the western eth￣nic areas have rich forest resources, tourism re￣sources, etc. for the construction of ecological civ￣ilization, they still face many problems in the use of their ecological resources and the construction of ecological civilization.
As noted above, the western ethnic areas ac￣tively take part in the construction of the key na￣tional ecological civilization demonstration areas. At present, among the 55 ecological civilization demonstration areas of China, 22 are in the west￣ern ethnic areas. These demonstration areas are actively exploring the construction of ecological civilization by taking the property rights of natural resources, ecological compensation and cadres as￣sessment, etc. into consideration.
As just noted, although the level of the con￣struction of an ecological civilization in western ethnic areas has been improving, the overall level is still low. The overall level of ecological civiliza￣tion in western ethnic areas lags significantly be￣hind the nation or eastern regions. In addition, the levels of every province are quite different. For in￣stance, the level of Guangxi and Yunnan is rela￣tively high. Therefore, the construction of ecologi￣cal civilization must be adapted to the local condi￣tions of the provinces.
There are a large number of key forestry en￣terprises in the western ethnic areas, but the struc￣ture of the forestry industry is not equitable. For￣estry is an important force, and provides important content for the construction of ecological civiliza￣tion. On the one hand, there are a large number of key national forestry enterprises in the western eth￣nic areas, but their distribution is not balanced. At present, there are 295 key national forestry en￣terprises , among which 48 are found in the western ethnic areas and are included in the list. Among them, the advantage held by Guangxi and Yunnan’s forest resources are obvious, while those in Tibet, Ningxia and Qinghai are not so obvious. On the other hand, the forestry resources in the western ethnic areas are unevenly distributed, and the structure of the forestry industry is not equita￣ble;the proportion of the primary industry of for￣estry is too high, and the proportion of the second￣ary industry is relatively low. This means that the economic benefits of forestry resources are not fully transformed, something which has seriously affect￣ed the promotion of ecological civilization.
Tourism resources in the western ethnic areas are rich, but the contradiction between tourism de￣velopment and environmental protection is sharp. The tourism industry can effectively improve the level of ecological civilization construction. With rich tourism resources in the western ethnic areas, the tourism industry has become one of the impor￣tant regional pillar industries, especially in Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi. However, the conditions of tourism infrastructure and the tourism environment are still relatively backward in western ethnic areas. This is seen especially in the tourist foreign exchange income ratio which is not high. In addition, theunique tourism resources have not strongly attracted more overseas visitors; and, as just said, there are contradictions between regional tourism development and ecological environment protection, which are still very sharp.
The construction of an ecological civilization is a complicated social system project. The con￣struction of an ecological civilization in the western ethnic areas has just started, so we need to in￣tegrate the idea of ecological civilization throughout political, economic, cultural, and social construc￣tion. Furthermore, we need to promote the process of ecological civilization construction according to the local conditions by taking the central authorities’ construction plan of ecological civiliza￣tion as guidance; consider the economic develop￣ment level of each province; and the characteris￣tics of ecological protection and resource environ￣ment in ethnic areas.
First of all, we should change the concept of government at all levels and the entire society in western ethnic areas, and improve the system of ecological civilization construction. For this pur￣pose, we must:( i) strengthen the top-level de￣sign of the ecological civilization system; ( ii) im￣prove relevant systems, such as the development of the national land space; and ( iii ) improve envi￣ronmental protection and ecological compensation in the western ethnic areas and the whole country. Furthermore, through making use of both formal systems, such as political, economic and legal ones, and informal systems, such as ecological culture, we should jointly safeguard and promote the construction of ecological civilization. On the one hand, we must establish and improve various policies related to finance, tax, population and land to improve the level of ecological political civ￣ilization in the western ethnic areas from the level of central government to local administrations. On the other hand, the central government and local administrations in the western ethnic areas must enhance the awareness of the construction of eco￣logical civilization through various ways, including school education and the internet.
Secondly, we should vigorously develop the advantages of the ecological industry in western ethnic areas, such as ecological tourism, ecologi￣cal agriculture and other ecological industries. The construction of ecological civilization should strive to find a balance between ecological environment and stable economic growth. Therefore, according to the characteristics of their ecological environ￣ment, resources, climate and the capacity of the ecological carrying capacity, we should choose ec￣ological industries suitable for regional develop￣ment, such as ecological agriculture, ecological tourism;change the original model of industrial de￣velopment to an ecological mode of production, and improve the level of ecological civilization while protecting the environment.
Thirdly, we should speed up the development of secondary and tertiary industries of forestry in the western ethnic areas, and further optimize the structure of the forestry industry. For this purpose we must further increase forestry investment and construction;and improve the total output value of forestry through afforestation, returning farmland to forest, and coordinating the relationship between the economic forest and ecological forest. Moreo￣ver, we should actively participate in China’s forest food certification and forest certification program;improve the proportion of secondary and tertiary forestry industires; take the initiative to transform the advantage of forestry resources into economic advantages;and improve the level of civilization of the ecological environment.
Finally, it is necessary for the western ethnic areas to continue the practice of constructing an ec￣ological civilization. Though adjustment to local conditions, and actively exploring the practice of ecological civilization construction, we should gradually accumulate experience in the construc￣tion of ecological civilization for the western ethnic areas, and even the whole country. In particular, in Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai, we must active￣ly promote the process of regional ecological civili￣zation construction based on the scheme of their own ecological civilization demonstration area pro￣grams. In addition, the western ethnic areas should fully play an important role in informal in￣stitutions, such as national ecological culture.     

“五个发展”理念与民族地区经济社会全面发展研究

Development is the master key for resolving various problems in ethnic areas. During the process of development, we must have correct principles of development. During the “13th Five-Year Plan” period, it was acknowledged that the realization of the goal of building a moderately prosperous society, resolving its challenges, and grasping the advantages of development in ethnic areas must firmly establish and thoroughly conduct the development concepts of innovation, coordina￣tion, green, openness and sharing. This article presents an evaluation framework of the “five de￣velopment” concept, and then evaluates the devel￣opment status of ethnic areas. Based on the results of this evaluation, it proposes approaches for inno￣vation, coordination, green development, open￣ness, and sharing in ethnic areas.
Innovation is the first driving force in guiding development;coordination is the requirement for a sustainable and healthy development; green or“green development” is a necessary condition for sustainable development and important for people’s pursuit of a good life;openness is the only road for a country’s prosperity and development; and sha￣ring is the basic requirement of socialism with Chi￣nese characteristics. This paper analyzes the status of innovation in ethnic areas from the innovations of products, technology, markets and systems, etc. And, it discovers that the general level of innova￣tion in the eight ethnic provinces and districts of China ( Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai) is low, and that the development of innovation is unbal￣anced. Compared with the national average, devel￣opment in these areas lags far behind. For the pur￣pose of maintaining constant economic growth in the ethnic areas, and chasing after the level of de￣veloped areas, the input in innovation must be in￣creased, and the structure of innovation must be further optimized so that innovation becomes an im￣portant driving force in economic development. Realizing innovative development in ethnic areas must depend on the effort of constructing its own learning ability. Laborers should get good educa￣tion, good infrastructure should be built, and good innovation environmental programs should be crea￣ted with the investment of the government.
Realization of harmonious regional develop￣ment is the basic purpose of China’s regional devel￣opment strategy. Understanding this from the angle of economics, the concept of coordination at least should include coordination among three elements, i. e. time, departments and space. The concept of coordination for development should be realized through market mechanisms in the competitive en￣vironment, or through the rational intervention of the government. The concept of coordination for development discussed here mainly refers to the development of coordination of different regions and of urban and rural areas. Seeing from the perspec￣tive of harmonious regional development, the de￣velopment in the eight ethnic provinces and dis￣tricts is actually imbalanced. In addition, urban-rural relationship is another important aspect of re￣gional coordination development. The imbalanced development between urban and rural areas in Chi￣na is not only reflected in income, but is even more reflected in basic public services. The ap￣proaches for realizing the development of regional coordination in ethnic areas should 1 ) be com￣bined with an economic support belt, and impor￣tant lines of communication;2 ) guide the popula￣tion and economic activities to move to important regions for development;and 3 ) take a path of in￣clusive and green urbanization.
Green development is a basic element for sus￣tainable development. The purpose of green devel￣opment is to get solid growth, and avoid unsustain￣able models. Green development will make the re￣sources efficient, clean and resilient in the process of development. Green development requires con￣sidering the environmental capacity or resource carrying capacity while pushing economic develop￣ment. There are three factors in green growth, that it be: efficient, clean and resilient. Green devel￣opment in ethnic areas is decided by its ecological location. Generally speaking, compared with the national level, both the efficiency of resource usage and carbon emission in ethnic areas is low; and environmental resilience is very different in various areas. Increasing the resource usage rate and re￣ducing carbon emission are the main approaches for realizing green development in ethnic areas. The rich natural resources in ethnic areas are only a potential advantage, and not an economic advan￣tage in reality. For the purpose of turning rich nat￣ural resources into an economic advantage, and u￣sing them to promote the regional economic devel￣opment, one should depend on the property rights structure of natural resources, regional conditions of the area, the exploitation cost, the local tech￣niques for transforming natural resources, and the market conditions. We should strive to develop green ecological economics, and realize the“Three-Wins” in growth, poverty alleviation, and ecolo￣gy. According to the ecological advantages of the ethnic areas, as well as their ecological position in the whole country, we should rapidly develop green ecological industries ( eco-agriculture, eco-tourism, eco -industry ) , and make ecological economics become the important source for increas￣ing the income of the poor population. This should be done by taking the rare ecological resources as the base, the market needs as guidance, the mod￣ern business model as the carrier, and social cap￣ital as the driving force. Moreover, we should make plans for green development , make clear its goals and steps, and implement the Green Industry Approach. We should enhance ecological construc￣tion and protection; and initiate new progress in ecological civilization and poverty alleviation.
Openness or opening up is an inevitable course for the prosperity and development of a country or a district. Openness in ethnic areas in￣cludes both external and internal openness. Exter￣nal openness is opening up to other countries or districts, and internal openness is opening up to other areas within China. It could be noticed that external openness in the eight provinces and dis￣tricts of ethnic areas in China is imbalanced. So, we should integrate it with the construction strategy of the “One Belt and One Road” program, and construct a new external opening up framework in an all-round way. Ethnic areas are core areas of and an important foundation for constructing of the Silk Road economic belt, and the 21st -century Maritime Silk Road. The ethnic areas should im￣plement more actively the strategy of openness, and improve the strategic framework of opening up externally, construct new, open economic systems, expand new, open economic spaces so as to build the ethnic areas into important bridgeheads and create vital border economic belts opened to the west, north, and south of China.
Sharing the results of development by various ethnic groups, and realizing a common prosperity are the requirements of socialism. The nature of sharing development is inclusive, fair and benefi￣cial. It further clarifies the keynotes of the rela￣tionship between development and the people, and re-emphasizes that improving the benefits of the people, promoting the people’s development in all-round ways are starting points and goals of de￣velopment. Poverty alleviation is the key in sharing development in the ethnic areas. The Central Pov￣erty Alleviation and Development Work Conference proposed that “ the goal of poverty alleviation dur￣ing ‘the 13 th Five-Year Plan’ is to win the battle against poverty, which includes ensuring food, clothing, compulsory education, basic medical service and housing security for the poor by 2020.” Furthermore,“precise poverty alleviation”is the basic strategy for fulfilling this goal. The foundation of “precise poverty alleviation” is to i￣dentify poverty precisely, and to judge whether it belongs to income poverty or poverty by chance. Speaking from policy choice, we need to strength￣en the self-development capability of poor popu￣lations; speaking from project choice, we should evaluate whether it is pro -poor or pro -growth;speaking from industrial development, we should consider both the market choice and governmental support;and, speaking from spacial layout, a con￣cept of sharing in development should be realized within centralized equalization.     

从民间文学看哈尼族的传统生态观

The Hani’s rich folk literature has preserved their traditional culture. Interpreting it from the perspective of ecological culture may lead us to the conclusion that the Hani’s traditional eco-logical understanding is that of a harmonious rela-tionship between man and nature. This ecological understanding is similar to that of other ethnic groups in Yunnan, such as the Bai, Dai, Wa, Yao, Naxi, Jingpo, Bulang, and other ethnic groups, which shows that this ecological under-standing is common across the Chinese nation. Meanwhile, this ecological understanding has an enlightening role for human beings to keep the eco-logical balance in the present day. This article tries to investigate the deep connection between the Hani’s folk literature and the natural ecology, and reveals the Hani’s traditional ecological under-standing. 1 . The Hani’s traditional ecological under-standing is revealed in their folk literature The Hani have no fairy tales in the strict sense, their literature is a kind of“universal litera-ture” enjoyed by both adults and children. Howev-er, the Hani’s folk literature also created a roman-tic world similar to that of fairy tales. This “fairy tale world” is just the world of nature reflected in the Hani’s literature. The typical characteristics of this world are harmony and happiness. In this har-monious and happy world, mountains are a para-dise for man and all other things on earth. In this paradise, man is only a part of nature, they are not the spirit or the core of the world. Man, animals and plants have their own places, and their own happiness. Meanwhile, they support each other, and have a common development. In a word, man and nature have a highly harmonious relationship. When environmental protection and ecological bal-ance become a common topic in today’s discourse, one can gain some insight by reading Hani fairy tales and legends. Therefore, digging out the eco-logical beauty from Hani folk literature still has a practical purpose. How then does Hani folk literature describe the relationship between man and nature? We find that the Hani folk literature is full of stories con-cerning how the animals and plants save mankind. Many works reflect this idea: if mankind had not been assisted by the animals and plants, it must have died out long ago, therefore, man should show his thanks to the animals by protecting them. Be-cause the animals and plants saved man’s life, and man knew to show his gratitude to them, the rela-tionship between man and nature is always good in the fairy tales, although they live in their own ways, they never disturb each other — they have a totally harmonious relationship. Moreover, man can even marry animals and have descendants with them. The harmonious relationship between man, animals and plants is a basic theme of the Hani folk literature, as well as a basic part of the Hani eco-logical understanding. The relationship between man, animals and plants reflects not only a friend-
ship, but a kind of family relation, because they can even become couples, although the couples can sometimes suddenly turn hostile — they may have disagreements or even come to blows. When this happens, the deities could help to solve the problem— this is another aspect which reflects a harmoni-ous relationship between man, animals and plants. In the Hani folk literature, the harmony be-tween man and nature is also reflected in the mutu-al assistance between man, animals and plants. In this kind of literature, man, animals and plants are always equal; they not only have a common goal and the same standards for good and evil, but also have a common language, with which man, animals and plants are able to negotiate with each other, help each other and reap their own rewards. 2 . The cultural sources of the Hani’s tradition-al ecological understanding Although literature is a creation of the writer, it reflects social life. The writers’ imaginings can-not be separated from the practicalities of place, and folk literature has its own particularity. Folk literature is created by several folk artists from gen-eration to generation. It might be a result from sev-eral people’s discussions during the creative process or when the work is passed down, hence, it is typically collective work and has typically mass characteristics. Although the individual plays a significant role in the creation of a work, the content of folk literature does not always reflect a single artist’s idea, but the idea of a group. There-fore, we say that the harmonious ecological under-standing reflected in the Hani literature actually re-flects an overall awareness of the Hani people. Why did the Hani form this kind of common awareness, then? We believe that it is decided by the Hani’s living environment and common cultural resources. Most Hani people live in the mountain-ous or semi-mountainous areas between Mt. Ailao and Mt. Mengle. The living environment partly in-fluences ideology. Because of the level of inacces-sability, and self -sufficient life style, communi-cation among the different Hani villages is rare,
however, what they see every day in their living ar-eas are mountains; therefore, their similar living environment leads them to have a similar under-standing of the mountains. The Hani are a “migrated ethnic group”. Their ancestors originally lived in the remote north. Due to natural and social causes, they moved south. Following the cultural development and improvement of natural conditions, their popu-lation gradually increased. After they stepped into the mountainous areas of Mt. Ailao, they had im-proved material conditions and peaceful life, and the population dramatically increased. Later, they settled down in the broad area of the Honghe and Lishejiang drainage basins. The Hani’s history of migration and development indicates that no matter how large a population they have, and how they are scattered, their culture has the same origin. Therefore, tracing the origin of the Hani culture is very important to understand why the Hani share a common awareness of the harmonious relationship between man and nature. Another point worth noting is that the Hani are called as an “Ethnic Group of Stories”. The Hani like telling stories, and making up stories, therefore, there are many popular stories among the Hani. This is because Hani have no writing, which makes the essence of the Hani culture lie in their oral stories. The ancestors’ stories, and their wisdom are all spread and handed down through these stories. The Hani stories actually play act as cultural carriers, burdened with the task of preser-ving culture, and playing an educational role. It is due to the influence of the ancestors’ traditional culture that the Hani have kept an awareness of maintaining a harmonious relationship between man, animals and plants. Then, which factors in the Hani’s cultural origin have promoted this awareness and made it exist for a long time? This article separately discusses the impact of the origin of the heavens, earth, man, animals, and plants, as well as the understanding of animism to this awareness.
In the Hani’s traditional religion, animism is a basic tenet. The Hani believe that the universe is created by the gods, and all things on earth are brought about by the gods. These deities infuse the things in the universe with a spirit; man cannot hurt other things, including those things without life;and the proper relationship between man and nature is harmony. A harmonious relationship means to obey the deities’ will, and is a special representation of their worship. Some people be-lieve that the formation of this kind of understand-ing is directly related to the ecological environment in which the Hani live. They live in the mountain-ous areas and conduct farming work from genera-tion to generation. The forest and water sources are their basic production materials. While using and transforming nature, they must protect and respect nature. Only in this way can an ethnic group un-dergo constant development in a difficult environ-ment—this already has become common knowledge during the process of inheriting the Chinese culture in the past thousand years. And to the Hani peo-ple, this is their principle, as well as their life philosophy. The Hani’s understanding of animism is a kind of pantheistic ideology, which belongs to religious aspect and does not fit with materialism. However the understanding of animism plays a very big role in the Hani’s formation of a self-consciousness in protecting the animals and plants, and keeping the ecological balance. Its role is not limited to an in-dividual or a local area, instead, its meaning to the whole Hani area cannot be underestimated. Hence, we take it as one of the sources for the for-mation of the harmonious natural understanding of all Hani people.     

西部民族地区旅游生态补偿政策实施的实践探索

The ethnic regions of Western Chi￣na are rich in ecological and cultural tourism re￣sources. At the same time, the regions are also ec￣ologically vulnerable areas with large populations of ethnic groups who have lived for a long time in poverty. Based on years’ investigation, it is obvi￣ous that tourism development, even though it can promote local economic development, has had a significant negative impact on the ecology, envi￣ronment and local communities. During the 18 th and 17 th National Congresses of the Communist Pary of China, a policy was announced to improve ecological compensation and accelerate the estab￣lishment of an ecological compensation mecha￣nism. So far, both government and academia have mainly focused on the effects and necessities of building a mechanism for ecological compensation. Of special concern, even if governments at all lev￣els sequentially enacted a series of policie with cer￣tain characteristics of ecological compensation, the public is still questioning the impartiality and legit￣imacy of the charges of such policy of ecological compensation. Thus, the task of implementing the ecological compensation policy faces many obsta￣cles. At present, the core research issue on eco￣logical compensation is no longer just the question of why it should be charged. This question was al￣ready clearly stated in official documents from cen￣tral government. Up to now, the core issues that need clarification are:in practice, how the charge be made; what amount of money should be charged;how will the revenue from the charge be used;how will the revenue derived from the charge be audited; and whether or not this charge can help to achieve government objectives in such a way.
Based on the unique background of the ethnic regions of Western China, this paper deeply analy￣ses issues of implementing policies such as ecologi￣cal compensation for tourism, including the illegi￣bility and legitimacy of who should pay, how much should be paid, and how to manage the funds im￣partially; and providing scientific and reasonable countermeasures to solve these practical problems. Compared with other industries, the tourism indus￣try became the pioneer for the practice of ecologi￣cal compensation as well as the research objective of ecological compensation studies. Some research￣ers defined ecological compensation for tourism as a system of regulating related ecological interests to protect the ecosystems of tourism destinations and promote sustainable development of the tourism in￣dustry ( Zhang Yiqun, Yang Guihua, 2012 ) . Al￣though such a definition is still fuzzy, at least it in￣dicates that the research of ecological compensation for tourism involves interdisciplinary fields inclu￣ding Economics, Sociology, Ecology and Tourism, etc. Currently, the research of ecological compen￣sation for tourism has insufficient first hand empiri￣cal research data. At the same time it has not yet had nationwide impact, either domestically or over￣seas. The research on implementing policies for the ecological compensation of tourism is at an early stage in China.
Obviously, it is hard to find sufficient re￣search results or research methods for reference, which brings certain limitations to this paper. To demonstrate the scope of this study, this paper de￣fined tourism ecological compensation as exploring the feasibility of spending fiscal revenue ( paid by tourism enterprises, tourists or other stakeholders) on protecting natural ecological environment. Based on this definition, this paper generated three actual issues with regard to implementing policies of ecological compensation for tourism, including the vagueness of the charge, the lack of unified, standard levies, and the non-tranparency of fund management. Combined with analyzing the current special background of implementing policies of ec￣ological compensation for tourism in the ethnic re￣gions of Western China, and by especially empha￣sizing the local communities of the ethnic groups who should be compensated, this paper tries to provide scientific and reasonable countermeasures consisting of implementing corresponding national policy, formulating correlated policy in accordance with local conditions and standardizing and institu￣tionalizing fund management. This paper not only attempts to support strongly implementing policies of ecological compensation for tourism at the insti￣tutional level, but also to coordinate the contradic￣tions between tourism development and ecological protection, and local community self - develop￣ment, hoping to achieve the win-win objectives of promoting an ecological compensation policy for tourism, tourism poverty alleviation and ecological civilization.     

中国民族间发展的多重差异格局与差别化、协同性政策开发研究——论中国民族关系的新形态与民族政策的新体系

After 60 years of implementation, the ethnic regional autonomous policy has provided basic political support for promoting the common development and prosperity of all ethnic groups. Especially since the period of “Reform and Open-ing Up” began, the national preferential policies and support for ethnic minority areas gradually in-creased, and economic and social development in the ethnic minority areas clearly speeded up. Ac-cording to official statistics, after more than 30 years of “Reform and Opening Up”, the economic growth rate of China’s ethnic minority areas is high-er than the national average. However, at the same time , the economic and social development gap be-tween different ethnic groups has become more and more pronounced. The development of the ethnic groups has created a structure of multiple dispari-ties, which fundamentally restricts ethnic unity, as well as political and social stability in ethnic areas of China. This structure of multiple disparities re-flects the imbalances mainly in four aspects: 1 ) the ongoing large gap between the ethnic minority areas and Han Chinese regions remains; 2 ) the unequal economic and social development among the various ethnic minority people has expanded;3 ) the economic gap within the same ethnic minor-ity autonomous region has gradually become more pronounced;and, 4 ) the differences in develop-ment within the same ethnic group who live in vari-ous regions of China are also very obvious. The multiple inequalities of the economic and social development of China’s ethnic groups add more complexity to the ethnic problems of China. The disparity in economic and social development between different ethnic groups is not only an eco-nomic problem, but is also a significant political issue. Hence, promoting a balanced economic and social development among the various ethnic groups has a very obvious practical significance for main-taining ethnic unity, promoting national integra-tion, and maintaining national stability . Based on the discussion above, this article mainly explores which kind of ethnic policy can ef-fectively resolve the multiple disparities found with-in ethnic development and is beneficial for promo-ting the integration of the various ethnic groups in China? On the basis of summarizing and reviewing approaches found in earlier research, the author puts forward the following core ideas:1 ) The economic and social development differences of various ethnic groups have formed a pattern of multiple disparities in China, and it is no longer simply a gap between the Han and ethnic minorities. Since the implementation of the “Re-form and Opening Up” policy, the differentiation or disparity between China’s ethnic minorities has become more and more pronounced—this phenom-enon constitutes a new challenge to China’s ethnic unity and national unification. Therefore, we must adjust ethnic policy in order to solve the “true problem” or “new problem” concerning China’s ethnic problem. 2 ) The multi-faceted disparities found in the economic and social development among China’s ethnic minorities result from many factors, inclu-ding institutional, policy, historical, geographical, cultural, and psychological. Therefore, we must realize a diversity of ethnic policy, and build a comprehensive ethnic policy system. 3 ) For the purpose of realizing the integration and state construction of the ethnic groups, in ad-dition to implementing the current policy of differ-entiation, we must also ensure a “four balanced and coordinated development”. This includes a balance between the Han areas and ethnic minority areas, a balance among the various ethnic minori-ties themselves, a balance within the same ethnic minority areas, and a balance within the same eth-nic group who live in different areas. This requires the central government to strengthen a double dif-ferentiation and collaborative orientation of ethnic policies concerning the market, labor, resources, technology, and capital.     

云南少数民族老年妇女经济保障的结构性脆弱——社会性别视角

I. The current situation of ethnic minority women’ s economic security One of the most prominent problems faced by the international community is how to ensure the e-conomic security of the elderly, and how to help those elderly people who have lost the ability to work to be properly cared for. According to Yang Shijie’s investigation, 75% of the poor population in Yunnan are ethnic minorities, and of this fig-ure, minority women are more impoverished than men. 1 . The poverty rate in Yunnan is a little bit higher than the national average poverty level. Although Yunnan’s economic indicators have made considerable progress, they have yet to reach the national average because of the province’s ho-mogenous industrial structure, low level of indus-trialization, and high proportion of resource indus-tries. The average wage of workers in Yunnan is only 85. 85% of the national average wage, and the poverty rate is higher than the national aver-age. 2 . There is a significant number of elderly women without pensions, and their poverty rate is high in Yunnan. Due to the dual urban-rural structure of the social and economic system, as well as the design issues related to the social pension security system connected with employment, the number of elderly women without pensions is quite significant in Chi-
na. In ethnic minority areas, only 24. 12% of peo-ple over the age of 60 have a pension, among them, the number of women is considerably lower than for men, accounting for only 10%. Elderly women from ethnic minorities are further excluded from the social pension security system. Only a small population of elderly ethnic women enjoy the benefits of the system, and their average monthly pension is significantly lower than that of the men. Compared with elderly men, elderly women rely more on other members of the family. 3 . The high rate of widowhood brings difficul-ties to the elderly. According to a sampling survey of 10% of the national population in 2010 , the widower ratio is 29. 55%, and widow ratio is 70. 45% among eth-nic minorities aged over 60 . Ethnic minority women devote more energy to unpaid housework in their youth and middle age, and their chances of finding employment are low. This means they normally de-pend on their spouse when they become old, how-ever, the loss of their spouse makes them even poorer, and increases their risk of falling into pov-erty. 4 . The ethnic minority women ’s property rights are difficult to be protected. Because of the influence of outmoded feudal i-deas in the ethnic minority villages, women gener-ally have no right to inherit property. For example, among the Pumi, property is inherited by the men, and women generally have no right to inherit. The
case is the same with the Naxi ethnicity. In the in-heritance systems of the ethnic minority people in Yunnan, wives rarely have the right of inherit-ance;the custom of“passing property to the men, but not the women” is still quite prevalent. If the husband dies, the wife will not only find it difficult to inherit her husband’s property, but may also lose her own property, including land rights. This leads to a low rate of property ownership among widows. II. Analysis of the causes of vulnerability of the gender structure 1 . Cultural lag American sociologist W. F. Ogburn was the first to use this concept, which refers to the time lag between material culture and non - material culture in the course of social change. Generally speaking, change in material culture occurs faster than in non -material culture, and they are not synchronized, so there is a gap between them. Ethnic minority women in Yunnan have been af-fected by the patrilineal system up to the present day, which influences the thought and behavior of all ethnic groups, and gradually builds a psycho-logical barrier in the ethnic women’ s minds, con-straining their talent and creativity. Yunnan is lo-cated in China’s southwest frontier region, and the ethnic minorities live in remote and isolated moun-tainous areas, where the concept of the low status of women is ingrained, and thus not easily changed. 2 . The cumulative effect of education and em-ployment Compared with boys, there are different edu-cational expectations on or investments in the girls in the social culture, which brings disadvantages to women looking for employment of in their youth and middle age. Because they can generally only involve themselves in housework, it is not possible for them to accumulate employment experiences, and this leads to a negative economic status when they become old. 1) Low level of education. Due to the tradi-tional influence of “valuing sons over daughters”,
the number of ethnic minority women who have not attended school is significantly higher than that of men; the number of ethnic minority women who have never received an education is more than twice as high as the number of men. The phenome-non of early marriage and childbearing in ethnic minority areas is still prominent. Due to the influ-ence of early marriage culture, the girls do not generally wish to receive a higher education. Addi-tionally, because of the development of tourism, girls tend to drop out of school very early and in-volve themselves in business or becoming tour guides. All these factors lead to ethnic minority women’s lower level of education. Because they do not receive a higher, or even elementary educa-tion, women’s lives are concentrated around the family and housework. 2 ) Devotion to housework. The elderly ethnic minority women not only have to take part in agri-cultural production, but they also have to take care of the “left-behind” children whose parents have left to work in urban areas. For instance, De’ang women play an important role in family, social and economic activities; they have to bear the load of heavy housework every day, including carrying wa-ter, collecting firewood, cooking, feeding pigs, cattle and children, weaving, washing clothes and farming. The Bulang women, together with the men, have created the ancient Bulang culture, and women play the role of “main tentpole” in the housework and farming. According to our investi-gations of the Yi in Chuxiong of Yunnan province, Yi women spend on average over six hours each day on housework, and most men almost never par-ticipate in housework. 3 ) Unemployment or low paid occupation. Ethnic minority women’s degree of participation in social labor is low, however, their housework du-ties are taken for granted, and not recognized by the wider society, so their labor value is underesti-mated, even ignored. Due to their low level of ed-ucation and contribution to unpaid housework, a lot of ethnic minority women are unemployed. E-
ven though a small number of them are in employ-ment, their jobs are concentrated in the low in-come industries, and few of them are supported by social insurance. 3 . Traditional gender roles in the division of labor Because of the traditional gender roles in the division of labor, the social expectations for the women’s role is still family-centered. This means women have to bear a lot of housework duties and child rearing responsibilities. Due to women’s spe-cial physiological characteristics, women have a double burden: the responsibility of human pro-duction and social production. However, under the influence of gender inequality, women who have made great contributions to the development of so-ciety and humanity have been subjected to unfair treatment. Their contribution is regarded as a bur-den unique to women or indeed the women’s natu-ral weakness, and can even become a discrimina-tory factor in employment and promotion—this is a great injustice to women. In summary, it seems that the structure of the fragility of elderly ethnic minority women is a sim-ply an issue of sex difference, but it essentially re-flects the social system and conceptual culture of“valuing sons over daughters” which is ingrained in the minority areas, and is an issue of gender in-equality. III. Countermeasures and suggestions The elderly ethnic minority women are a spe-cial group in China’s aging population. This group shows a structural vulnerability due to such as in-fluences of ethnicity and regional location, eco-nomic conditions, educational level, marital sta-tus. From the perspective of social gender, this paper studies the economic security status of ethnic aged women, analyzes the problems of economic security for this group, and puts forward some poli-cy recommendations for improving the economic se-curity situation of the elderly women in ethnic mi-nority areas. 1 . The state should increase investment in tye economic development of ethnic minority areas in order to provide more jobs and solve the problem of employment of women. Economic development in the minority areas could provide adequate economic security to improve the living conditions of the eld-erly women in those areas. 2 . The concept of gender equality needs to be strengthened. Women should enjoy equal rights in education, and equal employment opportunities as men, as well as equal rights in the husband-wife relationship. In addition, we cannot simply take each gender as exactlythe same, but should under-stand the psychological and physiological difference between men and woman, and pursue gender e-quality in terms of society, personality, opportuni-ties, and rights. 3 . National policy should afford some recogni-tion to women and their capacity for childbirth. Due to physiological factors, women have to take the responsibility of childbirth and feeding the child, however, they also have to work . Women’s contributions to the family will inevitably lead to their inferior position in terms of social professional competition. Therefore, when policies are drawn up, the physiological characteristics of men and women should be considered, moreover, gender awareness and gender equality should be a part of various policies. 4 . Policies should protect women’s employ-ment rights, and ethnic minority areas should en-courage women to go out to work. The state should make policies to protect women’s employment rights, solve the problem of sexual discrimination which might exist in the workplace, and create e-qual employment opportunities so as to reduce the probability of elderly women from ethnic minority areas becoming impoverished . 5 . Improve the urban and rural pension sys-tem, and improve women’s pension insurance cov-erage rate.     

创新理念 推进自治制度运行和自治地方治理现代化

Deepening reform, promoting the rule of law, and implementing the “Five Develop￣ment ” concepts have had a deep influence on the modernization of governance in ethnic autonomous regions. Based on a review of 30 years of success￣ful experiences in implementing ethnic regional au￣tonomous law, and focusing on the concepts of“innovation, coordination, green development, openness and sharing”, we need to conduct in -depth research on the ways to:promote governance by law, realize the modernization of governance;and promote the efficient implementation of ethnic autonomous systems in the ethnic autonomous re￣gion.
The 155 ethnic autonomous areas of China cover 64% of the total area of the country. There￣fore, the governance of the country cannot be a￣chieved without modernizing the governance in the ethnic autonomous regions. Modernizing the gov￣ernance in ethnic autonomous regions is a necessa￣ry element for modernizing the governance of the nation. The modernization of the ethnic autono￣mous regions actually means the legalization of the governance in ethnic autonomous areas, which is a main part of the legalization of the ethnic affairs.
The comprehensive, deepening of reform, and promoting governance by law have been strongly promoted. We should start from reality, respect differences, and take the development concepts of“innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing” into consideration so as to promote the ef￣ficient implementation of ethnic regional autono￣mous systems through various methods. We should update our concepts, weaken specificity, solidify locality, intensify new thinking, innovate the run￣ning of ethnic autonomous systems, and promote the modernization of governance in ethnic autono￣mous regions. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the theories and practices used since the imple￣mentation of ethnic regional autonomous regula￣tions, and under the premise of intensifying “the legalization of ethnic affairs”, we should deepen the comprehensive reform of the ethnic autonomous regions, comprehensively promote the governance by law, and realize the goal of building a moder￣ately prosperous society as scheduled through im￣proving and innovating the running of ethnic re￣gional autonomous systems.
“Ethnic areas are districts with rich resources and water sources; they are ecological screen zones, cultural characteristic zones, border areas, and poor areas.” At the same time, due to histori￣cal, social and natural factors,“the natural condi￣tions of most ethnic areas are not good; their be￣ginning phase of development is low; they have many historical debts; they are located far away from the central markets and urban areas;their ur￣ban-rural gap is very obvious”, and “their gap with the eastern areas ( of China) is growing larger and larger”. The reform and the promotion of gov￣ernance by law in ethnic autonomous areas should put more emphasis on locality, ethnicity and “au￣tonomy”. Of course, we must avoid of “artificial￣ly” intensifying ethnic consciousness, and creating ethnic “differences”. Meanwhile, we should “im￣prove the capability for legal management of ethnic affairs”, “intensify the construction of laws and regulations related to ethnic work”, “legally han￣dle those issues involving ethnic factors”, “insist on resolving issues involving ethnic factors by the law, and avoid of regarding civil and criminal problems related to ethnic people as ethnic prob￣lems, or regarding common disputes in ethnic are￣as as ethnic problems. ”
We should affirm that China’s ethnic relations are harmonious, and that their economics are de￣veloping rapidly. Since the implementation of the policy of “reform and opening -up”, especially since 2005 , the economics in ethnic autonomous regions have developed dramatically; the people’s living conditions have continuously improved;bas￣ic infrastructure has significantly speeded up; and ecological protection has solidly improved. Howev￣er, the problems still prevail. For example, the poverty in ethnic areas is still serious—there are more than 25 million poor in ethnic rural areas. Therefore, the task of poverty alleviation is still very tough. In addition, the gap between urban and rural areas and between different regions is very large in ethnic autonomous regions. Finally, the rate of urbanization is very low.
In sum, during the process of modernizing so￣cial governance in ethnic autonomous regions, we must pay full attention to the five“stage character￣istics” of ethnic work in China which are the:( i) co - existence of opportunities and challenges brought by the “reform and opening -up” policy and the socialist market economy;( ii) co-exist￣ence of the state’s constant support to the ethnic ar￣eas and its low level of development; ( iii ) co -existence of the state’s constant support to the eth￣nic areas and the weak level of basic public service capability in ethnic areas; ( iv ) co -existence of the constant exchange and fusion between various ethnic groups and the disputes involving ethnic fac￣tors;and ( v) co-existence of the great achieve￣ments in anti-national splittism, religious extrem￣ity, and violent terrorism, as well as the active ter￣rorism activities in some areas. Only when we rec￣ognize this situation, can we understand the speci￣ficity of doing ethnic work in China. The innova￣tion of governance of ethnic autonomous areas and the promotion of governance by law in the whole country must start from this actual situation.
At present, we still need to clarify the conno￣tations of autonomous rights. Based on a clear clar￣ification of the basic meaning of ethnic regional au￣tonomous rights, we should deepen reform, active￣ly transform the governance of the ethnic autono￣mous regions, further deepen relevant theoretical studies, and positively promote the ethnic regional autonomous system. The main purpose of the eth￣nic regional autonomous areas is to promote the de￣velopment of the various affairs of ethnic minorities and ethnic regional autonomous areas. The purpose for improving the ethnic regional autonomous sys￣tem is to ensure the development of ethnic minori￣ties and ethnic regional autonomous regions. Im￣proving the ethnic regional autonomous system should transform from one of preferential treatment to one of nuanced development.
Looking back to the past, the legal construc￣tion of ethnic regional autonomy has made great a￣chievements. However, the preferential policies of the state and relevant institutes are still the real factors promoting the development of the various af￣fairs of the ethnic minorities and ethnic autonomous areas. As described in this article, there are multi￣ple factors which influence the efficiency and per￣formance of the ethnic regional autonomy. The eth￣nic autonomous regions are restricted by natural conditions and economic development, therefore, they have to depend on assistance from the state and the relevant institutes—this is the objective re￣ality. However, the improvement of the ethnic re￣gional autonomous system must change the status of the past, and enable the ethnic regional autono￣mous system play out its actual role so that the va￣rious affairs of ethnic minorities and ethnic autono￣mous regions can step onto a road of nuanced de￣velopment.
The future development of the ethnic regional autonomous system depends on the consensus of theoretical and practical circles, i. e. a long-term mechanism whose purpose is to enable the system itself play its actual role should be established. Only by such a mechanism, can these puzzling problems be solved and gradually improved. Tak￣ing the breakthrough of the actual effect of the sys￣tem as the starting point of the ethnic regional autonomy’s deepening of the reform, one should take the following aspects into consideration:1 ) re-examine existing laws and regulations, and im￣prove them on the basis of institutional norms, en￣hance normalization, uniformity and manipulability of the ethnic regional autonomous regulations; 2 ) sort out the relationship between the institutions in ethnic autonomous areas and the upper levels of the state institutes, as well as the relationship be￣tween the institutions on the same level;on the va￣rious institutional levels, enhance clear cognition on the position, role and organizing principles of the ethnic regional autonomous system, and avoid taking the ethnic regional autonomous system as the affairs of the ethnic autonomous areas;3 ) im￣prove the supervisory mechanisms for running the ethnic regional autonomous system; and 4 ) im￣prove the mechanisms for handling disputes on the running of the ethnic regional autonomous system.
We must work closely, share the achieve￣ments, and promote the operation of the ethnic re￣gional autonomous system. For this purpose, we should:1 ) standardize the management of the eth￣nic regional autonomous system, and weaken the“specificity”;2 ) promote the governance capabili￣ty of the ethnic regional autonomous areas, and so￣lidify the concept of“locality”;3 ) enhance auton￣omous awareness and capability, intensify “new thinking”, motivate initiatives from the autonomous areas, and improve the autonomous system from the bottom-up, and rationally allocate the power and rights of the high-level organs and the auton￣omous organs in the ethnic autonomous areas.     

论民族自治地方立法公众参与机制的完善

The legislative public participation in ethnic minority autonomous areas has its legal basis. The fifth regulation in the lifa fa ( The Leg-islative Law ) of China makes a general require-ment on public participation in legislation. In order to ensure the effective participation of the public in legislation, some ethnic minority autonomous re-gions have outlined some requirements on public comment, demonstration, and hearing during the legislative process through autonomous regulations. These ethnic minority autonomous areas are com-prised of both autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties. However, the breadth and depth of the public participation in legislation in ethnic minority auton-omous areas is inadequate, and a perfect mecha-nism of public participation in legislation in ethnic minority autonomous areas has yet to be formed. This is mainly reflected in the following aspects:1 ) The relevant laws of public participation in leg-islation have not been perfected;2 ) The enthusi-asm of public participation in legislation is not high;3) Legislative information is not fully open, and the feedback mechanism has not been perfec-ted;4 ) The limited approach for public participa-tion in legislation, and the lack of ethnic and re-gional characteristics. To improve the mechanism of public partici-pation in the legislation of ethnic minority autono-mous areas, we can start with the following:1 ) Improving the legal regulation of public participation in the legislation of ethnic minority
autonomous areas The state and the ethnic minority autonomous areas should develop operational laws of public participation, so as to provide a legal basis for the public’s participation. The ethnic minority autono-mous areas should fully integrate the actual situa-tion of the local ethnic people and create autono-mous regulations with local characteristics, protect public participation rights, and promote public participation in legislation in an orderly and effec-tive manner. 2 ) Improving the level of enthusiasm forpublic participation in ethnic minority autonomous areas From a subjective standpoint, correct ideas on public participation in legislation in ethnic minority autonomous areas should be cultivated. Firstly, the awareness of the public participation in legislation in ethnic minority autonomous areas should be pro-moted . Secondly the autonomous organ’s concept of legislation should be changed. From an objective point of view, on the one hand, we should vigor-ously promote the development of the economy in ethnic minority autonomous areas. On the other hand, we should make great efforts to promote the development of civil society. 3 ) Improving dissemination of information and feedback mechanisms for public participation in legislation of ethnic minority autonomous areas The dissemination of information publicity and feedback mechanism of the public participation in-ethnic minority autonomous areas should be estab-lished on the basis of two-way communication and
consultation between the autonomous organs and the population of all ethnic groups in ethnic minori-ty autonomous areas. Autonomous bodies fully dis-close all kinds of legislative information to the pub-lic, from whom the autonomous bodies obtain legis-lative views, through to the legislative information feedback to complete the legislative interaction be-tween the two sides. 4 ) Developing and expanding effective meth-ods of public participation in the legislation of eth-nic minority autonomous areas The effective methods of public participation in the legislation of ethnic minority autonomous ar-eas can be considered from two standpoints:The first is the endogenous mode of public participation in legislation. This means, according to its own objective conditions and actual needs, relying on the inner force of the autonomous bodies and the populations of all ethnic groups, the ethnic minori-ty autonomous areas can explore and innovate suit-able methods for the local legislation of public par-ticipation. The second is the exogenous mode of public participation in legislation. This means, in order to expand the public participation in the leg-
islation, ethnic minority autonomous areas learn, understand, and borrow some foreign public partic-ipation methods and techniques, making it a suit-able method for local public participation in legis-lation.     

民国时期天山北麓东路城市多民族居民生活的变化

Although the Republican era of China did not last very long, it was a significant period in which China transformed from an agricul-tural to an industrial era, and from a traditional so-ciety to a modern one. During this period, not only did the politics and economics change dramatical-ly, but also the lives of urban residents. Although Xinjiang is located in the western frontier area of inland China, since the Qing dynasty, its politi-cal, economic and cultural connections with inland China gradually increased. Xinjiang is not an iso-lated region, it actually is located in the central ar-ea of Asia. So, its openness is very pronounced. Even though during the Republican era, inland China was gripped in the chaos of war, Xinjiang’s political, economic and cultural connections with the inland were never broken. Although sometimes the central government’s control in Xinjiang was not so strong, the central government’s policies had always impacted strongly on Xinjiang. In addition, due to the continuous migration of the inland popu-lation ( especially intellectuals, and political and military people) into urban areas, such as Dihua in Xinjiang during the Republic era of China, the politics, economics and culture of inland China had a big impact on the lives of Xinjiang urban res-idents. Moreover, Xijiang is neighbors with Rus-sia. Since the middle of the 19th century, Russia, whose industrialization and modernization occurred earlier and faster than China’s, often made political and military invasions, as well as cultural infiltra-tion, into Xinjiang. After the founding of the Sovi-et Union, its influence on the cities of Xijiang gradually increased. Especially during the period when Sheng Shicai managed Xinjiang, the influ-ence of the Soviet Union on Xinjiang was the stron-gest. In addition to political influence, economic and cultural influences became more pronounced, and numerous industrial and cultural products made in the Soviet Union were imported into Xin-jiang. This had a dramatic impact on the urban residents of Xinjiang. As a political, economic and cultural center of Xinjiang, Dihua was alive with many Russians who engaged in political, economic and cultural activities. Hence, their direct or indi-rect influence on the lives of Dihua residents was stronger than in other cities. At present, the research on Xinjiang during the Republican era of China mainly focuses on the political and economic domains , and less attention is paid to its urban life. However, the changes of modernization are not only reflected in the aspects of politics and economics, but also in the field of social life. Hence, to strengthen the research on the changes in social life in urban areas of Xinjiang during the Republican era of China is significant. The Republican era of China was an important pe-riod for Xinjiang society. Although if we compare it with the urban areas along the eastern coastal ar-ea of China, the impact of western culture on the lives of urban residents in Xinjiang during this pe-riod was not so strong, and the changes in social life also reflected multi - ethnic characteristics. The changes in urban life in Xinjiang were also an important part of the changes following China’s modernization. It reflected a both generalization and a diversity of the urban changes created by China’s modernization. In addition, one should note the impact of the changes in Xinjiang’s urban life during the Republican era on that of Xinjiang during the latter half of the 20th century. Thus, it is very necessary to conduct a research on the lives of Xinjiang’s urban residents during the Republican era of China. Xinjiang has been a multi-ethnic area since ancient times, a fact which contributes the ethnic diversity that characterizes the social life of Xin-jiang cities. During the Republican era, the mate-rial life of the various ethnic groups living in Xinjiang’s cities changed successively due to the impact of external cultures, and the wave of mod-ernization. However the changes to the material lives of the various ethnic groups were different. The content of material life is very broad. General-ly speaking, it comprises people’s daily life, inclu-ding clothing, food, shelter and transportation, all of which are regarded as basic essentials for peo-ple. In a period of scarcity of goods and materials, material life became the most important thing for most of the public. Hence, changes with regard to material life, to a large extent, is reflected in the changes in the social lives of urban residents. Generally speaking, compared with the situa-tion in the Qing dynasty, the clothing in Xinjiang cities such as Dihua exhibited a big change. How-ever , this change displayed multi-ethnic and diver-sified characteristics. Concerning the food culture of Dihua urban residents during the Republican era of China, it reflected more open, inclusive and mutually influential features. In other words, the existence of a diversified food culture and diverse development was an important characteristic of the time. Concerning shelter during this period, a big change in Dihua’s urban style was that some mod-ern buildings co-appeared alongside traditional style buildings, no matter whether it was in the pri-vate space or public space. Moreover, the trans-portation mechanisms also changed during this pe-riod. Roads for cars appeared in Dihua, which opened the gate for Xinjiang’s automobile age. During the Republican era of China, most ur-ban residents in Xijiang’s cities, such as Dihua, kept their traditional customs. However, there were also some changes due to the influence of ex-ternal cultures—these changes were presented as the characteristics of pluralism, diversity and a mixture of the old and new. Multiple ethnic groups concentrated in an area in the eastern zone line of the northern foot of Mount Tianshan. During the process of history, the different ethnic groups formed their own cultures and religious beliefs. In the Republican era of China, the various ethnic groups lived in harmony most of time, and the plu-ralism and inclusiveness of cultures gradually in-creased. Generally speaking, the lives and cus-toms of the Han in Xinjiang cities, such as Dihua during the Republican era of China, were almost same as those of the Han in inland China. On one hand, they kept many of their traditional customs;yet, on the other hand, they also gradually accept-ed some new ones from external cultures. The eth-nic minorities, such as the Uygur and Hui, were deeply influenced by Islamic religious culture. Their religious cultural life exhibited almost no change during the Republican era of China, and they, for the most part, maintained their tradi-tions. During this period, in keeping with the gradual consciousness of ethnic equality, although various ethnic groups kept their own traditions, and they did not reject each others’ traditions, and instead, there was some mutual exchanges among them. This made the urban culture more diversi-fied . Not only were the festivals of the Uyghur pop-ular among themselves, the Han were also invited to participate in them. Moreover, the Han’s festi-vals, especially the Spring Festival, Lantern Festi-val and others, were also gradually accepted by other ethnic groups, and, for example, the Uy-ghur, Hui, Mongolian and Kazakhs, and others all participated in these festivals. In the middle and latter period of the Republican era, the urban cul-ture of Xinjiang exhibited a sense of openness. Within the basis of maintaining their own ethnic cultural traditions, each ethnic group showed an opened attitude to new cultures, and, hence, ur-ban culture became more diversified and rich. During the time when agriculture was more dominant , traditional cities lacked of public cultur-al spaces. Hence, Buddhist monasteries, Taoist temples and mosques became the sites for organi-zing public cultural activities in the urban areas. Since modern times, the public cultural spaces in urban areas have experienced a great change. Parks, as a new mode of public space, began to appear successively in some important cities. At the end of the Republican era of China, the public cultural space of Dihua had been further expand-ed. In 1948, there were four such kind of public cultural sites in Dihua, such as Zhongshan Park, Hongyan Lake, Shuimo River, and Wulabai. In addition to these, the cinema also played a very important role in the new entertainment life of the urban residents of Dihua. In 1944, Dihua had three movie theaters which were run respectively by the government, a businessman and a Russian. Movies had a very direct impact on the residents’ vision and mind, especially on the youth. A new movie sometimes would change some people’s view of life or the rules of their behavior. In short, the Republican era was a dramatic period of change during which China transformed from a traditional agricultural society to a modern industrial one. Following the changes in politics, economics and culture, people’s material life and cultural life were also changed. Due to the vast territory, and uneven political and economic devel-opment of China, the changes differed in various regions. Xinjiang is a frontier area in western Chi-na. Its communication with the outside world was not so convenient. Hence, compared with the east-ern coastal region, the degree of change in Xin-jiang was lower, and the speed of change was also relatively slower. However, this kind of change ac-cumulated over several decades, so, with time, the changes also became very noticeable. Howev-er , due to the uneven regional development in Xin-jiang, the changes in some cities were slow while in some they were fast. Compared with other places of Xinjiang, the changes along the eastern line of the northern foot of Mount Tianshan, and taking Dihua as the center, were faster and more obvious in the Republican era. On one hand, Di-hua was more strongly influenced by the politics, economics and culture of inland China; and, on the other hand, Dihua was also influenced more di-rectly by the politics, economics and culture of the Soviet Union With the combined role played by the both sources, the material life of the urban resi-dents of Dihua, including clothing, food, shelter and transportation, as well as the customs, and cultural entertainments, changed dramatically. This change was not only similar to that of inland cities, but it also reflected regional characteristics of Xinjiang—the characteristics of ethnicity and di-versity wee more pronounced. In addition, com-pared with Tibet which is also in the western fron-tier of China, the changes brought by the urban modernization in Xinjiang was more dramatic. This was directly connected with Xinjiang’s geographical location, natural climatic conditions, as well as its political, economic and cultural development. Al-though Xinjiang lies in the western frontier of Chi-na, its transportation connections with inland Chi-na and the outside world were more convenient than those in Tibet. During the Republican era, the railways, highways and aviation routes devel-oped relatively well, the Xinjiang’s economic, and cultural connections with both inland China and the Soviet Union were also relatively close. In addi-tion, an important natural condition which also created good conditions for the opening up of Xin-jiang is that the elevation of most areas of Xinjiang is not high—the average elevation is around 1000 meters. Hence, the natural geographical conditions promoted a population flow between Xinjiang and inland China, as well as between Xinjiang and the Soviet Union. Moreover, after the settling of Xin-jiang province at the end of the Qing dynasty, the feeldings and unity with inland China were ensured from an institutional aspect. It was just under such kind of background that the lives of the urban resi-dents living in the eastern zone of the northern foot of Mount Tianshan experienced a dramatic change, and presented a characteristic of ethnic diversity, pluralism and mixture of old and new.     

中国西南民族“螺丝结顶”墓葬的民俗学研究——以“瓦乡话”、“土家语”、“苗语”地区为例

中国西南民族螺丝结顶墓葬体现了少数民族葬俗,是原始社会历史文化的遗留,其水生、土养、岫居、岩葬、石柩、遮阳、龙坛、吉穴、安魂、孝亲等丧葬内涵明显,在中国水乡蚌壳仙女等民间文学中有体现,是水乡稻作民族葬俗模式在山区的遗留,有对水乡生活的留恋,是历史上移民文化的遗存,是对人类生命礼仪、南方民族尊尊亲贤等优雅风尚的最高赞颂,有丰富的民族、历史文化、艺术、宗教因素,是中国南方民族丧葬文化的精品。     

坐家习俗的蜕变——以天柱县竹林乡苗侗村寨为例

坐家是苗族和侗族等少数民族的婚俗,一直到在改革开放初期,竹林乡的苗侗村寨仍在沿袭着这种婚俗。随着改革开放的深入,坐家习俗发生了急剧蜕变,现在几尽消失。对竹林乡苗侗坐家习俗的考察与分析,展示了这一习俗在社会转型条件下发生根本变化的原因和规律。其蜕变体现了少数民族群众为适应生产关系的调整,将自身生产力从旧习俗中解放出来的要求。     

试论维吾尔族丧葬习俗中的生态伦理思想

维吾尔族丧葬习俗是维吾尔族人生礼仪习俗的重要组成部分。在维吾尔族丧葬习俗中蕴涵着丰富的生态伦理思想:爱惜自然、约束和节制一切破坏自然环境的行为、促使人与自然共生共荣、和谐共处等。维吾尔族丧葬习俗中蕴涵的生态伦理思想,不仅对保护所在地区生态环境、节约资源、保护耕地、保护生存者的空间具有积极的社会意义和现实意义,而且对我国当前进行的殡葬改革具有一定的借鉴作用。     

论藏族的丧葬风俗

为什么全民信仰藏传佛教的藏民族,其丧葬的主要类型不是佛教所推崇的火葬而是天葬?为什么最高级的葬法是塔葬而不是最流行的天葬?为什么土葬的兴衰史与苯教的兴衰史相一致?文章从藏族的地理环境、宗教文化与民族史方面进行了论述,提出了藏民族葬俗双因素决定理论:地理环境与宗教交互作用决定了藏民族葬俗,地理环境在很大程度上抵消了宗教的决定性影响,特别是苯教所推崇的土葬和佛教所推崇的火葬的影响;而宗教又削弱了地理环境对葬俗的限制和束缚。     

卡约文化的丧葬礼仪

根据大量的考古发掘资料 ,说明卡约文化墓葬出现的诸多丧葬习俗 ,均源自当时人们的灵魂观念 ,并由此产生了各种丧葬礼仪     

灵魂在哪里得以安息--湖北省老河口市李家河农村葬俗的调查

本文记叙了湖北省襄樊地区老河口市李家河农村二次葬的过程 ,并试图探讨李家河二次葬的性质、二次葬从古到今的历史、李家河二次葬长期存在的原因。     

吴泽霖先生的苗族研究

吴泽霖先生作为中国社会学、民族学、人类学奠基与发展时期的重要学者,一生所研究涉及领域较多,成果卓著,特别以苗族的研究成果最为显著。从吴泽霖教授所撰写发表的苗族研究论著、调查报告中看出,既有综合性研究,也有专题性研究,还特别关注婚姻、家庭、服饰及其它礼俗方面。从吴泽霖先生的学术研究生命历程和研究成果看,对民族学、人类学的研究,集中在如下几个方面进行了理论方法的探索：倡导民族平等,服务社会的理论探索;对婚姻家庭的理论研究;源自苗族研究的“小集体的认同”族群理论;基于苗族服饰等研究开始的民族文物与博物馆理论及实践。综观吴泽霖先生对西南少数民族的研究,既是一个将在海外学习掌握的人类学理论方法应用于中国研究实践的过程,也是基于一个族群或一个区域的具体实践为起点,逐渐形成工作模式,推而广之触及更多族群、更广区域的研究,最后获得具有学科普同性意义的理论观点的过程。     

渝东南少数民族贫困地区文化旅游发展探析

渝东南是少数民族聚居的老少边穷地区,但是其自然风景优美,国家历史文化名镇分布较多,土家苗族文化风情异彩纷呈,应该充分利用资源优势,开发少数民族地区特色文化生态旅游产品,发展少数民族文化生态旅游产业,加快实现民族地区的和谐发展。因此,本文分析了渝东南少数民族地区文化旅游发展的条件、优势、存在问题,进而提出渝东南民族贫困地区文化旅游开发的思路和对策。     

"百苗图"源流考略--以《黔苗图说》为范本

“百苗图”是历史背景较为复杂的一种反映贵州古代少数民族的地方文献,其版本众多。据考,它们是源自清人陈浩著的《八十二种苗图并说》。关于其母本的产生历史,学术界纷争不一。《黔苗图说》是贵州省博物馆收藏的一部较为典型的百苗图册页。本文以它为例,试对“百苗图”的源流做一些考证。并认为其母本并非某一时代实地调查的第一手资料,而主要是利用许多地方文献的相关材料编纂成册。     

“苗女”争论及其背后——论20世纪80年代初期苗族知识界的民族意识的“骚动”

20世纪80年代初期.在贵州省文艺界,围绕着对汉族美术家创作的作品--木雕"苗女",曾爆发过一场激烈的争论.本文透过对这一个别事件的追踪与展开,考察了这时期普遍见于苗族社会的知识精英群体中的民族意识"躁动"现象及相关背景.在此基础上,通过对苗族知识分子群体成长过程的回顾,揭示出他们的"民族认同"形成的"边界",本质上并非源于所谓的共同的文化,而是在与外界的互动过程中得以成形并不断被强化的.进而通过对历史上从"苗"到"苗族"过程的简要追溯,对影响苗族作为近代民族集团形成的"他者呈现"问题,提出了初步独到的理论思考.