Present Conditions and Strategies of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection in Sichuan Ethnic Autonomous Areas

The intangible cultural heritage of ethnic minorities is the most typical cultural re-source with ethnic characteristics . Its scientific protection and effective usage can not only help to transmit ...     

Chinese Identity in London-An Analysis from the Aspects of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Memory

The basic aim of this study is to find out and understand the strength and inspira-tion behind the identity of Chinese in London , and how it has been maintained from the aspects of cul-tural heritage and cultural memory .     

康定锅庄文化遗产价值新阐释

The understanding of the traditional research of Kangding Guozhuo mainly covers four aspects:1 ) It is widely believed in the academic world that the Guozhuang ( meaning singing and dancing in a circle ) of Kangding was a unique product which combined politics, economics and culture together. 2) It was a specific business form based on the family unit, fulfilling multiple func￣tions such as an inn, a shed, a commodity inter￣mediary, an administrative office, a commodity transformation point, and a banking establishment. And it was also a place for cultural exchange be￣tween the Tibetans and the Han . 3 ) The formation of Guozhuang culture establishes a new element in the culture of the Tibetan-Yi corridor. 4 ) Zheng Shaoxiong mentions that the Guozhuangzhu ( the Guozhuang host ) had played an intermediary role in assisting the Tibetan businessmen to sell or pur￣chase goods - this helped to maintain the trade relations between the Han and Tibetans ( or their communication) . This kind of ingenious institu￣tional arrangement was a historical practice in keeping the balance of the relationship between different cultural communities, such as the Qing court, Tusi ( native officials ) and the Guozhuang host of Kangding. It reflects the wisdom in ethnic interactions, and can be borrowed in present ethnic regional autonomous system.
The above mentioned understanding is a result of study from the perspective of history, ethnology or economics. Although Zheng Shaoxiong’s re￣search was born from the old mindset, and pro￣posed the new value of Guozhuang cultural mecha￣nism, there is still a lack of research on this cul￣ture from such comprehensive perspectives as ur￣ban history, cultural anthropology, and economic anthropology. Thus it cannot fully reveal the fea￣ture and value of Kangding Guozhuang, a complex cultural phenomenon.
Based on existing data, past research, and fieldwork on the oral history of Kangding Guozhuang conducted in August 2013 , this article gives some new interpretations to the features of Guozhuang culture from an interdisciplinary per￣spective as follows:
1 ) The forever “48 Guozhuang” are a Kang￣ding urban memory, which displays the common cultural psychology of regarding Kangding as an important trade city of the Han and Tibetans; and Guozhuang carries a folk cultural memory of more than 200 years. After the gaitu guiliu policy ( re￣placement of native officials with centrally appoint￣ed officials) in the late Qing period, the number of newly appeared Guozhuang even reached 60 to 70 .“Although each of them had its own courtyard, and people also called them Guozhuang, they were still quite different from the 48 Guozhuang in the minds of the Kangding people”. This not only in￣dicates that the 48 Guozhuang within the orthodox system were deeply rooted in the hearts of the local people, but also reflects that Guozhuang were re￣garded as the most proper carrier for the communi￣cation between the Han and Tibetan during the late Qing period, otherwise so many Guozhuang court￣yards would not have appeared in history.
2 ) From the name to its architectural form, or function, a Guozhuang was influenced by the Han culture, however, it still had strong Tibetan char￣acteristics. Actually it could be regarded as a min￣iature of local culture of Kangding. Every Guozhuang had its own Tibetan name and Chinese name. The architectural style of the Guozhuang was actually different from traditional multiple -level blockhouse. There was always a courrtyard, and it was larger than that of Han. The vast court￣yard was not only a space for the Tibetan business￣man to cook food and boil tea, but also a space for organizing their entertainment activities, such as singing and dancing in a circle. You Tai, a minis￣ter of the Qing dynasty in Tibetan areas, recorded a grand dancing party organized by the local Tusi to welcome his arrival, which reflected the significant position of the Guozhuang in cultural activities. The upper-class of the Kham area, including Tusi and the Guozhuang host, tried to build a close re￣lationship with both Tibetan and Han in all means, including the title, kinship relation or customs, and successfully built up a central zone on which both sides can be understood. It was just due to the special geographical location and cultural tradi￣tion that made the reconstruction of a cross cultural buffer zone possible.
3 ) The managers of the Guozhuang were mainly the hostesses ( Ajia Kaba in Tibetan lan￣guage) , and this also reflected a kind of feminism in Kham culture. The tradition of the Dong nv guo ( East Kingdom of Women ) enabled the women to run their business in and out of the family. When the tea trade started, the Guozhuang host had to spend much of their energy on providing service to the Tusi, so the Guozhuang hostess took the re￣sponsibility of managing the business of the Guozhuang. Ajia normally controlled the initiative of negotiation in the Han-Tibetan trade, and they played the role of interpreters in the negotiation. There were many live -in son -in -laws in the family of the Guozhuang and this kind of marriage was even more popular in the period from the late Qing dynasty to the Republican era.
If we conduct an analysis of the value of Kangding Guozhuang from multiple dimensions, we would notice that the existence of the non-market interpersonal model in this institution, on some certain degree, had solved the problem of the lack of social cohesion resulting from marketization. From this angle, the value of Guozhuang culture in the improvement of the economic institutions of the market cannot be ignored.
This fieldwork also reflects the significant and comprehensive influence of the Guozhuang cultural heritage of Kangding. When viewed from this an￣gle, its value is incredible. According to the data collected from the fieldwork, all the people, inclu￣ding officials, scholars, businessman and ordinary people, are aware that the Guozhuang is a cultural heritage which has a high and comprehensive val￣ue. If the relevant government bodies could in￣clude it into the scope of heritage protection, and build it into a cultural space of intangible cultural heritage, it will have a much higher heritage val￣ue , and play an important role both in the econom￣ic development and construction of harmonious eth￣nic relationships.
The Kangding Guozhuang also played a role in the deconstruction of the Han - Tibetan social structure - this kind of value can not only be in￣troduced to the present world and influence the fu￣ture world, but also can be seen as a hub which connects the “ancient” and “modern” Han -Ti￣betan relations. Traditionally, there was a structur￣al rule in the communications between the Han and Tibetan, namely that “the Han and Tibetans are somewhat separated from each other ”, however, the Guozhuang model in Kangding deconstructed this Han-Tibetan rule. This was closely related to elements such as social composition, ways of life, marriage, family, kinship, and religious customs. The disappearance of Guozhuang also has its own causes, for instance, the absence of inheritors and failure in operation of this system. However, this article proposes that it is mainly influenced by the social reforms in the historical process. Hence, that is the reason why modern enterprises which re￣tain certain connotations of the Guozhuang could re-appear in the Kang area. In the survey, we no￣tice that some enterprises have already made efforts in this regard. In summary, Kangding Guozhuang had creatively formed a security institution with a more humanized nature, and played an important role in the alleviation of social tensions in ethnic areas. Contemporary society, composed as it is of people with multi-ethnic backgrounds, still needs this kind of “deconstruction”.     

人类学的香料研究与“客体叙事”

Spice is not an object of narration in classical anthropology. In anthropological works, such as Edward Burnett Taylor’s Anthropol￣ogy and Julius E. Lips’ The Origin of Things, studies on material culture mainly focus on the bas￣ic necessities of daily life, like clothing, houses, movement,and utensils which embody humankind’s thoughts, technology and clusters of traditions and customs as cultural carriers. In these studies, food and spice are always understated, if mentioned at all. The return of spice to the foreground of anthro￣pological knowledge seems to signal a formal return to the narrative objects found in classical anthro￣pology. The objects, however, are totally differ￣ent. Moving from conspicuous large-scale objects in the field and life, the focus is on minimalist ob￣jects such as spice. Spice, sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate, salt and other such things have become the objects of narrative in anthropology. This change continues the objective of plain subject in the discipline. This return to heritage, intensifies and surpasses the classical themes of anthropology. It is all about building the Noah’s Ark for anthropology’s returning home.
Traditional anthropologists firmly defended fo￣cus on “the pure, primitive ethnic group”. They never considered their own western world as the object of fieldwork. In the beginning, anthropolo￣gists upheld the theoretical ideal of the uniformity of ethnic groups. However, practically, they drew a distinct line between the primitive “other” and their own groups ( themselves) . If anthropoplogy is trying to do reflexive research, then, the commonly-used material objects in daily life are the best ones for self -reflexive observation. Whereupon,“eating” becomes a common divisor of human’s u￣niformity. Food systems, like language or the other acquired behaviors, not only reflect diversities in uniformity , but also locates in the core of self-de￣fining conception ( S. W. Mintz, Chinese Ver￣sion, 2010,3). Spice, sugar, tea, coffee, choco￣late, salt and other such minimalist objects provide a mirror for the Western anthropologists to engage in self -reflection and inward self -gazing, and also to reflect on the interactivity of emic -etic. The desire, motivation, event, symbol, change and influence hidden in the modernization of west￣ern society are reflected. This kind of research also unpacks the process of food supply from the “oth￣er” before our eyes, and weaves the world into an interdependent and distinctive network through the dual change between “self” and the “other”.
Following the “thread” of “eating” has be￣come a growing trend for engaging in self-reflec￣tion, and returning home. An increasing number of anthropologists are engaging in this trend and mak￣ing significant achievements. Mintz, Turner, and Rain are influential representatives.
Spice, as an element of food, is quite subtle. If these anthropological works are merely consid￣ered as the “texts” of food anthropology, then, it is misleading. If viewed intuitively, the category of spice is quitebroad. Daily seasoning, adventurous seasoning, and traditional aromatics are all conclu￣ded in this category, as well as sugar, salt, cof￣fee, chocolate and tea. The types and classes are numerous and complex. These spices play various roles beyond the food and cuisine systems in the world, permeating into the relevant social and cul￣tural fields, and reflect cultural phenomena and in￣trinsic meaning. Compared with the macro objects in material culture, spice, like the atom in phys￣ics, is a component of material culture. By stud￣ying the minimalist elements of material culture, we can uncover the universality of humanity, pro￣vide better explanations for group differences, and achieve an ideal link and interaction between the differences and similarities. Disassembling the a￣tomic symbols, together with the reference of“oth￣erness”, Western society is well situated in the field to complete its self re -exploration and cul￣tural writings ( S. W. Mintz, Chinese Version, 2010, 210). By playing a narrative role, the sub￣tle pieces of spice deliver profound and significant meaning . This attempt is brand new for anthropolo￣gy. Its academic purport goes far beyond the field of food anthropology.
Among these texts in which spice is used as a narrative object, a mixed research method is main￣ly adopted. Fieldwork is essential. It is important to make investigations of spice in the field, and to gather first-hand observations. Collecting histori￣
cal references and doing a literature review are also necessary . Documents, personal notes and dairies, and relevant references should be collected and processed. From the academic point of view, it has obvious cross - disciplinary characteristics. Not only is anthropological training needed, but also a rich knowledge of various disciplines such as histo￣ry, international trade, botany, perfume, and chemistry. Compared with some anthropologists who sit in rocking chairs, and others who work in the field, the narration of spice is a much tougher task. In these above instances, after one year of fieldwork, an ethnography can be written and pub￣lished quickly. However, it took Mintz 30 years to conceive and produce his ethnography on sugar. This striking contrast reveals the great difficulties and challenges the research encountered.
There are three kinds of contexts contained in writing this kind of narrative. The first one is “a￣tomic” context. It takes spice as the essential com￣ponent of the established culture of material, spirit and institution, and attempts to discover the way different ethnic groups mould their concept of group values and behavior. It is also the process of moulding the nation-ness of ethnic groups which is linked with the holistic structure of the groups. Spice experiences diving from the luxuries confined to kings and great noblemen to the common daily consumption of the middle class and underclass. When items which were once luxuries become daily supply, national tastes and living styles will form or change. The next is the “radial” context. The multiple-uses of aromatics, which are given fresh meaning in the process of their use, turn into sym￣bols. In the sacrificial rituals of ancient civiliza￣tions which used aromatics, the fragrant spices symbolized the concept of “attracting and appeal￣ing to the gods, and expelling evil spirits” ( J. Turner, Chinese Version, 2007,p. 274). In the medical context, spices could maintain health, prevent plague and treat disease. The culinary spices represented communication and identity of the rich and politically connected, and illustrated their control and power over other classes ( S. W. Mintz,Chinese Version, 2010,p. 101). The pre￣servative function of spices was not only used in food preservation, but also used as one of the ma￣terials for mummifying the pharaohs. The function of beauty and cleaning reveals their lifestyle. The different fragrances used by the sexes illustrate their stimulation and enhancement for reproduc￣tion. ( P. Rain, Chinese Version, 2007, p. 30&43). Spice, as a cultural symbol, radiates ( ex￣tends) into multiple fields, and presents the pat￣terns of thinking of certain ethnic groups. The last one is a context of concatenation. Spice is an ever flowing and changing material object. The fluidity of spice stems from its rareness, remoteness, and high price. The pursuit of aromatics developed into a worldwide spice trade. But the spice trade did not change the taste of different people radically. During the establishment of the modern world sys￣tem, spice brought about great change not only of the production pattern, but also the western lifes￣tyle. In this process, the production of spice, sug￣ar, tea and so on, the trade, the consumption of these daily supplies is linked together through a network. A series of events such as the great mari￣time expansion, colonial expansion, the slave trade and plantation economy, the alternation of the world hegemony, and the bulk agricultural trade are woven into this interconnected context. The interactive causality of the evolution of culture is the needle of linkage, and is the mirror image of the tandem structure as well.
This triple context organizes the micro-scale object, medium-scale society and the larger scale macro world into one text. It focuses on the core object of the Western society itself, ultimately im￣plements the mutual reflection of “micro spice”and the “macro world, and completes the “self-observation” of western society.     

遗产理论重新建构的实践：博物馆由圣殿走向世俗

Western theories on cultural herit-age have been developing continuously in ceaseless debates, and these theories have experienced dif-ferent stages of emerging, evolution and decon-struction. At the same time, a reconstruction of‘cultural heritage theories ’ is now being imple-mented and even has gained a certain achieve-ment. Indeed, at present ‘museums ’ have be-come the playgrounds for the reconstruction of new theories: museums are being transformed from a‘palatial ’ heritage protection institutes into ‘an-thropocentric’ cultural service institutes by means of ‘audience engagement’ . Museums increasingly implement the reconstruction of cultural heritage theories. From the 8 th to the 12 th of August 2016 a training project on ‘audience engagement ’ -hos-ted both by the British Council and the Chinese Museums Association-took place in the ‘National Museums Liverpool’ group. Due to its preeminent geological position, professional teams of special-ists, and audience-oriented working mechanisms, the National Museums Liverpool has become a new paradigm for the world of museums. However, be-hind these visible developments, a process of cul-tural heritage studies has been providing a strong support and guidance. Going back to European ideology from the late 18thto 19th century, the ‘past’ was seen as an ob-ject to be studied, pursued, protected, or even re-built ( designing past landscapes, old buildings, and memorials) . This ideology became the starting point of ‘Eurocentric heritage studies ’ . Due to this background, initial heritage studies have been branded with phrases as‘Eurocentrism’ ,‘author-itativeness’ , and ‘sanctification ’; this view has affected a large number of museums in the world. However, heritage studies have been adjusting and evolving. Post-modern heritage theories questioned issues like ‘centralization ’ and ‘authoritative-ness’ , and instead refocused on concepts like‘people’ , ‘democracy ’ , and ‘pluralistic socie-ty’ . The advocacy of‘cultural diversity’ and sup-port of expressions of‘intangible cultural heritage’ are practical applications of this new development in heritage theories. Taking the National Museums Liverpool as a case, the first characteristic of this museums group is the easy accessibility of the location of the muse-ums:several museums are situated just besides the sea as well as close to the city shopping center. Still, other museums are located on the opposite side of this area, yet it is only a 20-minutes walk between the two sides. A second characteristic is a special ‘managerial/administrative mechanism ’ that allows all museums to be run in a certain way;at the same time curators remain at the core of the teams that conduct the projects in the museums. A third trait is that the museum audience remains the main focus of all operations in the‘National Muse-ums Liverpool ’ . The case of National Museums Liverpool shows that ‘museums ’ have become an important place for reconstructing ‘cultural herit-age theories’. By means of ‘free admission’ and ‘audience engagement ’ , the museums’ function has changed from a ‘sacred place for collecting, researching and rescuing the past’ to an anthropo-centric service institute: museums have shifted from an organization of ‘sanctification ’ to one of‘secularization’ . With this development of cultural heritage the-ories, the traditional model of the museums has been reconstructed and renovated:it seems to have restored the voice of the general public and of cer-tain non-powerful groups to preeminence. In addi-tion, the bowuguan tiaoli ( Museum Regulations) issued by the State Council of China in 2015 says that‘education’ is the primary function of a muse-um. This redefinition of what a museum is sup-posed to be, actually reflects a guiding ideology of changing the museum’s traditional status and iden-tity. It also emphasizes the museum’s need for au-dience engagement. All of this challenges the museum’s traditional function of ‘collecting, pre-serving, researching, and displaying’ . New social functions, such as‘public education’ and‘public cultural service’ , are thus constantly emerging into a museum. Although different names have been given to these new functions, ‘audience engage-ment’ is at the core of them. Generally speaking, as international museums are slowly transforming - guided by cultural heritage theories-domestic museums will also gradually change their predomi-nant ‘sacred position ’ and shift into museums of‘decentralization’ . Anthropocentrism and‘service to the people’ will increasingly be the new identity of present-day museums.     

民族传统文化与现代化关系之思考：乐竹村纳西族祭天仪式的田野记录

Taking the Ritual of Sacrifice to Heaven of the Naxi at Lezhu village as a case stud-y, this article tries to explore how a typical Naxi village handles the relationship between its tradi-tional culture and modernity, and how it reshapes its unique culture in the process of cultural change, and preserves its cultural characteristics. The Ritual of Sacrifice to Heaven is a grand and complicated ceremony of the Naxi. The proce-dure of this ritual at Lezhu village generally in-cludes the following steps: 1 ) planting sacred trees;2 ) offering incense sticks and rices;3 ) offer-ing wine;4 ) cleaning impurities;5 ) offering un-cooked food; 6 ) offering cooked food; 7 ) atoning for the sins and praying for blessings; 8 ) feeding crows and eagles;9) sharing the food. According to the analysis of the author, the revitalization of the Ritual of Sacrifice to Heaven in Lezhu village is related to the following reasons:1 ) the formation of united-groups for sacrifice to heave;2 ) the power of the people’s belief in a small community; 3 ) the effort of folk “enthusi-asts” ;and 4 ) the geographical location of the vil-lage. Concerning the inheritance and change in the Ritual of Sacrifice to Heaven at Lezhu village, we should notice that some traditions have been inheri-ted while some have been changed. In the case of Lijiang , economic factor ( especially tourism indus-try) has played an important role in the ethnic cul-tural change. On one hand, it can accelerate the spreading of the Naxi traditional culture, enhance the Naxi’s ethnic confidence and identity, and cre-ate chances for local economic development, on the other hand, the traditional culture might lose its foundations during the process of spreading and exchanging. Social change can result in the lose of tradi-tional culture, and the Naxi’s Dongba culture in Lijiang plain is facing this problem. A slightly im-proper behavior can lead to the discontinuity, or e-ven disappearance of ethnic traditional culture. There is always a paradox of “center-margin”concerning the economic development and ethnic traditional culture inheritance. Ethnic traditional cultures normally have no enough survival space in the economically developed areas while they are preserved much better in the economically back-ward mountainous areas. To a certain degree, the revitalization of the Naxi’s Ritual of Sacrifice to Heaven at Lezhu village is due to the relatively backward of economics. Following the development of transportation, communication and internet, people’s concept of space and time has changed;modern civilization has strongly impacted the Naxi of Lijiang. The Naxi of Lijiang, like other ethnic minority people in southwest China,are also facing a problem of cultural discontinuity or reshaping of the tradition. We should aware that the society is develo-ping, and cultural change has its inevitability. As a social member, we should ,on one hand, inherit the culture, and on the other hand, understand its change and development.     

台湾排湾族头饰特征及文化内涵

Among Taiwan’s aboriginal tribes, the Paiwan has the most exquisite decorative adorn￣ments on their costumes. In addition to the decora￣tions of their clothing, they also give importance to the decorations on their headdress. Every group designs different headdresses according to social status— this also reflects the cultural identity of the group. The headdress is an external marker of ethnic culture, the carrier of ethnic customs and aesthetic consciousness, and it helps to transmit and promote traditional culture.
The Paiwan people have various forms and shapes of headdresses which are designed freely according to the designer’s artistic inspiration. However , the snake form can only be used by trib￣al leaders. The headdresses are mainly made from natural materials, such as eagle feathers, animal hides, animal teeth, horns, flowers, grasses, seeds, colored glazed beads, shells, ceramics, metal, etc. However, eagle feathers, animal hides, animal teeth, horns, and colored, glazed beads can only be used by leaders and nobles;common people are strictly forbidden to use these materials.
The social organization of the Paiwan and their festivals and sacrificial ceremonies determine their various headdresses. The headdresses and head bands of the Paiwan are made mainly from black or red flannel; the shape and the use of the materials reflect hierarchical differences. Head￣dresses can be divided into those of leaders, no￣bles, warriors and commoners.
The form of the Paiwan people’s headdress consists of strong layering;each is decorated with a variety of materials, creating a three-dimensional effect. The decoration of a moulded cottonmouth snake on the head band reflects the people’s snake worship, and also the group’s aesthetic conscious￣ness and worship of ancestors.
The decorative expertise and complex working process reflect the Paiwan people’s superb skills in weaving. The materials used for the headdresses of Paiwan people are mostly derived from nature, and strongly reflect regional characteristics.
Totem worship is characteristic of Paiwan reli￣gion, and it is a form which combines the worship of nature and ancestors. The forms of animals re￣flect the psychology of Paiwan people’ s original worship in which they depended on getting along with nature, and in which they placed their hopes in Totem worship.
The Paiwan have many myths, which is one of the characteristics of their culture. The forms of the sun and cottonmouth snake, which decorate the headdresses of the leaders, reflect that the sun is the creation of life. Chamilia beads are regarded as a class symbol by the Paiwan people, and have a protective function.
The first child of a Paiwan family, no matter whether it is a boy or girl, has the right to inherit property of his/her paternal or maternal home. One should also notice that the colors, materials, and forms of the headdress of Paiwan man and woman in the same class are the same.
In summary, the shapes and forms of the Paiwan people’s headdresses vary. They reflect the Paiwan people’s unique aesthetic consciousness, and embody the Paiwan people’s excellent tech￣niques in traditional decorative handwork. The use of colors represents the Paiwan’s optimistic attitude towards life. Materials are derived from nature, which reflects the group’s harmonious relationship with the nature. Headdresses are not only an exter￣nal form of decoration, but they also have profound cultural connotation and national consciousness. The class system, taking nature as beauty, worshi￣ping ancestors, their myths, and the equality be￣tween men and women reflected in the headdresses of the Paiwan people indicate the Paiwan people’s inheritance of tradition, natural worship and pur￣suits in life. The study of the artistic features and cultural connotation of the headdress of the Paiwan people can help to protect Paiwan traditional adornment technique, and enrich the requirement of diversity in headdress design.     

Elements of the Chinese Cultual Grammar：Sacrifice1

This article explores definitions of ＂sacrifice＂, and arrives at a definition based on the ＂internal logic＂ of Chinese cultural facts .Through a detailed analysis on the two kinds of relations with gods , i.e.＂homage＂ （ or reverence ） and＂request＂, the concept of ＂sacrifice＂illustrated in the novel The Investiture of the Gods;a Taoist cosmic renewal rite named Jiao;and the imperial altar of Heaven , the author introduces a method for studying the ＂grammar＂ of Chi-nese cultural life , of which sacrifice is an element found in a contrastive relationship with other cultural elements in China .     

The Construction of Islamic Social-Cultural Space in a Mixed Community of Hui and Han---the Case of Nagu,Yunnan Province

The cultural space of multi ethnic residential regions is always diverse and complicat-ed,and the conflicts and integration of multi cul-tures is the main driving force in the process of constructing c...     

楚克奇人的萨满信仰与社会变迁

The Chukchee in northeastern Si-beria have a longstanding historical tradition of shamanism which was closely integrated into their traditional society and way of life. In accordance with their different modes of subsistence, the Chuckchee are divided into two basic groups, the maritime Chukchee and the reindeer-breeding Chukchee. The maritime Chukchee lived a rela-tively settled life, and hunting sea mammals played an important role in their economy. The sea mam-mal meat was their main food, its skins and the i-vory from walrus were made into different tools, and the bones of whale were the main material used for building houses. A “unit” of maritime Chukchee was composed of people whose lives cen-tered around skin boats, and this group , included both Chukchee and non-Chukchee people. they all lived together, hunted together and organized their hunting according to a special rules. The reindeer-breeding Chukchee mainly lived a nomadic life. They ate reindeer meat, dressed in reindeer fur and lived in tents made of reindeer skins. The reindeer-breeding Chukchee formed social units composed of four to five families. They lived in scattered tents and grazed reindeer together. The unit also included some non-Chukchee people. I. Shamanism among the Chukchee The Chukchee believed that we live in a world with spirits. The world was filled with various spir-its, who could not be seenor touched, were always changing and lived a life similar with that of hu-mans. In other words, the spirits also raised rein-deer, hunted, married and bore children. Wicked spirits harmed humans by preying upon their souls or bodies. Sickness and disaster were caused by this. In order to cope with this kind of sickness and disaster, it was essential to invite a shaman to combat the wicked spirits, and in some cases, the shaman made sacrifices to please such wicked spir-its. In addition to these different kinds of spirits, there were also powerful deities, such as mountain deities, forest deities, and river deities. Such dei-ties were responsible not only for the small spirits who lived in the mountains, forests and rivers, but they also were responsible for the animals and plants that were there. People who lived in or nearby these places had to communicate with the spirits and supernatural beings living in the area before they used the area’s resources. Moreover, they had to communicate with the more powerful elements which controlled the universe. According to Vladimir Bogoraz ( Waldemar Borgorose) , shamanism among the Chukchee man-ifested itself as “Family Shamanism”, and “was still in its primary stage of development”. As such, it provided “the most characteristic, pure and primitive” features of shamanism. It was com-mon in the 1800 s and early 1900 s for males to play a leading role in most Siberian groups. Yet, in spite of male dominance in shamanism, female shamans were always considered to be“leading fig-ures in the shamanic field”. Among Chukchee and Koryak there is another kind of shaman where the male shaman takes the form of a female. This hap-pened when the shaman is possessed by the identi-ty of a female spirit. They received“the call of de-ity” to change their sex through visions. In general, Chukchee shaman experienced the call to become a shaman during their adolescence. The call usually came from shaman’s inner voice, based on which the “candidate shaman” estab-lished their relationship with deities. This sudden calling often confused the initiate, and they were not always so sure about their situation. They felt“shyness” and fear; lost interest in regular life, and were unwilling to work and communicate with others. They had no appetite, and slept a lot. They often stayed in their tentall of the time, or ran away when they went out for hunting or grazing their reindeer. Generally, young people were un-willing to accept the call of the deity. No matter if they were novice shaman or ex-pert shaman, both communicated with the “deity”through drumming and singing. Novice shaman practiced drumming, as well as singing, for long periods of time in order to master the skills–this required great patience on the part of the perform-ers. Ventriloquism was the Chukchee shaman’s specific “sorcery skill” in which they were ex-tremely skillful. Stabbing a knife into their belly was also one of the sorcery skills frequently prac-ticed by Chukchee shaman. II. The changes in Chukchee shamanism dur-ing the Soviet Period During the late 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet Union government established many schools in mi-nority regions. These newly built schools laid a firm foundation for their anti-shamanism campaign. Scholars during the Soviet period no longer regar-ded shamanism as an essential element embedded within a group’s economic life, social organization, religious life and festivals, but sought to destroy it through messages which spoke of “ideology” and“class”. As a result, Chukchee shamanism expe-rienced enormous, passive, cultural change which created a cultural breakdown. At the same time, shamanic culture also exhibited a state of conflict, resistance and avoidance to survival. After World War II, the Soviet Union govern-ment tried to advance the process of collectivization in the Chukchee tundraregion. Up to the early 1950s, almost all the pastoral reindeer were con-sidered state-owned. The Soviet Union government merged reindeer-breeding collective units and coastal hunting collective units, and established mixed “farms” in the Arctic Circle and along the Bering Strait’s coast. The residences of so many coastal Chukchee were demolished, and they were relocated to alternative settlements. In these new and larger settlements, they did not need tradition-al skills, so, they could only do manual labor. Since the 1960s, the ethnic consciousness in the Northeast Siberia region has undergone tremendous changes. Most young Chukchee people do not know whether their parents were from coastal-hun-ting or inland reindeer-breeding groups, which, as we know, were the basic distinctions among the Chukchee people. More young people rejected tra-ditional occupations, and were more willing to par-ticipate in “modern” work, and they increasingly identified themselves with the social-cultural norms of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, their economic life and social organization experienced big changes under the influence of the Soviet Union. The social support of shamanism was destroyed, although it still existed privately and underground. III. Shamanic cultural revival after the col-lapse of the Soviet Union After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a large number of Russians “escaped”;they “killed reindeer, took away all the things that could be taken away”;the young indigenous people also left in order to find jobs outside. In order to rebuild the local economy, the autonomous communities began to try to establish an “obshchina” ( com-mune or society) . In that moment, when the locals were trying to understand the world around them and were looking for ethnic identity, they, once a-gain, needed their traditional worldview and spirit-ual support. In the areas where the shamanic tradi-tion had broken down, one could only rely on reading early European travelers’ records related to shamanism, or talking with old people to get infor-mation about shamanism, and by doing so, revive the once ruptured local beliefs and culture by hold-ing religious and cultural performances regularly. Generally speaking, shamanic culture today has lost its close links with the “special spaces”, as well as its close relationship with the communi-ty. As such, it is difficult for the tradition to repre-sent the strength of the whole society, control or rescue its people and provide prosperity, fertility and guarantee military success for its people. In other words, the essential structure of shamanism, whether it was the internal cultural significance or its integration with society and environment, has been broken and shattered. Fragmented shamanic heritage is the vivid portrait of its fragmented de-velopment stage. IV. Summary Traditional Chukchee economic life, social or-ganization, religious festivals and customswere linked with each other. As a whole, they worked together and created a social order for the Chukchee, and constituted the cultural cohesion of the Chukchee. Shamanism among the Chukchee was integrated into the history of the nation and its social context. Each Chukchee could participate in religious life. Therefore, this “family shamanism”and its “shamanism features” distinguished it from other forms of shamanism among the Siberian tribes. Chukchee people reacted very passively to Christianity when it reached there. Until the early 20th century, almost all Chukchee still adhered to their own shamanistic practices. During the Soviet period, Northeast Siberia experienced the anti-religious movement, collectiv-ization movement, compulsory residence resettle-ment movement, “scientific” reindeer-breeding and other foreign “progress” and “civilization”movements. Such “progress” and “civilization”were not familiar nor were they sympathetic to the indigenous people’s traditional life. The old way of life of the Chukchee was broken, the original so-cial relations were shattered. Therefore, the Chukchee and their entire culture were “re-formed”. Remains and practices of shamanism a-mong the Chukchee went underground, retreated from mainstream social life, and became an inti-mate way of healing. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Russians“ran away”, and the young Chukchee al-so left their traditional homeland. The economic depression, population decline, and social erosion brought big challenges to the movement to “re-build” Chukchee society. As an attempt to bind local Chukchee people, the “obshchina” provided a possibility for reorganizing. Now, shamanism in Chukchee, just like other social organizations, is in a fragmented, theater-like state. The revival of shamanism in Chukchee in the future will not be u-nilateral, but rather rooted in its social and cultural revival system.     

贵州喀斯特墓葬与民族地区的殡葬改革

Funeral and interment reform is a social revolution of changing customs and tradi-tions, which is conducive to promoting the con-struction of the socialist material, spiritual and ec-ological civilization. The replacement of burial with cremation is the direction of China’s reform on fu-neral and interment traditions. The reform itself is put forward by aiming at the disadvantages of the Han people’s traditional burial custom, however, Guizhou is a typical karst region in China, in which several forms of karst burial have existed throughout history, such as cliff coffins, cave tombs, and sarcophagi, and these customs have been continued to some certain degree up to now. Therefore, how to manage the relation between cre-mation and karst burials has a significant meaning to the respect of the ethnic minorities’ customs and promoting the funeral and interment reform in eth-nic regions. The Binzang guanli tiaoli ( Funeral and inter-ment management regulations) issued by the State Council in 1997 stipulates that “ the objective of the funeral and interment management is to carry out cremation, reform burial, save the interment land, abolish undesirable customs related to the fu-nerals and interment actively and methodically, and advocate civilized and thrifty funerary prac-tices”. That is to say, the original intentions for promoting cremation in the funeral and interment reform for many years include the advocating of thrifty funerals, reducing the burden of funerals on the masses, changing the people’s concept of luxu-rious burials, and saving the cost of funeral in the aspect of economy;banishing superstitions, getting rid of bad habits, and opposing the feudal dross in the aspect of culture; and saving resources and protecting limited cultivated land in the aspect of ecology. In general, the abolition of burial and im-plementation of cremation has become the reform direction of China’s funeral and interment system. Guizhou is a typical karst area in China. There are various forms of cliff-burying, rock tombs, sarcophagi, and cave tombs etc. , especial-ly the cave-burial which is still popular among the Waishu Miao at Taohua village in Qibo township, Pingba County and among the Qing Yao at Yaolu village in Libo County, and sarcophagus burial which is still popular among the Li clan of the Waishu Miao at Xinyi village in Guangzhao town-ship, Qinglong County. These structures reflect the karst characteris-tics of Guizhou tombs, and have an important eco-logical value. The funeral and interment reform is put forward by aiming at the drawbacks of the tra-ditional burial practices of the Han, so if the cliff burial or sarcophagus tombs which have ecological value had been forced to be replaced with crema-tion in the funeral and interment reform, it will lead to an embarrassing situation which is contrary to the original intention of the reform no matter if we consider it from cultural, economic or ecologi-cal viewpoints. Firstly, it will cause a dilemma at the cultural level. We must consider the characteristics of the funeral customs of the ethnic groups during the process of reforming the funeral and interment cus-toms in the ethnic minority areas, in other words, respect the funeral customs of ethnic minorities, as it is an important content of the CCP and the state’s policy for respecting the customs and habits of eth-nic minorities. Due to the differences in geograph-ical environment and social economy, the ethnic minorities have different funeral customs with their own characteristics. These funeral customs, as a part of ethnic culture, help to construct a ritual with a kind of ethnic identity;it is the mark of na-tional culture, which embodies ethnic emotions and maintains ethnic consciousness. The ‘univer-sal application’ in the funeral and interment sys-tem reform doubtlessly make the disappearance of karst characteristics in Guizhou’s burial culture, the diversified burial way has been replaced with single cremation, and that is not good for the pro-tection of cultural diversity. Secondly, it will cause an economic dilemma. One of the purposes of the funeral and intermentre-form is to save funeral costs, and change the con-cept of organizing luxury funerals. The traditional burial custom contains a set of complex funeral cer-emony, which is organized in a very luxurious way, spend a lot of money and increase the people’s economic burden. In contrast, cremation can save costs. However in today’s rural areas, af-ter cremation, the ashes are still buried after being put into a coffin, so it not only increases the eco-nomic burden of the people, but also does not meet the purpose for farmland conservation, hence, it is contrary to the original intention of the funeral re-form, and also causes dissatisfaction among the people. Therefore, compared with cremation, sar-cophagus and cave burial which are still popular in Guizhou are actually a more economic practice. Thirdly,it causes an ecological dilemma. The purpose of funeral reform is to save resources and protect the limited farmland. The traditional burial practice uses coffins and pile graves, which wastes wood, occupies farmland, and also pollutes the en-vironment. Therefore, the environmental protection is the premise and ultimate goal of the funeral and interment reform. Cave burial in Guizhou uses the natural caves, and does not occupy farmland; sar-cophagus burial does not use wooden coffins, so both of them belong to ecological burial practices. However, the implementation of cremation in the areas which used to conduct cave or sarcophagus-burials has created an embarrassing situation. Cave burial and sarcophagus tombs in Guizhou karst areas contain rich ecological ideas, which not only have positive social and practical significance for the protection of the ecological en-vironment of the area, but also have an important reference meaning for the promotion of “ecological funeral” or green funeral in China. Different ethnic groups and different areas have different forms of funeral customs, which have their own justifications. Therefore, the Fu-neral and Interment reform should adapt to local conditions, and take into the consideration the characteristics of the karst region in the case of Guizhou, and fully draw on the rational factors of ethnic burial. The present funeral and interment reform can take reference from the following three aspects from the ethnic burial culture of Guizhou:The first is to delimit some appropriate burial zones and maintain properly some burial customs which has ecological value. We advocate various forms of burial in these specific burial zones, for instances, tree burial of the Basha Miao in Con-gjiang country, deep burial of the Chang-clan Yao in Libo county, and sarcophagus tombs of Li-clan Waishu Miao in Qinglong County. These forms of burial with ecological protection value not only play an exemplary role for the ecological protection in ethnic regions, but also will help for the ethnic cultural inheritance. The second is to make full use of the natural characteristics of the karst area, and properly en-courage cave burial which does not take up the cul-tivated land. In this way, not only can the cave burial custom of the Yao in Libo and the Washu Miao in Pingba be kept, but also the cliff burial custom which does not take up the cultivated land could be encouraged among the residents in the karst region. This kind of cliff burial not only re-duces the waste of cultivated land, but also re-stricts the superstitious activities in the funeral. The karst area in Guizhou is very extensive, so it has a unique advantage in conducting cave burial. The funeral and interment reform can take the local conditions into consideration, and play up the ad-vantages of natural environment. Instead of empha-sizing cremation blindly, we should take the cave burial into practice. The third is to convert karst caves into ceme-tery for placing ashes so as to change the tradition-al way of building a cemetery on the hill for placing ashes in the cremation areas. In the karst area, if an area is delimited as a cremation zone, then the burial of body or burial of bone ash coffin should be prohibited. Generally, ashes should be deposi-ted in sepulchral chapels or buried in cemeteries. Although most cemeteries are built on barren hills or land, they still occupy land and waste land re-sources. The use of cement and stone materials creates white pollution. Meanwhile, the construc-tion of cemeteries destroys the mountain and causes soil erosion. Therefore, the cemetery is not the di-rection of the funeral and interment reform in the long run, and also does not meet the original inten-tion of the reform.     

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.     

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.     

三星堆青铜纵目面具与铜兽首冠人像的藏文化解读

This article is the fourth article re-lated to the research of “Zhangzhung·rGyalron· Sanxingdui and Jinsha”—Tibetan cultural interpre-tations of relics unearthed in Sanxingdui and Jin-sha. The main focus of the article is Tibetan cul-tural interpretations of the vertical-eyed bronze mask and the copper statue of a man with an ani-mal head crown in Sanxingdui Museum. 1 . Vertical-eyed bronze mask and Miwo Lon-glong The bronze cultural relics unearthed in Sanx-ingdui or even Jinsha have broad and deep links to ancient Tibetan culture. The vertical-eyed bronze mask is the most typical of the numerous bronze objects depicting human heads. In the following discussion, we would like to give an interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the bronze objects de-picting human heads. In order to draw inferences about other cases from one instance, we would like to choose two typical cases: choosing the vertical-eyed bronze mask as our model of cultural relic, and choosing langshi jiazu ( the Lang family clan) as our model of Tibetan ancient literature. It is generally stated that the eyes of the verti-cal-eyed bronze mask kept in Sanxingdui museum roughly meets the appearance of the Shu people ’ s ancestors, the Cancong, who are recorded as hav-ing “vertical eyes” in the historical books. Some people also believe that “vertical eyes” means“upright eyes”, just like the eye in the forehead of the God Erlang in Chinese ancient myth, so the image might be a statue of an ancestor god. Addi-tionally, some connect it with the frontlet of kuilong ( a sacred dragon in Chinese myth ) , and believe that it is related to zhulong( another sacred dragon in Chinese myth) who has a human head, a dragon ( snake) body, and “upright eyes”. Langshi Jiazu is an important document for studying the political and religious unification sys-tem in Tibetan areas during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, meanwhile, it is also an essential material for the study of the Gesar Epic. Langshi Jiazu was published by Xizang renmin chubanshe ( Tibet People ’ s Publishing House ) for the first time in May, 1986, and the whole book is com-posed of three parts. From the perspective of the ancient Indian centralism and Tibetan centralism, Langshi Jiazu has many unique parts, and its con-tent has an unusual connection with rGyarong in the southeastern part of Tibetan areas. For in-stance , the content of the fist part is very similar to shengniao xiongqiongwang zhuang ( Biography of the Sacred Bird Garuda) recently discovered in the rGyarong area. There is a myth in Langshi Jiazu, and the sto-ry is very common in Bon literature. The academic circle calls it the Bon religion’ s view on the crea-tion of world—the universe is oviparous. Most scholars believe that the view of oviparous creation of the world in Bon religion might be Tibetan peo-ple’ s own cognition. We provide translations to some content included in the Langshi Jiazu, and compare them with the vertical-eyed bronze mask, and notice some information which has been ig-
nored by the current academic circle. For in-stance, the vertical-eyed bronze mask symbolizes“”, Chinese phonetic translation Miwo Longlong, which means “may all your wishes be-come truth”. 2 . Copper statue of a man with an animal head crown in the Bon Religion The copper statue of a man with an animal head crown kept in Sanxingdui Museum is not com-plete, with only the upper part of the body remai-ning. The statue wears an animal head crown. On the two sides of the top crown, there stands two an-imal ears, in between of which there is a curly decoration which looks like an elephant ’ s nose. Apart from the previously-mentioned characteris-tics of the sacred bird Gaguda, the copper statue of a man with an animal head crown also has several other outstanding features, for instance, its crown and posture. The crown is not only high, but also has a rectangular hole, on the top of which there are three long strips. The statue is posed in a grasping gesture. This paper gives firstly an overall interpreta-tion of the copper statue of a man with an animal head crown according to the shengniao xiongqiong-wang zhuang, then gives a Tibetan cultural inter-pretation of the details of the statue. Concerning the knowledge of the three long strips on the crown of the copper statue, this article finds some clues from the angle of philology and archaeology, and proves that the origin of this crown is the sacred hat in Bon religion of Tibet. Moreover, this article also discusses the reason why the crown has these three strips on top of it. The author mentions that it is related to the sacred bird Garuda, and the three strips respectively represent the two wings and horn of the bird. In other words, the strips on the right and left side symbolizes the bird opening its wings and viewing the world, while the strip in the mid-
dle symbolizes that the sacred bird is male, not fe-male. From one aspect, the head dress of adult women in the rGyarong area symbolizes the sacred bird Garuda, and from another aspect, in Tibetan culture, including rGyarong culture, only the sa-cred male bird Garuda has the horn. That means the sacred bird Garuda with a horn must be a male one. Concerning the vertical-eyed bronze mask and the copper statue of a man with an animal head crown unearthed in Sanxingdui, there are still many details that need to be explored, and also we feel that it could be differently interpreted. Howev-er, due to the limitations of space, we will not do a long discussion here, but we do hope that from the examples provided in this article, one can draw inferences about other cases from this one in-stance.     

A Review on the Study of Ethnic Minorities’ Cultural Identity Influenced by Different Cultures

Due to the rich content of cultural iden￣tity, the research related to this aspect involves many disciplines, including anthropology, sociolo￣gy, psychology, philosophy, literature, religion and educat...     

The Tibetan Concept of Ethics and Morality in Daofu County of Sichuan

The concept of ethics and morality is a cultural phenomenon which penetrates the dai-ly life of every ethnic group .It has a wide and pro-found influence on standardizing people's behavior, their judgm...     

The Strategy of Multinational Country in Modern China-The Exploration for the Historical Reason of minzu Recognition

The Chinese Communist Party （ CCP ） launched a nationwide census and voter registration campaign in the summer of 1953 .After debating which questions should be posed to their nearly six hundred million respondents , officials ultimately decided upon only five .The first four of these involved the most basic of demographic infor-mation, including name , age, gender , and rela-tionship to the head of one ＇ s household .The fifth one was settled upon a question：that of nationality or minzu.The outcome of the census proved shock-ing to Communist authorities and ultimately precip-itated the Ethnic Classification Project . Why the Communists wished to include minzu on the census schedule？ The author argues that there were three reasons .The first reason is the deeply historical problem of maintaining the territo-rial integrity of a highly diverse empire .The sec-ond problem is more proximate , and originates in the ongoing rivalry between the Communists and the Nationalists during the first half of the twentieth century.Third, with regards to categorization , the advent of the Classification is attributable to a po-litical crisis prompted by the failure of the state ＇ s initial experiment with a highly noninterventionist policy of self-categorization . To understand each of these questions , the author brings the readers to explore the history of the term minzu itself, and suggests that the very in-clusion of minzu in the 1953-54 census schedule was itself the culmination of a complex history dat-ing back to the fall of the Qing dynasty （ 1644 -1911 ） and the formation of the first Chinese repub-lic.