中缅佤人国家意识建构的历史叙事

本研究以中缅佤人为叙事主体。从近现代历史脉络入手,结合笔者田野调查资料,意在观察中缅边界的佤人社会,上溯200多年间经历的若干重大历史事件的跌宕,包括:断断续续的中英划界中所谓"中华帝国"的立场曾摇醒了佤人国家意识的朦胧认知;18世纪汉人在佤山的开矿活动又加强了佤人同中国内地的经济往来和与清帝国中央的联系;抵抗英缅政府对阿佤山的渗透过程,反而使得佤人中国认同的觉悟显著提升;在二战中与国民政府军一起浴血奋战反击日军曾一度强化了佤人对中华民国的国家认同;20世纪50年代在中南半岛的国共纷争又使佤人的国家认同一度陷于困惑;60年代中缅划界的尘埃落定似乎促成了中缅两边佤人各自再造国家认同的意识。但事实上,处在复杂历史场域中的佤人始终在国家意识和族群认同的问题上纠结不止,国家意识的建构和族群内部的撕裂并存,这是当下世界范围内多民族国家之间跨境少数族裔建构国家意识所面临的共同问题,具有一定的典型意义。

A Historical Narrative of the Building of Wa’s National Awareness

This paper focuses on the Wa people living across the border of China and Myanmar.Based on the author’s fieldwork,it examines the building of Wa’s national awareness in the context of 200 years of modern history.Specifically speaking,the position of "Chinese Empire" in the intermittent Chinese-British demarcation negotiations wakened their vague national awareness;the mining activities of the Han people in Washan in the 18th century strengthened their economic exchanges with mainland China and contacts with the Qing government;the resistance against the British-Burmese government infiltration into Washan significantly improved their awareness of Chinese identity;the combat against Japanese with the GMT government during WWII deepened their identification with the Republic of China;the disputes between CPC and GMT over Indochina plunged them into a confusion of national identity;the settlement of Chinese-Burmese demarcation in 1960s contributed to the respective building of their national awareness across the border.In fact,the coexistence of the building of national awareness and split of ethnic identity is a common problem for cross-border ethnic minorities in multi-ethnic countries,and is of typical significance.