Riding the Horses of Modernization: How Ethnic Identities Transcend Differently in Two Hani Ethnicity Autonomous Villages in China

Abstract

This thesis focuses the research on how two autonomous villages with the same ethnic minority background demonstrate minority identity under different objective conditions. The researcher went to the two villages to conduct field research. By observing and interviewing local villagers, they framed four clothing, food, housing, and transportation themes and compared and analyzed them separately. It was found that the villages with older houses and less convenient transportation lacked cultural preservation; the villages with more modern houses, more developed transportation, and better economic conditions had better preservation of ethnic culture. Furthermore, the villages with more developed tourism had worse economic conditions, while the villages with less developed tourism had better economic conditions. More research is needed to confirm the occurrence of this phenomenon in addition to the four factors of food, clothing, housing and transportation.