STRENGTHENING NATIONAL IDENTITY AND CULTURAL COHESION: WARTIME FOLKLORE STUDIES IN SOUTHWEST CHINA

Abstract

Folklore studies were closely tied to the emergence of the modern nation states and often used to rebuild national identities. In China, nationalism held an obvious appeal as the people confronted national crises and became increasingly influential in the twentieth centuries. It was not only directly related to the rising interest in folklore from the late 1910s and early 1920s, but also became the dominant theme of the folklore research during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Leading scholars of folklore studies looked to the past in order to strengthen cultural cohesion for the nation as a reaction to Japanese imperialism. Folklore studies in the southwest region under Nationalist control thrived and progressed in related theories and studies of minority customs. Scholars adopted a multi-disciplinary approach and rallied around folklore as a nationalist tool to demonstrate the connection between disparate communities within China. This work examines the great influence of nationalism on folk studies, shining a light on folklorists’ activities, folklore organizations, and primary publications during China’s War of Resistance against Japan.