The Eastern Queendom Dispute and Grassroots Politics on the Sino-Tibetan Border

Abstract

In a collective action to reclaim the label of the Eastern Queendom—a legendary matriarchal kingdom—the villagers in Suopo township, Danba county, Sichuan take advantage of the media and a newly founded tourism association to press their claims by highlighting their political marginality in Danba and condemning the local state for its favoritism and partisanship. In consequence, a struggle over the “ownership” of the queendom has both manifested and generated the reconfiguration of grassroots politics on this part of the Sino-Tibetan border: exacerbated society-state relations, diversified societal and state sectors, and enhanced political participation of both elites and villagers. The locals are simultaneously engaged in an identity politics to define their manifold identities along the lines of Chinese citizenship, inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic sameness and differences, regional/local ties, professional/peasant status, marginality/majority perceptions, and (other) political stances such as loyalty to the party-state.