non-Han Peoples Research Articles

The Practices of the She Organization Contribute to Social Cohesion and Separate Identity in Contemporary Rural Communities: A Case Study in Songyang County of China

The She (社) organization is an ancient Chinese folk religious group that was formed to worship the god of the soil through various activities. In contemporary society, the She organization plays a non-mainstream but important role in increasing social cohesion in China’s rural communities. This case study concentrates on the She organization in Songyang County to examine how its practices contribute to the Han and Non-Han peoples’ continued social cohesion and separate identities through observations, in-depth interviews, and the reviewing of local documentation materials. The findings are as follows: Firstly, as forms of social capital, the normative rituals, values, and informal situational networks of the She organization constitute the mechanisms for building trust, which ultimately promotes social cohesion between the Han and Non-Han peoples. Secondly, the coexistence between She and other belief systems is conducive to establishing the extended social capital of the She organization and maintaining the Han and Non-Han peoples’ separate identities according to their ethnic features. Finally, from the perspective of state-society relations, the social cohesion and continuation of the She organization in contemporary civil society are further interpreted as the results of state systems and policies.

Literati of the Garrisons

Conventionally characterized as a perfunctory exercise established to bolster the ranks of Manchu officials, the Qing dynasty civil service translation examination, and its accompanying curriculum of literary and classical training, played a major role in the development of literary-intellectual values among members of the Eight Banners. This article demonstrates how it contributed to the emergence of a multiethnic population of Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese bannermen possessing high levels of Manchu literacy who would become consumers and producers of Manchu literature, translations, and textbooks, engendering a literati culture that extended beyond the administrative concerns of the court. While the Manchu language is commonly considered to have become moribund by the late eighteenth century, the translation examination highlights its continued, and in certain contexts growing, significance into the early twentieth century. These findings require a reexamination of Manchu cultural identity beyond imperial ideology and the role of non-Han peoples in literati culture more broadly. They also provide new insights into the classicizing potential of vernacular languages within the linguistic ecologies of early modern East Asia.

“Our Roots Are the Same”: Hegemony and Power in Narratives of Chinese Linguistic Antiquity, 1900–1949

AbstractSince the beginning of the twentieth century, a frequent claim among speakers of local Chinese languages (called fangyan in Chinese) is that their native languages preserve the language of antiquity better than the Beijing-based national language, Mandarin. This paper explores the origin of these claims and probes their significance in the making of the Han ethnoracial collective identity. I argue that claims of linguistic proximity to the imagined ancient origins of Chinese civilization represent a form of “hegemonic Han-ness”—an idealized form of the Han collective identity that was both internally hegemonic, in that it was meant to supersede other expressions of Han-ness, and externally hegemonic, in that it was meant to uphold the superiority of the Han people over other ethnoracial groups. From Zhang Taiyan, whose work provided a model for drawing linguistic connections between contemporary local languages and the language spoken at the dawn of Chinese civilization, to local gazetteer authors, who used linguistic data to prove their mother tongues directly had preserved the language of antiquity without being adulterated by the languages of non-Han peoples, this paper explores how various groups drew upon the cultural power of an idealized Han-centered past to challenge the authority afforded to the national language by the state.

Art, Anthropology and Non-Han Bodies: Pang Xunqin’s Paintings of Miao People in Guizhou Province in the 1940s

This paper considers the ways in which the painter Pang Xunqin “translated” the bodies of non-Han people, by examining his visual representation of the Miao people of Guizhou during the 1940s. His work needs to be understood within the context of the history of anthropology in Republican China. Since he worked closely with Chinese anthropologists his work was largely informed by an anthropological understanding of human diversity and of ethnographic collecting and museum practice, a matter hardly explored among current studies on Pang Xunqin. Pang’s representation of the Miao was influenced in equal measure by customary Chinese ethnographic illustration and Western anthropological photography. This paper highlights the many sources that can be found in Pang’s works and reveals how he depicted the peripheral frontier. The biopolitics of the body, employed as a system of ethnic classification by Chinese anthropologists, affected Pang’s visualization of Miao bodies. In order to build a politicized and unifying Zhonghua minzu, Chinese anthropologists, demonstrated bodily similarities between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities in the southwest of China under categories of “Mongoloid” or “Yellow” racial types. Pang thus depicted Miao bodies by emphasizing their bodily similarities with the majority Han Chinese and adopting the physical features of “Mongoloid/Yellow.” His work provides a fine example of the ways in which art can become politicized.

Measuring non-Han bodies: Anthropometry, colonialism, and biopower in China's south-western borderland in the 1930s and 1940s

This article examines the biopower of non-Han bodies by considering the intersections of anthropology, racial science, and colonial regimes. During the 1930s and 1940s, when extensive anthropometric research was being undertaken on non-Han populations in the south-western borderlands of China, several anthropologists studied non-Han groups under the aegis of frontier administration. Chinese scholars sought to generate the physical characteristics of ethnic minority groups in the south-west of China through the methodology of body measurement, in order to identify forms of social and political intervention in the management of the non-Han population in wartime. This article examines the global transmission of Western social science in China, highlighting the local reception of Western racial taxonomy. Non-Han bodies were represented as a subcategory of the Mongolian/‘Yellow’ race through anthropometric research. The body measurements of non-Han people were used to demonstrate physical similarities between the Han and various ethnic minority groups in order to evoke a unified Zhonghua minzu (Chinese ethnicity) that embraced both the Han Chinese and frontier ethnic minority groups.

Shen Congwen's Idealized Ethnic

Abstract This article investigates the underexamined ethnic motifs of the modern literary master Shen Congwen's 沈從文 fictional creations. In the field of Chinese literary scholarship, Shen is widely recognized as a leading figure of the May Fourth “native soil” literary tradition and is usually labeled as a “regionalist” writer. Yet as an ethnically hybrid author, Shen's ethnographically inspired, mythologizing accounts of indigenous non-Han tribes place him in a long tradition of searching for moral truths in borderland societies in Chinese literary and cultural history. The article argues that ethnicity is an important motif that runs throughout the early Shen Congwen's literary oeuvre, particularly in the Miao-themed stories that he crafted in the 1920s and 1930s. Shen idealizes non-Han peoples, particularly the Miao in southern China's borderland, as the ultimate source of moral courage and aesthetic perfection in his vision of a wholesome China. Through his ethnically themed novellas and short stories, Shen is both heir to and questions the Confucian tradition of locating a civilizational “other” in the non-Sinitic/non-Han border regions. The article further reveals how Shen embodies contradictory motifs with regard to ethnicity in China: on the one hand, he romanticizes the Miao as moral agents living freely in a timeless society, governed only by divine powers and unruly passions. On the other hand, Shen laments the historical discrimination experienced by the Miao and assumes a sober voice as he calls for ethnic equality. Simultaneously lyrical and political, Shen's ethnically themed works are significant for forming new scholarly understandings of both May Fourth literature and the broader discourse of ethnicity, which underpins the very notion of Chineseness in modern China.

On Xu Xiake youji’s Writing of the Southwest: A Discussion Centered on Its Non-Han Description

<p>中國西南地域以獨特之地理位置輻輳著民族、貿易、帝國權力與異域知識等人文面向，而明代文人關於西南地域之紀遊書寫，則因應文人的書寫位置、文類特質展現其文學意蘊與文化視野。其中《徐霞客遊記》已成經典，有「徐學」之稱，值得深入追索。除了華夷對舉的批判性思考，以及文人心態的反身性理解之外，如何在史料鋪陳中發現新意，闡述文學本質及人與空間的互動，是值得關注的部分。本文以徐弘祖進入西南地域的行動探索與紀實表述為核心，聚焦於異族的文化接觸，呈現紀遊文學的情感內蘊及感覺結構，並藉此反思徐弘祖的書寫位置，審視其西南知識之構成。</p> <p> </p><p>Occupying a unique geographic position, Southwest China has witnessed frequent ethnic encounters, trade exchanges, empire power expansions, and foreign knowledge transmission. It is in this region that Ming intellectuals composed travelogues offering remarkable literary/cultural insights, and Xu Xiake youji is one such classic. In fact, such is the influence of this travelogue that a scholarly field named Xuxue has been developed for its further investigation. In addition to Han/non-Han dualistic critical considering and intellectual self-reflection, it is also significant to delve into the subtle connotations in this travelogue and how the writer depicted the literary essence along with the human-space interactions. This paper will center on Xu Hongzu’s explorations and narrations in the southwest, and shed light on Xu’s cultural contacts with non-Han people. By doing so, we can reveal the travelogue’s emotional dimensions and its structure of feelings, thus reconsidering Xu’s writing position and the make-up of his discourse of southwestern knowledge, experience, and imagination.</p> <p> </p>

Entrepreneurs of the National Past: The Discourse of Ethnic Indigeneity and Indigenous Cultural Writing in China

AbstractThis article probes a long-overlooked concept in modern China—ethnic indigeneity—to propose new ways of looking at the relationship between the Chinese nation and its multiethnic minority groups. The Western scholarly community has long held that because the Chinese state uses the Marxist-tainted term shaoshu minzu (ethnic minorities) as the official designation for the non-Han people, the concept of indigeneity is irrelevant to understanding China and its ethnic diversity. This article investigates how reform-era China has witnessed the emergence of an indigenous cultural consciousness exhibited by the non-Han people such as the Qiang people from southwest China. The article argues that minority groups like the Qiang are enthusiastic about “enterprising” their ethnic identities by writing minority histories into the foundational myths of a multiethnic, unified China and challenging the historical hierarchy of the “civilized” Han center and its “uncultured” non-Han peripheries. By analyzing locally produced scholarly and touristic discourses, ethnocultural writing, and filming efforts in southwest China, the article proposes that “indigeneity” entails the interactive processes for a minority group to carve out its cultural, economic, and political spaces of creative belonging within the state by conversing with national narratives and contending for the epistemological authority to represent itself in multiethnic China.

Cultural Self-Definition of Southwest Chieftains during the Ming-Qing Transition

Abstract This article explores how chieftains on the southwest periphery during the Ming-Qing transition conducted long-term plans to formulate cultural and literary heritages that had an affinity with Han Chinese mainstream culture but also retained indigenous qualities. The author demonstrates that the boundaries between Han and non-Han peoples became more negotiable with the enterprising efforts of chieftains to “perform” civilization by way of literary activities. The discussion centers on Rongmei jiyou (My Travel to Rongmei), a travelogue in diary form by early Qing scholar and playwright Gu Cai.

Cultura Estratégica Chinesa e Poder Marítimo: Fontes Geográficas e Históricas

This paper sought to understand how geographic and historical sources of Chinese strategic culture shaped China’s stance regarding sea power throughout the imperial period and in the People’s Republic of China. By applying a deductive qualitative analysis, it was possible to identify that the borders of the Chinese heartland with the northern strategic periphery inhabited by non-Han peoples constituted an element of vulnerability that prompted the various dynasties to prioritize land-based strategic options. In the People’s Republic of China, the strategic environment favored the construction and adoption of sea power, however, continental domestic imperatives still influence Chinese strategic culture and security decisions. The study of the Chinese case enabled this paper to contribute to the understanding of how strategic culture molds strategic decisions by interacting with material and ideational variables. Keywords: maritime; continental; China, strategic culture.

Современная этническая идентичность ойратов и тувинцев Китая: к вопросу о специфике национального вопроса в КНР

Статья посвящена освещению специфики национального вопроса в Китайской Народной Республике на примере ойратов и тувинцев. Авторы показывают сложный состав монгольских народов Китая, приводят данные по истории их изучения в 1950-е гг., когда в КНР происходил этап становления национальной политики, решались вопросы национально-языкового строительства и реализовывался проект этнической классификации.Учет состава населения КНР, сложившийся с периода 1956–1976 гг., затронул все стороны жизни китайского общества, в том числе проблему национального состава. В первой половине 1950-х гг. проводились исследования в области этнографии неханьских народов и языков национальных меньшинств КНР. Несмотря на это был принят принцип объединения народов, направленный на реализацию политики их слияния. Ряд монголоязычных народов, а также и тюркоязычные тувинцы были официально включены в понятие «монголы».Сегодня в КНР проводится иная национальная политика. Но тезис о 56 национальностях КНР продолжает бытовать. Принимая необходимость официальной монгольской идентичности, представители ойратов и тувинцев тем не менее сохраняют свою этническую идентичность.

Medieval Daoist Concepts of the Middle Kingdom

AbstractThe ancient Chinese people believed that they existed at the center of the world. With the arrival of Buddhism in China came a new cosmic worldview rooted in Indian culture that destabilized the Han [huaxia 華夏] people’s long-held notions of China as the Middle Kingdom [Zhongguo 中國] and had a profound influence on medieval Daoism. Under the influence of Buddhist cosmology, Daoists reformed their idea of Middle Kingdom, for a time relinquishing its signification of China as the center of the world. Daoists had to acknowledge the existence of multiple kingdoms outside China and non-Han peoples [manyi 蠻夷] who resided on the outskirts of the so-called Middle Kingdom as potential followers of Daoism. However, during the Tang dynasty, this capacious attitude ceased to be maintained or passed on. Instead, Tang Daoists returned to a notion of Middle Kingdom that reinstated the traditional divide between Han and non-Han peoples.

Ethnocultural and ethnodemographic features of the Mongols of China in the context of preserving the identity of non-Han peoples

The article analyzes ethno-demographic indicators of the non-Han Chinese people – the Mongols: the dynamics of their number, growth rates, gender and age structure, characteristics of their settlement, the share of the ethnic group in the population of administrative areas of China. The ethnoeconomic aspects of the Mongolian life of China were revealed: traditional activities and new industries based on the use of local mineral resources. The contribution of the Mongols to the sociocultural space of national suburbs, development of ethno-tourism and popularization of culture, customs and traditions were analyzed. The author uses information obtained during the field ethnographic research in the Duerbote-Mongolian Autonomous Region, Heilongjiang Province, China

청질서의 성립과 조청관계의 안정화: 1644∼1700

The “Ch"ing Order”, a new international order in East Asia established by the Ch"ing occupation of Peking in 1644, was different from the unitary and customary order made by the Ming Dynasty. The old order ensured uniform distinctions between the Han people and non-Han people and between in and outside mainland China through linking the policy of removing the embargo to the tribute formalities. However, the Ch"ing Dynasty built a dual foreign relation system and applied different principles to the southeastern waters and the northwestern inner Asia region, which had been under the Ming order. Since the Ch"ing order was completely different from the Ming Order, the Chosŏn-Ch"ing relations was not a simple replacement of the previous Chosŏn-Ming relations. The Chosŏn-Ming relations was formed and maintained through the exchange of voluntary and peaceful tribute, which was based on the Sadaejaso (事大字小) idea, an important part of Neo-Confucian order. In contrast, the Chosŏn-Ch"ing relations represented a forced sovereign and subject structure formed by two wars (Chŏngmyo-horan in 1627 and Pyŏngcha-horan in 1636) caused by the Ch"ing. Therefore, from the beginning Chosŏn did not have the Sadaejaso idea towards the Ch"ing in spite of the formal sovereign and subject relations between them. In fact, the relations were complicated by mutual suspicion, check, coercion, and revengeful thoughts. However, soon after the Ch"ing occupation of Peking in 1644, it successfully replaced the Ming and strengthened it domination of China. As a result, its coercive policies against Chosŏn were gradually alleviated, and Chosŏn had no choice but to admit the Ch"ing’s power and status. In this respect, the Chosŏn-Ch"ing relations reflected the unique nature of relations formed by the military conquest in terms of content although it also inherited the exemplary relations between Chosŏn and Ming to a certain extent. Thus, the Ch"ing partially applied the principle of excluding the Han people, which was applied to the northwestern inner Asia region, to Chosŏn unlike other states that had been under the Ming Order. The latter part of the 17th century can be characterized as a transition period, which witnessed the settlement of the unique Chosŏn-Ch"ing relations. The distrust and confrontation before the Ch"ing occupation of Peking in 1644 had been transformed to the stability and peace of the 18th century. The stabilization of the relations between the two countries was reflected in trade. The trade led by yeokgwan (official translators) and sasang (private businessmen) became active. On the basis of the relations, the two countries were able to contribute to the stability and peace in East Asia in the late 17th century, which lasted until the mid-19th century.

Mao’s Lost Children: Stories of the Rusticated Youth of China’s Cultural Revolution, edited by Ou Nianzhong and Liang Yongkang, translated by Laura Maynard. Portland, ME: Merwin Asia, 2015. xv+364 pp. US$65.00 (cloth), US$28.00 (paper).

<i>Mao’s Lost Children: Stories of the Rusticated Youth of China’s Cultural Revolution</i>, edited by Ou Nianzhong and Liang Yongkang, translated by Laura Maynard. Portland, ME: Merwin Asia, 2015. xv+364 pp. US$65.00 (cloth), US$28.00 (paper).

Empire and Identity in Guizhou: Local Resistance to Qing Expansion by Jodi L. Weinstein

Empire and Identity in Guizhou: Local Resistance Qing Expansion, by Jodi L. Weinstein. Studies on Ethnic Groups in China Series. Seattle & London, University of Washington Press, 2014. xiii, 217 pp. $75.00 US (cloth) $30.00 US (paper). With Empire and Identity in Guizhou: Local Resistance Qing Expansion, Jodi Weinstein adds the rich body of English-language monographs on the relationships between China's late imperial empires and non-Han peoples living on the borderlands of China proper. This literature grows out of one of the major insights of the new Qing history: that the last dynasty, the Qing, founded in 1644 by conquering Manchus, established an empire that extended far beyond the borders of China proper, incorporating many non-Han populations. Long treated as just another Chinese empire ruled by foreigners who quickly embraced Chinese ways, the Qing has now come be seen as fundamentally different in nature in part at least because of its territorial ambitions and the distinctive strategies it designed prosecute them. What contribution does Empire and Identity in Guizhou make this revisionist history of the Qing? First, it fleshes out our knowledge of the Qing imperial project in a little studied area, Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces of the empire and home a variety of non-Han peoples. More specifically, it introduces one of these peoples, the Zhongjia, who have not received much attention from Western scholars. Second (and more importantly), it highlights the resistance of the Zhongjia, treating them as active agents in shaping their relationship with the Qing. Here Weinstein draws on the approach of the anthropologist Jean Michaud to show how members of this group created viable livelihoods and maintained their identity while negotiating the imperial state's plans for standardization and centralization (5). Weinstein's argument is set out clearly in four substantive chapters. first describes the landscape, human and natural, of Guizhou and describes the ethnic mosaic of the province, which was also home to, among others, Lolo, Nasi Yi, and Han peoples. The Consolidation of Qing Rule (chapter three) concisely narrates the largely successful efforts of the Yongzheng emperor (ruled 1722-1735) bring the Zhongjia, perceived be violent and uncivilized, more tightly under Qing control. Here Weinstein applies many of the insights of James Scott about what it means see like a state. heart of Weinstein's argument is set forth in the next two chapters. Livelihood Choices in the Mid-Eighteenth Century (chapter four) illustrates Weinstein's application of the approach the Zhongjia; she narrates three cases that show Zhongjia men and women making livelihood choices that engaged them in the manipulation of Indigenous religious networks, Indigenous beliefs (the power of charms bring wealth and good fortune), and Han institutions--all of which empowered them undermine the state or openly call for rebellion. …

CHINA NATIONAL POLICY IN THE LATE 1950'S TO THE LATE 1970'S

This article discusses the key features of the national policy of the Chinese government in respect of nonHan peoples. The relevance of this work is due to important national issue for China. Traditionally, China has evolved as a multinational state, which was caused solely as a factor of external influence, for example, the Mongol and Manchu invasion and implementation of foreign policy objectives aimed at expanding the boundaries, resulting in a connection of Xinjiang and Tibet. A key feature of China as a multiethnic state has always been a numerical predominance of one ethnic group - the Han, as a rule, makes up almost all periods of the history of China, about 90% of the population. At the same time, China has always been inhabited by many ethnic minorities, which are not only occasionally something borrowed from Han people, but also constantly subjected Sinification. Sinification it was and remains one of the leading destinations for small nations. With the formation of the PRC in 1949, before the new communist government faced the problem of alignment of the national policy with regard to national minorities. The national policy of the Communist Party of China in its development has passed through three stages. In this article is considered the second period of this policy since the late 1950‟s. When starting to implement policies "Great Leap Forward" and the end of 1970‟s., as a result of the reforms of Deng Xiaoping began to change and the situation of small nations. To date, the Chinese government's policy towards national minorities in general, aims to accelerate the socio-economic and cultural development of ethnic groups on the tightening of national areas to the level of the developed regions of China, which should consolidate the Chinese citizens and prevent separatist actions. Ethnic identity of small nations overshadowed and leveled.

The Case of the Missing Indigene: Debate Over a “Second-Generation” Ethnic Policy

AbstractThe last few years have seen a vigorous public policy debate emerge over a “second-generation” ethnic policy (di’erdai minzu zhengce) which, if implemented, would constitute a major revision of ethnic politics in China. Despite the fact that nationalities policy is a notoriously sensitive subject within China, the debate is happening openly in newspapers, academic journals and on the Internet. The prominence accorded to anthropological theory and international comparison is a notable feature of the debate. This article first explores the main positions in the ongoing policy discussion, then goes on to argue that, rather than comparing China’s non-Han peoples to minority immigrant populations in the industrialized democracies, a better comparison is to indigenous peoples. It then considers why this perspective is completely missing from the present debate.

Recent Trends in Ming-Qing History : Strong Traditions of Socio-economic Research and New Interest in Inner Asian world

Korean scholarship in Ming-Qing history over the past two years has witnessed a range of issues and topics discussed, including various dimensions of local societies in China proper growth in commercial economy throughout the empire, cultural and material exchanges between Beijing and Seoul, etc. Most notably, several publications of monographs on the topics of social structure, economic development, and environmental changes in the Ming-Qing periods are a major achievement in this field which demonstrates the high status of Korean scholarship in Ming-Qing studies. In addition to this rich and long tradition on socio-economic approaches, the past two years of Ming-Qing studies observed a steady increase in research on topics relevant to Manchu distinctiveness and the Inner Asian tradition, one of the many subjects that differentiated the rule of the Ming from that of the Qing. It is important to note here that this recent trend in Manchu distinctiveness and the Qing Empire would not have emerged without the rich tradition of pursuing socio-economic approaches in Korean academia of Ming-Qing history. Understanding of the significant roles of non-Han people in Qing history cannot be reached unless the economic and cultural aspects of Han Chinese society are fully assessed and explained. Therefore, a variety of research on China Proper and frontier regions, Han Chinese society and the world of non-Han people, Chinese materials and Manchu documents, are all equally necessary and important for our balanced understanding of Ming-Qing history.

INTEGRATION OF THE NORTHERN ETHNIC FRONTIERS IN TANG CHINA

This article investigates how the Tang ruling elite tried to integrate nomadic and other ethnic frontier peoples into the multi-ethnic empire and how effective such efforts were. By examining and analyzing the court debate in 630 on how to resettle the submitting Turks, a set of rewards by the government for incorporating the ethnic elites into the Tang structure, and the “loose-rein area commands and prefectures,” the article argues that Emperor Taizong did not intend assimilation but incorporation of the non-Han into the military in order to build a multi-ethnic empire. Although the rewards aimed at assimilation, the policy also validated ethnic differences. The Tang ethnic inclusion efforts, on the one hand, enhanced the ethnic consciousness of the non-Han peoples and, on the other hand, served the Tang’s political, economic, and military purposes, resulting in a gradual transformation of the non-Han peoples who came to identity with the Tang.