Combining Ethnic Heritage and National Unity: A Paradox of Nuosu (Yi) Language Textbooks in China

Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars

Volumn 30, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 62-71

  Harrell, Stevan ^a   Ayi, Bamo ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EDUCATION CURRICULUM; ETHNIC MINORITY; LANGUAGE; TEXTBOOK;

CHINA, SICHUAN PROVINCE;

EID: 0031751912     PISSN: 00074810     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14672715.1998.10411045     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. For varying views of the origins and possible successes or failures of the new kind of nationalism, see Prasenjit Duara, "Deconstructing the Chinese Nation," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 30 (1993): 1-26, and Rescuing History from the Nation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995); Edward Friedman, National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1995), especially chapters 2, 4, and 8; Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. Kim, "Whither China's Quest for National Identity?" in China's Quest for National Identity, ed. Dittmer and Kim (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993); and the important theoretical discussion in James Townsend, "Chinese Nationalism," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 27 (1992): 97-130.
2. For varying views of the origins and possible successes or failures of the new kind of nationalism, see Prasenjit Duara, "Deconstructing the Chinese Nation," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 30 (1993): 1-26, and Rescuing History from the Nation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995); Edward Friedman, National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1995), especially chapters 2, 4, and 8; Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. Kim, "Whither China's Quest for National Identity?" in China's Quest for National Identity, ed. Dittmer and Kim (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993); and the important theoretical discussion in James Townsend, "Chinese Nationalism," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 27 (1992): 97-130.
3. For varying views of the origins and possible successes or failures of the new kind of nationalism, see Prasenjit Duara, "Deconstructing the Chinese Nation," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 30 (1993): 1-26, and Rescuing History from the Nation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995); Edward Friedman, National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1995), especially chapters 2, 4, and 8; Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. Kim, "Whither China's Quest for National Identity?" in China's Quest for National Identity, ed. Dittmer and Kim (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993); and the important theoretical discussion in James Townsend, "Chinese Nationalism," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 27 (1992): 97-130.
4. For varying views of the origins and possible successes or failures of the new kind of nationalism, see Prasenjit Duara, "Deconstructing the Chinese Nation," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 30 (1993): 1-26, and Rescuing History from the Nation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995); Edward Friedman, National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1995), especially chapters 2, 4, and 8; Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. Kim, "Whither China's Quest for National Identity?" in China's Quest for National Identity, ed. Dittmer and Kim (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993); and the important theoretical discussion in James Townsend, "Chinese Nationalism," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 27 (1992): 97-130.
5. For varying views of the origins and possible successes or failures of the new kind of nationalism, see Prasenjit Duara, "Deconstructing the Chinese Nation," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 30 (1993): 1-26, and Rescuing History from the Nation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995); Edward Friedman, National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1995), especially chapters 2, 4, and 8; Lowell Dittmer and Samuel S. Kim, "Whither China's Quest for National Identity?" in China's Quest for National Identity, ed. Dittmer and Kim (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993); and the important theoretical discussion in James Townsend, "Chinese Nationalism," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 27 (1992): 97-130.
6. For general accounts of minority policy and its practice, see Thomas Heberer, China and Its National Minorities: Autonomy or Assimilation (Armonk, N.Y: M. E. Sharpe, 1989); Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), chapter 2; Stevan Harrell, "Introduction: Civilizing Projects and the Reactions to Them," in Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), pp. 1-36, and "Introduction," in Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan, ed. Melissa J. Brown (Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1996), pp. 1-18; and Colin Mackerras, China's Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994).
7. For general accounts of minority policy and its practice, see Thomas Heberer, China and Its National Minorities: Autonomy or Assimilation (Armonk, N.Y: M. E. Sharpe, 1989); Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), chapter 2; Stevan Harrell, "Introduction: Civilizing Projects and the Reactions to Them," in Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), pp. 1-36, and "Introduction," in Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan, ed. Melissa J. Brown (Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1996), pp. 1-18; and Colin Mackerras, China's Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994).
8. For general accounts of minority policy and its practice, see Thomas Heberer, China and Its National Minorities: Autonomy or Assimilation (Armonk, N.Y: M. E. Sharpe, 1989); Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), chapter 2; Stevan Harrell, "Introduction: Civilizing Projects and the Reactions to Them," in Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), pp. 1-36, and "Introduction," in Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan, ed. Melissa J. Brown (Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1996), pp. 1-18; and Colin Mackerras, China's Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994).
9. For general accounts of minority policy and its practice, see Thomas Heberer, China and Its National Minorities: Autonomy or Assimilation (Armonk, N.Y: M. E. Sharpe, 1989); Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), chapter 2; Stevan Harrell, "Introduction: Civilizing Projects and the Reactions to Them," in Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), pp. 1-36, and "Introduction," in Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan, ed. Melissa J. Brown (Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1996), pp. 1-18; and Colin Mackerras, China's Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994).
10. For general accounts of minority policy and its practice, see Thomas Heberer, China and Its National Minorities: Autonomy or Assimilation (Armonk, N.Y: M. E. Sharpe, 1989); Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), chapter 2; Stevan Harrell, "Introduction: Civilizing Projects and the Reactions to Them," in Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995), pp. 1-36, and "Introduction," in Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan, ed. Melissa J. Brown (Berkeley: University of California, Institute of East Asian Studies, 1996), pp. 1-18; and Colin Mackerras, China's Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994).
11. For recent accounts of Xinjiang, see Justin Jon Rudelson, Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism along China's Silk Road (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997); for Tibet, see Melvyn Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) and Ronald D. Schwartz, Circle of Protest: Political Ritual in the Tibetan Uprising (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994).
12. For recent accounts of Xinjiang, see Justin Jon Rudelson, Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism along China's Silk Road (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997); for Tibet, see Melvyn Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) and Ronald D. Schwartz, Circle of Protest: Political Ritual in the Tibetan Uprising (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994).
13. For recent accounts of Xinjiang, see Justin Jon Rudelson, Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism along China's Silk Road (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997); for Tibet, see Melvyn Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997) and Ronald D. Schwartz, Circle of Protest: Political Ritual in the Tibetan Uprising (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994).
14. To distinguish between the two, we use italics for Chinese words and bold face for Nuosu words. Chinese words are romanized according to the pinyin system, while Nuosu words are romanized according to the Romanization system devised by government linguists in the 1950s and still used as an aid to reading in textbooks and dictionaries. Nuosu words never have syllable-final consonants, so the letters p, x, and t are used as markers of low, middle-rising, and high tones respectively. Syllables without a tone marker are pronounced in a mid-level tone.
15. See the "Jiu nian yiwu jiaoyu quanri zhi xiaoxue yuwen jiaoxue dagang" (Outline for elementary language classes in the nine-year compulsory education system in Cui Nan), Xiaoxue yuwen jiaoxue fa (Teaching methods for elementary school language classes) (Beijing: Renmin Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1996), p. 332.
16. See Cai Yongxiang, Ma Wenhua, and Hielie Muga, Yiwenjiaocai de jianshe bixu shiying Yiwen jiaxue de xuyao (Yi language curricular materials must be adapted to the needs of Yi language instruction), working paper. See also Ma Erzi, "Qiantan Liangshan Yizu Degu" (A superficial discussion of the Ndepgu of the Liangshan Yi), Liangshan Minzu Yanjiu 1 (1992): 99-107. This latter work also contains a summary of the principles followed in writing Nuosu-language textbooks.
17. See Cai Yongxiang, Ma Wenhua, and Hielie Muga, Yiwenjiaocai de jianshe bixu shiying Yiwen jiaxue de xuyao (Yi language curricular materials must be adapted to the needs of Yi language instruction), working paper. See also Ma Erzi, "Qiantan Liangshan Yizu Degu" (A superficial discussion of the Ndepgu of the Liangshan Yi), Liangshan Minzu Yanjiu 1 (1992): 99-107. This latter work also contains a summary of the principles followed in writing Nuosu-language textbooks.
18. For an account of the politics and educational results of teaching in various mixes of Chinese and minority languages, see Wurlig Borchigud, "The Impact of Urban Ethnic Education on Modern Mongolian Ethnicity, 1949-1966," in Harrell, Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, pp. 278-300. For a comparative account of the success or failure of minority education policies in practice, see Mette Halskov Hansen, Lessons in Being Chinese (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998).
19. For an account of the politics and educational results of teaching in various mixes of Chinese and minority languages, see Wurlig Borchigud, "The Impact of Urban Ethnic Education on Modern Mongolian Ethnicity, 1949-1966," in Harrell, Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, pp. 278-300. For a comparative account of the success or failure of minority education policies in practice, see Mette Halskov Hansen, Lessons in Being Chinese (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998).
20. For an account of the politics and educational results of teaching in various mixes of Chinese and minority languages, see Wurlig Borchigud, "The Impact of Urban Ethnic Education on Modern Mongolian Ethnicity, 1949-1966," in Harrell, Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, pp. 278-300. For a comparative account of the success or failure of minority education policies in practice, see Mette Halskov Hansen, Lessons in Being Chinese (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998).
21. See Erbindalai and Shama Jiajia, eds., Zhongguo shaoshu minzu wenzi jiaocai jianshe gaikuang (The general situation of the construction of education in minority scripts in China) (Huhhot: Neimeng Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1996), Introduction, p. 2.
22. Wu Mingxian, "Sichuan Sheng Liangshan Yiwen jiaoxue huigu yu zhanwang" (Retrospect and prospect for Yi-language education in Liangshan), Liangshan Minzu Yanjiu (1996): 156.
23. The Yi languages (officially, there are six dialects, all mutually unintelligible) and their close relatives Lisu, Lahu, Hani, Jinuo, and Naxi belong to the Yi, or Loloish, branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family, which may or may not be related to Chinese. There are few recognizable cognates between Yi languages and Chinese, and sentence structure is very different On the classification of Yi languages, see David Bradley, "Language Planning for China's Minorities: The Yi Branch," in A World of Language: Presented to Professor S.A. Wurm on his 65th Birthday, ed. D. Laycock and W. Winter (Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Australian National University, 1990), pp. 81-89; and James A. Matisoff, "Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Present State and Future Prospects," Annual Review of Anthropology 20 (1991): 469-504; on attempts to develop various scripts for different Yi languages in different provinces, see Bradley, "Language Planning for China's Minorities," pp. 81-89.
24. The Yi languages (officially, there are six dialects, all mutually unintelligible) and their close relatives Lisu, Lahu, Hani, Jinuo, and Naxi belong to the Yi, or Loloish, branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family, which may or may not be related to Chinese. There are few recognizable cognates between Yi languages and Chinese, and sentence structure is very different On the classification of Yi languages, see David Bradley, "Language Planning for China's Minorities: The Yi Branch," in A World of Language: Presented to Professor S.A. Wurm on his 65th Birthday, ed. D. Laycock and W. Winter (Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Australian National University, 1990), pp. 81-89; and James A. Matisoff, "Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Present State and Future Prospects," Annual Review of Anthropology 20 (1991): 469-504; on attempts to develop various scripts for different Yi languages in different provinces, see Bradley, "Language Planning for China's Minorities," pp. 81-89.
25. The Yi languages (officially, there are six dialects, all mutually unintelligible) and their close relatives Lisu, Lahu, Hani, Jinuo, and Naxi belong to the Yi, or Loloish, branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family, which may or may not be related to Chinese. There are few recognizable cognates between Yi languages and Chinese, and sentence structure is very different On the classification of Yi languages, see David Bradley, "Language Planning for China's Minorities: The Yi Branch," in A World of Language: Presented to Professor S.A. Wurm on his 65th Birthday, ed. D. Laycock and W. Winter (Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Australian National University, 1990), pp. 81-89; and James A. Matisoff, "Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Present State and Future Prospects," Annual Review of Anthropology 20 (1991): 469-504; on attempts to develop various scripts for different Yi languages in different provinces, see Bradley, "Language Planning for China's Minorities," pp. 81-89.
26. Nuosu writing works like Japanese kana: each distinct sign represents a syllable; words with the same sound and different meaning (for example, yy meaning water, river, go; mu meaning horse, earth, do) are written with the same sign. The reason there are so many different signs is that the Nuosu language contains forty-two initial consonants, eleven vowels, and four tones. The reason there are 819 signs and not 1848 is that the high-middle tone is indicated by placing a "cap" over the sign for the middle tone, and not all theoretically possible combinations of vowel, consonant, and tone actually occur. The script in question is used only among Nuosu-speakers, not among other Yi in Yunnan or Guizhou. In those provinces, standard scripts have been developed, but not much used (see David Bradley, "Language Policy for the Yi," in Stevan Harrell, ed., Yi Society and Culture, under consideration for publication).
27. The relevant documents, Guowu yuan guanyu Sichuan Sheng renmin zhengfu zhuanbao "Liangshan Zhou Geming Weiyuanhui guanyu 'Yiwen guifan an' de baogao" de pifu, and Sichuan sheng renmin zhengfu zhuanbao "Liangshan Zhou Geming Weihuanhui guanyu 'Yiwen guifan an' de baogao" de fubao, are reproduced in Erbindalai and Shama Jiajia, eds. Zhongguo shaoshu minzu wenzi jiaocai jianshe gaikuang, pp. 26-27.
28. For the official statistics see Wu Mingxian, "Zhongguo shaoshu minzu jiaoyu gaige fazhan de licheng bei" (Retrospect and prospect for Yi-language education in Liangshan) Liangshan Minzu Yanjiu (1996).
29. The original name was the Curriculum Materials Group (Yiwen jiaozai bianyi zu); this was changed to Curriculum Materials Office when Xichang and Liangshan Prefectures were combined in 1979. An unpublished acount of this group's activities by Bianyishi is entitled "Sichuan Liangshan Yiwen Jiaocai Bianyishi Jianjie," 1995.
30. Another aspect of the work of the Materials Office was the invention and standardization of scientific, technical, and other specialized terminology in the Nousu language. We hope to deal with the issue of new vocabulary in a future publication.
31. All examples are taken from Sychotse Ssoxjjie Futkur Jjipssoxdde Ssodu Tepyy, Ddopma Bburma (Sichuan Province six-year elementary textbooks, reading and writing), and unless otherwise noted from the 1985-87 editions, which as far as we know are still in use almost everywhere. Some minor revisions were made in 1990; we have seen these only for volume 3. After compiling the first edition, the Materials Group went on to complete the set of textbooks, including secondary school and science texts, so new editions of the elementary materials were not prepared. We have a 1995 printing of volume 1, but with the exception of a new cover, its contents are identical to the 1985 edition.
32. This last sentence, nratnramu da sso, cypnyip cyphxo li, is undoubtedly a translation of Mao's instructions, to be found on just about every schoolroom wall in China: Hao hao xuexi; tian tian xiang shang. A later lesson takes this quotation as its title. Material from Nuosu-language teachers' manuals is taken from Ggukut Zziezzur Hmatlu Ssoxjie Futkur Jipsso Nuosu Ddopma Bburma Hmatsso Hxephxex Tepyy (Teachers' references for elementary nuosu language classes in the six-year curriclum of nine-year compulsory education).
33. Janet Upton informs us that modern Tibetan uses a similar term, mes-rgyal, in this case composed of two terms of long standing, combined into a neologism.
34. For a general account of the way nationalism is imparted in elementary schools, see Charles F. Key es, "The Proposed World of the School: Thai Villagers' Entry into a Bureaucratic State System," in Reshaping Local Worlds: Formal Education and Cultural Change in Rural Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 1991). Yale Southeast Asia Studies Monograph, no. 36, p. 89.
35. This last is probably a translation of a line from the famous Cultural Revolution Song, "The East is Red": Gongchandang Xiang Taiyang; Zhao dao nali, nali liang.
36. From Li Tieying, Dali gaige hefazhan minzujiaoyu, cujin ge minzu de gongtong fanrong (Vigorously reform ethnic education, and promote the common flourishing of all the nationalities), in Zhongguo shaoshu minzujiaoyu gaigefazhan de lichengbei (Mileposts in China's ethnic education reforms) (Beijing: Jiaoyu Kexue Chubanshe, 1993), p. 2.
37. From Ismail Aimat (Simayi Aimaiti), Tuanjie fendou jixu qianjin, shixian shaoshu minzu jiaoyu he quanguo jiaoyku de xietiao fazhan (Unite and struggle; continue to press forward; Implement the coordinated development of minority education and national eduation), in Zhongguo shaoshu minzu jiaoyu gaige fazhan de lichengbei (Mileposts in China's ethnic education reforms: Collection of documents from the Fourth National Work Conference on Ethnic Education), comp. Guojia Jiaowei Minzu Jiaoyu Si (Minority areas education section of the State Education Commission) (Beijing: Jiaoyu Kexue Chubanshe, 1993), p. 18.
38. Jonathan Unger, "Introduction: Primary School Reading Texts and Teaching Methods in the Wake of the Cultural Revolution," Chinese Education 10, no. 2 (1977): 4-34. Thanks to Janet Upton for bringing this text to our attention. Otherwise, with the reference to slavery, we had thought the lesson was composed for the Nuosu-language readers. It does not appear in the current edition of the Han-language reader.
39. Liberation (jiefang) in the Liangshan context, usually refers not to the communist military takeover in 1949-50, but rather to the beginnings of the New Society with the Democratic Reforms (minzhu gaige), which began in 1956. Still, we can see that textbooks currently in use are somewhat out of date.