The deer turned her head: Ethnic options for the Hainan Li

Critical Asian Studies

Volumn 29, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 3-17

  Netting, Nancy S ^a  

^a SOUTH CENTRAL UNIVERSITY FOR NATIONALITIES   (China)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0343748702     PISSN: 14672715     EISSN: 14726033     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14672715.1997.10409687     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. For a written version of this story, see Daxian Gao, The Li People of Hainan Island China's Minority Nationalities (I) China Reconstructs Beijing 1984 237 237 in
2. Schafer, Edward. 1970. Shore of Pearls: Hainan Island in Early Times, 57–57. Berkeley, London, CA: University of California Press. Richard K. Diao, “The National Minorities of China and Their Relations with the Chinese Communist Regime,” in Southeast Asian Tribes, Minorities, and Nations, vol. 1, ed. Peter Kunstadter (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1967), p. 85; “Li,” in Ethnic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia, ed. Frank M. M. LeBar, Gerald C. Hickey, and John K. Musgrave (New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files, 1964), pp. 239-43; and S. Robert Ramsey, The Languages of China (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 245-48. Although there are at least five Li subtribes, their dialects are mutually comprehensible and the groups are judged by most contemporary scholars to be of common origin
3. For details on Li culture, society, and economy, refer to Schafer, Shore of Pearls 56 76 which portrays the Li from the Han through the Sung dynasties (100 B.C-1200 A.D.); Benjamin Couch Henry, Ling-Nam or Interior Views of Southern China: Including Explorations in the Hitherto Untraversed Island of Hainan (London: S. W. Partridge and Co., 1886), pp. 326-511, which describes the Li as they were in 1882; Hans Stübel, Die Li-Stämme der Insel Hainan: Ein Beitrag zur Volkskunde Südchinas (The Li people of Hainan Island: a contribution to the anthropology of Southern China) (Berlin: Klinkhardt and Bierman, 1937), an ethnographic account of the Li in 1931–32; Leonard Clark, “Among the Big-Knot Lois of Hainan: Wild Tribesmen with Topknots Roam the Little-Known Interior of this Big and Strategically Important Island in the China Sea,” National Geographic (Washington, D.C.), vol. 74, no. 3 (Sept. 1938), pp. 391-418; and Odaka Kunio, Economic Organization of the Li Tribes of Hainan Island (New Haven, CT: Yale Southeast Asian Studies Translation Series, 1950), translated by Mikiso Hane from a report published in Japanese in 1943 for the Japanese occupation. The Stubel, Clark, and Odaka works include photographs
4. To trace historical change in Li life, see the sources listed in note 3, along with Mayers William, Frederick A Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Island of Hainan Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Shanghai) 1871–72 7 1 23 Robert Swinhoe, “The Aborigines of Hainan,” Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 7 (1871–72), pp. 25-40; Robert Swinhoe, “Narrative of an Exploring Visit to Hainan,” Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 7 (1871–72), pp. 41-91; Claudius Madrolle, “Étude sur I'île d'Hainan” (Study of Hainan Island), Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), 2nd trimester, 1898), pp. 187-228; Claudius Madrolle, Hainan et la côte continentale voisine (Hainan and the neighboring continental coast) (Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1900); Frank P. Gilman, “The Aborigines of Hainan,” China Review (Hong Kong), vol. 25, no. 5 (Apr.-May 1901), pp. 247-51; Claudius Madrolle, “Conference de M. CI. Madrolle sur I'île de Hainan” (Conference of Mr. CI. Madrolle about Hainan Island), Bulletin du comité de I ‘Asie française de géographie (Paris), Mar. 1909, pp. 9, 94-101,116-17; Mary Margaret Moninger, American Presbyterian Mission, Island of Hainan, South China, The Isle of Palms: Sketches of Hainan (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1919); F. A. McClure, “Notes on the Island of Hainan,” Lingnan Science Journal (Canton), vol. 1, no. 1 (Dec. 1922), pp. 66-79; and F. M. Savina, Monographie de Hainan (Hainan monograph), an issue of Cahiers de la Société Géographie de Hanoi, no. 17 (1929). Taken chronologically these sources provide a time sequence for change and continuity in Li life
5. Schafer, Shore of Pearls, pp. 5-24, gives a summary of Li-Han warfare through the twelfth century. Two detailed accounts of nineteenth century Li-Han battles are found in Swinhoe, “Narrative,” p. 79, and Sandalwood The Capture of a Lee Stockade China Review 1891–92 19 387 394
6. For more information about the Christian missionaries, see Moninger, Isle of Palms Kathleen L. Lodwick, Educating the Women of Hainan: The Career of Margaret Moninger in China, 1915–1942 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1995); Dalmas Mou-ly, Hainan: I'île aux cent visages (Hainan: island of one hundred faces) (Paris: P. Lethilleux, 1944); and Dalmas Mouly, Le Père Julliotte, 2e parti: dans la Chine bouillonante (Father Julliotte, part 2: in boiling China) (Paris: Montgeron, 1966)
7. Phillips, R. T., 1980. “ The Japanese Occupation of Hainan ”. In Modern Asian Studies Vol. 14, 93–109. Cambridge, UK no. 1, and Odaka, Economic Organization, pp. 90-92, give details of the occupation
8. Dreyer, June Teufel. 1976. China's Forty Millions: Minority Nationalities and National Integration in the People's Republic of China, 77–79. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. supplemented by personal accounts given to author in interviews with Li in Hainan in 1992
9. Eberhard, Wolfram. 1982. China's Minorities: Yesterday and Today, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
10. Harrell, Stevan. 1995. “ Introduction: Civilizing Projects and the Reaction to Them ”. In Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers, Edited by: Harrell, Stevan. 3–36. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. in, The other essays in this volume substantiate the point with reference to many different Chinese minorities
11. Gladney, Dru. Feb. 1994. “ Representing Nationality in China: Refiguring Majority/Minority Identities ”. In Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 53, Feb., 92–123. Ann Arbor, Salt Lake City, MI, UT no. 1
12. Harrell, “Introduction. “Harrell's own research focuses on the Yi in Southwest China, and other contributors to this collection substantiate the point with reference to the Miao, Yao, Sanyi, Dai, Mongol, Manchu, and other nationalities. For discussions of minorities as feminine, see Diamond Norma, The Miao and Poison: Interaction on China's Southwest Frontier Ethnology Pittsburgh, PA1988Jan.27 1 25 no. 1, and Louisa Schein, “The Consumption of Color and the Politics of White Skin in Post-Mao China,” Social Text (Madison, WI), no. 41 (1994), pp. 141-64
13. The story was related to me on Hainan and echoed in Clark, Big-Knot Lois 391 391
14. Daxian, Gao. Li People 240–240.
15. Schafer. Shore of Pearls 70–70. describes Li educational achievement by the twelfth century; Swinhoe, “Narrative,” pp. 71 and 78, tells of a similar situation in the nineteenth century
16. For accounts of Li sorcery, see Schafer, Shore of Pearls 67 70 and Eberhard, China's Minorities, p. 89. These descriptions match almost exactly those ascribed to the Miao by Diamond in “The Miao and Poison.
17. The seminal article in English on nationality policy in China is Grunfeld A., Tom In Search of Equality: Relations between China's Ethnic Minorities and the Majority Han Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 1985 17 54 67 no. 1
18. See Xiaotong Fei, Ethnic Identification in China Modernization and National Minorities in China Centre for East Asian Studies, McGill University Montreal 1979 29 47 in his, Occasional Paper No. 6, for the procedure by which minority claims were judged
19. Gladney, Dru. 1991. The Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. passim; Stevan Harrell, “Ethnicity, Local Interests, and the State: Yi Communities in Southwest China,” Comparative Studies in Society and History (Washington, D.C.), vol. 32 (1990), pp. 515-48; and Stevan Harrell, “The History of the History of the Yi,” in Cultural Encounters, pp. 63-91
20. Wu, David. 1990. “ Chinese Minority Policy and the Meaning of Minority Culture: the Example of the Bai in Yunnan, China ”. In Human Organization Vol. 49, 1–13. Washington, D.C. in, no. 1 (spring, shows that the Bai people had previously considered themselves Han. Some minorities, such as the Yi, Naxi/Mosuo, Miao, Yao, and Dai peoples, are combinations of smaller groups. See the following articles in Harrell's Cultural Encounters: Charles McKhann, “The Naxi and the Nationalities Question,” pp. 39-62; Stevan Harrell, “The History of the History of the Yi,” pp. 63-91; Norma Diamond, “Defining the Miao: Ming, Qing, and Contemporary Views,” pp. 92-116; Ralph A. Litzinger, “Making Histories: Contending Conceptions of the Yao Past,” pp. 117-39; Margaret Byrne Swain, “Père Vial and the Gni-p'a: Orientalist Scholarship and the Christian Project,” pp. 140-85; and Hsieh Shihchung, “On the Dynamics of Tai/Dai Lue Ethnicity: an Ethnohistorical Analysis,” pp. 301-28. In some cases the small groups are seeking independence from the nationality to which they were assigned; see McKhann, “The Naxi;” and Swain, “Père Vial.” The Chinese Muslims were classified as several separate nationalities, as explained by Gladney in The Muslim Chinese, passim
21. Harrell. Introduction 28–28.
22. Gladney. Muslim Chinese 78–78. 309–309.
23. Other Hainan ethnic categorizations have been questioned. The Hainan Miao, the second-largest minority (see table 1, part A), are in all likelihood more closely related to the mainland Yao than to the Miao. The Hainan Hui are a self-contained community of Muslims who apparently migrated to Hainan from what is now Vietnam; they have religion in common with the other Hui in China, but neither language nor origin. Nor are the Han themselves one group. In Hainan they include people from Guangxi who are requesting reclassification as Zhuang; Hakka, who are not given minority status despite their distinctive cultural features; and Han with Cantonese, Mandarin, and Hainanese mother tongues. See Gladney, Muslim Chinese 34 36 and Pang Kengfong, “The Dynamics of Gender, Ethnicity, and the State among the Austronesian-Speaking Muslims (Hui/Utsaat) of Hainan Island, People's Republic of China” (University of California at Los Angeles, Department of Anthropology: Ph.D. diss., 1992), pp. 29-38
24. Without a written form of their mother tongue, the Li cannot take part in the literary revival experienced by some nationalities, such as the Koreans, Miao, and different Muslim peoples. Without “brethren” in other parts of China or overseas, they are not forging new ties, as are the Hui. But their efforts to make the best of affirmative action laws, to share in economic development, and to demonstrate ancient traditions, parallel those of most other Chinese nationalities. See Schein Louisa, The Dynamics of Cultural Revival among the Miao in Guizhou Ethnicity and Ethnic Groups in China Chien Chiao, Tapp Nicholas, New Asia College, Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong 1989 1989 8 199 212 in, New Asia Academic Bulletin, Min Pyong Gap, “A Comparison of the Korean Minorities in China and Japan,” International Migration Review (New York), vol. 26, no. 1 (spring 1992), pp. 4-9; and Gladney, Muslim Chinese, passim
25. See Vogel Ezra, One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong under Reform Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA 1989 278 305 for a detailed discussion of these and subsequent developments
26. Dreyer. China's Forty Millions 225–225.
27. Vogel. One Step Ahead 302–302.
28. Vogel. One Step Ahead 288–288. 305–307.
29. Cadario, Paul, Kazuka, Ogawa, and Kann, Wen Yin. 1992. A Chinese Province as a Reform Experiment: The Case of Hainan, 4–4. Washington: World Bank. World Bank Discussion Papers No. 170, China and Mongolia Department Series
30. Yannian, Dai. 1992. Yangpu: China's Largest Development Zone. Beijing Review, 35 (22) June: 18–27. Dai Yannian, “Hainan Improves Investment Environment,” Beijing Review, vol. 35, no. 25 (22–28 June 1992), pp. 17-22; and China Daily: Supplement on Hainan Special Economic Zone (Beijing), 3 Apr. 1992
31. Sept. 1992. “ Bubbling along in Hainan ”. In Economist Vol. 324, Sept., 37–37. London no. 7,775, see also Cadario, Ogawa, and Wen, A Chinese Province, passim
32. Cadario, Ogawa and Wen. Economist 2–2.
33. Oct. 1996. “ Hainan Protects Plants, Crops in Tropical Forests ”. In China Daily Oct., 3–3.
34. The inequality is similar to that described in Yunnan villages by Unger Jonathan, Xiong Jean, Life in Chinese Hinterlands under the Rural Economic Reforms Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 1990 Apr.-June 22 4 17 no. 2
35. Yaoning, Zhang. Apr. 1992. “ Sweet Time on Hainan Island ”. In China Daily Apr., 5–5. and Hu Wen, “Tourists Spellbound by Hainan,” China Daily, 5 May 1992, p. 6
36. Swain, Margaret Byrne. 1989. “ Developing Ethnic Tourism in Yunnan, China: Shili Sani ”. In Tourism Recreation Research Vol. 14, 33–39. Lucknow, India no. 1, and Margaret Byrne Swain, “Com-moditizing Ethnicity in Southwest China,” Cultural Survival Quarterly (Cambridge, MA), vol. 14, no. 1 (1990), pp. 26-30
37. Blum, Susan. 1992. “ Ethnic Diversity in Southwest China: Perceptions of Self and Others ”. In Ethnic Groups Vol. 9, 267–279. New York To compare these stereotypes with those prevalent about minorities in Yunnan, see, no. 4, and Diamond, “The Miao and Poison,” pp. 1-3
38. Jankowiak, William. 1993. Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City: An Anthropological Account, 40–48. New York: Columbia University Press.
39. Jankowiak's cosmopolitan category corresponds to Waters Mary, symbolic ethnicity Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America University of California Press Berkeley, CA 1990 discussed by, in, Waters argues that symbolic ethnicity is voluntary, enjoyable, and without social restrictions, but because of prevailing prejudice is not open to oppressed minorities
40. Netting, Nancy. 1991. “ The Contested Costume: Minority Students in China ”. In Pharos Vol. 1, 36–45. Most minority students at the South-Central College for Nationalities, Wuhan, were assimilationists. They had no interest in their nationality traditions, could not speak their nationality's language, and had no acquaintance with nationality customs. See, Education in a majority culture may lead to self-rejection wherever applied to minorities; for varied examples, see Carol J. Ireson and Randall W. Ireson, “Ethnicity and Development in Laos, “Asian Survey (Berkeley, CA), vol. 31, no. 10 (Oct. 1991), pp. 920-37; and Kathleen Rockhill and Patricia Tomic, “Situating ESL Between Speech and Silence,” in Gender In/forms Curriculum, ed. Jane Gaskell and John Willinsky (New York: Teacher's College Press, 1995), pp. 209-29
41. Netting Contested Costume 42 44
42. Netting Contested Costume 42 42
43. Gladney. Representing Nationality passim. A 1996 Chinese television program showed a Li “folk dance.” Young women clad in skin-tight shorts and halter tops wiggled their hips. As they moved, red ribbons tied to the backs of their shorts swung like long tails. Needless to say, this costume and this performance bore no resemblance to traditional Li clothing or dancing