Central state, local governments, ethnic groups and the minzu identification in Yunnan (1950s-1980s)

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 741-775

  Yang, Bin ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL HISTORY; ETHNIC GROUP; ETHNICITY; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; IMPERIALISM; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; NATIONAL IDENTITY; SOCIAL SEGREGATION; STATE ROLE;

ASIA; CHINA; EURASIA; FAR EAST; YUNNAN;

EID: 67849084741     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: 14698099     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X07003411     Document Type: Article

References (126)

1. Wang Ningsheng, Xi'nan Fanggu Sanshiwunian (My Thirty-Five Years Visiting the Southwest) (Ji'nan: Shangdong Huabao Chubanshe: 1997): 262-263.
2. Stevan Harrell, 'Introduction' in Stevan Harrell (ed.), Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic Frontiers (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press: 1995): 3-36.
3. Besides Confucian ethics and the good will of imperial rulers, another major aim was to reduce the conflicts on the frontiers to as little as possible, for the sake of stability.
4. Hsieh Jiann, The CCP's Concept of Nationality and the Work of Ethnic Identification Amongst China's Minorities (Hong Kong: Institute of Social Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1987): 1.
5. Hsieh Jiann 24.
6. Stevan Harrell, 'Languages Defining Ethnicity in Southwest China' in Lola Romanucci-Ross and George A. De Vos. (ed.), Ethnicity Identity: Creation, Conflict, and Accommodation (Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 1993: Pp. 97-114.
7. Harrell 1993, 102.
8. Recent studies of ethnic classification include a series of papers in China Information. See Kevin Caffrey, 'Who "Who" Is, and Other Local Poetics of National Policy', China Information 18 (July 2004): 243-274
9. Stephane Gros, 'The Politics of Names', China Information 18 (July 2004): 275-302
10. Collin Mackerras, 'Conclusion: Some Major Issues in Ethnic Classification', China Information 18 (July 2004): 303-313
11. Thomas S Mullaney, 'Ethnic Classification Writ Large', China Information 18 (July 2004): 207-241.
12. Fei Xiaotong, 'Guanyu Woguo Minzu de Shibie Wenti (On the Minzu Classification in Our Country)', Zhongguo Shehui Kexue, No. 1 (1980): 98.
13. Fei Xiaotong, 'Wo de Minzuyanjiu Jingli he Sikao (My Experience and Thoughts on Minzu Studies)', in Ma Rong & Zhou Xing (ed.), Zhonghua Minzu Ningjuli de Xingcheng yu Fazhang (The Formation and Development of Cohesive Force of the Chinese Nation) (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 1999): 3.
14. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang & Hu Hongbao, Zhongguo Minzuxueshi (History of Chinese Ethnology) (Kunming: Yunnan Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1997): Vol. 2, 54.
15. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang & Hu Hongbao 1997, 51. Fei Xiaotong indeed attended two visiting delegations, both in Southwest and Central China.
16. Editors, Yunnan Minzu Gongzuo Sishinian (The Forty Years of the Minzu Works in Yunnan) (Kunming: Yunnan Minzu Chubanse, 1994): 124.
17. Ibid. 125.
18. Ibid.
19. Ma Yao, 'Review of the Nationality Classification Investigation of Yunnan', in Yearbook of Chinese Nationality Studies (1999) (Beijing: Minzu Press, 2000): 60.
20. Ma Yao, 'Zhou Baozhong yu Yunnan Tongzhan Gongzuo yu Minzu Gongzuo (Zhou Baozhong and the United Front Works and Minzu Works in Yunnan)' in Ma Yao Xueshu Lunzhu Zixuanji (Self-Selected Works of Ma Yao) (Kunming: Yunnan Renmin Chubanshe, 1998): 861-881.
21. Yunnan Minzu Gongzuo Sishinian, 129.
22. Lin Yaohua, 'Zhongguo Xi'nan Diqu de Minzu Shibie (Minzu Identification in Southwest China)', Minzu Yanjiu Lunwenji (Collected Papers on Minzu Studies) (Beijing: Zhongyang Minzuxueyuan Minzuyanjiusuo, 1984): 1.
23. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang & Hu Hongbao 1997, 51.
24. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang, & Hu Hongbao 1997, 54.
25. Ma Yao 2000, 60.
26. Ma Yao 2000, 60-61.
27. Ma Yao 2000, 61. Ma Yao's experience was not an exception. Similar cases occurred to other working teams too.
28. See Wang Lianfang, Wang Lianfang Yunnan Minzugongzuo Huiyi (My Experience of Yunnan Minzu Affairs) (Kunming: Yunnan Renmin Chubanshe, 1999): 16. Wang was a senior cadre on minzu works in Yunnan.
29. Huang Guangxue, 'Woguo de Minzu Shibie (Minzu Identification in Our Country)' in Huang Guangxue and Shi Lianzhu (ed.), Zhongguo de Minzu Shibie (Minzu Identification in China) (Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe, 1995): 366.
30. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang & Hu Hongbao 1997, 122.
31. Lin Yaohua 1984.
32. Lin Yaohua 1984, 5-6.
33. Shi Lianzhu, Chapter Three and Four (pp. 93-173) & Pages 211-217,
34. in Huang Guangxue & Shi Lianzhu (ed.) Zhongguo de Minzushibie (Minzu Identification in China (Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe, 1995): 211-217.
35. Lin Yaohua 1984, 7.
36. Shi Lianzhu 1993, 208-218.
37. Shi Lianzhu, 'Zhongguo Minzushibie Yanjiu Gongzuo de Tese (Characteristics of China's Minzu Identification and Study)', Zhongyang Minzudaxue Xuebao, No. 5 (1989): 18.
38. Ma Yao 2000, 60.
39. Lin Yaohua 1984, 1.
40. Li Shaoming classifies the registered four hundred odd names of units into eight categories. See Li Shaoming, 'Woguo Minzu Shibie de Huigu yu Qianzhan (Review and Prospect of Minzu Identification in Our Country)', Minzuxue Yanjiu (Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe, Vol. 12, 1998): 201-211.
41. Ma Yao, 'Zhou Baozhong yu Yunnan Tongzhan Gongzuo yu Minzu Gongzuo (Zhou Baozhong and the United Front work and Minzu Works in Yunnan)', in Ma Yao Xueshu Lunzhu Zixuanji (Self-Selected Works of Ma Yao) (Kunming: Yunnan Renmin Chubanshe, 1998): 867.
42. Ma Yao 2000, 59.
43. Ma Yao 1998, 867.
44. For the roles and problems of language, see Charles Keyes, Presidential Address: "'The Peoples of Asia" - Science and Politics in the Classification of Ethnic Groups in Thailand, China, and Vietnam', The Journal of Asian Studies 61.4: 1163-1203. Linguistic evidence was the key criterion for western-trained scholars such as Lin Yaohua and Fu Maoyong in the identification and this also differentiates the efforts made by P. R. China and the Qing Empire.
45. Ma Yao 2000, 63.
46. Lin Yaohua 1984
47. Shi, Lianzhu 1995.
48. Norma Diamond, 'Ethnicity and the State: The HuaMiao of Southwest China' in Judith D. Toland (ed.), Ethnicity and the State (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1995): 58.
49. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang & Hu Hongbao 1997, 129.
50. Yi Mouyuan, 'Wuliushi NiandaiMinzuDiaocha de Pianduan Huiyi (Recollections of the Minzu Surveys in the 1950s-60s)' in Hao Shiyuan (ed.), Tianye Diaocha Shilu (Records of Field Works) (Beijing: Shekewenxian Chubanshe, 1999): 319.
51. Ma Yao 2000, 65.
52. The scale of these ethnic groups differs variously. The Yi, Bai, Hani, Dai and Zhuang, each over 1 million; Miao (Hmong), Lisu and Hui (Muslim) between half million and 1 million; Lagu, Va, Naxi, Yao, Jingpo and Zang (Tibetan) are over 10,000 but under half million; other under 100,000. Right now 52 of the 56 minzus of China can be found in Yunnan. Of the 52, 26 minority minzus have a population over 5,000 and live in concentrated areas. And 16 minzus are living across provincial boundaries; 15 minzus are living across the boundaries and 15 cannot be found in other areas of China. Two thirds of minorities are living along boundaries. In 1998, the minority population was nearly 14 million, about one-third of whole province population, which means that Han Chinese are the majority.
53. Shi Lianzhu 1995, 'Chapter 4', 157.
54. The CCP classifies the indigenous peoples in Taiwan into one category, 'Gaoshanzu (High Hill Minzu)', as one of the 55 minority brothers, but 'Gaoshanzu' indeed includes several ethnicities. Considering the special role of Taiwan after the unification (if so), it is reasonable to conclude that the CCP would open its door to accept new members. In fact, Fei Xiaotong in his 1980 article listed three reasons to explain that the minzu identification has not been completed, one of which was that no work had been done for the Taiwan indigenes.
55. About 800,000 people were left to be identified in 1982. See Fei 1989, 17.
56. Stevan Harrell, 'Ethnicity, Local Interests, and the State: Yi Communities in Southwest China', Comparative Study of Society and History 32(3) (1990): 515-548.
57. Colin Mackerras, China's Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994): 144.
58. Dru C. Gladney 1991.
59. Also see Mette Halskov Hansen, 'We are all Naxi in Our Hearts': Ethnic Consciousness among Intellectual Naxi' in Soren Clausen, Roy Starrs, and Anne Wedell-Wedellsborg (ed.), Cultural Encounters: China, Japan, and the West (Aarhus University Press, 1995): 58.
60. Colin Mackerras 1994, 143.
61. Wang Ningsheng, 262-264.
62. Hsieh Jiann 1987, 9.
63. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang & Hu Hongbao 1997, 127-129.
64. Almost all Western works more or less mention these problems. For example, see Harrell 1990, 1993, 1995, Brown 1996, Mackerras and Gladney.
65. Stevan Harrell, 1993.
66. David Y. H.Wu, 'Chinese Minority Policy and theMeaning of Minority Culture: The Example of Bai in Yunnan, China', Human Organization, Vol. 49, No. 1 (1990): 3.
67. Fei 1980, 150.
68. Shi Lianzhu 1995, 146.
69. Ma Yao 1998, 867.
70. Melissa Brown, 'Local Government Agency: Manipulating Tujia Identity', Modern China 28.3 (July 2002): 364.
71. Ma Yao 1998, 254.
72. Shi Lianzhu 1995, 208.
73. Katherine Palmer Kaup, Creating the Zhuang: Ethnic Politics in China (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 2000).
74. Katherine Palmer Kaup 2000.
75. Du Yuting 227.
76. Ma Rong, 'Guanyu "Minzu" de Dingyi (On the Definition of Minzu ', Yunnan Minzuxueyuan Xuebao 17.1 (2000): 12.
77. J. V. Stalin, 'Marxism and the National Question' in Works, Vol. 2 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954): 307.
78. Stalin 1954, 307.
79. Stalin 1954, 313.
80. Fan Wenlan, 'Zi Qinhan yilai Zhongguo Chengwei Guojia de Yuanyin (Reasons for China Being a Nation since the Qin-Han Period)', Lishi Yanjiu (1954): 22-36.
81. Ya Hanzhang, Minzu Wenti yu Zongjiao Wenti (The Issue of Minzu and the Issue of Religion) (Chengdu: Zhongguo Shehuikexue Chubanshe, 1984): 3-14.
82. Ya 1984, 3-14.
83. Ya 1984, 3-14.
84. Ya was responsible for the entry of Minzu in Encyclopedia of China (Zhongguo da Baikequanshu) in which he inputs his opinion, but as far as I know, neither did he take active part in the minzu identification project, nor had he much influence on this project. Huang Guangxue's Zhongguo de Minzu Shibie (minzu identification in China) is the only book that introduces and discusses the minzu identification project, in which Ya's opinion is unanimously criticized. This book, which claims to represent only scholarly studies, is in fact sponsored by the state, and because it is the only book that has ever been allowed to be published, I think it definitely represents the official language.
85. Liu E, 'Chapter 1' in Huang Guangxue & Shi Lianzhu (ed.), Zhongguo de Minzushibie (Minzu Identification in China) (Beijing: Minzu Press, 1995): 48-50.
86. Henry G. Schwarz, 'Chinese Policies toward Minorities: An Essay and Documents', Bellingham, WA: Western Washington State College, East Asian Studies, Occasional Paper, No. 2, 1971, 15.
87. For example, see Colin Mackerras 1994.
88. Thomas Heberer, China and Its National Minorities: Autonomy or Assimilation? (Armonk & New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1989): 31-32.
89. The degree of Marxist influence on scholars varies individually. Generally speaking, some western educated scholars are relatively conscious of the rigidity of Stalin's four-common, for example, Fei Xiaotong.
90. Wang Jianmin, Zhang Haiyang, & Hu Hongbao 1997, 112.
91. David Wu, 'Chinese Minority Policy and the Meaning of Minority Culture: The Example of Bai in Yunnan, China', Human Organization, Vol. 49, No. 1 (1990): 2.
92. Mackerra 1994, 141-142.
93. Xiu Shihua, 'Guanyu "Gongtong Xinli Suzhi" de Sikao (Some Thoughts on "Common Psychology")', Zhongyang Minzudaxue Xuebao, No. 1(1995): 48-52.
94. Fei Xiaotong 1980.
95. Fei Xiaotong 1980. Fei was labelled 'rightist' in the 1957 'Anti-Rightist Movement' and disappeared from academy until the late 1970s.
96. Fei's address took place in the 1978 National Political Consultative Conference when the Cultural Revolution was just over and the so-called Thought Emancipation had not yet been fully launched.
97. Fei Xiaotong 1999, 5.
98. Fei Xiaotong 1999, 5-6.
99. Fei Xiaotong 1980, 4.
100. Fei Xiaotong 1999, 5-10.
101. In fact, the review of the identification by scholars of China is made case by case, by discussing how a minzu was decided by certain criteria. See Fei Xiaotong 1980, Lin Yaohua 1984, Huang Guangxue and Shi Lianzhu 1995.
102. Shi Lianzhu 1995, 143.
103. Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People's Republic (Cambridge: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1991).
104. Joseph W. Esherick, 'Ten Theses on the Chinese Revolution', Modern China, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1995): 48 & 56.
105. William Skinner, 'Marketing System and Social Structure in Rural China. I, II, & III', Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 24. No. 1, 2. 3, 1964 and 1965; 'Rural Marketing in China: Repression and Revival', The China Quarterly 103 (1984): 393-413.
106. Vivienne Shue, The Reach of the State: Sketches of the Chinese Body Politics (Stanford University Press, 1998).
107. Huang Shu-min, The Spiral Road (Westview Press, 1998).
108. Hsieh Jiann 1987, 9.
109. Joseph Esherick 48.
110. Barry Allen, 'Power/Knowledge' in Karlis Racevskis (ed.), Critical Essays on Michael Foucault (New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1999): 72.
111. Wang Dingbao, 'Shujinshi Shangpian (On the Jinshi, part 1)', in Tang Shu Yan, juan 1 (Beijing: Gudianwenxue Chubanshe, 1957): 3.
112. Wang Ningsheng 1997, 264.
113. The earliest is Zhigongtu by Xiao Yan in the Southern Dynasty (420-588).
114. Journal of Central Nationality University of the 1990s have attributed most of their inside front covers to drawings of minority clothes, supposedly distinguished from each other, a modern version of Huang Qing Zhigongtu.
115. Hsieh Jiann 1987, 9.
116. Ma Yao 2000, 60-61.
117. Jiang Yingliang 1958.
118. Recent examples areWang Zhanying, 'Qian Sulian yu ZhongguoMinzu Zhengce zhi Bijiao (Comparison of Minzu Policy in China and in Soviet Union)', Zhongyang Minzudaxue Xuebao, No.1(1997): 18-22
119. and Mou Benli, 'Minzuquyuzizhi Zhidu de Bijiao Yanjiu (Comparative Studies of Minzu Autonomous System)', Minzu Tuanjie, No. 5 (2001): 1-8.
120. Ma Yao 2000, 61.
121. Zizhi Tongjian, juan 197, 6215-6216.
122. Ibid, juan 198, 6247.
123. Chen Shisong, ed, Sichuan Tongshi (History of Sichuan), Vol. 5 (Chengdu: Sichuan Daxue Chubanshe, 1994):160-161.
124. For the GMD, see Ruey Yih-fu 'On the Origin of the Tribal Names in Southwestern China with Insect-Beast-Radical Characters', in China: The Nation and Some Aspects of Its Culture, A Collection of Selected Essays with Anthropological Approaches, Vol. 1 (Zhongguo Minzu jiqi Wenhua Lungao) (Yenwen Publication. CO., LTD.,): 73-117; For the CCP, see Dangdai Zhongguo Minzu Gongzuo Dashiji (Records of Major Events of Minzu Works in Contemporary China Years of Minzu Works) (Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe, 1990): 10. For the Republican legacy on Minzu Shibie, see Thomas S. Mullaney 2004.
125. Stevan Harrell 1995, 'Introduction'.
126. Recently the minzu regional autonomy (minzu quyu zizhi) has been labelled one of the three fundamental political systems (jiben zhengzhi zhidu) in P. R. China. The other two are People's Congress (renmin daibiao dahui zhidu) and Political Consultative and Multi-Party Cooperative System (zhengzhi xieshang yu duodang hezuo zhidu). I believe that this system would contribute to and thus turn into a part of any pro-democratic reform. In this sense, it would reveal the so-called Chinese characteristics.