Abstract
The second-generation cadres experienced a political administrative demarcation in 1978, which merged the old-nine counties that were dominantly Yi with Xichang region where the majority population is Han, the opening-up and the economic reforms, and there seemed to be a rise in a politicised ethnic identity. Xichang, replacing Zhaojue, became the new capital city for the prefecture. These second-generation cadres tended to view the Han as competitors, and a clearer ethnic boundary particularly in politics-related fields. Marriage and other cultural practices, especially in the urban areas of Liangshan Prefecture, demonstrate the influence of interactions among local custom, market economy and ethno-politics. The rural areas of Liangshan, on the other hand, kept many characteristics of the revolutionary period.
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Notes
- 1.
There were many administrative problems in the first few years after this demarcation. For example, Xichang was set up as a county-level city in 1979, but there was also a Xichang County at the same time. It was not until 1986 that Xichang County was abolished. There are statistics regarding the Xichang population from 1953 onwards, but there is a lack of clear explanations for these statistics.
- 2.
80% of the population of Xichang District was Han, and the percentage of Han population in Xichang City (county) was likely to be higher since Xichang District contained some ethnic minority autonomous counties where ethnic minorities were densely populated.
- 3.
This introduction of migrated Yi cadres appears in my own work “When Politics Meet Marriage: Changes in Marriage Practices Among Migrated Yi Cadres in Liangshan, China”, in F. Decimo & A. Gribaldo (Eds.), Boundaries Within: Nation, Kinship and Identity Among Migrants and Minorities (pp. 181–198). Cham: Springer.
- 4.
http://fgk.chinalaw.gov.cn/article/dffg/198707/19870700322460.shtml. Accessed 24 May 2015. See regulations 14 and 18.
- 5.
The original sentence was “man’er dang dao, shan he shi se”. The “barbarian” refers to the uncivilised and brutal ethnic minorities that for most part don’t grow and eat rice. And during that time, there was saying which showcased some people’s fear for these non-agricultural “barbarians”: “the Yi from the mountains would eat up all our rice and we have nothing to eat ourselves”.
- 6.
Dangdai is a periodical that publishes every two months. It is published by People’s Literature Publishing House, and is devoted to Chinese novels, chronicles and non-fictions, etc.
- 7.
One of the main pursuits of the students’ movement was to fight against corruption, which according to Deng was used by some “ill-intentioned” people to camouflage their ulterior motive which was to overthrow the Communist Party and to subvert socialism. (Selection of Deng’s Work, Volume III 1995: 303).
- 8.
Chinese usually refer the Party Secretary as “yibashou”, literally translated as “the first hand” which means the chief leader.
- 9.
The original word used here was “shang gang shang xian”, literally translated as “raise to a higher place of principle and two-line struggle”. “Shang gang” means to raise the issues to political principle issues and “shangxian” means to raise the issues to the struggles between different lines, for example, the proletarian line and the capitalism line.
- 10.
See, for example, http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-02/21/c_128737001.htm. Accessed 20 April 2016.
- 11.
In the official categorisation, Mosuo people belong to the Naxi minority group, although they are culturally distinct from the Naxi. The general public has come to know these people mainly because of their walking marriage traditions, which are still preserved today, and their society is one of the few remaining matriarchal societies in the world. Cai Hua’s book A Society Without Fathers or Husbands: The Na of China described these people and their marriage practices in detail.
- 12.
Ninlang County is located in Li Jiang City in Yunnan, and in 2011 its total income from tourism was 0.177 billion yuan, which was less than half that of Yanyuan.
- 13.
This was not the first time that I heard people call him “ginseng fruit”. Quite a few cadres jokingly used the same nickname because they thought his broad face, shining skin and redness on his cheeks were all symbols of a healthy ginseng fruit. The only thing that did not match was the skin colour; the governor had dark skin while the ginseng was usually white as snow in people’s impression.
- 14.
“Unpleasant looking” was directly translated from “nan kan”, which means disgraceful under this circumstance.
- 15.
The Yi class here refers to a particular class in ordinary high schools that enrols only Yi students. In many reputable high schools in Chengdu, Beijing and other cities, there are “Tibetan Classes” (Xizang ban) that recruit students from Tibet. The scores they need to get into these classes are normally significantly lower than their Han schoolmates.
- 16.
Pujiu is the abbreviation for “pu ji jiu nian yiwu jiaoyu” which means promoting nine-year compulsory education.
- 17.
The Yi have their own calendar and the New Year celebration usually happens towards the end of November. It is also a time when that almost every Yi family would invite a bimox to perform some practices to worship the ancestors, to bless all the family members and to pray for better luck in the coming year. A one-week vacation is usually given to people working in public institutions.
- 18.
Kumquat in Chinese is “jin qian ju”, literally translated as “golden coin orange”. Many people believe that planting kumquat in one’s house or workplace will bring good fortune.
- 19.
The “uncle” here refers to his mother’s younger brother which is “jiujiu” in Chinese.
- 20.
Wu was a famous Yi cadre who was born in Liangshan. He had a successful political career, and also provided some influential academic works in Yi culture.
- 21.
From interview, 20 May 2013.
- 22.
“Liang” is Chinese traditional measurement of silver. Silver had always been the currency in pre-revolutionary era, and it is still under discussion in the field of history as to how heavy is one liang of silver. In current daily usage, 1 liang equals to 50 grams, but in the Republic period 1 liang equals to 31.25 grams. What’s more, it is not clear how much money equals to 1 liang of silver. Some estimated that in the middle of Qing dynasty, 1 liang of silver equals approximately 150–220 yuan, which is about 15–22 sterling pounds today. See http://history.people.com.cn/GB/198593/18159620.html.
- 23.
Sanchakou was to the northeast of their home and was about five minutes’ walk from their place.
- 24.
Conversation took place at 3 October 2012, and there were some other friends of hers and her husband’s.
- 25.
Fuga is the matchmaker in traditional Yi society. Luobian and Mose (2014) define the fuga as someone “who makes money from matching making and at the same time carries the responsibility of culture inheritance” (2014: 117). It is his responsibility to find potential marriage partners, persuade the families on both sides and negotiate the bride price and dowries.
- 26.
This term was recorded in one of the interviews with a Yi cadre who was originally from Mianning County. It was possible that in the standard Yi language, the tone of this term might be different because the interviewee was not sure about his own pronunciation, and it was not a term that was included in the Yi–Han dictionary.
- 27.
The interviewee said three cadres’ name which were replaced by pseudonyms here.
- 28.
“shu” is literally translated as “cooked” as opposite to “sheng” which means “raw”. It is commonly used to distinguish between different populations within one ethnic minority group in relation to the degree of hanification. Those that are hanified to a high degree are usually referred to as the “shu” minority and their counterparts as the “sheng” minority.
- 29.
The Little Red Guard was a student organisation during the Cultural Revolution, which replaced the previous Young Pioneers of China. It was dissolved in 1978 and the name “Young Pioneers of China” was substituted.
- 30.
The “legacy” of the Cultural Revolution (wenge yidu) referred to the continuous influence that this movement had on people’s opinions, language and political thinking. There was no official definition of this expression, and one of the most recent uses of this expression by a high official was in 2012 by the then Premier Wen Jiabao in a press conference. By using this expression, he was stating it as one reason for the difficulties in political reform. See http://news.21cn.com/caiji/roll1/2012/03/15/11154416.shtml.
- 31.
The impression of Xichang as a fishing village before the Merger seemed to be a misconception. Xichang was a main station on the Cheng-Kun railway, and Xichang 505 Television Station, Xichang Airport and Xichang Satellite Launch Center were all constructed or started to construct before the Merging. It was true that the land around Qionghai Lake used to be occupied by fishermen, and the piece of land opposite to Qionghai Hotel is still called “little fishing village” today, but it did not mean that fishing is the only industry for Xichang before the Merger.
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Guo, Z. (2020). The Rise of Competition and a Politicised Ethnicity: Ethnicity and the Demarcation of the Prefecture. In: Changing Ethnicity. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9491-1_4
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