Color and Naxi Folk Customs

Author: Bai Gengsheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-04-01
Features: The book "Color Culture of the Naxi People" was written as the author's doctoral dissertation at Tsukuba University in Japan. It is divided into 11 chapters: "Introduction," "Naxi Color Perception," "Naming and Color," "Literature and Color," "Rituals and Color," "Clothing and Color," "Architecture and Color," "Divination and Color," "Space and Color," "Ghosts and Gods and Color," and "Conclusion." Additionally, it includes a "Bibliography" and an "Afterword." The book takes the color materials from Naxi mythology, legends, songs, stories, and folklore as its starting point, providing a meticulous introduction and analysis of the Naxi color language, dye (color) usage, color application, color perception, and color aesthetics. It comprehensively presents the appearance of Naxi color culture and reveals the close relationship between production methods, religious beliefs, philosophical concepts, and color culture. In the process of discussing Naxi color culture as the focal point, the author uses the entire Naxi culture as an indispensable reference background. At the same time, neighboring ethnic groups closely related to the Naxi and their cultures are also incorporated into the comparative framework, achieving a perspective that is not solely about color or solely about the Naxi people. Instead, it explains color through cultural interpretation and describes the Naxi people through related ethnic groups, giving the book a rich cultural foundation and a broad academic vision. The book also thoroughly analyzes the basic characteristics of Naxi color culture, grasps the historical changes of Naxi color culture with a dynamic perspective, and deeply explores the various social and cultural functions of Naxi color culture. It conducts a comprehensive study of the factors that constrain the emergence, development, and evolution of Naxi color culture. Professor Kazuhiko Hirayama, an authority in Japanese folklore studies, called this the first specialized work in Japanese folklore on the relationship between color and folklore. Scholars in China also praise it as a cornerstone of the emerging discipline of Chinese color culture studies. Author Bai Gengsheng is a researcher, deputy director, and professor at the Institute of Ethnic Minority Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; he graduated from the Department of Historical Anthropology at Tsukuba University in Japan in 1998, earning a Ph.D. in Literature; since 1998, he has conducted postdoctoral research at Beijing Normal University; he is currently concurrently the president of the International Association of Naxi Studies and the president of the Chinese Society of Ethnic Minority Literature. His main representative works include "Research on Dongba Mythology," "Symbolism of Dongba Mythology," "Folklore of the Naxi People," and others. Target Audience: Professionals and readers interested in folklore, cultural anthropology, ethnology, and religious studies.