Research on the Unique National Cultural Forms of Gansu and Qinghai

Author: / Country: Mainland China
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Publish Date: 2000-07-01
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5. Of course, in our practical operations, we strive to accurately reflect the cultural contact (Culture contact) formed naturally due to social, geographical, economic, and historical reasons, as well as the changes and outcomes of the original culture. To achieve this, our research team includes both ethnic insiders and researchers from other ethnic groups. The purpose is to overcome unconscious biases and preferences, as well as the intrusion of prejudice and isolation, in order to address the issues of "going in" and "coming out." 6. When dealing with the five small ethnic groups in Gansu and Qinghai, who have almost no historical records of their own ethnic scripts, we also encountered complex and thought-provoking contradictions. On one hand, since China's reform and opening-up, the ideological and conceptual changes among the people of all ethnic groups have led to a strong desire to change poverty and move toward modernization, which aligns with the national goal of achieving "four modernizations." However, the economic and cultural development levels of different regions are not the same, and the cultural traditions of the ethnic groups also vary. So, what is "modernization" or "advanced"? What is "outdated" or "traditional"? Should we affirm or guide the current "cultural landscapes"? For these five ethnic minorities, these are rather troublesome issues. In practical social life, can we regard Western and coastal Chinese fashion as "progressive" or "modern" and accept it entirely? How should we identify and inherit and promote which aspects of our own ethnic cultural traditions, while discarding others? How can we accumulate the wealth of our ethnic cultures? We do not believe this is a difficult theoretical problem, but rather that it is primarily an issue often ignored by relevant departments and the public, both in terms of cognition and practice. On the other hand, since "the window is open, flies and mosquitoes are inevitable." Western material and spiritual products have surged into Chinese society. At times, "Western" equals "advanced," and imports seem to surpass the local. This is reflected in the spiritual and cultural sphere: is it garbage or "foreign"? Is it "flies" or "imported"? Different perceptions of its nature can arise. For remote northwest regions, it often takes a long time to recognize certain contaminants compared to inland cities. For these five specific ethnic groups, Han culture and the cultures of neighboring ethnic groups are undergoing mutual transformation, while also incorporating advanced foreign cultures. So, how should we handle the mutual transformation between our ethnic cultural traditions and neighboring cultures, as well as the integration of foreign cultures? Therefore, sometimes, out of a sense of ethnic survival crisis, the issue of "lost cultural identity" arises, which should be understandable. Our research aims to avoid any biases and past oversights, accurately understand and grasp the essence of our subjects' culture. At the same time, we face the issue of cultural transformation choices. For these five specific small ethnic groups, this is a severe, urgent, and thought-provoking issue. As ethnologists and anthropologists working in northwest China or our own ethnic groups, we are well aware that these ethnic compatriots must seek the best path for their rapid modernization and narrowing the gap with the developed eastern and southern regions. To this end, recognizing, analyzing, understanding, and researching the various cultural issues that arise during the development process should be regarded as our era's mission. 7. Our current understanding is that the core of any culture lies in its value orientation. The world is moving toward multipolarity, and peace and development are the themes of contemporary human society. China, which includes 56 ethnic groups, is inevitably undergoing a transformation in its social and cultural paradigms, which is a major choice for the entire Chinese nation in the 21st century. In this grand trend, cultural choices should adapt to the excellent traditional elements of all ethnic groups within China, which are beneficial to current and future development and progress. In summary, we believe that a rapid escape from poverty and a path of common development in terms of economy, culture, material civilization, and spiritual civilization is the direction that all ethnic groups, especially the five unique ethnic groups in Gansu and Qinghai, are happy to pursue and strive for. Our fieldwork and research motivations are originally aligned with the prosperity of the nation and the aspirations of these five ethnic groups.
Thirteen, A Brief Conclusion
1. We observe that the five ethnic groups in Gansu and Qinghai, regardless of the number of views and claims about their origins and formations, always share a bloodline as the main root that serves as a bond. However, when they migrate to a completely new ecological environment and truly form a new ethnic group, the process is always complex. Facts show that due to political, economic, geographical, and even religious, linguistic, and other material and spiritual cultural connections, different communities of people are linked together, continuously integrating and identifying, gradually forming a shared history, a shared culture, and a national consciousness. Therefore, today, when observing, experiencing, interviewing, or listening to ancient memories preserved in legends, folk songs, and fragmentary historical records from each of the five ethnic groups, we can hear and see stories such as the ancestors of the Salar people, the Uyghur tribe Salur, migrating east from Central Asia to Qinghai Xunhua, where the Mongols (called "Ma Zuhu") kindly gave them land; they then married into the Tibetan people in the southern border area of Doudong Valley, forming a "summer" (family) relationship with the Tibetans, naturally incorporating some Tibetan folk customs into the lives of the Salar people. Similar stories of mutual dependence, complementation, and integration, where "you are in me and I am in you," are among the Dongxiang, Bonan, and Mongolian people, as well as among the Tu, Yugur, and Tibetan people, and between the five ethnic groups and the Han people. The formation of a specific ethnic group in China is like this, and the formation of the Chinese nation's sense of identity through the mutual interaction of multiple ethnic groups living together is also like this. 2. The five ethnic groups in Gansu and Qinghai each have excellent cultural traditions and a glorious history, having formed unique cultural systems. Due to historical reasons, they have become poor and backward, but at the same time, they have lived and developed in the vast land of China, accompanying the nation's destiny to the present day. Today, humanity stands at the threshold of a new century, and the world cultural landscape has shifted from bipolarity to multipolarity. The question of what culture China will carry into the 21st century is a major issue affecting the survival of all ethnic groups and the fate of the nation. The recognition of China's "primary stage of socialism" as a fundamental national condition, the rise of the market economy as the new value orientation for all ethnic groups in China, the state structure of "one country, two systems," the cultural paradigm of "economic construction as the center," and their proposal, acceptance, and practice have in fact become the basic characteristics of the cultural form of the Chinese nation in the 21st century. This culture, which represents the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups, is centered on national self-esteem and confidence, and embodies patriotism in its content, form, psychological patterns, customs, lifestyles, ethics, and the corresponding cultural forms, interpretive methods, and thinking methods of each ethnic group, region, and locality. This has positioned the future cultural choices of the people of all ethnic groups. Of course, this goal is the path of material and cultural common prosperity for all ethnic groups. To achieve this, a sound and well-developed cultural ecological environment becomes the guarantee to reach the goal. Here, the relationship between the national cultural environment and the regional cultural environment of ethnic autonomous areas, as well as how to balance, coordinate, adapt, and operate, becomes a topic that responsible anthropologists, ethnologists, and sociologists should pay attention to and continuously explore at the eve of the new century. At the same time, it should also be a major issue that all wise people who truly hope for the overall prosperity of the Chinese nation regularly pay attention to, call for, and strive for.