8624729
Chao, Wei Yang
EVOLUTIONARY T H E O R Y A N D CULTURAL DIVERSITY: E T H O N O L O G Y O F C H I N A ' S N A T ...
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8624729
Chao, Wei Yang
EVOLUTIONARY T H E O R Y A N D CULTURAL DIVERSITY: E T H O N O L O G Y O F C H I N A ' S N A T I O N A L MINORITIES
University
of California,
University Microfilms International
Berkeley
A STUDY OF T H E
PH.D.
300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor. Ml 48106
Copyright 1986 by Chao, Wei Yang All Rights Reserved
1986
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University Microfilms International
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY: A Study of the Ethonology of China's National Minorities By
Wei Yang Chao M.A. (University of California) 1983
DISSERTATION Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Anthropology
in the GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
B0CMLBEG8MMJ MAY 16,1986
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY: A Study of the Ethnology of China's National Minorities
Copyright©
1986
WEI YANG CHAO
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
ii
CHAPTER I.THE RISE OF CHINESE ETHNOLOGY A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Developments in Chinese Ethnology before 1949 (2)—The Golden Age: 1949-1956 (8) —Twenty Years of Vicissitudes: 19571976 (20)—Post-Cultural Revolution: A Period of Healing (25) II.EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MATRILINEAL NAZI. The Ethnography of the Matrilineal Naxi in Yongning (48)—Technology, Authority and Naxi Matrilineality: A Problem of Placement (64) The Rise of Matrilineality and Axia Marriage (80)—Persistence(lOO) III.THE TREATMENT OF "PRIMTIVE SOCIETY": KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY, MARRIGE AND PERIODIZATION Kinship Terminology (117)—Consanguine Marriage: Validity and Substitute (125) — T h e Periodization of Primitive Society (130) IV.THE STUDIES OF POST-PRIMITIVE SOCIAL ORDER The Five-Stage Development Model and the Asiatic Mode of Production (154)—The Liangshan Yi: An Example of "Slave Society" (164)—Suzerainity among the Dai of Xishuangbanna (179)—The Dai and Yi: Two Societies in Comparative Perspective (193)
1
43
117
153
GLOSSARY
214
APPENDIX I
220
APPENDIX II
224
BIBLIOGRAPHY
228
PREFACE It is widely known that sociology in China ceased to be taught and practised for more than two decades
after
1949.
However, it is not generally known that there is a sub-field of
human
sciences which persisted after
sociology.
of
peoples."
of It
of
the Chinese term "Minzuxue" is differs
"anthropology"(Renleixue),
from
which
in
Where it is
primarily with the
a
field,
physical 1
origin of human beings,
the Chinese
today's
commonly accepted as a term designating a sciences.
oblivion
This is the field of ethnology (Minzuxue).
The literal meaning "study
the
term
China
field
of
not social
anthropology is concerned
nature,
characteristics,
a usage equivalent to
and
the field of
"physical anthropology" in the West. In the ethnology
past few decades following the 1949 Revolution, has
assumed
an
important
position
among
the
Chinese social sciences as a discipline devoted to the study of non-Han
peoples.
China is not
The current importance of ethnology in
unconnected
to the long-standing challenge of
centrally administering a culturally and ethnically population.
It is one the aims of
modern ethnology has
developed
in
diverse
this study to reveal how part
at
least
as
an
outgrowth of such historical exigencies. China
is
a
plural
society
composed
of
fifty-six
officially recognized nationalities(See Figure
1;
for
map
depicting distribution of all 56 nationalities, see Zhongguo shaoshu
minzu,
back
panel).
This
figure
includes
the
2 majority Han most
population (94% of total population),
non-Han
minorities,
groups, the
which
inhabit
regions of the nation.
woodlands
of
homelands
the
the
are
in
as
national
the
frontier
grasslands
northeast,
the
islands
of
the
hill
region
on
the
and
southwest.
The study of these diverse peoples has long been
practical
reasons.
goal
sub-tropical
of Inner Mongolia,
southeast,
a
the
classified
These comprise the plateau of Tibet,
the desert of Xinjiang, the
are
For the
of
First, it
the central government
was
for
several
important to increase awareness of
these groups as a means of promoting
national
unity.
importance of this goal received recognition as far back
The as
the common program the First National Political Consultative Conference on the Republic of
eve
China
in
for institutionalizing
of
the
founding
the
People's
1949. Second, it served as the basis an
official
governments for minority regions in
system a
way
considerations of national
unity
these and
ethnological
other
of
reasons,
and
of
autonomous
which
balanced
local autonomy. research
For
has been
supported by the national government as a means of aiding in the
formulation
and
implementation
of
policy
towards
minority regions. The
continuing
importance
of
ethnology
in
applied
fields has accounted of sociology its
not
for
its superceding the related field
only in the scale of research but also in
qualitative
advances.
In
terms
institutional framework of ethnology
of
was
scale,
greatly
the
expanded
following the decline of sociology in the early 1950s. concentration of
This
resources made possible a great advance in
the quality of research up to 1957. Overall, Chinese ethnology with
the
Western
anthropology.
shares certain similarities
tradition
of
and
cultural
It had adopted the methodology of
intensive
and micro-level studies in order organization,
kinship
to
history
number of
of
explain
structure,
customs of other non-Han peoples. unique
social
and
economic
various
cultural
However, in light of
development, Chinese
distinctive
the
characteristics.
ethnology
and marriage, and even matters terminology.
as
a
Theoretically, it
has adopted Marxism as its framework for analysis of phenomena, including class structure,
has
its
social
changes in the family
specialized
as
kinship
Historically, the path ethnology has travelled
since the founding of the PRC has been turns resulting from its political goals.
full
of
twists and
close identification with changing
In terms of its application, ethnology has
played an active role in a variety of social reforms such as the democratic reforms has incorporated several
of
the unique
1950s. Methodologically, it methods
of social incuiry 3 developed in the course of the Chinese Revolution.
V
A final point of difference is
that,
in
contrast
to
most other areas of the world, knowledge of Chinese minority groups has not originated Western nature the
scholars.
as
an
intellectural endeavor of
Although some data of
an
ethnographic
became known concerning Chinese minorities prior Revolution
through
the
work
of
missionaries
and
scholar-adventurers, this knowledge was fragmentary and widely available.
to
not
It is Chinese ethnographers who have been
the first to present information on Chinese minority peoples in a systematic and comprehensive manner.
The
aim
of
this
study is both
sinological in intent. the
major
findings
Anthropologically, of
Chinese
it
will
ethnologists
theoretical and ethnographic fields. materials,
anthropological
In
and evaluation.
Some of the issues to be
review in
organizing
I must necessarily introduce points of
and
both these
analysis
discussed are the
subject of controversy not only within the domain of Chinese ethnology discipline. of
but also within anthropology as an These include questions concerning
matrilineality,
accounting relation structure.
international
for
the
definition
distinctive
between
kin
ecological
In so doing, it is my
of
the
marriage,
terminologies, conditions
and
origin factors
and
the social
hope both to introduce to
the Western reader to the development of a social scientific discipline in a non-Western
society
and
to facilitate the
vi flow of
scholarly
Chinese
communication
academic
between
communities.
the
Regardless
shortcomings of my own effort to bring Chinese anthropological discourse into
Western and
a
single
that this study may encourage others
of and
the Western
framework, I hope
to
make
similar
and
more successful attempts. This study also bears on a range of to sinologists.
Primary
attention
issue of the place of the social attention
is
also
given
topics of interest
is given to the general
sciences in China but some to
specific
effects
of
post-revolution governmental policies on minority group
and
social institutions. This study is organized into first
chapter
four
chapters:
is a retrospective overview
of
(1)
the
the
recent
history of Chinese ethnology; (2) the second chapter gives a close examination of
a
particular topical issue in Chinese
ethnology, the matrilineal order
to
system
elucidate how general points
first chapter figure
in
issues,
periodization chapter
of
centers
identified
marriage,
post-primitive societies
the
by examining three closely
kinship
terminology
early social development; (4) on
in
scholarly discourse; (3) the third
chapter extends this perspective related
of the Yongning Naxi, in
a
detailed in
relation
issues identified at the outset.
comparison to
the
and the of
the final two
theoretical
This work Chinese
sets
ethnology
enterprise on extensively
a
out as
to
a
whole.
empirical
upon
characterize In
order
foundation,
data derived from a
project undertaken from
1956
to
developments in to
set
this
however,
it draws
nationwide
research
1963. Subsequent research
relevant to the findings of this project, including field
investigations,
are incorporated to fill
data.
Thus, the work treats a tradition of
my
out
field
own these
research
in China spanning roughly thirty years. My own field investigations in the Summer of 1981 among the Dai and the Naxi
were
a valuable experience to prepare
me for the task I have undertaken. insights from my
association
ethnologists in China.
I
have gained countless
with the senior generation of
Professor
Yang
Chengzhi of Central
Institute of Nationalities in Beijing and Professor Li Youyi of Chinese Academy in
their
of
Social Sciences have been unstinting
long-standing
reminiscence
as
support
well
as
and
deep
shared
knowledge
of
personal Chinese
ethnology. Since a treatment has taken root
in
of
China
the ethnological tradition as it requires
Western tradition from which enormously
from
graduate
Anthropology at University
it
a
sprung,
training in of
perspective
on
the
I have benefitted the
California,
Department
of
Berkeley. It is
particularly through my association with Professors
William
viii
A. Shack, Gerald D. Berreman, and Elizabeth
Colson
have acquired the means to situate my discussion of ethnology history,
within method
a
broader
and theory.
William Shack who has the present Franz
suggestions. with Dr. M.
I am
carefully
thesis.
Schurmann
context
of
I
Chinese
anthropological
grateful
supervised
to
Professor
the writing of
Both Professors Gerald Berreman and H.
read
the
manuscript
and
made
I have benefited from my frequent T.
that
Cooke
and
Mr.
treatment of sinological and Jonathan Eabarad has
also
Jeffrey
valuable discussion
Wasswestrom on my
anthropological
issues.
Mr.
been generous in consulting with
particular points vital to my research. Throughout financial
my
graduate
assistance
gratefully acknowledge Division of
the
from the
University
Population Council, and
the
career, various
I funding
contribution of
have
of
California,
Mabelle
received
sources. the
I
Graduate
Berkeley, the
Mcleod Lewis Memorial
Fund in enabling me to complete this project.
1
I.THE RISE OF CHINESE ETHNOLOGY: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW The traditions of Western anthropology traced back to the
time
of
the
Greeks
are
frequently
when
large-scale
confrontation between radically different cultures was first described in detail. of the culturally
A
tradition of systematic description
unfamiliar
was also practiced in ancient
China though historically this has had less of
an impact on
Western
ethnographic
anthropology
than
the
comparable
tradition of Ibn Batuta and other Arab scholars. As early as the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D.), Sima
Qian, the founder of Chinese historiography,
ethnographic descriptions based on a youth.
his extensive travels as
His work entitled "The account of the Southwestern
Barbarians" in the famous 1 Historian) folkways
recorded
contains
rich
Shi
Ji
(Records
description
of
of
the
Grand
the
cultural
of aboriginal inhabitants of the region
currently
centered around Yunnan and Sichuan. Later, during the
prosperous
Kr'.ng (1368-1644 A.D.) dynasties,
Tang
(618-907 A.D.) and
political
and
expansion
of
the Han state, together
with
migration
of
the Han people, brought
increasing
with non-Han peoples.
the
commercial southward contacts
This gave rise to a greater number of
2
descriptive
accounts
of
the
unfamiliar
cultures
of 2
non-Hans.
For
instance, Man Shu (Book of the Barbarians),
written by
Fan
Zho, a Tang official of the 9th century, is
well-known
for
its detailed descriptions of
culture and customs fact, each of
of
the
covering
material
the Southwest frontier peoples.
In
Twenty-four Histories, selected by later
Qing (late 19th century) works
the
two
scholars
thousand
as
years
the major historical of
Chinese
history,
contains descriptive accounts of non-Han peoples. However, discipline century. ethnology provide
ethnology
has
emerged
as
a
only
rigorous
since
the
intellectual
early
twentieth
While the focus of this study is trends in Chinese since an
the
1949
overview
pre-revolutionary
revolution, of
it
those
is helpful
developments
ethnology which have had a clear
to in
bearing
upon subsequent trends in the post-revolutionary practice of ethnology.
Developments in Chinese Ethnology before 1949 China increasingly felt policies
and
ideas
political structure
with
the the
impact
of Western goods,
weakening
of its
imperial
around the turn of the present century.
Political reformers hoped to
institute
social
change on a
3
scientific writings change.
basis of
and,
to
this
end,
borrowed
Western social scientists in
from
pursuing
the
social
Two of the first works of Western social scientists
to be translated into Chinese at this Principles of
Sociology
Early
History 3 Civilization.
of
and
Tylor's
Mankind
and
were
Spencer's
Researches the
Anthropological studies of more orientation
time
into the
Development
modern
and
by Westermarck and Morgan were also
of
empirical introduced
to China at this time but there was confusion as to how this branch of learning should be
designated
in
Chinese.
Some
used the term Minzhongxue ("study of races"; see Rassenkunde 4 [Ger.]) and others used the term Renleixue ("study of human 5 types") . This lack of terminological standardization reflected
the
perspectives characterized
confusion in
early
of
biological
anthropology,
a
and
cultural
confusion
which
the Western practice of anthropology as
as the Chinese. It was Cai Yuanpei, a distinguished of the early Republican period, who did much
the
term
scholar
to bring about
a clearer conception of ethnology in China. In "On Ethnology," Cai Yuanpei used
much
his
Minzuxue
article (lit.
"study of peoples") for ethnology and defined it as "studies dealing with and comparison
the
subsequent documentation, 6
of cultures of various peoples."
He further
distinguished ethnology from anthropology, the latter
being
4
defined
as
emphasizing
difference,
and
the
physical
aspect
of
archaeology, which is concerned
human
with
the
forerunner of
the
remains of early human development. Cai
Yuanpei
is
regarded
as
the
contemporary practice of ethnology by both in
the
president
mainland
of
Beijing
actively promoted ethnology.
and in Taiwan. University
research
ethnologists
While serving as the
from 1917 to
into
After assuming the
current 7
and
1927,
teaching
Cai
of Chinese
directorship of the Academia
Sinica in 1928, Cai founded an independent group devoted ethnological studies. continuing
efforts
This
was
an important step in Cai's
to establish ethnology in
firm, empirical basis.
to
He advocated the use
China of
the
on
a
"five
attainments": the use of one's feet to make first-hand field investigations
(zu
dao), of one's mouth
other cultures (kou dao), of
one's
to
inquire
into
ear to listen and learn
attentively (er dao), of one's hand to record the results of these investigations
(shou dao), and of one's mental powers
to analyze and synthesize (xin dao). instrumental in organizing The
a
number
In addition,
Cai
of research projects.
earliest systematic investigations into the culture
Yao of Gu&agxi was conducted in organized.
was
of
1928 by a team which he had
Later investigations which he organized involved
the Hezhe in northeast China and the Miao of western Hunan.
5
the
During the 1920s and
1930s,
first
academic
time
universities.
as
an
ethnology
discipline
The major universities
taught at this time, either
in
association with departments
was taught for
where
in
Chinese
ethnology
was
a separate department or in
of
sociology,
were
Qinghua,
Yanjing, Furen, and in the south Zhongshan (formerly Dr. Sun Yat-sen University), Jingling, and Fudan. Following the outbreak forces occupying
of
northeast
hostilities
China
Peking and other coastal areas.
This
major universities to relocate to Yunnan was
a
prime
choice.
the cultural diversity
of
in
1937, forced
inland
with
Japanese
Japan invaded a
number
areas,
of
of
which
Faced for the first time with
Yunnan's
minority peoples, many
scholars with academic backgrounds as diverse as history and sociology were prompted to the region.
initiate ethnological studies in
This marked the pre-revolutionary high point of
ethnological activity in China. Prior to 1949, Chinese ethnology had received a variety of influences from different scholarly traditions in Western anthropology.
These include, most generally,
evolutionist
and diffusionist perspectives, historical particularism, the super-organic
theories
of
French
sociology,
and
functionalist viewpoint of British social anthropology. historical hindsight, evolutionism
the In
and functionalism proved
6
to
have
made
the
most
pre-revolutionary period.
enduring
impact
in
Because of their lasting
it is worthwhile to examine these
two
the
impact,
influences
in
some
8 detail. The introduction of British
functionalism to China was
the result of pioneering efforts considered to be
the
by
Wu
Wenzao,
generally 9
founder of modern Chinese sociology.
Although a graduate of Columbia University and a student
of
F.H Giddings and W.F. Ogburn, Wu was heavily
by
currents of British
thought
through
influenced
his personal contacts
with A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and Bronislaw Malinowski. As Wu's put it, "functionalism is the school of
thought
in
most
advanced
contemporary
and 10
academe"
.
while in charge of the department of sociology, Radcliffe-Brown
to
lecture
at the
powerful In 1935,
he
university
invited
and
later
11 produced a festschrift in his honor. In 1936, during a visit to opportunity meeting,
to
meet
Malinowski
Malinowski.
Fei
introduction
Xiaotong to
the
In
the
presented Wu with a
work entitled Theory of Culture, student
England,
which
translate Chinese
into
edition
Wu
course of
then Wu
had
later had 12
this
In work,
provided his readership with a survey of the general of
this
largely
unfamiliar
school of thought.
this
unpublished
Chinese. of
an
his his Wu
tenets He
gave
7
particular emphasis long-term
field
to
the
research,
considerable impact
importance an
of
emphasis
systematic and which
has
had
on the field methods practised by later
generations
of
researchers.
The
application
of
these
is seen particularly
number of outstanding
methods studies 13
outcome
of
strict in
a
of Han rural communities and
of minority societies. The
only
school
which
outstripped
the
school
of
functionalism in its influence in China at this time was the school of thought
known
as 19th century evolutionism.
Not
only was this the first school of thought to be introduced 14 into China, but it also had the most lasting impact. One of the earliest strong advocates
of
Yuanpei, the father
ethnology mentioned above.
of
Chinese
this
school
was
Cai
Cai's stance in favor of adopting the evolutionist viewpoint in the
practice
of
ethnology is set forth most clearly in 15 his article, "Evolutionary Perspectives in Ethnology." In the 1930s, a
number
intellectual thought in intellectual
fashion,
of
Chinese this
new
school
of
period
functionalism.
Marxism as a political force intellectuals
with
an
at
updated
were
ethnology.
traditional 19th century evolutionism new
forces
The this
shaping
In matters of
saw
the
decline
and
the
rise of the
growing time
influence also
evolutionary
of
of
provided viewpoint,
8
replacing
outmoded
scholars
such
evolutionary
evolutionist
thought.
Some
eminent
as Guo Moruo and Lu Zhengyu built writings
of
Morgan
and
upon
the
Engels
to
explain
It was this strain
of
thought
16 proceses of social change.
which later provided the foundation
for
post-revolutionary
Chinese ethnology.
The Golden Age: 1949-1956 The decade following decline in
the
the
influence
There were serious concerns
1949 Revolution saw a marked
of
Western
expressed
academic sociology. about
the status of
sociology as an intellectual discipline historically derived from Western legitimacy
bourgeois ideology and doubts raised about the of
sociology as an independent
social sciences in Marxist society.
At
a
branch time
of
the
when
the
influence of the Soviet model in China was at its strongest, these trends were shaped by the which sociology
Soviet
academic
model
in
was then denounced as as pseudo-science and 17
denied legitimate existence in both teaching and research. In
the
summer
of
institutions of higher (gaige), eliminated.
all
1952,
when
education
departments
of
universities were
and
other
undergoing a reform
sociology
in
China
were
9
While
professional
sociology
was
diminishing,
ethnology, with its focus on the national minorities, became increasingly important. the
increasingly
One factor
pressing
minority groups in border of
the
accounting for this was
problem
of
regions following the disruptions
Japanese invasion and subsequent
experience
of
reincorporating
government
civil
functionaries
war.
The
charged
with
administering these border regions quickly made apparent the need to
increase
their
knowledge
about
Another factor related to this arose from
minority groups. the
response
of
non-Han groups to government census registration of minority groups.
Over
four
hundred
groups
initially
identified
themselves as minority and the government was faced with the
18 problem
of
evaluating the validity of
these
claims.
A
third factor was related to modifications of Lenin-Stalinist policies toward minority groups in applying the Soviet model to
China.
Whereas the Soviet Union
limited
autonomy
culturally
different groups to the administrative level
individual
republics,
(autonomy)
which
self-governing
in
China
chose
literally Chinese,
means to
to
grant the
of
zizhizhi
system
minority groups 19
provincial, prefectural and county levels.
for
at
of the
A fourth factor
involved the government's plan to institute basic social and economic
reforms
included
land
in
reform,
minority the
areas.
organization
These of
initiatives agricultural
10
cooperatives, ranking
and
the
systems.
abolition
To
of
implement
slavery
these
and
feudal
programs
and
to
accomplish, more generally, the political and administrative goals cited minority
above,
an
ethnographic
societies was essential.
historical
distrust
and
urgent
need
of the
Moreover, the legacy
estrangement
minority groups made the the
understanding
between
Han
of and
government especially sensitive to
for improving
political
relations
with
minority groups. In
short,
ethnological
all of thes factors
studies
named
above
of minority groups during
promoted the
early
1950s. Official expression of government support of minority group studies was given by the middle 1950s.
Prof. Yang Kun
in his published account of conversations with Zhou Enlai in 1955 records
the Chinese leader's insistence on the ongoing
20 need for China to The
Program
listed
develop
its
for the Twelve Year
ethnology
as
one
of
own ethnological studies. Development disciplines
of
Sciences
targeted
for
21 long-term development. goals
for
This program stated four
the development of Chinese
ethnology:
principal (1)
the
identification of minority groups; (2) their differentiation according to social type and dynamics
of
change;
(3)
the
recording of the customs and culture of minority groups; and (4)
research
societies.
into
the
role
of
religion
in
minority
11
The incorporation of ethnology official program of establishment research
of
and
institutes
development various
teaching.
institutions
increased
the
during
departments were created to The
the
government's
proceeded in step with the
Among
established
into
of eight
this
promote
ethnological nationality
period,
special
ethnological
studies.
prominence of ethnological studies
period facilitated the transfer
in
this
of trained sociologists who
were leaving the discredited field of sociology. As a response to the ethnological
studies,
government's
Chinese
role
ethnology
of
developed in the direction of applied studies. 1950s, the
in
promoting
this
period
In the early
ethnologists joined missions and work-teams sent
government
to
minority
areas.
These
by
ethnologists
combined the scholarly objective of recording native culture with the task of brokering between government administrators and minority peoples.
This dual function limited the amount
of data which ethnologists collect.
As a result
the fundamantal
of
reforms
of
this
social of
the
period
In
able
to
changes which accompanied early
minority culture was in some cases seen as extinction.
were
1950s, traditional threatened
with
response, Mao issued a directive to "rescue 22
the
backward."
important
i^potus
Mao's instructions became the single to
a
more
exclusive
focus
on
most field
12
research within ethnology through the end of this period Chinese ethnology.
In
1956,
the
Committee of Nationality
Affairs
of
the National Congress initiated
project
to
conduct
minorities.
field
Initially,
research
a
among
nation-wide the
topics
material
such
as
culture
of
the
history,
minority
continued, more research teams
the
peoples.
As
Other
field
researchers
experience
were
assigned
institutes
for
short-term
fieldwork.
The techniques
research
were
developed formative
is
the
the
years.
leaders had
little
to
the
various
employed
(1)
analogy
in reference to
Chinese
project
and the staff
who
training
and
professional
of research teams. ethnological
prior
nationality to
beginning
in the course of field
Communist
social
Party
Four of these techniques
inquiry
during deserve
its brief
"The Anatomy of a Sparrow" (jiepou maque) used
micro-study in the
for
social
village
extensive and intensive Xiaotong's
as
the
many
generally the techniques of
by
description.
were
beginning of this project,
ethnologists were appointed
research
language, music,
created 23 eventually exceeded one thousand personnel. At
national
the project was staffed by over two
hundred field workers, responsible for specialized into
of
description,
describing sciences.
the
technique
of
It is used frequently
or district studies combining both methodologies. it
connotes a
According delving
to
Fei
into
the
13
minutiae of social reality: "It bottom
of
life,
not
should be a sense of action.
is
a
penetration
just a general place,
to
description.
the There
time, living people and social
By analogy with the anatomy of a sparrow, we should
make clear the interrelationship of the various vital organs and
explain
their
relationship
constitution of this sparrow.
to
the
particular
How is this sparrow different 24
from other sparrows and why?"
.
also
who
advocated
by
Mao,
This method of inquiry was considered
investigations on specific villages and most reliable means
elucidating 25 problems of Chinese society. (2)
"The
of
cities
eating
together
—
together,
was
a
living
program
of
be
Togethers
together,
methodological
throughout the entire
to
the
the fundamental social
Three Togethers": The Three
tofig) —
thorough
(san
and laboring
principle nationwide
encouraged ethnological
26 investigations.
The
directly related to
its
importance
of
this
principle
effectiveness in winning the trust
and cooperation of minority groups under study.
Because the
investigation teams were largely made up of ethnic because
they
government,
were they
was
closely
associated
with
were not always accepted
minority peoples targeted for study.
the
with
Han
and
central trust
by
Even when the presence
of research teams was tolerated, their activities could lead to
contentious
misunderstandings
such
as
occurred
when
14
investigations of land-holdings raised fears of confiscation of those lands recently acquired through an earlier campaign 27 of land
redistribution.
rapport
engendered
The
by
increased
practicing
the
sense
of mutual
Three
Togethers
minimized the occurrence of such difficulties and benefitted the quality of field observations. (3)
"Holding
Fact-finding
Meetings":
The
periodic
gathering of field investigators for the purpose of "holding fact-finding
meetings"
encouraged during this these meetings was
(kai
diaocha
period.
established
to be "the simplest, most
The
hui)
was
widely
central importance of
by Mao, who considered them
practical
and
reliable
method"
28 from which
he
had
personally
meetings, the investigator
was
benefitted.
During these
urged "to direct one's eyes
downward, [to develop] a thirst for knowledge, [to shed] the ugly mantle of pretentiousness, [and to become] a willing 29 pupil."
Although not
up to this ideal, it
all helped
investigators were able to live cultivate a humble attitude on
the part of field researchers which facilitated the work
of
these research teams. (4) "Integrate
the Points and the Planes": This slogan
encouraged the effective or,
in
the
combination
combination
terminology of
micro-
and
of
the
of
points and planes
social
sciences,
macro-perspectives
in
the
social
15
inquiry.
This
emphasis
during
methodological the
period
tenet
received
of nationwide 30
investigation initiated in 1956.
various specialists in a single
a significant role in cultural
diverse studies of
geographic
moreover,
geographic areas could be
that
furthering and
the
area
could
This method played understanding of the
geographic
distribution
minority groups, a topic of
sufficient
importance
development
ethnology
to
of
Chinese
be
studies of different
interrelated.
differentiation
ethnological
By integrating the points
and the planes, it was intended that the
brought together and,
special
in
warrant
of the some
consideration at this point. Prior to 1949 the as
cultural
so-called "minority peoples" existed
rather
than
political
groups.
The
institutionalization of new policies after 1949 changed this by extending a limited set of
political
officially identified as minority
rights
groups
to
groups
(shaoshu
minzu).
This of course raised the problem of formulating criteria on the
basis
of
identified. because
which
Ethnologically,
China
has
migration and an and
minority
differential
undergone
equally
groups this a
could
was not long
be an
history
reliably easy of
task ethnic
long history of status emulation,
assimilation.
As
a
result
of
such
processes, the question of identification of minority groups is obscured by contradictory
evidence of cultural affinity.
16
For
these
reasons,
ethnologists
categorizing minority groups
in
have a
had
consistent manner.
example, difficulties are encountered when a scattered
people
sharing
a
difficulty
common
For
geographically
origin
and
basic
similarity in language and culture register as a
number
small,
a
localized
culturally-unified
groups
rather
group.
In
than
as
other cases,
the
ethnological identification can be complicated or
political
considerations
shape
the
single, task
when
form
of
of
status
by which
a
minority people present themselves to government personnel. To focus
on the problems inherent in defining criteria
for identifying minority groups, it is useful to begin with 31 the perspective of Fei Xiaotong and Lin Yaohua. In a 1956 article
co-authored
Stalin's
definition
acknowledged.
by
Fei of
According
and a
to
Lin,
the usefulness
people's Stalin,
identity "A
nation
of was
is
a
historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis
of
common language, territory, economic life,
and
psychnological makeup, manifested in a 32 culture." But the two scholars raised questions
common as
to
whether this general definition, derived from the historical experience suitable
of for
European
nation-states,
was
differentiating the large number
minority'groups.
altogether of
Chinese
They proposed that "a concrete analysis of 33 concrete conditions" might clarify the issue. One concrete
17
instance considered by Fei and Lin raises whether linguistic peoples. languages
Among (the
groups the
necessarily
Jingpo
Jingpo
of
and
the
two
Zaiwa)
are
linguistic classification, the Jingpo
of
constitute distinct
Yunnan,
the
question
language
the Tibetan branch, and the Zaiwa language
to
different used.
In
belongs
to
the
Burmese
branch of the Tibeto-Burman section of Sino-Tibetan. But the people have the same name, and have shared a common history, culture, and economic structure.
Conversely,
out in an article published in 1981 the
that
"People
same language may belong to different
Lin listed the feature.
pointed speaking
nationalities...
In China, such distinct nationalities as the 34 Man(Manchu) all use the Han language." Regarding
Fei
Hui
and
the question of "common territory," Fei
and
Hui
and
the
Miao
as
She,
groups lacking this
Owing to the long history of migrations, people of
these two minorities were scattered in various parts of country; yet they are thought ties and "striking common
to
maintain
psycholmogical
certain
the
social 35
features."
The
issue of common territory is further complicated by the fact that
over
70%
post-revolutionary
of
the
China
administrative contained
two
units or
of more
nationalities. It is the last of Stalin's criteria which has been most
18
36 widely
accepted
by
Chinese
ethnologists,
"psychological makeup manifested in essence
of
this
criterion
as
that
is,
a common culture." used
by
most
The
Chinese
ethnologists emphasizes the sense of being a distinct group, the
sense of self-pride and desire for
self-strengthening.
As used by Fei, common psychological traits imply
that
all
members of the group are conscious of belonging 37
to the same
community.
Gelao,
Miao and
Examples given were the the
She
minorities,
scattered and had adopted other nationalities.
the
Man,
all
of
whom
languages
But according
the
were
the
widely
and life-style of
to
Fei,
psychological
traits enable them to maintain their identity as distinctive communities. parts
The Miao
population
in
different
of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and speaking
different
dialects, has historically This
was
dispersed
maintained
a
common
shown when, towards the end of the
(around the turn of 19th and 20th centuries),
identity.
Qing
Dynasty
more than one
hundred thousand Miao from various locations joined together to launch a rebellion. Some Chinese ethnologists take
the
identification
of
the Chuanqin people's ethnic status as a good example of the 38 use
of
flexible
Chuanqin, a group in China's 1950.
They
and
sophisticated
numbering
methodology.
The
some 200 thousand and residing
Guizhou Province, applied for minority status in justified
their
claim
with
arguments
of
19
independent
language
and economic
community,
clothing style and way of ancestor worship. the
Chuanqin
were
nationality. of their
close
to
the
language,
known
as
the
On this
Stalin
But a more sophisticated
Jiangxi,
hypothesis
Hunan was
and Hubei
then
basis,
criteria
linguistic
of
analysis
"old-generation tongue"
brough to light its similarity to Han speech in
distinctive
provinces.
supported in
and its origin The
historical
linguistic studies
genealogies, epitaphs, local chronicles, and legends.
on
These
studies all suggested that the Chuanqin had earlier migrated from the neighboring Han provinces. findings and the assimilation of cultural norms in recent in
the
On the basis
the
group
of
to
these
local
Han
decades, the ethnologists involved
project recommended that the
Chuanqin's
claim
be
denied. The problem which Chinese ethnologists confronted frequently resulted
in from
differentiation 1950s
laid
a
identifying
distinctive
incomplete
historical
or assimilation. broad foundation
minority
China
and
the
gradual
perspectives to comprehend
Although the work of for
identifying
long-term one.
development
that
groups
processes
nationalities, the complexity of the ethnographic in
most
of
of the
minority situation
theoretical
complexity made the task a
While only 46 groups had been officially 39 recognized by 1957, the number of officially recognized
20
groups reached 55 in 1979
and
is
expected
to
increase
further in the future. Twenty Years of Vicissitudes; 1957 ^ 1976 41 With the start of the Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957, academic ethnology, like
the
rest of Chinese society, fell
under the influence of the ideological left. of ethnological research to be affected by
The first area this
change
in
political climate was the nationwide project of ethnological investigations which had commenced the
advent
of
the
the previous year.
Anti-Rightist
priority was given to
one
of
Movement,
the
With
overriding
project's
many
goals,
investigation into the forces and relations of production. This movement place
at
formed
the
the time within the
backdrop
to
ethnological
events taking community.
number of ethnologists, the most prominent of whom were Xiaotong, Li Youyi, Yang Chengzhi, Wu Zelin, and were criticized
for
neglecting
social analysis.
Specifically,
underemphasizing
the
analytical
the they
proper were
Yang
A Fei Kun,
priorities of criticized
XmpCiTua. nee
of
for
economic
structure, class relations of exploitation and conflict, and technological development. social
analyses
concentrated society but on
carried
not
on
the
According to this critique, out
by
these
socio-economic
superstructural
elements,
the
ethnologists
determinants
of
such as marriage
21
and kinship
or
cultural
customs
and
Ethnology's bias towards the exotic
religious ideology.
was
also
attacked
at
discrediting
of
this time. A related
development
involved
the
Western anthropological theories, particularly the school of functionalism which
had been in intellectual vogue in China
before the Revolution.
Theoretically,
two
major points of
antagonism between functionalist and Marxist analysis can be identified: (1) the emphasis on stability and stasis in
the
former versus the emphasis on conflict
the
and
change
in
latter; (2) functionalism's tendency to treat any particular component of society as interrelated to, and therefore vital to, the functioning to
give
priority
superstructural
of
the whole versus Marxism's tendency to
economic
infrastructure
components of society.
of dissimilarity which served as a functionalist ethnology was The scholars who had
basis
It is these for
an anti-Marxist
introduced
points
claims
that
pseudo-science.
functionalism
Fei Xiaotong and Wu Wenzao among others —
over
to China
were
—
identified
as Rightist and deprived of academic liberties.
While the forces
shaping
the
Anti-Rightist
were mostly internal to China, the attacks on bourgeois attitudes.
and One
anti-Marxist
were
ethnology
influenced
work which was instrumental
Movement
by in
as
Soviet informing
22
many of the critiques
levelled against functionalism during
this
P.
period
was
S.
Tolstov's
British
and
American
Ethnology in Service of Imperialism, a work which translated into Chinese in the
early
1950s.
Some
writers acknowledged this influence explicitly. instance, likened the campaign against
had
been
Chinese
Qiu Pu, for
bourgeois
ethnology
in China to the Soviet Union's official denial of 42
ethnology
as a legitimate science in 1932. ideology
held
in
this
period
affected the willingness
of
The
sway
seems
to
scholars
which have
leftist adversely
to advance unpopular
views and the term ethnology itself fell into disrepute. The political movement which followed immediately after the
Anti-Rightist
Campaign,
the
Great
Leap
Forward,
emphasized quick results in the field of Marxist nationality studies as much as in the backyard production of steel. nation-wide
project
of
field
investigations,
projected to be completed between 1960 and 1963, the end
of
1958 as a deadline for completion.
time, it was stipulated studies
be
publication research.
shifted of
This
field
to
the
emphasize
studies
eagerness
effect on both the research.
that
for
continuity
originally was
given
At the same
direction of nationality the
compilation
at the expense results and
The
had
of
and
ongoing
a detrimental
quality of ethnological
23
If
the Anti-Rightist and Great Leap Forward
campaigns
are considered to be a period in which Chinese ethnology was under attack, the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 must be considered to routed.
be
the
period
in
which
ethnology
Ethnologists, previously criticized as beholden
bourgeois Western traditions, were
now
included
radical critique of intellectuals in general. their ideological credentials had
already
As recalled
ethnological
training
subjected
in
Yang
kun
France: my
criticism-struggle meetings (pi
dou
in
searches
confinement.
many
handwritten
notes,
field 43 irreplaceable." Apart there was
from also
attacks received
others,
I
and
of his was to
hui) and was forced to books
and
research
thousands of reference cards and were
attacks against damage
who
questioned
household
All my library
data, which included
in a more
been
"Like
of
live
to
by
to
The fact that
made them natural targets for the more forceful this period.
was
lost.
These
individual
were
ethnologists,
to the field as a whole.
Ethnology
suffered alongwith the general disruption of education which 44 occurred during this period, teaching
and
the
result
being that both
research efforts were abandoned.
government-sponsored research
projects,
stored
Data
from
in various
academic and administrative institutions, also suffered from neglect and vandalism.
These
losses were especially severe
24
in
Guizhou,
a
center
project and the most 45 after Yunnan. For
earlier nationwide diverse
its
its
course
but it has
after-effects.
field
province in China
the Cultural Revolution was
throughout
debilitating in
the
ethnically
ethnology,
devastating
for
The
most
not
only
also
been
productive
years of ethnologists trained before the Cultural Revolution have
been
lost
forever.
The
generation
ethnologists
trained
abandon
intellectual activity.
all
rehabilitated in
1976,
of
before the Revolution was When they
ethnologists
were
forced were
following the end of the Cultural these
senior
already
to
later
Revolution in
their
seventies.
The junior generation of ethnologists trained in
the
and early 1960s was forced either to
1950s
their
work
agricultural
under
chaotic
labor(xia
ethnologists was
conditions
xiang).
No
or
new
carry
to
out
undertake
generation
of
trained during this period to continue the
work of those lost to the field.
Finally, the ethnological losses Cultural
Revolution
are not limited to
scholars but extend more widely into nation. during
Not this
only
suff ered
were artifacts
period but a wealth
the and
of
slipped through ethnologists' hands —
the
during community
heritage records
valuable
of
the of the
destroyed information
the unobserved social
25
changes which traditional cultures experienced during years and the unrecorded memories of the
elderly
these
who
died
away. Post-Cultural Revolution: A_ Period of Healing Ethnology was
restored
to
a
position
of legitimacy
46 within the social sciences in 1978. outpouring discipline.
of The
scholarly highest
revitalizing ethnology
This event released an
energy
to
priorities
revitalize in
the
task
of
at this time included: (1) to create
and re-establish institutes of
ethnological
research
Appendix I); (2) to publish and journals of
ethnology;
to resume and expand the scope of
minority
researches, such
the
national
(See (3) field 47
as the recent Six River Valleys Project;
(4)to continue investigations into ethnic differentiation of the various registered peoples, both those who had not classified before but now
sought
been
the Cultural Revolution and those who had reclassification:
disseminate the results
of
field
(5)
systematize and
researches undertaken in
the 1950s in a publication plan known the National Minorities; (6)
to
as the Five Series of
to convene national symposiums
on ethnology. With the ebbing of extreme "leftist" ideology, articles introducing
and
reevaluating
anthropology began to appear.
the
tradition
of
Western
Some of these focused on
the
26
classical
and
ethnology
represented
Boas'
partly
historical
familiar
classical
tradition
of
Malinowski's functionalism 48 particularism. Others focused
and
by
on
introducing developments of modern Western anthropology less well
known
in
China,
represented
structuralism and the neo-evolutionary 49 Steward and
Leslie White.
by
Levi-Strauss'
approach
of
Although these articles tend to
adopt a cautious stance in their treatment
of
the
ideas, they always balanced praise with criticism. for praise were synthesis canons
of
evolution. that
run
Boas'
opposition
field research, and White's
the
Selected
tenets
methodological
views
Criticism was generally directed to
Western
to racism, Levi-Strauss'
of Marxist concepts, Malinowski's
contrary
Julian
on
material
towards
of Marxist
ideas
historical
materialism and Morgan's evolutionism. By the under
the
early 1980s, Chinese ethnology had emerged from shadow
of
the Cultural Revolution.
The
field
became open to a diversity of viewpoints, stimulating debate and strengthening ethnological
inquiry.
Even
ideas
once
considered sancrosanct, such as Morgan's views on the nature of the family and kinship terminology could now be The challenges to Morgan's theory have been few
and
debated. muted,
but they noneless signal a trend away from the strictness of the Cultural Revolution period.
27
Because
Morgan's
model
still
theoretical core of ethnological thought perhaps appropriate at major features.
this
constitutes in
China,
the it
is
point to introduce briefly its
This will, in turn, help the reader
one of the major theme
which
chapters: the relation
of
runs
through
Morgan's
the
follow
remaining
evolutionary scheme to
the ethnography of China. The Priority of Matrilineality The
notion
of
universal
descent prior to patrilineality "Matriarchy" another
were
19th
first
century
put
existence and
the
forth
by
evolutionist,
These two theorists inferred that in human evolution, there
was
of
related theory of Lewis Morgan
Johann the
matrilineal
and
Bachofen.[50]
early
stages
of
a period of promiscuity, during
which people could not ascertain their fatherhood because of the
unregulated
nature
period, descent could be
of sexual reckoned
contact. only
During
this
through the female
line and women were the only recognized genitors.
This
led
to women achieving a higher position in the social hierarchy then
men.
preeminence
Morgan of
and
Bachofen assumed that
the
women in this period ushered in an
gynocracy termed Matriarchy. Terminology as Reflection of Marriage Practice
social age
of
28
According to Morgan, kinship terminology is 51 of marriage
institutions.
terminology
there
is
For
example,
no distinction
in
the Malayan
between
collateral kin, thus each of the members of generation are
reflective
lineal
one's
and
parents'
called either "father" c-r "mother," of one's
grandparents' generation "grandfather" or "grandmother," and one's own
generation "brother" or "sister." This failure to
distinguish
between
lineal
and
terminological vestige of earlier all the
males
and hence
of
were
collateral
kin
is
a
social realities in which
one generation were allowed to mate with
in a sense "husbands" of all the females of
that same generation, and vice type mating pattern
the
versa.
"Consanguine
Morgan
calls
family."
this
Because of
permitted promiscuity within sibling groups, separate
words
for "father" and "uncle," and or "brother" and "male cousin" were not needed; every uncle was a
"mother's
husband"
and
every sibling and cousin of the opposite sex a "spouse." Elaborating this hypothesis, Morgan constructed a part model of
family
development:
Punaluan family, Pairing Monogamian
family.
associated
with
a
Each
family, of
specific
the Consanguine family, Partiarchal
these marriage
family,
kinship
systems 52
pattern
evolves into the other in a consecutive sequence. two
forms
five
of families, the Consanguine
and
and
and is one
The first
Pulanuan
are
associated with group marriage and are derived from Morgan's
29
analysis of classificatory kinship terminologies. characterized
These are
most distinctively by overlaps of lineal
and
collateral kin terms. A Comprehensive scheme of unilineal evolution In Ancient Society Morgan which placed
the
entire
proposed an elaborate scheme
historical
development
of human
society into several evolutionary stages corresponding levels
of technology and subsistence-production
Family institutions were developmental Morgan,
framework.
consisted
Savagery,
also
of
embraced
Human
three
according
"ethnical
with
stages.
to
periods"—
Barbarism, and Civilization. Morgan was, for
most part, concerned with the first of these dealt
systems.
into this expanded
history,
major
with 53
the
He
third
subdivided
period the
only
in
periods
the
periods and he
its of
transitional Savagery
and
Barbarism, into lower, middle and upper stages in accordance with their particular technological indicators.
(See Figure
2).
Engels
This
scheme
was
highly
regarded
by
and
incorporated into his Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, in having "the same
which
Morgan's
significance
society as Darwin's theory of Marx's theory is for this
theory
was
praised
as
for the history of primitive bioloty,
and 54
of surplus value for political economy."
It
reason,
evolution
for
that Morgan's evolutionary theory, has
30
had the longest lasting influence among all the ethnological theories introduced to China.
FIGURE 2. MORGAN'S SCHEME OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION
Stage
Savagery
Technologi cai indicator
Forms of family
low period
fruit S nut subsistence
Consanguine family
middle period
utilization of fire, fishing
upper period
Substage
Civilization
Nature of terminology
matrilineal
Malayan & Hawaiian
classificatory
Punaluan family
matrilineal
Turanian & Ganowainian
classificatory
invention of bow & arrow
Pairing family
matrilineal
invention of pottery
Pairing family
matrilineal
middle period
invention of irrigation
Pairing family
matrilineal
upper period
invention of smelting iron
Pairing & Patriarchal
change to patrilineal
low period
Barbarism
Type of kinship terminology
Descent
invention of phonetic alphabet and writing
Monogamian family
patrilineal
Source: Lewis Morgan Ancient Society (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1963, or ig1. . 1877), pp.505-31 .
Aryan, Semitic, & Uralian
descriptive
32
NOTES TO CHAPTER I 1 Sima Qian (Ssu Ma.chien) Shi Ji (Records of the Historian), trans.
by
Burton
Watson,
Grand
(New York: Columbia
University Press, 1961). 2
Fan Zho Man Shu (Book of the Barbarians), G.
Luce
Eastern
and
ed.
by
Studies,
G.
Cornell
trans.
by
Oey (Ithaca: Department of
Far
University,
1961,
originally
published in Chinese between 860-873 A.D.) 3 Herbert translated Shanghai;
Spencer's
by and
by
Study
of
Sociology
Yan Fu and published in 1903 by Edward
History of Mankind translated
The
and
Wu
Tylor's Researches
was
Shangwu
into
the
Early
the Development of Civilization was
Jiang
under
the
title
of
Universal
Civilization, and published in the same year by Society the Duffision of
in
Christian
for
and General Knowledge among the
Chinese in Shanghai. A See
Lin
(Beijing:
The
Shu
and
Wei
Publishing
University, 1903).
Yi Bureau
Minzhongxue(Rassenkunde) of
Beiping
Normal
33
See
Xun
Xuewu
"Renleixue
Jilue"
(An
Outline
of
Anthropology), in Kexue (Science) (Vol. 2, No. 4, 1916).
6 Cai Yuanpei
Cai Yuanpei Xuan.ji (Selected Works of Cai
Yuanpei) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959, orig.1926), p.255. 7 See Hu
Qiwang "Cai Yuanpei he Minzuxue" ("Cai Yuanpei
and Ethnology") in
Minzuxue
yan.jiu
(Beijing: Minzu chupanshe, Liankuei
"Cai
Jiemin
1981),
(Studies of Ethnology) vol 1, pp.251-60; and He
xiansheng
dui
Minzuxue
zhi
gongxian"("Cai Jiemin [Cai Yuanpei] and His Contributions to Ethnology") in
Cai
Works
Yuanpei)
by
Cai
Yuanpei
Minzuxu
(Taipei:
lunzhu
(Ethnological
Zhonghua
shuju,1962),
pp.1-19.
8 For more information schools
of
Western
Pre-revolution
about
thoughts
Chinese
the
and
their
ethnological shiji
minzuxue"
("Chinese
in
Twentieth
Century"),
in
Minzuxue
relation to
academia,
Yongling and Wang Xiaoyi "Ershi Ethnology
influence of various
qianqi
see
de
Chen
zhongguo
the First Half yan.jiu
the
of
the
(Studies
of
Ethnology), vol.1 pp.261-99. 9 See Francis L.K.Hsu "Sociological Research in
Quarterly
Bulletin
of
Chinese
in
China"
Bibliography(English
34
Edition) (Nos.1-4, Vol. 4, 1944), Sociology
and
Socialism
in
p.13;
and
Contemporary
Siu-lun China
Wong
(London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979), p.22.
10 Wu Wenzao "Gongneng pai shehui renleixue de youlai yu xianzhuang"
("Functionalism
in
Social
Condition")
in
Anthropology:
Origin and
Present
Minzuxue
(Collected
Essays on Ethnological Research) (No. 1,
Its
yan.jiu jikan 1936),
pp.123-24. 11 Shehui xue.jie (Sociologists) (Vol. 9, 1936). 12 Bronislaw Malinowski Wenhua lun (Theory of
Culture),
translated and prefaced by Fei Xiaotong et al., with a chart of culture by Wu Wenzao. (Chongqing: Shangwu, 1944). 13 Some
of
the well-known studies of
Han
communities
include: Fei Xiaotong's Peasant Life in China: A^ Field Study of Country Life in the Yangtze Valley (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1939); Sociological
Study
of
Lin
Chinese
University Press) ; Francis Hsu Chinese
Culture
University
Press,
Economy (New York:
and
Yaohua
The
Familism
Golden (London:
A
Oxford
Under the Ancestor's Shadow:
Personality
(New
York:
1948); C.K. Yang A. North Institute
Wing,
of
China
Columbia Market
Pacific Relations, 1944).
35
For works on minority, see Fei Guangxi sheng Xiang xian zuzhi
(Social
Xiaotong
Dongnan
Organization
xiang
of
Southeast Xiang, Xiang County,
Haven:
Wang
Tonghui
Huanlan Yao shehui
the Hualan Yao
People
of
Guangxi) , introduction by Wu
Wenzao, (Shanghai: Shangwu, 1936), Liaiig-shan (New
and
Human
Lin
Yaohua
The Lolo of
Area
Files Press,
Relation
1961, the Chinese edition was published in 1947). 14 As
mentioned
at
the
beginning
Spencer and Tylor's works are two Western
social
of
of
the
this first
section, works
scientists translated into Chinese
at
of the
turn of the centuries. 15 Cai
"Minzuxue
shang zhi
jinhua
lun"("Evolutionary
Perspectives in Ethnology") in Selected Works, pp.259-61. 16 Li
Zhengyu
Researches
Society (Beijing: Sanlian Moro
_A
on
shudian,
Study of Ancient Chinese
Prehistorical 1961, Society
Chinese
orig.1934); (Beijing:
Guo Kexue
chuban she, 1954, orig.1929). 17 Wang Kang "Shehuixue jinxi"("The Sociology") in Shehui kexue (No. 4, 1980), p.124.
Past and Present of
zhanxian (Social Science Front)
36
Fei Xiaotong Toward a_ People' s Anthropology
(Beijing:
New World Press, 1981), p.60. 19 Zhou
Enlai
"Guanyu
witi"("Questions
wuoguo minzu
Concerning
zhengze
China's
de
jige
Policy
on
Nationalities") in Nationalities Studies (No.l, 1980), p.5.
20 Yang Kun "Huiyi Zhou zongli dui wuo jingxing minzuxue yanjiu
de
jiaohui"("A
Recollection:
Premier
Zhou's
Instruction to My Ethnological Research"), in Yang Kun Minzu yu minzuxue (Nationalities and Ethnology) (Chengdu:
Sichuan
renmin chuban she, 1983), pp.1-9.
21 Lin Yaohua and Jin dangqian wuoguo minzuxue Areas and Missions of
Tianming de
"Cong
duixiang
lishi fazhan kan
he renwu" ("Research
Contemporary Chinese Ethnology: Views
in Historical Perspective"), in Nationalities Studies,
(No.
2, 1980), pp.50-57. 22
Ibid,
p.52.
Mao's statement might reflect a
merging of the idea of evolutionary progress.
sense
social
with
development
popular
notions
"Rescue" in this context was taken
recording of traditional culture.
in
a of to
common strictly cultural
mean
the
37
23 See Guangming Ribao (Bright Daily) (May 21, 1963) . 24 Fei
Xiaotong
("Endeavors
in
"Minzu
shehuixue
Ethnological
diaocha and
changshi"
sociological
Investigations"), in Zhongyang minzu xueyuan xuebao (Journal of Central Institute of Nationalities) (No. 1, 1982). 25 Mao Readings
Zedong from
"Preface to Rural Survey,"
the Works of Mao
in
Selected
Tsetung,(Beijing;
Foreign
Languages Press, 1971), pp.194-97. 26 See
"Shaoshu
qingkuang"("The
minzu
shehui
lishi
diaocha
Progress made in the Social and
gongzuo
Historical
Investigation of the National Minorities"), in Nationalities Studies, (No.3, 1958), pp.40-41. 27 Qiu Pu
"Tantan shaoshu minzu diaocha gongzuo ruhe yu
dangdi zhongxing gongzu xiangjiehe de wunti"("How to combine the Investigation Central
Task"),
of the National Minorities with the Local in Nationalities Studies, (No.
p.18.
28 Mao "Preface to Rural Survey," p.195.
29 Ibid.
3,
1958),
38
3 See jingyan
Zhu
Feng "Cong Kyimeng Dongbei
kan
shaoshu
fangfa"("Methods
of
minzu
de
the
Experience
Inner
the
National
diaocha Social
Minorities:
Mogolia
and
gongzuo
lishi
Investigation Used in the
Historical Studies of from
shehui
zu
and
Practical
Northeast
China
Teams"), in Nationalities Studies (No. 1, 1958), p.39. 31 Fei Xiaotong & Lin Yaohua "Guanyu shaoshu minzu zubie wunti de yanjiu"("A Study of the Ethnic Differences National
Minorities"),
in
Renmin
Ribao
of
the
(People's
Daily).(August 10, 1956). 32 Joseph
Stalin Marxism and the National and
Colonial
Question (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1947), p.8. 33 Fei and Lin "Ethnic Differences." 34 Fei Toward a People's Anthropology, p.67. 35 Fei and Lin "Ethnic Differences." 36 Fei Xiaotong "Guanyu ("Ethnic Identification
wuoguo
minzu
de shibie wenti"
in China") in Fei's Minzu yu shehui
(Nationalities and Societies) (Beijing: Renmin
chuban
she,
39
1981), p.17; Gu Xuejin "Minzu xinli suzhi zai
minzu
zhong de zuoyong"("The Importance of
Psychological
Traits' minzu
in
Differentiating
xueyuan
xuebao
Shutao
"Lun
shehui
Nationalities"),
(The
Nationalities Institute)
Journal
(No.l,
zhuyi
'Common
shiqi
of
1984), de
in
shibie
Zhongnan
Central
pp.102-4; minzu
China and
ziwuo
He
yishi"
("Self-Consciousness of Ethnicity in the Socialist Period"). 37 Fei Nationalities and Societies, p.17. 38 Fei Ibid. p.7-11; yu
Li
zhanwang"("Retrospects
Youyi "Woguo minzuxue de huigu and
Prospects
of
Chinese
Ethnology") in Nationalities Studies (No.l, 1980), pp.48-55; Song Shuhua "Zhongguo de jinmi with
minzuxue
yanjiu
bixu he lishixue
jiehe"("China's Ethnology Needs to Be Closely the
Association
Science
of History"),
ed.
Minzuxue yan.jiu
in
Chinese
Linked
Ethnological
(Ethnological
Research)
(Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 1981), v.l, pp.194-206. 39 Renmin shouce(People's
Handbook)
(Beijing:
Da Gong
Bao she, 1957), pp.623-42. 40 See Zhu Ningyuan Wuoguo minzu wenti jiben zhishi (The Fundamentals of China's National Problem) (Shanghai: chuban she, 1980), p.2.
Renmin
40
See R. David Arkush Fei Revolutionary
China
Xiaotong
(Cambridge:
and
Council
Sociology
on
East
in
Asian
Studies, Harvard University, 1981), pp.258-75. 42 Qiu Pu "Minzuxue
zai
zhongguo de chuanbo he fazhan"
("Introduction and Development
of
Ethnology
in China") in
Nationalities Studies (No.5, 1984), p.16-17. 43 Yang Kun Nationalities and Ethnology, p.403. 44 John
K.
Fairbank
The
United
States
and
China
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), p.439. 45 Fei Xiaotong "Tan shenru kaizhan minzu diaocha wunti" ("Making Thorough Investigations in Zhongnan minzu
xueyuan
on China's Nationalities")
xuebao (Journal of Central China
Institute of Nationalities) (No. 3, 1982), p.2. 46 In 1978, Hua Guofeng, then the Premier of Council, listed ethnology as social
sciences
one
of
qilai,
State
eleven disciplines in
and humanities that were
China. See Hua Guofeng Tuanjie
the
wei
to
flourish
jianshe
in
shehui
zhuyi de xiandaihua qiangguo er fendou (United and Strive to Build a^ Modern Powerful Socialist Country) (Beijing: Renmin
41
chuban she, 1978), p.42. 47 The Research Institution of Southwest Minorities sponsored
in
the
recent
investigation on the
years
minority
Yalong, Dadu, Minjiang, Pu "Introduction and
and
a
comprehensive
groups
has field
of Lanchang, Jinsha,
Nujiang River Valleys. See Qiu
Development
of Ethnology in China" in
Nationalities Studies (No.5, 1984), p.19. 48 See Wu xuebai
Wenzao
and
renleixue
Anthropology:
Its
Wang
jinxi" Past
and
Qingren
"Yingguo gongneng
("British Present")
Functionalist
in
Nationalities
Studies (No. 1, 1981), pp.57-64; Wu Zeling and Zhang "Jianlun
Boesi
yu
Meiguo
lishi
xuebai"("Boas
Xuehui and
the
American Historical Particularism") in Ethnological Research (Beijing: Minzu chuban she, 1981), v.l, pp.319-37. 49 Yang Kun "Lun bai"("0n
Liewei
Levi-Strauss'
Ethnological
Research
"Xin-jinghualun
Sitelaosi Structural
v.l,
. shixi"("A
pp.300-18; Tentative
Neo-Evolutionism") in Ethnological
de jiegou renleixue Anthropology") and Analysis
Wu
in
Wenzao of
the
Research (Beijing: Minzu
chuban she, 1984), v.7, pp.290-304.
50 Lewis
Morgan
Ancient Society (New York:
The
World
42
Publishing Company, 1963, orig.
1877); Johann Bachofen Das
Mutterrecht (Basel: Benno Schwabe, 1861) 51 Morgan Ancient Society, pp.393-504. 52 Marvin Harris The Rise of Anthropological Theory (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968). p.182. 53 Morgan Ancient Society, pp.505-31. 54 Frederick Engels "Origin of Family, Private
Property
and State" in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels Selected (New p.465.
York:
International
Publishers,
1969,
Works
orig.1891),
43
II. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MATRILINEAL NAXI During
the
past
few decades,
the
Naxi
matrilineal
kinship system has been a source of fascination for
Chinese
scholars generally, and ethnologists, who have made study of it one of their main academic foci, are two chief reasons simply that, in patriarchal deal of one,
a
for
this
country
particular.
interest.
with
as
The
firmly
There
first
that
Marxist
is
entrenched
tradition as China, matrilineality has a
curiousity value. is
in
a
great
The second, and more significant theories
of
development
accord
matrilineality an important evolutionary position. The first Chinese scholars to be drawn to 19th evolutionary
treatment
of
matrilineality
ethnologists, but historians attempting to
who
first
Chinese
historians,
matrilineality
to
the
not the
Guo Moruo, two were among those
introduced Bachofen, Morgan, and
concerning
were
reconstruct
prehistory of the Han People. Lu Zhengyu and leading 20th century
Century
Engel's
Chinese
ideas
schoarly
1 community, models of
strongly advocating the application of unilinear development
Thus Lu" at
one
point
to
China's
agrees
historical
with
Guo's
experience.
aphorism
'"Chinese are neither gods nor monkeys,'" and then to
say
that, "the development of
China's
social
goes
that on
history
44
should not he
separated
of human societal 2 avenue" .
from the common unilinear sequence
development.
To back up his contention years
of
There
that
is
no alternative
China's
recorded patrilineal history was
thousands preceded
of
by
a
period of "Matriarchy," Lu drew extensively from the Chinese classical literature.
In one of
his
major
works
on
the
topic,Researches on Prehistorical Chinese Society (1961), Lu draws
on
classical
following
three
existence
of
Chinese
main an
literature
points: First,
early
to
"promiscuous"
attention to the phrase "minzhi
in
qimu,
making
demonstrate stage,
buzhi
Lu
the the draws
qifu."
This
adage, which means "people know their mothers, but not their fathers,"
appears
in
various
early
including the famous pre-Han
Taoist
Secondly,
only
as
a
procreation was points
to
sign
recognized
in
stories
the
early
lore. of
natural phenomena.
the Zhuang Zi.
mother's Chinese
role
in
society, Lu
quasi-mythical
folk
the legendary rulers Yao, Shun, and Yu.
said to have given with
writings, 3
Mothers, with known names, figure
However, in most versions of these
intercourse
text,
the uncertain paternity of
heroes of Chinese in the
that
Chinese
birth a
human
to
tal es
the
mothers
are
the heroes as a result not of male, but of
Human mothers
interaction
with
are acknowledged, but the
male genitors of the sage-kings are conceived of as
storms,
45
dragons, or shooting stars.
L\I
claims
that despite their
obviously mythological character, these tales
are
valuable
aids in reconstructing the unrecorded past. Thirdly, Lu points to the characters in early
tales
tendency
patterns
matrilineal are
and
features
domination, he claims that that China,
wives'
descent
societal
so
many
to take their mothers®
and live with their mothers' or Lu's view,
of
this
clans.
surnames, Since,
matrilocal
indicative tendency
male
in
residency of
female
is further proof
like all nations, experienced matriarchy in the
past. Guo Moruo also tried
to
demonstrate
the existence of
matriarchy in prehistoric China, but instead of drawing upon the classics he relied on oracle bone inscriptions. A. Study
of
Ancient
Chinese Society(1954) , Guo
talent for interpreting these show that
In
his
used
his
earliest Chinese writings, to
during the Shang Dynasty (circa 17-llth centuries
B.C.) female
ancestors
were
worshipped
in
special ways.
This special
sacremental attention, according to Guo, was a
remnant of earlier female domination. Efforts to prove in
the
Chinese
past
archaeology as well as Yellow River
Valley
the have
existence of a matriarchal stage extended
history. Neolithic
into
Burial Age
the
field
of
patterns found in
excavation
sites have
46
evoked particular interest in this examining neolithic settlements noticed
that
funeral
goods
regard.
near were
Archaeologists
today's
city of Xian
unequally
distributed
according to gender: on average women were buried pieces, men
with only four.
contained an
with
six
Some females' tombs, moreover,
abundance of high quality funeral objects.
In
some graves jade ornaments were found, while one contained a necklace
made
mother-child
of thousands of bone joint
beads.
burials were also found
Taken together, these finds are taken by the existence of
a
culture
in
recognized parents, 4 men.
enjoyed
a
The issue
Instances in
some
the to
area.
indicate
which
women,
as the only
higher
social
status than
of matrilineality has also made its presence
felt in the field of linguistics, especially with regard 5 the composition of scholars
the
of
surname
number
characters.
of ancient
According to some
surnames
element "nu" (female)either at the bottom
to
containing or
on
the
the side
(for example Jiang, Ji, Wei, and Ru), is
an indication that
in
along
archaic
lines.
times
descent was
figured
matrilineal
They also note that many early rulers, both real and
legendary, had surnames of this sort. The purpose in surveying these indicate the range of academic matrilineality,
cince
studies
is
simply
to
interest
in
the
issue
of
it is not within
my
competence
to
47
judge questions of
validity.
It is worth noting, however,
that while the evidence these
scholars
marshall
compelling, it is also somewhat contradictory.
is
often
For example,
there are similarities in the legends telling of the
births
of heroes in purportedly matriarchal prehistory and those in historical times.
No
one
would claim that Chinese society
was still matriarchal by the Spring and Autumn Period (circa 8th-5th centuries B.C.), and yet figures born after the
8th
century B.C., such as Confucius and Liu Bang (founder of the Han Dynasty), are also reputed
to
have
been
fathered
by
for
the
dragons, spirits, and other non-human beings. Similarly,
archaeological
evidence
Bachofen-Morgan
thesis is not entirely consistent.
same
sites described above, Shi
Neolithic
that despite the general some men were
also
favoritism
At
Xingbang
shown
the found
to female dead,
accorded special burial treatment.
says the following about one such case: "[This only given a rich abundance
of
Shi
man] was not
grave goods, but around his
skeleton bricks were piled up to
make
a
coffin;
compared
with other members of his clan he is treated in a strikingly 6 different
way".
While
treatment, as connected and
other
evidence
primitive matriarchy.
Shi explains with
this
man's
special
veneration of the elderly, it
seems inconsistent
with
theories
of
48
The Ethnography of the Matrilineal Naxi in Yongning During Chinese
the
1956-1963 Ethnographic
ethnologists
came
upon a
Field
cluster
Expedition,
of
previously
unstudied villages in the Yongning Basin south of Lugu Lake, a large body of water located in the highlands bordering the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan (For Yongning's location, See Figure
1.
China's
National Minorities). The
residents of these villages were mostly members of the ethnic
group,
but
unlike
Naxi outside the
communities were largely matrilineal. by ethnologists a great deal matrilineal system
and
original
reports, have also
and
written
about
Investigators participating number
many other publications by 7
various
of
in
field
scholars
Among these works the most significant
are the ethnographies of Naxi society
by
al.
Zhaolin
(1980) and Yen Ruxian
ethnographies
the
marriage institutions
expedition have produced a
appeared.
these
Since their discovery
been
accompanying
found in these communities. the
has
Basin,
Naxi
with
as
and
Song
analytical
Zhan
an
comprehensive a scope as these have appeared
Chengxu (1983).
approach on
any
et Few and
topic
since the founding of the People's Republic. Writers aspects of the present
on
the topic
basically
Naxi in
similar
matrilineality quite
different
general pictures
treat ways, of
certain but the
all main
49
features of the
culture.
The
following paragraphs detail
the central elements in this common picture. When Chinese ethnologists first investigated in 1956, it became institution
of
immediately
apparent
the Yongning Naxi were
Field investigators participating in
the
that the marriage extremely
the
complex.
Expedition
found
that only a small percentage of monogamous marriages in Naxi villages involved long-term residence.
patrilocal
More than 70% of the area's
were in involved in a snecial tvoe known locally
as
distinctive
both
stability.
Couples
separately
in
"axia" in
their
involved
of
This
respective
axia
partners belongs to and lives with
rules
homes,
As each a
relationship
and
relationships
natal
visitations permitted only at night.
females
relationship is
residence
in
the
matrilocal and
mating
(lovers).
terms
or
males
of 8
area
live
with
male
the
axia
of
separate
its
"yidu"
(an
extended family whose members share a single residence) they have little economic interests and property in common. In regard to its that
"axia"
dissolve. fields,
stability, ethnographic accounts show
relationships Whenever
travelling
men on
are and
the
women road,
hillsides, or attending religious gatherings together, they find
each
other's
can
company
easy are
to
contract
and
laboring in
the
cutting
ceremonies
wood and
on
the
festival
become axia partners if they pleasing.
Early
in
the
50
establishment
of
an axia relationship, the
attempts to keep his visits to the woman
man
generally
private, trying as
much as possible to avoid being seen by other people. people often meet in other places.
grass-thatched
After the passage
of
sheds, a
Young
open fields or
certain
period
of
time, if
both partners agree to continue their relationship
and
elder members of their
the
respective
"yidu"
groups
raise no objections, the man is allowed to start paying open visits to the woman's house. Further steps toward formalizing the occur, and when
they
exchange of gifts. their
partners
do In
are
trousers and linen bands;
women
ornaments.
During the past
headdresses,
also begun to be exchanged. to
accompanied
all
axia
Since
few
years
While such
relationship,
axia
men
by
most
handkerchiefs,
distinguish short-term and long-term other respects.
can an
gift exchanges women generally give
present to
common
usually
relationship
partner
often
skirts
and
monetary gifts have gift it
axia
exchange
is
are
possible
to
relationship
in
belong
to different
extended families
(yidu), there is no formal obligation for
either
the
party
agricultural however,
to work
of
relationship his
or
her
to
assist
partner;
in
the
informally,
men frequently assist with the agricultural
labor
of their partner's yidu in cases where the axia relationship has
been
of long duration.
It is important to
note
that
51
this distinction between short-term and responsibilities is primarily these
differences
short-term
are
relations
analytical;
part tend
long-term
of
to
a
in
economic
daily
continumm
have
the
life,
in
fewst
which
economic
characteristics and long-term relations the most. One indication of the is seen in the frequency
instability of axia relationship with
which
they
are
dissolved.
After taking part in a puberty rite around the age of 13-15, a Naxi woman is eligible to enter with
any
local
man
of
into
different
axia
matrilineal
Typically, an individual will enter into a relationship in the
course
of
his
survey carried out in six Yongning Expedition,
found
that
relationships that each during the While
course
this
in
of
or
families.
number her
the
of
life.
villages
general
Naxi
relationships
by
axia A 1956
the
number
Field
of
axia
woman and man participated in 9
their lives ranges from six to ten.
finding is useful for
indicating
the
general
instability of these relationships, it can not be relied
on
as
of
an
accurate determination of the
dissolution.
the
area,
the
1956
survey
the
have
accuracy of this figure. that
frequency
Some ethnographers, including at least one who
actually participated in revisited
actual
1956 Expedition and has since raised
doubts
Yan and Song argue, likely
concerning for
the
example,
underestimated the actual 10 frequency of axia relationships. In discussing the survey
52
methodology, they claim that have
under-reported
the villagers questioned might
axia activity, thinking it
give a low figure based
on
long-term
rather than a high one that included well.
partneres. partners
An
individual
within
one
including these
temporary
year
more
partners
in
change
may or
his
or
17
even
to
short-term
several just
a
to
only,
laisons
from
of
have
temporary
uncommon for a person to have axia
relationships
Especially for younger people aged
there is a pattern of frequent
better
as 27, axia
different few
relationships,
months;
it
is not
had a dozen or even dozens of 11 her
lifetime.
The
Yongning
proverb, "My axia is yours, and your axia is mine," gives an accurate
picture
behavior
is.
of
Axia
just
how
varied
participants
are
tolerant of their partners' actions, overt
jealousy
expressed
when In
attributed to social norms.
Should
for
and
their
relationships with others.
and casual the most
there mates
seldom
have
sexual
part, this tolerance may be an
axia
support for that person to interfere in the additional
axia
partner
relationship.
partner's If
seen
by the community as having no right
with their partner's
(or
to
feel
community wish
they were
jealous,there would be little they could do, for they be
part
is
wronged by a partner's actions, there would be no
to contract
sexual
would
interfere
partners') wish to establish axia
relationships with additional people.
53
The interpersonal bonds between axia partners appear to be fragile.
A women has
no
other than granting
him
even the death of a
partner
obligation to her axia partner
sexual privileges.
will be treated casually, with
the surviving partner giving no loss.
While
days.
frequently that people
become
are able to take
in
them
partnership is rarely
exogamy,
axia
stride;
accompanied
system
apply. it
of
personal
Most To
is
is
the by
so
the
of an axia
emotional
It
importantly,
necessary
ending
is
a casual one,
understand
dissolve
used to such dissolution and
formal
complete license. always
sign
Relationships
settlements. 12 essentially informal event. The
or
outward
some axia relationships last for years, others
dissolve in a matter of
disputes,
In some cases,
displays,
essentially
but
the
not
an
one
of
rules of exogamy
working
of
to understand the
rules
three
of
basic
levels of matrilineal organization. The Naxi matrlineage can be understood as a structure comprising three distinct
levels.
level is the yidu extended family; above this,
tree
like
The most basic is the siri;
at the top is the er. The yidu is a form
of
extended family spanning two to
four generations and on average numbering 7 to survey conducted on 388
households
in
8 people.
A
central Yongning in
54
1956 shows
the following breakdown of types: 191 households
(49.2%) which 26
reckon descent on a purely matrilineal basis;
households
and
171
which
all
through 13 combination of male and female links are in included.
any
households
(6.7%)
(44.1%)
descendents of an
Each yidu is unit with
on
on
a
apical
an
a
patrilineal
cognatic
basis;
system
in
ancestor/ancestress
independent
economic and residential
its own living quarters, livestock, and storages.
In each yidu,
the
senior member assumes responsibility for
agricultural and domestic production as well as for property management.
Each yidu is named after an apical ancestor
ancestress to whom geneological links are known and
who
or is
credited with establishing a separate residential unit. At a
higher
level,
is
non-residential unit composed common ancestry. worship
their
the
siri,
of
several
a
localized
but
yidu roelated by
Siri members share a common graveyard and common ancestor or ancestress.
In
partial
divergence from yidu descent reckoning, the majority of siri members trace links to the
apical
ancestor
or
ancestress
through a combination of male and female links. contrast with the
yidu
is
strictly apply to siri unit. matrilineal
descent
that As
rules
of
A
further
exogamy do not
only close kin related by
are subject to the
rule
of
exogamy,
individuals who reckon descent through matrilineal links can marry with members of the same siri whose descent
reckoning
55
includes
any
patrilineal
links(See Figure
3).
For
this
reason, the siri can not be considered an exogamous unit. Above the siri, is a unit called the er comprised ot as many as hundred or more yidu.
Within the Yongning Basin, er
units are generally non-localized.
The
genealogical
to the ancestor or ancestress common to component not known. nor
do
Er members do not constitute a
they participate in common
yidu
corporate
activities
sharing of certain funeral rituals in common.
links are group
except
for
The er,
like
the siri, is not an exogamous unit. Thus far I have focused
on
basic elements of the axia
relationship including the rule of exogamy as it relates different levels of clear
that
the
relationship and unregulated.
Yongning
rule
of
kinship
exogamy
organization.
applies
to
the
to
It is axia
that the axia relationship is not socially
However,
the
question
remains
relationship can be classified as marriage.
whether
the
Anthropologists
often claim that true marriages always involve a combination of sexual and draws
the
economic
ties.
George Murdock, for example,
following distinction between sexual
union
marriage: Sexual unions without economic co-operation are common, and there are relationships between men and women involving a division of labor without sexual gratification, e.g., between brother and sister, master and maidservant, or employer and secretary, but marriage exists only when the economic and sexual are united into one
and
FIGURE
3. THE
SIRI
-A
UNIT
A-
\
o
\
I.
\
\
\ /
irt
A \
o
\ / i . W A
O
A
A |•Q
A
O
A
A
\ i
\
/
l!
A 1
J
L -
6
1f
unit of exogamy — •—
\
/
\
\
4"
yidu unit
Source: Yan & Song The Matrilineal System of the Yonanina Naxi renmin chuban she, 1984), pp. 31-80.
(Kunming: Yunnan
A
O
57
relationship, and this combination occurs only 14 marriage. According to Murdock's definition, the of the "axia" relationship is its obligations.
Some
in
problematic
lack
of
axia partners have no
feature
clear
economic
common
economic
interests except in the exchange of small gifts to establish the relationship. enduring
This is at
economic
variance
cooperation,
and
with
the
division
type of
of
labor
described in Murdock's definition. However, defined
in
the less
question remains open when circumscribed
terms.
definition is designed to incorporate
marriage
Kathleen
the
is
Gough's
anomalies
of
a
relationship strikingly similar to the Naxi. In her study of the Nayar of Kerala (India), Gough uses residence spouses
marriage live
cooperation
in between
to
describe
their
own
spouses
accomodate this system in
her
a natal
is
the
term
system
in which
units
minimal.
definition
duolocal
and In
both
economic order
to
of marriage, she
extends the conventional definition in the following way: Marriage is a relationship established between a woman and one or more persons, which provides that a child born to the woman under circumstances not prohibited by the rule of the relationship, is accorded full birth-status rights common to normal members of his society or social 15 stratum. This definition differs from
the
conventional
approaches,
58
typified
by
marriage
both
obligations
Murdock's from
definition, in rights
of
that
sexual
of economic cooperation.
it
separates
access
and
from
This is clearly
more
compatible with the data from the Naxi, yet it is not wholly satisfactory.
For "full birth-status rights," so central to
both the Nayar system and Gough's definition, is problematic with regard to the
"axia"
relationship,
as
I
intend
to
show. Despite the loose nature of partners with
between
mating
in traditional Nayar society, strict rules
exists
respect
the
to birth rights and
bond
paternity.
girls reaches puberty they are required
to
"husband" to legitimate their reproductive unions are publicly established ritual "husbands" tied gold their
When
take
a
Nayar ritual
capacity.
Such
through ceremonies in which
ornaments
around
the necks of
"brides." A ritual "husband" might eventually
become
just one of several visiting "husbands" with whom his "wife" maintained relationship. completion
of
this
Regardless of later relations, the
marriage
ceremony
is
a
necessary
prerequisite for motherhood. Whenever a Nayar woman
become
pregnant
and goes into
labor, moreover, formal rules concerning paternity For the
child
to
be recognized as legitimate, one or more
men of appropriate caste acknowledge by making gifts
to
operate.
the
biological
child-bearing
woman
paternity, and
to
the
59
midwife immediately following to have If
visited
he
the
birth.
Any man who is known
woman is required to make such gifts.
refuses to do so, he is liable to be called upon
the caste assembly
to
fulfil his obligation.
According to
Gough, this ritual gift-giving at the time of childbirth of the utmost importance, for it serves child's birth-status and relationship.
formalize
to
have
had
are seen as disgraceful acts. would
legitimize
couple's
make
the
is the
marriage
gifts,
the
sex relations with a man of
lower caste or with a Muslim or a
assembly
the
If no man consents to
woman is assumed
to
by
Christian,
all
of which
In such instances, the
temporarily excommunicate
her
caste
matrilineal
kinship group until the woman and child in question had been formally expelled from the lineage. and children were
executed
In some cases the women
by their matrilineal kin, while
in others they became slaves
the district chief, but in 16 any event the mother was treated as though she were dead. The begin
her
ostracized
rituals
of
and ceremonies that allowed
reproductive career, and saved when
she
gave
importance in traditional
birth, Nayar
were
a
her
woman from
thus of
society.
to
being
enormous
These rites and
ceremonies likewise form the basis for Gough's argument that marital
status
should
be
accorded
to
Nayar
mating
relationships, both of the ritual and visiting varieties. The Naxi mating system differs in certain respects from
60
that
of
the
Nayar.
First
it
birth-legitimizing rituals so describes.
wishing
addition,
crucial
to
the
underwent
begin forming
to
kinds
Naxi
have
never
the Naxi society in Yongning was ranking
system.
The
comparable
required
of
Naxi
relationships.
had
strict
caste
structured
included landlords, officials of the
with
rules
a
three
"Sipei"
local
class
administration,
and their family members, the "Zeka," or middle
level,
mostly comprised of farm tenants; and
.the
rank was made up primarily
hired
hands,
servants
differences in
social
and
serfs. status
Despite between
the the
three
In
Prior to the Revolution,
top-ranking
of
of
the system Gough
is
axia
limiting people's mating choices.
level
the
To begin with, no marriage ceremony
to that which Nayar girls women
lacks
groups,
"E,"
axia
or
was
bottom and
economic
relationships 17
occasionally crossed these social boundaries. Secondly, important
in
the
recognition of paternity is
also
the Naxi case than with the Nayar.
done in 1956 found that
93.4%
A
less survey
of the children sampled were 18
clearly aware of the identity of their biological fathers, although this had little social lives. either
relevance
in
Naxi children learned of their fathers' directly
from
their
fatherhood of their children on pregnancy and
mothers—who the
their
daily
identities
determined
the
basis of the advent of
the infants' appearence —
or more indirectly
61
from village
gossip.
There
was
paternity was ascertained, or
made
no
set
time
public.
at
which
For the Naxi,
knowledge of paternity did not imply formal recognition of a person as
father
who established
in
social life.
long
term
relationships
partner ever recognized their Formal
recognition
In fact, orly those men
children
with
in
their axia
a formal sense.
of paternity was achieved
through
following customs: one month after the birth of female
relatives
of the man visit
axia
the
the
child,
partner's
house,
bringing with them eggs,chicken, wine,salt, tea,etc.,
foods
which are then to served in a feast prepared in honor of the recognization
of
the
father-child
relationship.
recognition of paternity entails minimal terms of child rearing. their
children
the
Father-child relationship relationship
between
Naxi, to know one's
in
Fathers may send clothes or food to
occasionally,
significant part of
responsibility
The
but
only
rarely
share
a
cost of the children's upbringing. continue only as long as the axia
the parents is maintained. paternity
was
For
the
not terribly important,
and to be uncertain about one's paternity is not regarded as shameful.
In fact,"there were plenty of men who
failed
to
formally recognize their children and plenty of children who 19 fail to acknowledge their fathers". The Naxi
axia
relationship
with
duolocal
seems to be at variance not only with conventional
residence marriage
62
definition but even with
definitions designed to accomodate
unusual systems like that of the Nayar. It is a sexual union that does not involve economic free
cooperation,
and
which
from important reciprocal rights and obligations.
is even less regulated than atypical case with some "full
birth-right
the
Nayar
comparable
status."
relationship is subject to
mating
rule
of
an
in regard to
Nevertheless,
the
It
system,
features,
is
the
incest,
axia
in
both
sexual union and reproduction.
Mating with close kinsmen is
denounced
endogamous
and
entitled
to
children "full
born
birth-right
although the establishment of accompanied by giving,
and
an
mating
status." axia
In
are
not
addition,
relationship is not
a ceremony, it does involve semi-formal gift is
socially
recognized
to
the extent
couples often seek the approval of yidu elders
that
at a certain
stage of mating relationship. In concluding, there are two issues to address. there is narrow question of whether the Naxi anthropological definition of marriage. answer to such an involved question is certain conclusions are possible. either side defined.
can From
be
made
the
definitive
possible
here,
Generally, arguments
depending
specific
case fits into
While a not
First,
on
how
definition
marriage of
for is
marriage
considered here, however, the axia relationship comes closes but
does
not
accord
entirely
with
Gough's
"duolocal
63
residence"
model.
Secondly, there is the broader
question
of the relation of this issue to the general concern of this study.
From
any
perspective,
the
relationship as a marriage institution Uncritical
categorization
example of how points of when emphasis is given
the next treatment
of
the
axia
is
complex
one.
a
of the relation are ethnographic
to
single theoretical model.
issue
fitting
detail
deverse
This point will be
simply
one
become facts taken
lost
into up
a in
section where Naxi ethnography and its theoretical are
examined
in
wider
perspective.
Other
instances of the same basic tension will then be examined in subsequent chapters.
64
Techology, Authority and Naxi Matrilineality: A Problem of Placement While
Morgan's
influence
on
Chinese
ethnology
has
tended to reduce controversy over the classification of axia relationship as a form of
marriage,
it
has
paradoxically
20 heightened controversy over
other
issues.
For
example,
there has been considerable controversy over the question of where Naxi matrilineality and axia marriage should be placed on Morgan's evolutionary claimed
that
axia
time-table.
marriage
"pairing marriage system,"
should
a
be
claimed
scholars
classified
transitional
Morgan places between "punaluan Others, however, have
Some
marriage"
mating and
have as
a
pattern
"monogamy."
that axia marriage should be
treated as part of an earlier stage, as an intermediary form between "group" and "pairing" marriage. The fact that Morgan's model assumes that there unavoidable
and
rules, marriage
systematic
correlation
different problems.
ethnologists
Chinese
scholars
as to openly state that the ethnographic
descent
with
an array of
have not gone so far data
relating
Naxi contradicts Morgan's theoretical claims, but
have realized that significant problems For example,
an
system, pattern of authority, and levels of
technology presents Chinese
the
between
is
Zhan
et al.
viewed as a special case,
of
fit
do
to they
exist.
argue that that the Naxi must be an
instance in which the typical
65
pattern
of
development has been diverted
evolutionary course.
from
its
usual
In such an instance, they claim, full
understanding will only be
possible
if
close attention is 21 paid to the specific features of the case in question. In a similar vein, Yan and Song argue that the Naxi are part of a general pattern
of
development,
variation within that pattern.
but
a
special
Thus they claim that in
Naxi system we can see reflections of what antiquarian was like, but at developmental
the
same
process
the life
time we should not think of the
the
Naxi
has
gone
through
as
22
universally applicable to other ethnic groups. There
are
three
Morgan's model and
Naxi
but not yet given due writings. systems
essential
discrepancies
reality, which have been revealed,
attention
in,
Chinese
ethnological
These relate to the connections between and
therelationship
level
of
between
technological
matrilineality
authority; and the problem of Morgan's model implies
between
Naxi
how
and
development; pattern
of
an archaic form, such as
matrilineality
have survived intact and virtually
descent
unchanged
must be, could for
tens
of
thousands of years as a "living social fossil.", and pattern of authoritys, on the other.
Technology
66
Regarding
the
correlation between
first of these issues,
Morgan
matrilineality
relatively
and
level of technological development.
Thus
he
says
a low
at
one
point, "descent
in
accordance with
the early condition of ancient society than 23
descent
in
the
the
a
sees
female line is archaic and more in
male line".
descent within the
general
with the upper period of middle
period
of
of
"Barbarism,"
pottery
sophisticated
and
the
use
places
matrilineal
of development beginning and
stages of
bricks,
ending
with
the
characterized
in
bows
and
and
so
arrows,
the
forth.
More
technologies, such as iron forgery, are
by Morgan as associated after
range
"Savagery"
technological terms by the making
Morgan
system
of
with
later
descent
matrilineality to patrilineality.
seen
stages of development,
patterns
has evolved
from
The Iroquois, whom Morgan
studied fit neatly into this schema, since they appeared him a matrilineal people in the lower stage of
to
"Barbarism,"
whose dominant technological characteristic was the ability to make small quantities of pottery "in a limited number of 24 forms". When matrilineal
Chinese Naxi
various kinds of sickles and
ethnologists in iron
shovels.
the
first
1950s,they
encountered
were
already
the using
farm tools- including ploughs, hoes, Naxi crop yields were relatively low,
in comparison with some other parts of China,
but were high
67
enough to make production. special by the
the
Naxi basically self-sufficient in grain
Single
and
double
drawn
ploughs, with
fittings for different purposes had been
developed
Naxi, whose agricultural production ranged from corn
to potatoes
to
techniques,
including
wheat
to
utilized
permitted.
to
Along
stock raising,
highland
barley.
crop rotation,
fallowing, were employedd, were
oxen
while
inter-cropping,
irrigation
increase crop
Sophisticated
output
and
where
and
manuring conditions
with crop production, the Naxi engaged in
home
weaving
and
spinning,
tool forging,
woodworking, vegetable oil extracting, and other pursuits. when
compared
development in
the
advanced.
with
the
level
of
technological
of other communities living in Southwest
1950s,
Yongning
Naxi
was
far
from
China
the
Their technology was roughly on a par
least
with
that
of the patrilineal Han communities of the area, and far more advanced than that
of
some other patrilineal ethnic groups
in the region that relied on slash-and-burn agriculture, for example, the Nu, the Dulong, and Benglong. According to Fang Guoyu, an historian of the Naxi,
the
Naxi in Yongning, Lijiang, Yanyuan, and Weixi all originated 25 from the Qiang, a pastoral nomadic tribe. based in the Northwest until roughly the when they began migrating south, in
order
The 4th to
incorporated into the expanding state of Chin,
Qiang
were
century
B.C.
avoid one
being of
the
68
"Warring States" then contesting the
course
of
this
for
control
migration the Qiang
of China. In
fragmented
different tribes that would later
claim
to
distinct.
that
settled
The
Qiang
group
be
Yunnan-Sichuan border area came to be known Qiang, or Yak Qiang. These
Yak
as
lifestyle,
a
accustomed
lifestyle
sophisticated gathering.
already
which
technological
A 5th century
ethnically in the
the Maoniu
Qiang were forebears of the
present day Naxi. Thus more than 2,000 years predecessors were
into
to
ago the Naxi's nomadic
depends
base
upon
than
herding a
more
hunting
and
historical chronical records that
the Naxi residing in the Lugu Lake area were already able to produce
salt,
iron,
and
varnish
by
the end of the
Han
26 Dynasty, which collapsed in the
3rd
century
A.D..
This
source even describes the technical method used by the tribe to
extract
salt, involving a process
residues foil owing the
evaporation
of
collecting
salt
of salt water over high
heat. A
detailed
description
of
century is fortunately available. 27 known
as
Manshu
the Naxi, circa
the
9th
This Tang Dynasty source,
, describes a highly
developed
pastoral
economy operating in a Naxi area that "abounds in cattle and sheep" and where
"
every
family
has
Sheep skins were used to make clothing the
area
peoples.
and
in
According
barter to
the
a
flock of sheep."
for men and women of
transactions
with
neighboring
Manshu as many as two or three
69
thousand head
were sometimes used in bartering.
also describes the making
The Manshu
a sword-like weapon used by Naxi chieftains,
of which would require a sophisticated knowledge
of metal work. The
Manshu
account
and
together indicate that for had already
over
a
early
sources
taken
millenium Naxi families
become important property holding groups by the
9th century, and allowed for
other
the
economy
relatively
of
the
large-scale
society
as a whole
economic transactions.
They were capable of utilizing the natural resources of
the
area to make clothing, weapons and other goods, and also had developed the necessary contacts
with neighboring groups to
trade for materials they lacked. Ming Dynasty(1360-1644) sources present a picture of an even less "primitive" Naxi economy by
the
period, taking
some
them
a
neighboring Xifan which pastoral.
The
Naxi
described as being
step
beyond
remained
of
of
groups
exclusively
agriculturalists
capable
middle
this
as
the
nomadic
and
the
day
was
of ploughing and sowing various
28 crops, most notably buckwheat. The historical
evidence as a whole when taken together
with more recent observations
of
the Naxi have not been
"archaic" for hundreds if not
truly
thousands of years, and that they comparable patrilineal groups
Yongning
have
not
life shows that
lagged
behind
in technological development.
70
Since the Ming Dynasty the agricultural capabilities of Naxi peasants have not been significantly different from those of their Han counterparts.
Moreover, Yongning Naxi
technology
is far more advanced than that of some patrilineal groups.
For example,
the
minority
Dulung people of Yunnan Province
were still relying upon slash and burn agriculture as 1956. The E'wenke people Manchuria
were
likewise
living
observed
them
exlusively
in
upon
1950s.
late
in the dense forests of
depending
technologies than the Yongning
as
upon
much
simpler
Naxi when ethnologists first
Of
these,
the
hunting and fishing for
latter
relied
subsistence,
but
both unambiguously reckon descent patrilinealy.
Authority Naxi women undeniably have a great deal of authority in certain
spheres
affairs.
In
of
every
activity, as yidu,
a
especially
household
in
head, called
"Dabu," is selected to organize work efforts, take family finances, daily
life.
and
make
other
arrangements
A 1956 survey of 17 yidu in
Walapian found that
14
of
such
Dabu
the
posts
senior women, while the remaining three were 50 out of a total of 88 yidu in 29 be headed by females. Dabu positions,
Naxi
another
also
have
care
the of
concerning village
of
were held by held
by
men.
area were found to
Along with holding the women
domestic
majority
of
important domestic
71
ceremonial functions,
presiding
ancestor worship rituals that
over
are
such
performed
and offering sacrifices to granary
and
addition,
roles
women
play
relating to child
important
bearing,
activities
at meal time,
kitchen
adoptions,
in
crucial
roles
in
jobs
requiring
ploughing, women stand
In
rituals
and house warmings.
functions and duties, but
perform higher status tasks.
gods.
Naxi
In the realm of agricultural production both men have
as
males
and
women
more
often
Men generally play the leading physical
behind
strength.
Thus
in
the oxen holding the plough,
while men stand in front, guiding the oxen
team by grasping
the yolk and trying to force the animals to go in the proper direction.
The "zhangyuan" or "yolk-holding" function
that
men perform is looked upon more highly by villagers, who see it as a "master"
role
compared
to
the
"apprentice"
one
carried out by the plough steering women who walk behind the oxen.
In addition, most of those who perform jobs requiring
special technical skills, such as working metal or wood, are men.
However, women do perform
various reasons, outlined below,
vital
tasks.
Because
of
local males are frequently
absent with the result that women often perform
the bulk of
agricultural chores. The
aspect
of Yongning society hardest
with the view of it it, is the religious
division shperes.
as
to
reconcile
"matriarchal," as Morgan would have
of Naxi
authority males
in held
the
political
clearly
and
superior
72
positions in these spheres as late
as
because
Lamas.
only
they
could
become
the
1950s,
largely
Lamaism was
the
dominant force within Naxi society, with so many men serving as Lamas and so many people belief that it came
to
politics as well. with the
It
of
both
structure
sexes
not
developed
following
the
religion
but
only
a reciprocal relationship
"Tusizhi," the system of centrally appointed local
governors imposed
upon
Chinese government. ensuring men
minority
This
peoples
system
was
by
the imperial
male dominated, thus
a monopoly of political authority.
The ruling
Tusi family saw in Lamaism a useful tool for controlling the Yongning
Naxi,
while the Lamas needed
the
Tusi
family's
patronage to expand their own influence. A clear example of the
way
the twin forces of Lamaism
and the Tusizhi could work together to buttress each and
maintain
male
monopoly
of
authority
politico-religious domain, is provided Kanbu (or Lamasary Abbot) (from
the
Tibetan
dignitary, but selected
had
hierarchy, the
both
in
Khan-po) his
by
Yongning was
authority
political overtones.
within
the
and
the
Within the
the
role of the
society.
ostensibly
other,
The Kanbu
a
religuous
way
he
local
was Lama
leading position of Kanbu was usually filled
by a yonger son of the ruling
Tusi family.
Far from having
his authority confined to deciding spiritual matters, he had the prerogative of perfoming
judicial functions relating to
lay matters and any other members of
the populace as he saw
73
fit. of
The official residence of the General Yongning
was
placed
lamasaries, which
with
one
final
indication
importance
of
frequently
than
pre-1956 era. limited
to
the
two
Yongning
turned the lamasary into a combination of
church and "Yamen"(Governmental A
of
Superintendant
males,
of
is
women's
In
sum,
Headquarters). the
that
political men's
names
in official the
model
and
economic
appear
documents
of
from
the
is
too
Matriarchy
accomodate the complexities of
Naxi
more
authority
pattern.
The "Living Social Fossil" Concept The
final
difficulty
matrilineality with Morgan
the
Morgan's
with model
vestigial organ
social
that
in
reality
physiology,
outlive
preserved in a pristine
model suggests, are
twofold.
since the Han period
(206
the
a great deal
had
societies during the
last
a
social
has,
its
like
a
evolutionary as
a
state,as
"living Morgan's
First, because the Naxi have
never been exclusively matrilineal
have
Naxi
according to
that
The problems with seeing the Naxi
fossil"
Naxi
is
Naxi system must be little more than
relic, a reflection of archaic
function.
reconciling
and matriarchal at least
B.C-220
A.D.). Secondly because of
millenia,
contact
with
other
their development has
74
becomed whole.
intertwined
with
that
of
Southwest
China as
Both of these issues deserve close attention.
The Naxi have one of the longest recorded histories any
a
minority
group, and patrilineal descent
throughout this history.
is
of
mentioned
Written records pertaining to Naxi
extend as far back as the
first
century
A.D..
Throughout
recorded history, Naxi chieftanship has always been a passed on
along male lines.
of
1736
The Yunnan Tongzhi(Yunnan
describes the "Yongning native
Gazetteer)
prefecture"
as
a
frontier district in Yunnan Province, which borders upon the 30 land of the Tufan ethnic group.
According to this
at the close of the Han Dynasty (around
200
source,
A.D.),
a Naxi
chief by the name of Ni Yuewu pacified the Tufan and settled his
group
on their land.
Naxi settlement
in
This same account of
Yongning
appears
in
sources, such as the Yuan Shi (History of and Dian Xi (The Thread of
Yunnan
the
first
other historical the Yuan Dynasty) 31
History).
The
latter
work, which contains an in depth treatment of the history of the area, goes so far as to call Ni
Yuewu
the Naxi "zu"
—
the founding father of the Naxi. Ni
Yuewu's
male
descendants continued
Yongning Naxi for centuries after his death. the descendants, was the chief who i n the Xianzhong reign
3rd
to He
rule
the
Zi, one of year
of the
(1253) formally submitted his people to the
conquering Yuan Dynasty
of
Kubla Khan. In Yuan Shi(History
75
of
the
Yuan Dynasty),
He
Zi
is
described
as
a
"sun"
(grandson, or in this case simply patrilineal descendant) of the 31st generation of Ni Yuewu. There are no specific records explaining the fate of Ni Yuewu's
family
after the mid-13th century,
but
there
is
clear evidence that tribal leadership generally continued to be passed along male descent lines, with one family group in particular,
bearing
the
surname
"A",
monopolizing
the
position of chief much of the time. Two genealogical chronicles compiled during the Guangxu reign period
(1875-1908)
information
regarding
Yongning Naxi contracted
and
provide
extensive
this A family, the
and
way
and
so forth.
These records
show
supplemental
ethnographic
that
make
cases chieftanship two
members
it
inheritance
reigned.
In
six
was passed from elder brother to younger instances
grandfather-grandson
uncle-nephew inheritance occurred; and
or
in all the remaining
19 cases sons inherited the position of chief directly their fathers.
The
during the period 1381-1956. For nearly six
centuries 27 different A family
in
from
1956, the A
data
to reconstruct the precise pattern of
of chieftanship
brother;
ruled
never relinguished the office of chieftanship.
Chronicles possible
they
society under the Tusizhi, the marriages they 32
1381, 128 years after He Zi's submission, until family
detailed
from
Thus for almost all their recorded history.
76
the
Yongning
patrilineal
Naxi
have
been
ruled
by
members
of
groups(Figure 4). Scholars who have taken
account the patrilineal
tendencies
two into
of the A family explain
it as an indication that some six centuries ago Naxi society entered into
a
transitional
problematic in and of itself involved and first
becomes
century
starting point.
A.D.
phase.
This
because
infinitely rather
of
more
than
explanation is
the
length
problematic
the
time if the
14th is taken as
a
Nineteen hundred years is far longer a time
than Morgan claims it should take for matrilineality to fade after patrilineality begins to
make
inroads
This is particularly so for a society as the Yongning Naxi, square
whose
kilometers
and
in a society.
small
as
settlement is but several hundred
involved 33 interaction throughout their recorded history. The social fossil
the Naxi have been
have
been
concept
of historical isolation. almost
But
way
of
life
turbulence of war. gateway centuries groups,
to
has their
been
close
throughout the last millenia,
continually and
frequently
Due to its
Tibetan,
in
also rests on an assumption
influences, religious, political their
that of
Sichuan
exposed to external economic
being
strategic and
surrounded
land turned into a
contending to dominate the region.
by
in
disrupted
nature, by
importance
Yunnan,
battlefield
as
Yongning
militarily
the a for
aggressive for
groups
FIGURE 4.
A CESONOLOGT OF YONGNING CHIEFTAINSHIP Date of Office Assusption At the close of Ban Dynasty (About 200 A.D.)
1
Relation to Previous Chief
Haae Ni Tnewe
Approx. 650 A.D.
Under the rule of Meng faaily, outsider of Nanchao Eindoa
Approz. 937 A.D.
Under the rule of Duan faaily, outsiders of Dali Eingdoa
1253
Be Zi
1381
Pu Du Ge Ji
1405
Ge Ji Ba Be
Pu Du's son
1413
Pu Sa
Ge Ji's son'
1423
Nan Ba
Pu Sa's brother
1458
A Ju
Nan Ba's son
1466
i Zhsc
A Ju's brother
1469
A Gui
A Zhuo's son
1515
A Bui
A Gui's son
1531
A Be
A Bui's son
1557
A Ting
A Be's son
1574
A Xiong
A Ting's brother
1591
A Cheng Zhong
1614
A Quan
A Xiong's brother's son A Cheng Zhong's son
1659
A Zheng Qi
A Quan' son
1670
A Tiug lun
A Zheng Qi's son
1706
A Jin Hui
A Ting Kun's son
1727
A Jin Zlan
A Jin Bui's brother
1728
A Tou Wei
A Jin Xlan's son
1750
A Shi Chang
A Tou Vei's son
1771
A Qi Chang
1798
A Liang Fu
A Shi Chang's brother A Qi Chang's son
1817
A Bui Yuan
Ni Tuewu's 31st grandson
j
i
A Liang Fu's son
1896
A Heng Fang A Ting Rui
|
A Bui Yuen's grandson _ A Beng Fang*a aon
1938
A Min Ban
•
A Ting Rui's son
1879
i
SourceI Te Rotong et al. Tongbel zhlll tlngzhl (The Chronicle of Tongbei Prefecture) (Tonnan: Banzang fenaing shuyuan, 1904). • This local chronicle, which provides the above inforaatlon, ends with A Mis Has. According Zhan et al., after A Min Han, the position was succeeded by his brother, A Min Zhu, and then bT Ge Ruo, son of A Min Zhu until the abolition of Tusi systea in 1956. See Zhan et al. Azhu Marriage.
78
Struggles between the Tufan land occurred as far back
as
and
Naxi
over mastery of
the Han Dynasty. Beginning in
the 7th century the Tufan gained predominance
in
the
area
and took contorl of Yongning. Then toward the end of the 8th century the Chinese alliance
with
central
the
government
Nanchao
formed a temporary
Kingdom,
a
Southwestern tribal states, to make war on great battle
of
794
Tufan.
The
Tens of thousands of people
fighting, 34
Yongning area itself.
the
of
A.D. took place on Naxi land, between
Nanchao and Tufan forces. killed in the
federation
some In
of
the
which early
occurred part
of
were
in
the
the
Yuan
Dynasty, the Emperor Hu Bilie (Kubla Khan) rested his troops at Riyuehe, a section of Yongning, during his campaign to 35 conquer Southwest China. The area has been free from invasion since the establishment of the Tusi, but the last centuries
have 36
destructions. followers into Suo and
Qian
Ting reign for
a
severely
witnessed The
their
Yongning
share of other
Tusi
leaders
kinds led
of
their
battle against neighboring groups in the Zuo Suo
areas of Sichuan Province during the Jia
(1522-1567), precipitating a war that would last
decade.
Then in the mid-19th century the
effected
by the Moslem Rebellion,
which
area
was
wreaked
havoc throughout much of Southwest China and resulted in the destruction of one of
Yongning's
recent historical times banditry late Imperial and Republican
two
lamasaries.
In more
was endemic throughout the
periods
(1912-1949),
forcing
79
Yongning
residents
to
goods, grain supplies
continually and
hide
their
household
animals from being robbed.
Wars
and bandit predations were not the only means through external
forces
intruded
upon
Naxi
life.
which
Political
pressures were also brought to bear through the workings the Tusi
Zhi.
The
of
Tusi system, which developed out of the
Yuan Dynasty's "Yiyi Zhiyi" ("using tribesman to contorl the tribes,"
an administrative policy of creating officals
of tribal cheiftains)
policy,
involved
leaders within minority communities. had frequent contact with the late Yuan through
out
the co-optation of
Yongning Tusi
leaders
the central government throughout
Qing periods, periodically travelling
to the Imperial Court to render up tribute or receive titles of office. Yongning was Located in a
also far from isolated in economic terms.
basin
at
the
edge
of
the Tibetan plateau,
surrounded by Tibetan, Han and Bai communities
as
well
the Li Jiang Naxi, Yongning was an important trading for the various peoples of the area. Yongning center
market in
the
town,
grew
centuries
thriving
commercial
before the Revolution, salt,
tools were bought and sold by merchants from The
center
Pi Jiang Jie, the main
to be a
trading post in which grain, herbs,
as
town contained a variety of commercial
cloth
a and
nearby
major iron areas.
establishments,
including restaurants, barber shops and even a garment store where clothing was machine made.
Commercial activity became
80
an important part of the area's economy and that
prior
Yongning
it is estimated
to the Revolution members of one third households
inter-provincial
were
already
of
all
participating
in
either by producing goods 37 actually travelling to Sichuan and Tibet. Taken
as
trade,
a whole the preceding
discussions
technology and political-economic pattern of the
problematic
aspects
concept suggest that
of
the
Morgan's
for
"living
of
Naxi
authority social
or
and
fossil"
model cannot account for the
origin and continued existence of Yongning matrilineality. The Rise of Matrilineality and Axia Marriage The preceding
section
has
regarding the "living social
raised
If
that
and axia
matrilineality
extant, there remains a
questions
fossil," theory of explanation
about Naxi matrilineality. Naxi
several
one abandons the presumption marriage
were
always
potentially interesting and complex
question: how and when did
these
social forms or this form
of social organization originate? This section will focus what seems to be the
most
origination of matrilineal aside the notion
of
these
questions and offer
plausible
explanation
and
structures.
axia
for
the
Turning
primordial developments, I will stress
the influence of historical organization.
on
developments on Yongning social
The records of matrilineal descent
reckoning
81
extend back only a few hundred
years,
evidence of patrilineality dating
into
Yongning
society
there
with the introduction of during
the
last half
millenium have had profound social repercussions, virtually every aspect of Naxi life. Lamaism
as
affecting advent
of
a starting point, in what follows I
intend
to
be explained as cultural the
of
Taking the
show that the rise of matrilineality and axia
and
exists
from Han times (206B.C.—
220 A.D.). Patril?".neality together Lamaism
while
general
marriage
can
adaptions precipitated by Lamaism,
socio-economic
transformation
that
accompanied it. Lamaism, the religion that was to have such a impact on Yongning life, originated in Tibet
and
is
referred to as Tibetan Buddhism. It is divided into sects, the most important one for the purposes
profound
of
often various
Yongning
social organization being the "Yellow" Sect. The Yellow sect was founded in the 14th century by Zong reformer
who
practices.
sought
to
purify
Geba (1357-1419), a
contemporary
Lamaist
His main emphasis was on "yanshou jielu" (strict
self-discipline), a rigid program the end goal of which to make the layman.
An
life
of
the
important
lama more distinct from that the
part
of
Zong
Geba's
attempt
separate lamas from other memb ers of the community instigation of vows, the taking of which remain celibate and
refrain
was
pledged
to
was
the
lamas
to
from engaging in manual labor.
The vow of celibacy, which for some lamas
meant little more
82
than a prohibtion consequences in Here
it
against
marriage,
Yongning
should
be
which
noted
had several important
will
that
be
one
discussed below. important
general
consequence was to make it impossible for the sect to follow rules
of
supreme
direct
linear
leader,
developed
a
the
Dalai
method
choosing each new
succession
of
Lama.
In
indirect
"living
when
choosing
turn, sect
succession,
their leaders
based
upon
Buddha" from among children born
at the precise time the last Dalai Lama died. That
the
Yellow
society has already
Sect
been
profoundly
mentioned.
effected
Yongning
But before analyzing
the transformation occasioned by this form of Lamaism it worth noting how the sect process
of
being
itself
introduced
was
into
important way Zong Geba's program Yongning
setting
relations.
relates
The
to
lamasaries
on
the
was
the
area.
prohibition to
from
themselves
relations with
as
establishing
having
local
institutional power exercising
what
a
right
women. and
to
Yellow
authority
not,
to
the
daily
the
sexual rules The
however,
sexual liaisons and
engage Sect
to in
think sexual
leaders lacked
prevent
they deemed to be a "right," as
limited direct control over
in
on
the most
strict
serving as "genitors" if not "paters." Lamas came of
The
marriage and procreation.
marriage and fatherhood did
prevent local lamas
in
transformed
always held
forbidding lamas from formal prohibition
transformed
is
lamas from they
had
activities of their
83
lamas.
Most lamas lived with kinsmen during the bulk of the
year, residing in the lamasary dormitories only when special 38 religious ceremonies fairly
free
to
were
act
being
as
observed,
and
they saw fit in terms
so were
of
sexual
laisons with local women. Yellow Sect leaders not only were practically unable to interfere with the certain
sexual
activity
of
lamas,
but
extent actually encouraged it through the
of the annual leave taking festival. the eighth day departure
of
of
the
fifth
intitates
religious training.
workings
month, to
On the day of the
preceded
Tibet
to
festival
(Harmonization of the Sun and Moon) and spend that
tent
with a local woman.
engaged in a relationship were
the
the
receive
all
were required to erect tents on a field known as Ri
eve in
a
This festival, held on
lunar
journeying
to
lamas Yue
He
festival
Lamas not presently
obliged
to hire for money a
woman to sleep with, for it was thought
that sleeping alone
on that
night
would 39 Tibet a failure.
bring misfortune and make the trip to
It is appropriate that examples
illustrating
relationships.
In
1956,
carried out, a survey was
at how when
this lamas the
conducted
villagers; of the five males, two
point
to
contracted
Democratic on
were
give
the lamas.
ten
some axia
Reform was Yongning Among
five women, four were reported to have axia relationship
the at
84
one
time
with at
least
acknowledged
having
relationship
involving
one
of
produced
the
two
lamas
lamas.
children
and
the
Two
women
from
axia
lamas
themselves
acknowledged a third child. Brief
life
histories of two of
useful in further clarifying the axia relationships. Qi, aged
fifty
these
involvement
of
lamas
five
for
ten
years.
Three
established a temporary relationship
years
later,
Du
relationship. acknowledged
Qi
and In
brief
to
Du
Qi
of Che Bima's
Che Bima reestablished
addition
with
with Na Zhu's maternal
A. half year later, following the death
partner,
partner.
Du Qi established a second relationship
another villager named Na Zhu.
One
The relationship
was dissolved when Che Bima returned to her former
aunt.
in
years in 1956. His first axia partner
born of this axia relationship.
Subsequently,
are
The first case is a male lama, named Du
was named Che Bima with whom he lived child was
villagers
that
cited
their
former
here,
Du
relationships with nine women
three were sisters to one another and
of
Qi whom
two were a mother and
a daughter. The other case concerns a woman named Zhi Zhi Ma spent fourteen years with partner and a member of the child.
same
Her second partner was
relationship
lasted
three
Da
a
years
Zhu,
village.
Ma, aged 63.
her
first
They
had
axia one
lama named You Che. Their and
produced
one
son.
85
Following the lamasery
birth
to
of the child.
Tibet
for
relationship lapsed. named Ha Erba
You Che was sent by his
religious
training
from
man
Jiabuwa Village. From this relationship
relationship
born.
Her
fourth
It
lasted
was with a lama named A Wuo.
four years but produced no children. realtionships, 40 1956.
axia
Zhi Ma's third axia partner was a
which lasted seven years, one child was axia
and the
Zhi
Ma
had
two
In addition
other
to
these
partners prior
to
The high social status and access to cash lamas enjoyed contributed
to
the
relatively
contracted axia relationships.
ease
As the
with 1956
which
they
investigations
revealed, "some lamas not only look for new axia partners at every turn but they also try to have relationships and bear 41 children with their own sisters." In fact, the only six instances
which
relations with an
ethnographers
recorded
of
men having 42 their sisters all involved lamas. J. Rock,
American researcher for National Geographic Society
visited Yongning
who
in the 1930s, reported that the activities
of lamas produces "a horde of illegitimate children who know 43 no father." The
absence
of
enforceable
restrictions
on
lamas'
sexual activities, coupled with strict prohibitions relating to
formal
marriage
repercussions
and
child
bearing,
had
shaping Naxi social organization.
profound For it
is
86
at least possible
that
both
matrilineal descent reckoning
and axia marriage evolved as adaptations to a which
lamas
could
be
genitors
but
not
situation paters,
in
sexual
partners but not formal husbands. What specific problems did pose for Yongning did
it
society,
engender?
the introduction of Lamaism
and
Both
what specific consequences
demographic
and
social
status
variables deserve attention.
The Demographic Variable According to
local
custom,
"families
with
two sons
choose one to become a lama and that out of every three male offspring parents
send two to lamasaries, thus resulting in
as
or
many as four 44 lamas." Statistics
five
compiled
sons
at
in
some
the time
Reform of 1956 show that reality did
of
In some of
villages where matrilineality
and
the
becoming
Democratic
not match the ideal of
one-half to two-thirds ratio as custom would the figure was still high.
cases
axia
have
it,
the central Yongning marriage were most
firmly entrenched roughly one out of every three adult 45 was a lama attached to the monastery. By excluding roughly one-third
of
but
all
male
males from the
87
pool of eligible the there
operation had
marriage
partners
of a system of
previously
been
females, it would have
Lamaism worked against
prescriptive a
monogamy.
preponderance
prevented
Lamaism
of males
If to
from skewing the
sex ratio so that a greater percentage of females than males would
seeking
information
marital
on
data derived
partners.
this point but the
from
the
from
the
accentuated
pool
rather
records
give
contemporary
sex-ratio
of
than
Thus the removal of so many potential
lessened
marital
the
gender
partners imbalance.
Monogamy would have left roughly one in every three unmarried.
Even
no
1950s survey indicated a 52% to 48% 46
imbalance in favor of females. males
Early
assuming
that
the
recent
females
population
imbalance in favor of females did not exist in the past, the fact that a significant proportion of thereby removed
men
were
lamas
and
from the pool of eligible marriage partners
would have created a demand for male marriage partners.
The Social Status Variable It has already been noted in the previous section lamas and the
political
elite were intimately connected as
exemplified by the role of Kanbu. Like lamas, the elite engaged frequently in unlike lamas, they also polygamy).
Most
men
axia
proacticed in
that
the
relationships a
political (although,
system of formalized
superintendent's
and tusi's
88
families are reported to have contracted dozens some cases hundreds —
of axia.
—
and
in
One of the superintendents,
A Duoqi was particularly famous for having an 47 in virtually every village of the
basin.
axia What
partner seems
have resulted from the high degree of involvement
of
to
lamas
and the elite in axia relationships is a legitimization popularization
of
this
form of
mating
and
relationship.
A
similar effect has been observed for the immigrant Pumi
and
Han ethnic groups in the Yongning basin. 48 The Pumi used to follow monogamous marriage. born
outside
illegitimate prompted
of and
the
monogamous were
relations
subject
Yongning
to
were
Children
regarded
discrimination.
superintendent to
issue
as This
an
order
urging the Pumi to conform more closely to axia practices by recognizing the legitimacy
of
all
Afterwards, 49 Pumi monogamy seems to have given way to local practices. This appears to be similar to
children.
the
case
of
some
Han
families who
immigrated to and were assimilated in Yongning
after
In
1797.
households
were
one
village
composed
of
of
indigenous Naxi. All of these
72 households, both
immigrant
thirteen Han
were engaged 50 axia relationships with other local villagers. Along
households
making
simple monogamy
looser axia type
system
attractive, Lamaism also tended to
against
patrilineal
descent
and
in
with
mitigate
untenable
and
reckoning
a
by
89
prohibiting
roughly
one
third
acknowledging paternity.
of
the
local males
from
Each lama could
potentially
have
one or more children by each of several axia partners during the course of a lifetime, offspring
thus
producing a large number of
with"genitors" but not "paters." It follows
that
Yongning children would come to "know their mothers but their fathers."
Matrilineality
evolved as part of an
like
adaptative
axia
marriage
strategy
to
not rules
the
social
changes following the introduction of Lamaism. Genealogical evidence issue.
In
throws
further
the following sections, three
histories will be
examined
descent reckoning
could
to
make
light
on
Yongning
this family
demonstrate how matrilineal inroads
within
patrilineal
descent groups. The first genealogical example Superintendant's family,
which
concerns
to a
single male ancestor, an Mongol officer of Kublai Khan 51
left
It is
an
case due to the high social rank held also there
descent
Yongning back
to rule Yongning in 1253.
traces
the
especially by
its
elaborate
members, but
is evidence of matrilineal segmentation.
genealogical structure, there traced through unmarried within the lineage
who
is
evidence
mothers(See went
recognized as having produced genealogical continuity and
on
to
In the
of desent being
Figure
5). The males
become
lamas are not
offspring. proliferation
The of
exceptional his
lineage
90
FIGURE 5. GENEALOGICAL CHART OF YONGNING SUPERINTENDENT
Axia relationship = marriage
Source: Zhan et al. Azhu Marriage and Matrilineal Families among the Yongning Naxi (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chuban she, 1980), p.319.
91
group
is
made
Unmarried
possible
women
by two social
arrangements:
can contribute to the
continuity
of
(1) the
lineage by producing recoginzed descendents through informal axia union; (2) Male lineage members can increase the number of
this
offspring
through
polynous
marriage
since
the
children of all wives are socially recognized. The second example family with a past grew out
of
kin
is
drawn from a socially prominent
traditon relations
of
virilocal residence, which
with
the
genealogy of this family in Figure influence of family.
6
Tusi shows,
family.
The
however,
the
local traditions of duolocal residence on this
The single daughter did
not
follow
the
norm
virilocality but continued to reside in her natal home her offspring
from an informal axia relationship.
birth of children of
to
matrilineal segment withi n the 52 discerned. third
For several strict marriage fourth
of
associated generation
their
patrilineal with this
descendants descent
Han culture. pattern
accomodate children born in unstable 53 Figure 7). The genealogies
With the
patrilineage
example involves an immigrant
generations,
pattern
with
this woman's offspring, the emergence
a
The
of
has axia
and
Han
be
couple.
followed
the
monogamous
However, been
can
by
altered
the to
relationship(See
of these three groups show examples of
FIGURE 6. DASHI FAMILY'S GENEALOGICAL CHART (YONGNING AREA)
A= 0
A=o
O
A =0
A=0
i
.r ri
O
Source: Yan and Song Matrilineal System, p. 291 FIGURE 7. A HAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY'S GENEALOGICAL CHART (YONGNING AREA) A=0 A=0
A=o
o
A
A
T^O f^O
I
r t i . Source: Ibid, p. 410.
93
"cognatic" families.
Such family
groupings, which are also
called some Western anthropologists "ramage" or "ambilineal" groups and in China are called "muxi fuxi
bingcun
jiating"
(family
combining both matrilineal and patrilineal 54 descents), , are ones in which "all descendants of an apical ancestor/ancestress through any combination of male 55 or female links are included." Zhan estimates that 44.1% of all 1956 part
Yongning
families 56
investigations. of
an
were cognatic at the time of the
Some Chinese scholars treat
evolutionary
matrilineality
to
more
shift
from
"advanced"
more
it
as
"primitive"
patrilineality.
The
thesis advancd here suggests, however, that this type family organization might be seen as part of process, in
a
variable
shifting-
which, thanks to the prohibitions against lamas
serving as "paters",
there
resulted
in patrilineal groups
ramifying into cognatic or matrilineal groups. Just as
Naxi matrilineality and axia marriage are more
easily accounted
for
if
they are seen as adaptations to a
special set of circumstances rather than as a "living social fossil," similar kinds of
marriage
and
descent systems in
other cultures seem likewise to have arisen as a response to new social
forces.
Two cases in particular are interesting
in the regard, that of the Tibetan people Region and
that
of
of Sichan's Ganzi
the Nayar people of Southwest India to
which I have refered in the previous section. case provides an
example
of
how
the
same
The
Tibetan
event that so
94
greatly affected Naxi family Yellow
Sect
Lamaism,
structure, the introduction of
could
have
simlarly
profound
repercussions within another minority population.
The Nayar
case is useful because it shows another culture which, the
Naxi,
reckoned
principles
and
descent
practised
according
a
duolocal
to
like
matrilineal
residence
marriage
system. The Ganzi case
is
analyzed
article entitled "Lamaism Although
she
is
trends, such as
and
by
the
most concerned decreases
Wang
Duanyu
Tibetan with
in
her 57
Population."
larger
demographic
in the Tibetan population during
the last centuries which she attibutes in part to the spread of Lamaism, Wang gives a good deal of the introduction
of
Yellow
Sect
structure and marriage patterns Wang presents of Ganzi is
in
information about how
Lamaism the
reminiscent
already given of Yongning: it
was
area.
third of all adult males lamaism upon sexual not precisely because
in
the the
the
serving
behavior
an area in which Lamaism
same
year
round.
A
latter
case
clerics much
landscape
of
social
and roughly a The affects of
residence, however, were
in Ganzi as they were in Yongning,
prohibited lamas from marrying also required that
aspects
as lamas.
and
The picture
in many ways of that
had a strong influence on virtually all life, with lamasaries dotting
affected family
more
lamasary and
acting
abbots
not
only
as "paters" but
live in special dormitories the determined
effort
was
made
95
generally, as this requirements indicates, to separate lamas from laymen in Ganzi than in Yongning. The introduction of Lamaism to Ganzi did the development
of
a
duolocal
visiting
not
lead
to
marriage system,
possibly due to the added restrictions of lama behavior, but as in Yongning the removal of one third the
pool
of
effects. which
potential
marriage
of
partners
As in Yongning the existence
one
the
of
had a
out of three women would in all
find a legal mate resulted in the emergence household
units
organization.
as
Many
the of
dominant
these
were
composed of an unmarried woman and female.
Either
because
important
situation likelihood of
of
childless
found
not
social
household,
siblings, ways
in
non-marital
form
her
lamas
males from
male
around
or the
prohibitions against engaging in sexual activity, or because some
laymen
had relations with more than one woman,
combination frequently
of both, Ganzi women without marriage had
children outside of wedlock.
or
a
partners
Wang
claims
that unmarried women had fewer children than married ones on average, a fact that had important demographic implications, but
her
figures show that most single women still
had
at
one
in
mothers were likely to
be
least one child.
The situation that
which
third
almost
without
a
marriage
of
partners.
all
This
resulted
led
to
was
sister-sister,
sister-brother, aunt-niece household
arragements.
this
to
arrangement
may
have
served
provide
At first care
for
96
non-marrying, non-childbearing females, but later became important
childrearing alternative.
found that within an area consisting than half 58 couple. It
of
is
all
an
A survey done in
1945
of
more
11
villages
households were not based upon a marital
unclear
from
the
evidence
whether
or
not
matrilineal descent made any inroads into Ganzi society, but it
is
easy to
recognized
see
so
many
"paters" might lead to
composition
in
which
mother and
the
rate
often
most
question
how
of
children
found
without
matrilineality.Household
children live
mother's
born
together
with
their
brother, sister or aunt is at any in
matrilineal
matrilineality,
or
matrilineal tendencies aside, the
at
societies. least
The
incipient
Ganzi case shows dramatic
social effects which the introduction of a religion can
set
in motion. The Nayar family system, unlike those of the peoples of Ganzi and Yongning, was not introduction of a broadly
similar
new set
affected
religion, of
but
specifically was
post-archaic social forces least
bolstering
can
duolocal
matrilineal customs. Naxi "marriage" system
affected
circumstances.The
therefore adds further to the viability of
by
the
Nayar tenet
the by
a
case that
work toward producing or at marriage
systems
and/or
The similarities between the Nayar and have
already been discussed.
It is
97
important to note here how external pressures worked to form these two systems and the development of matrilineal descent rules that accompanied them. There
is
no
way
to
determine
precisely
when
matrilineality first appeared among the Nayar, just as there is
no
definitive proof that it did not exist
before the introduction of Lamaism. What is
in
Yongning
clear
in
both
cases is that the marriage and descent systems which were to remain
predominant
in Yongning until 1956
and
among
the
Nayar until they came into contact with radically new forces in
the
18th
and
19th 59
centuries
post-archaic times.
The
and descent was
introduction
the
turning
took point
shape
during
for Nayar kinship
of military conscription
during the native kingdoms period(circa the end of the first millenium A.D.); a system which
like
Yellow
Sect
Lamaism
placed stringent limitations upon the residency choices of e large segment of the male prohibited
any
Nayar
population. males
from
No
rules
living
actually
in
conjugal
households, but since all males of military age (defined some cases as covering the years between 16 were requried barracks
to
spend
and
40
in
or 45)
almost all of their time living in
the formation of such households was
logistically
impossible. The impetus toward
the
household, based upon some
development sort
of
of an alternative
stable but non-marital
98
unit, was
thus
as strong among the Nayar as among the Naxi
and led to similar consequences. to directly
claim
adoption of a the
that
matrilineality
duolocal
resulted
was probably the end product.
relationships" he wrote,"were
difficut
these conditions (imposed by natalocal residence pattern if
already
the
Nayar's
the was
"Stable marital
to
maintain
military the
nevertheless
them
outcome," then adding
descent system was
with
"little
under
system) and the
not
matrilineal
the military system and the concomminant
pattern left
from the
residence marriages, arising out of
special pressures of the military system,
implies this
that
Robin Fox, while unwilling
option
but
residence
to
make
it
student
of
number
of
60 matrilineal".
Kathleen
Gough,
the
leading
Nayar, confirms this notion by pointing out ways in which the relieving facilitated
their
of
men
performance
of
from
society,
"sophisticated
which
and
matrilineal descent marriage
as
an
Fox
goes
paternal
military
overall picture presented by students complex
the
of so
tasks.
adaptation
and to
The
the Nayar is of a far
as
advanced," that developed a reckoning
duties 61
to
call
system
of
non-monogamous duolocal
special
circumstances;
a
picture strikingly similar in outline if not in every detail to that which I have painted of the Yongning Naxi. If Yongning
one
shifts from a"living social
marriage
and
adaptation many of the
descent apparent
to a view
fossil" which
contradictions
view
of
stresses associated
99
with Naxi society
cease
to
be
problematic;
when
it
is
considered that special historical condi tions connected with the introduction axia marriage
of Yellow Sect practices could have shaped
and matrilineality many of the questions that
evolutionary explanation leave unanswered can quite easily. example, fossil"
which view,
The
advanced
is no
the
requires
"living
social
explanation.
When
matrilineality and axia are no longer seen
as
remnants
the primordial past, any reason to assume that the Naxi should or must cease to exist.
be
"primitive"
presents problems of
division of authority
labor
yet
explanation
to
It
in technological terms
for was
the evolutionary but natural
of males from participating concentrated
political and extra-domestic religious The
complex
nature
patterns is a third point which with reference concept.
for a complex
result when Lamaism discouraged a
simultaneously
males' hands.
Yongning
politico-religious and domestic domains
not adaptation perspective.
number
of
Likewise, the division of authority between
males and femals in
large
addressed
nature of Naxi technology, for
inconsistent with longer
be
is
in a
agricultural
great
authority of
more
deal in
of
these
Yongning residence easily
explained
to adaptation than to "living social fossil"
100
Persistence The final point to take up regarding Naxi marriage descent concerns the persistence marriage in Yongning
society
and
of matrilineality and axia
during the last three decades
after the Revolution. Naxi persistence has been in the
face
of strong external pressures for change.
That Naxi marriage
and
such
descent
practices
have
illustrative of
the
strongly rooted
in
hundred
instituions
Yongning reckoning
years, with
resilience historical
axia
build
withstood of
cultural
tradition.
such as
marriage
several
associated
matrilineal
up such inertia that
in
descent
displacing
process.
is
institutions After
those
and
bound to be a long and difficult
pressure
them
is
Here I will look
first at the pressures exerted against these institution and then
at
the
implications
of
their
persistence for
the
adaptation theory advanced in the previous section. The main pressure
for
from the fact that the axia incompatible
with
the
change has been mainly resulted mating
"yifu
practice
7iqrl"(one
is
obviously
husband,
one
wife)monogamy system officially sanctioned and encouraged by the Chinese government.
Although the
government
maintains
that the cultural traditions and customs of minority peoples should be accorded special respect, fair
allowance
been
strictly
the
policy
of
for differing cultural traditions adhered
to.
The Naxi mating
and
making has
not
descent
101
systems were "Cultural
targets
of
Revolution"
radicalism
which
particularly
the
intensive
(1966-1976), current
disasterous.
was
an
especially
a
period
administration The
criticize Confucius" propaganda period
criticisim
"criticize
drive
difficult
during the of
extreme
regard
as
Lin
Biao,
near the end of this time
for the
Naxi.
Criticism was originally aimed at the followers of Lin Biao, but was broadened by the
"Gang
of Four" to encompass other
targets, and ended up including even veiled attacks late
Premier
Zhou
Enlai.
The
following
is
on a
the brief
62 description of the conditions which prevailed in Yongning, during
this period when the radicals' influence
penetrated
into every facet of social life: During 1974-1975 the "pilin, pikong" (criticize Lin, criticize Confucius) campaign came. Some people began to denounce the matrilineal family and "visiting marriage" (or axia) systems, demanding that everyone "reach the sky with a single jump," and "leap over the 63 centuries." Work teams were despatched to Yongning to promote the "yifu yiqi" movement. The work teams set guidelines and deadlines, rushing people into real "marriages" and issuing free "marriage certificates;" those who refused to marry were penalized by having their work points and grain rations reduced, and by being disturbed in other ways. When I visited Yongning last year people were still trying to get over the aftereffects of this campaign and "luoshi zhengce" (lit. "implement policy," but here restore the 64 proper enforcement of government orders.) After the fall of the
Gang
of Four, many Naxi couples
who had been forced to marry during the 1970s divorced. many Naxi continue to adhere to
customary
ways
and
Now still
102
consider a large househod essential for a happy
home
Believing in the wisdom of the proverb "renduo
life.
liliang
(the more people, the greater the strength), they hold the large household is the ideal form for generating income.
Monogamous
wife
the
work
that family
marriages are bound to lead to troubled
families, they claim, to get
because
there are never enough hands
done, the children are always crying, the
complaining, and the debts continually mounting.
the sake of preserving family conclude that, the visiting 65 necessary.
unity
and
marriage
well-being,
and
persistence
traditional
attitudes;
the
practical
difficulties
also a reaction to by
uncompromisngly enforce the system of during the mid-1970s; and the
system."
newly An
also
instituted
illustration
a
they
non-monogamous
mating patterns is both a reflection of the
created
For
yidu systems are
The desire of so many Naxi to return to
under
da"
of
very
real
attempts
to
monogamous
marriages
reflection of incentives "household
of the
kinds
responsibility of
difficulties
imposed marriages produced led to is provided by the case of a male team
leader.
The
man
told
an
investigator
who
visited Yongning in the early 1980s that he had been leading an axia
life
with a woman from the same village before the
"pilin pikong" campaign, and that they had born a son. the campaign was launched, they were forced to married and they begen
co-habitating
within
be
When
formally
half-a-month.
103
This presented their
serious problems, since each was living with
respective
matrilineal
yidus,
responsibilities within these serving as the group.
dabu
Neither
obligations.
of
a
could
Yet because
and
had
households, fairly
easily of
the
large be
important woman
extended
freed
of
even family
familial
the work teams' policies they
were obliged to choose to live together as members of one or the other's household, and so decided family group.
to
join
the
male's
After the fall of the Gang of Four, they each
returned to their respective natal units. This persistence
of
axia
and
matrilineality
first seem to be at odds with lama-centered
may at
explanation
of
these institution given earlier, but this "contradiction" is more apparent than real.
Lamaism is no longer officially an
important part of Yongning society. since
Yellow
It
Sect practices were the
is
arguable
impetus
that
behind
development of axia and matrilineality it should be easy change
Naxi
argument
marriage
has
and descent
patterns
one crucial problem, however.
the to
today.
This
Namely,
that
Lamaism, although having receded from its dominant position, remains
a
powerful force in Yongning
study conducted in the
society.
A
recent
area provides incontrovertible proof
of the continuing influence of Lamaism, noting that not only are people continuing to
perform
even many students receiving hold
Yellow
Sect rituals, but
advanced schooling continue to
to traditional "superstitions." The report finds
that
104
lamas are still held in and that there are a
high
significant
aspire to become lamas Even if
Lamaism
proclaimation
regard by the local populace,
had
when
number
they
a
since
the
Democratic Reform
of
then
Report
powerful force within
to
the
far
too
which
to
have been altered.
shows
Naxi
1956, is
period in terms of descent reckoning in
Educational
who 67
dispappeared in reality as well as by
expect traditional practices Yunnan
children
reach young adulthood.
several decades which have elapsed since short
of
Lamaism
still
As the to be
a
society, a descent and marriage
system developed to meet the needs of Yellow Sect paractices and ideas would most likely be maintained for at least a few generations. The
preceding
viewing
Naxi
sections
matrilineality
different historical and the case.
present
a
and axia
social
strong
case
relationship
context
I have suggested that rather than
being,
historical
attention should be focused circumstances
generally I have that
in
some
resorted to
associated
suggested cases
in
a
than is generally searching
archaic record for an explanation of how these systems into
for
on
with
the
the came
specific
Lamaism.
More
that although there is evidence
matrilineal
descent
reckoning
was
simply because of the uncertainty of paternity,
whatever the reason, there is equal evidence that
in
cases
different
matrilineality
circumstances.
developed
The causal factor
from
very
specifically
dealt
other
with
105
here,
namely
the
existence
against fathers acting as
of
paters
practices even
that
mitigate
when the biological
parentage of their children is not in doubt, may just be one of several possible conditions To conclude, in the case
of
leading the
to
Yongning
matrilineality. Naxi
unilinear
developmental models and monocausal explanatory schemes lead to obfuscation and unnecessary difficulties, can be avoided is adopted.
if
problems
that
a more flexible, multi-factoral approach
106
NOTE TO CHAPTER II 1 Lu
Zhengyu,
yan.jiu (Re searches
Shiqianqi
on
Prehistorical
(Beijing: Sanlian shudian,1961); shehui
yan.jiu
(A
zhongguo
Study
of
Guo
Chinese
Moro
Ancient
shehui Society)
Zhongguo
Chinese
gudai
Societies).
(Beijing: Kexue chuban she, 1954). 2
w
Lu, Prehistorical Chinese Society, p.4. 3 Zhuang Zi, the inner chapter (nei pian) of are believed to have been written by
Zhuang
this
Zhou
work
(369-286
B.C.). The remaining are thought to have been added later by his followers.
The
first
complete edition was compiled by
Guo Xiang of the Jin Dynasty (265-420 A.D.)(See 1961 edition published by Zhonghua shuju, Beijing). 4 Shi
Xingbang
Banpo
Commune)(Xi'an: Shaanxi Museum
Zhongguo
shizu gongshe
renmin
yuanshi
chupan
(The shi,
Banpo 1979);
shehui(China'Primitive
Clan Banpo
Society)
(Beijing: Wenwu chupan shi, 1977). 5 Song yuanshi
Zhaolin;
shehui
shi
Li (The
Jiafang; Chinese
and
Du
History
Yaoxi of
Society) (Beijing: Wenwu chupan shi, 1983),p.178.
Zhongguo Primitive
107
Shi, The Banpo Clan Commune, p.
113.
7 Some of the
noticeable
writings on the Yongning Naxi
include: l>Zhan Chengxu; Wang Chengquan; Li Jinchun; and Liu Longchu Yongning Naxi zu de a'zhu hunyin (A'zhu Marriage and Matrilineal
Song
Zhaolin
Matrilineal System of
muxi
jianting
Families among the Yongning
Naxi). (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chuban Ruxian and
he
she,1980).
Yongning Naxi zu de muxi zhi (The
the
Yongning
Naxi) (Kunming: Yunnan
renmin chuban she, 1983). 3>The Editorial Group of jianshi Naxi
zu
jianshi
(A
Nationality) (Kunmin: Yunnan Wang
Chengquan
(Matrilineal
Yunnan
Families
Brief
History
renmin
Yongning among
chupan
of
Naxi zu de
the
(Outlook)
(No.4,
(The
1981),
the
muxi
Yongning
Exotic
Naxi
zu Naxi
shi, 1984). 4> jiating
Naxi)
Zhishi(Encyclopaedism) (No.11, 1980), pp.29-32. Qiyi de nuxin wangguo
2>Yan
Baike
5>Li Shiyi,
Female Kindom) Liaowang
pp.24-25.
6>
Xie
Jian,
Shilun
Yunnan Yongning Naxi zu de azhu hun (On the Azhu Marriage of the
Yongning
Naxi in Yunnan) Shehui
Social Science Front) (No. 3, Enchang, Naxi zu
de
among the Naxi)
Minzu
(No.8, 1962),
Yidu
among
zhanxlan
pp.237-43.
7>
(The Song
muxi jiating (The Matrilineal Families tuanjie (The Unity of Nationalities)
pp32-34.
shehui xingzhi wunti
1980),
kexue
(The
8>
Zhi Qian, Naxi zu muxi yidu de Social Nature of the Matrilineal
the Yongning Naxi), Minzu
Studies) (No.5, 1981), pp.59-62.
Yanjiu
(Nationality
9> Zhan Chengxu, Yongning
108
Naxi zu muxi fuxi bingcun jiating shixi (An Matrilineal-Patrilineal Yongning
Naxi)
Zhongguo
Coexisting shehui
Families
kexue
Sciences) (No. 4, 1981), pp.209-20.
Analysis on the among
(China *s
the Social
10> Yan Ruxian, Jiating
chansheng he fazhan de huo huashi (The Living fossil for the Origin
and
Development of Family), Zhongguo
shehui
kexue
(China' Social Sciences), (No. 3, 1982), pp.187-204.
8 Scholars have used different
terms
to
refer to this
mating patern, including "azhu" and "axiao", but recently an official statement has deemed of what locals themselves
call
"axia" the best approximation the
couplings.
Ribao Haiwaiban(Peopie' Daily, Oversea
Edition)
See Renmin August
3,
1985, for a discussion of this terminology. 9 Zhan et al.,Azhu marriage, p.
71.
10 Yan and Song Matrilineal System, p.104. 11
Ibid.
12 Ibid., p.100. 13 This is definition derived
from
R.
on
Keesing's
system of cognatic descent is Kin
Structure(New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Groups Winston,
and
Social
1975),p.148.
109
The question
of
why
such
a
mixed
system
should
occur
concomitantly with matrilineal and patrilineal systems, the
further
question v _of
the
relationships
various systems will be explored in a later
among
and these
section of this
chapter. 14 George
Murdock Social Structure (New York: The
Free
Press, 1965, originally published in 1949), p.86. 15 Kathleen Marriage."
Gough,
"The Nayars and the
In Marriage, Family, and Residence, P.
and J. Middleton, eds.,(Garden 1968), pp.
Definition
of
Bohannan
City: Natural History Press,
49-71.
16 Kathleen Schneider
Gough,
and
Kinshipo.(Berkeley: p.
K.
"Nayar: Gough
Central
Kerala."
(eds.)
In
D.
Matrilineal
University of California Press,
1968),
360. 17 Yan and Song, Matrilineal System, p.102. 18 Zhan et al., Azhu marriage, p.93. 19 Ibid, p.94.
20 Lewis
Morgan
defines marriage in a
loose
fashion.
110
All mating pattern including relating viewed
to as
exogamy
those
within his
marriage.
wholly
devoid of rules
evolutionary
See Ancient Society
World Publishing Company, 1963, orig.
(New
schema
are
York:
The
1877).
21 Zhan et al., Azhu Marriage, p.290. 22
Yan and Song, Matrilineal System, pp.4-5. 23 Morgan, Ancient Society, p.354. 24 Ibid., p.13. 25 Fang Guoyu, "Moxie minzu kao" (A Study of Ethnic
Group,
Minzu
xue
yan.jiu
jikan(The
the
Moxie
Journal
of
Ethnological Research) (1944), pp.79-109.
26 Chang
Qu,
Huayang
Guozhi,
written
in
Jin
Dynasty(265-420 A.D.)(Shanghai:Shangwu yinshuguan, 1922) 27 Fan Zho, Man trans. Eastern
Shu
(Book of the Southern Barbarians),
by G. Luce and ed. Studies,
Cornell
by G. Oey (Ithaca: Depart of Far University,
1961,
originally
published in Chinese between 860-873 A.D.)
2 Peng Rushi Liu zhao
jiwen
(Notes
on
Trip
to
Liu
Ill
Zhao), recited from Zhao et al., Azhu Marriage, p.291. 29 Yan and Song Matrilineal System, p.69. 30 Qian
Daomo,
Yunnan
Tongzhi(A
History
of
Yunnan)
(1736), vol.4. 31 Song Lian Yuan Shi (History
Yuan
Dynasty),
(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1976, orig.
14th-17th
Century),
p.1465; Shi Fan Dian Shi
of
(Kunming: Yunnan
(The
of
the
Thread
tongzhi ju, 1914, orig.
Yunnan
History)
1887), v.2, folio
10a. 32 See Zhan et al. The Ancient Na-Khi
Azhu Marriage, p.
Kingdom
of
Harvard University Press,1947), includes
an
119; and J. Rock,
Southwest China (Cambridge: pp.
365-381.
English translation of sections
The of
latter
one
such
chronicle. 33 See tingzhi(The
Zhu
Tingzhen
Records
of
and
Yie
Yongbei
(Yunnan: Banzang fengming shuyuan,
Sutong
Yongbei
Independent
zhili
Prefecture)
1904) v.7, pp.32-34; and
Rock The Na-Khi Kingdom v.2, pp.355-414. 34 See Fan Zhou, The Southern Barbarians (1961), p. in which Yongning is referred to as Santanlang.
59,
112
35 Rock, The Na-Khi Kingdom, p.359. 36 Ibid. 37 Zhan et al.
Azhu Marriage, p.11.
38 Rock, The Na-Khi Kingdom,p.391. 39 Zhan et al.
Azhu Marriage, p.319.
40 Ibid, pp.72-74. 41 Ibid, p.286. 42 Ibid. 43 Rock, The Na-Khi Kingdom, p.391. 44 Zhan et al.
Azhu Marriage, p.
286;
Also
see
The
Editorial Group of Naxi zu jianshi, Naxi zu jianshi (A Brief History of Naxi Nationality), (Kunming: Yunnan renmin chuban shi,1984), p.126. 45 In
one historical document, Weixi wen.jian ji
of the Journey to Weixi)written
by
Yu
Qingyuan
in
(Notes 1769,
113
there is some indication that the custom of sending at least one of a family's three sons to to this
period
in
the lamasery was not unique
Naxi history, at least among the elite:
"Chieftains having two or three sons must have
one become a
lama."(Shanghai: Shangwu yishuguan, 1936). The
practice
of
sending one of three sons to a lamasery is also common among some Tibetan
population.
See Cheng Xianmin, "Lama jiao dui
zangzu renkuo de yingxiang (The Impact of Lamaism on Tibetan Population)"
in
Xinan
minzu
Southwestern Minorities), Minorities Studies ed.
The
yan.jiu
(Research
Association
(Chengdu:
on
the
of Southwestern
Sichuan minzu chuban she,
1983), p.60. 46 Zhan et al., Azhu Marriage, p.165. 47 Zhan et al., Azhu Marriage, p.124. 48 Ibid, p.131. 49 Ibid. 50 Yan and Song Matrilineal System, p.410. 51 Rock,The Na-Khi Kingdom, plate 213.
52 Yan and Song,Matrilineal System, p.90-91.
114
53 Ibid., p.
410.
54 Zhan et al., Azhu Marriage,p.174. 55 Roger Keesing, Kin Groups
and Social Structure, (New
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1975), p.148. 56 Zhan et al., Azhu Marriage, p.319. 57 Wang Duanyu, "Lama and Tibetan
Population),
jiao in
yu Zang zu renkuo" (Lamaism Minzu
Yanjiu
(Nationalities
Studies),(No. 2, 1984) pp.44-55. 58 Ibid, p.46. 59 In Morgan's view, the
archaic
period
refers to the
savagery and barbarism stages in his developmental model and ends with
the
change
of descent from female to male lines
and the beginning of civilization.
60 Robin
Fox, Kinship and Marriage,(Baltimore:
Books Inc. 1967),p.100.
61 Gough, "Nayar: Central Kerala" (1961), p.372.
Penguin
115
Li Shiyi, "Qiyi de nuxing wangguo"("The Exotic Female Kingdom") in Liaowang
(Outlook),(No.4,1981).pp.24-25.
63 During radical people
to
bypass
periods there have been calls for the gradualist
paths
"leaping" from one stage to another. in production, communism
development
In some cases
by
"leaps"
or "leaps" from socialism to fully developed
have
been
at
issue;
"backward" matrilineal people evolutionary
to
terms
to
to
the
here
the
"leap
more
call
is
for
ahead" in cultural
"advanced"
stage
of
patrilineal monogamy. 64 Since the fall of the Gang of has made the
strenuous
"Cultural
efforts
Four,
the
government
to make up for the excesses of
Revolution" by reemphasizing the
respecting
minority
groups'
traditions.
"Luoshi zhengce" here
cultural
and
policy
of
religious
refers to correcting the
policy mistakes of the Gang of Four. V
a/
Yan and Song Matrilineal System, p.431. 66 Li "The Exotic Kingdom," p.25. 67 Yunnan Education
Research
Group,
"Yongning gongshe
mosuo ren jiaoyu cubu diaocha"("A Preliminary on
the
Mosuo[Naxi]
Education in
Yongning
Investigation Commune"),
in
Kunming
Shiyuan
Xuebao (The Journal of
College),(No.3, 1983),p.78.
Kunming
Teacher
117
III. THE TREATMENT OF "PRIMITIVE SOCIETY": KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY, MARRIAGE AND PERIODIZATION The
three terms that comprise this chapter's
are all closely linked
subtitle
with Morgan's evolutionary framework
for human development.
According
to Morgan the terms used
by a people to denote kin relations are inextricably to their marriage system the Thus
time
the
terras
linked 1
originated.
kinship terminology provides a "linguistic fossil"
which pre-existing marriage patterns can In Morgan's view, since every form associated
with
socio-economic
a
specific
development,
of
stage
be
reconstructed.
marriage of
by
system
technological
reconstruction
of
is and
marriage
patterns can place a culture precisely along the "primitive" to "civilized" continuum.
Thus the three concepts mentioned
in the subtitle, when correlated one with the other, provide all the essential building blocks for the construction of an integrated, unilinear and comprehensive evolution.
The
following
discussion
model will
of treat
cultural each of
these points in sequence. Kinship Terminlogy Morgan's position as of kinship terminology is field
of
the
virtually unchallenged within the
Chinese ethnology.
recently raised questions
founding father of the study
However, some
concerning
scholars
specific
aspects
have of
118
Morgan's
developmental model.
The most important of
issues are: (a) failure of Morgan's
model
inter-generational
contradiction
merging;
(b)
Morgan's assertion that
Hawaiian
the
classification
simplest
form
archaic whereas among Chinese use
fewer
of
recent
type
ethnographic
to
these
account
for
between
kinship systems are and
thus the
findings
of
most
systems
minority groups show even greater merging and terms;
(c)
question
of
whether
kinship
terminologies are
best understood as "social fossils" or as
changing systems;
(d)
reductionism
implicit
in
Morgan's
explanation of kin terminologies purely in terms of marriage
2 patterns.
The
following
three
examples
illustrate
the
deficiencies of Morgan's mono-causal emphasis in relation to Chinese kinship terminologies. The
first
example
concerns
the
Yongning
Naxi.
Ethnographic evidence drawn from suggests that Yongning Naxi terminology patterns
is
of
a
mating
residence patterns.
sensitive
reflection
practices,
descent
of
the
reckoning
One indication of this is seen
geographical distribution of
these
Yongning, the axia relationship
there
patterns.
In
in
and the
central
with duolocal residence and
matrilineal descent are most common areas such as Jiaze Xiang
current
whereas
in
outly
ing
is found a predominance of
monogamous marriages and patrilineal descent systems.
These
two localities are separated by only a few score
kilometers
but
remarkably
the
terminologies
in
current
use
are
119
different. In central Yongning, most of the terms life refer strictly to
used
in
daily
matrilineal and matrilateral descent
relations; there is a notable absence of independent affinal and
patrilateral
terms.
The
relations of matrilineal and MoMoMo, MoMo, Mo, MoBr, Si,
basic
terms
matrilateral Br,
Da,
So,
DaDa, DaSo. Terms for affinal relations SiHu are used only in the which
formal
marriage
small
obtains and
descent
include
MoSiDa,
MoSiSo,
such
number
as
of
they
BrWi
households practise
virilocal or uxorilocal permanent residence. involved
designating
For
length of the
relationship.
used
families
regardless
of
no the
The normal practice among men
and women involved in axia relationships terminology
in
either
in axia relationships with duolocal residence,
independent affinal terms are not
and
is
to
adopt
of their partner in addressing their
the
partner's
family members(See Figure 8). For example, a man will follow his axia partner, addressing her "brother" as "brother";
her a
"mother"
woman
as "mother" and
will likewise address
her partner's "mother" and "brother" by the same term. explanation given by Naxi that it
is
relationship.
zhe'
marriage
for
this practice is
a simple courtesy in the context of an informal Informants contrast
relationship created 'kua
informants
The
this
with
the
affinal
by formal marriages since it lacks the
(kin tie) bond thought to 3 relations. The lack of a
characterize specialized
formal affinal
120 FIGURE 8. TERMINOLOGY USED IN CENTRAL YONGNING FAMILIES (INVOLVED ONLY IN AXIA RELATIONSHIP WITH DUOLOCAL RESIDENCE)
3l>
^
3°
O v
J J !<>J O 9
1 10^
O 10v
•
A O 9 IOT 10
1 10
6. Si. 7. Axia. 8. SiSo. 3.M0M0. 9. No kin term used. h. MoMoBr. 10. Use same terms Ego's 5. Br. axia partner uses. Note: If Ego is female, everything remains the same except that No. 8 will be called son and the right side No. 8 will be tied to Ego instead of No. 7, whose sex has been changed to male. 1. Mo.
2. MoBr.
Source: Zhan et al. Axia Marriage, pp.218-51} and Yan & Song Matrilineal System, pp.213-16.
121
terminology in axia relationships seems
well
suited
to
a
form of mating which is so unstable that a single individual may conceivably have over
a
hundred
axia
partners
in
a
lifetime. Another characteristic in the
kinship
terminology
the central Yongning is the custom of not addressing or patrilateral relatives by specific kin' terms. practice in addressing namely 'awu* rather
Fa
is
than
to
use
the
of
father
The common
term for MoBr,
the
more geneologically specific
term for Fa, namely 'ada.'
It
is also important to mention
in this regard that all of
the male partners of a woman use
the term 'ze wu' in addressing her male offspring regardless of genitorship.
This is analagous to the existence but rare
usage of a pair of geneologically specific terms genitor may refer to his son 4
by which a
('ruo') and a son may refer to
his genitor ('ada').
This raises the question of
specific terms exist
if
relevance.
they
Here we may recall
discussion concerning the way
have a
little
point
or
from
of those axia relationships which have
lasted
is paternity recognized.
not treat differently their the
no our
such social
earlier
paternity is recognized among
the Naxi. In Yongning, only among the very small
three decades
why
sons
and
proportion for
two
or
Most adult males do daughters from other
village children
of
same age nor do they have special
responsibilities
toward their offspring.
Similarly,
there
is no social basis for children to distinguish between their
122
biological
fathers and their mother's other axia
Because the
partners.
recognition of paternity is relatively weak and
terminologically subsumed under the matrilateral term
MoBr,
there is a general absence of patrilateral terminology among the axia families(also see Figure 8). The small number of families which do employ 'ada' and related patrilateral for FaBr and 'ani' for FaSi) practice permanent
term
terms of address (e.g.-'apo' are
virilocal
the
or
all
either
uxorilocal
those
which
residence
in
either formal marriages or
in long-term axia relationships.
In these cases, there
also
are
formal obligations between
the father and his offspring including the responsibility to provide financial support. In the outlying areas of the Yongning Jingsha Jiang river, monogamous families
Basin reckoning
patrilineally constitute a clear majority. for Fa,
'apo'
near
the
descent
Terms like 'ada'
for FaBr, 'ani' for FaSi, and 'apu' for FaFa 5
are extensively used.
There
are also common affinal terms
such as 'cu mi' for BrWi, 'cu ba' for
SiHu,
SoWi, and 'ruo ma' for DaHu. Differences such
'qie
mi'
for
as these give
some indication of the contrastive systems of kin reckoning, descent and residence between
central Yongning and outlying
areas. The Xinjiang
case Uyguar
of
the
Kazak living in
Autonomous
Region
China's
exhibits
a
Northwest different
123
kinship pattern. occurs
in
The distinctive generational merging which
Kazak
kinship
terminology
explained, as Morgan's theory would patterns
because
there
is
intergenerational marriage.
cannot
have
a
it,
be by
marriage
proscription
against
Instead it appears
the Kazak custom whereby grandparents
fully
often
to
act
reflect as
their
grandchildren's foster parents.
When a Kazak son marries he
establishes neo-local residence
with
his
child
sent
back
born
husband's
of
the
union
natal home.
is
wife.
The first
to live in
This son or daughter's
the
relationship
to his or her grandparents is in nearly all respects that of
6 parent to child. "parent"
by
Thus that Kazak refer to "grandparent" and
the
same
term
reflects
a
custom
only
peripherally related to marriage practice. Finally,
the Han terminology system of China's
"majority" group provides clear
evidence that factors other
than marriage institutions affect kin designation. reckoning practices, as well as
marital
presence
Han
felt
throughout
the
mono-factoral explanation of One's
father's
this system, but
it
sons
are
Descent
make
their
and hence
any
is bound to be inadequate. (grandfather),
in
mother's father is called "waizufu"
(outside grandfather); sons' sons daughters'
ones,
system
father is called "zufu" one's
ethnic
"wai
father's brother's son is
are "sun" (grandsons) but
sun" a
,f
tang
(outside
grandsons);
a
xiongdi" (same ancestor
male cousin) but a father's sister's son is a "biao xiongdi"
124
FIGURE 9. CHINESE
KIN TERMS
Zonaqinj? (Members of Patrilineal Group)
FOR COMMON RELATIONSHIP
Fei Zongqin (Non-members)
Relationship
Term
i
FaFa
Zufu
HoFa
Vai Zufu
i FaMa
Zumu
MoMo
Wai Zumu
Bofu Shufu
MoBr MoSi
Jiufu Yimu
FaSi
Gumu
j
MoBrSo
Biao Xiongdi
j
MoSiSo
Biao Xiongdi
MoBrDa
Biao Jiemei
MoSiDa
Biao Jiemei
FaSiSo
Biao Xiongdi
FaSiDa
Biao Jiemei
FaBr(elder) FaBr(younger)
FaBrSo
Tang Xiongdi
i •
Relationship
Term
BrSo
Zhi
SiSo
Vai Sbeng
BrOa
Zhinu
SiDa
Vai Shengnu
SoSo
Sun
DaSo
Vai Sun
SoDa
Sunnu
Da Da
Vai Sunnu
|
i Female members w i l l be excluded from the patrilineal group after marriage. Both Wai and Biao l i t e r a l l y mean "outside" in Chinese.
125
(outside male cousin); and
so
on(Figure
with "wai" or "biao" prefixes attached excluded from one's lineage, which
played
vital
roles
the
9). All relatives
to
their
patrilineal
in all aspects
Chinese life, including inheritance
and
name
organization
of
traditional
ancestor
and continues to be important to this day.
are
worship,
The existence of
special "wai" and "biao" terms shows that factors other than simply
marriage
patterns
have
played a crucial
role
in
shaping Han terminology.
Consanguine Marriage: Validity and Substitute As already noted Morgan's developmental schema of human marriage is derived from his study of kinship terminologies, thus as Chinese scholars have begun to regarding kin doubts
designation
concerning
classifications.
the
systems
question
they
universality
Since
the
most
have of
primacy
to
ideas
also raised
his
marriage
significant
critical
discussions have generally concerned Morgan's evolutionary
his
consanguine
assigning
family
of
systems,
considerations of this issue will be the main focus here. 7 Tan
Leshan
presents
one
of
the
most
important
critiques of Morgan's notion that the consanguine family was the earliest of all marital arrangements and
8 which all later forms evolved.
the
one
from
126
Tan's challenge to studies
of
customs of
the
Morgan
"yibeihun"
the
Lisu,
Nu
is based upon evidence from
(cross-generational and
Dulon
peoples
marriage) of
Yunnan.
Ethnographic investigations made after the Revolution that
the
ideal
marriage
different generations was
between in
fact
consanguineal
found kin
of
commonly practiced.
In
Morgan's terms, the Lisu, Nu and Dulong should be classified as "primitive," but as Tan notes this was far from the case: despite their cross-generational marriage customs all
three
peoples
which
were
essentially
according to Morgan is
monogamous,
generally
a
found
practice
only in "advanced"
marriage systems. The
"yibeihun" practices Tan describes took a
of forms among the different peoples that The
Lisu,
of
Tengchong
example, practiced
a
County
custom
in
engage
variety in
Yunnan Province,
whereby
a
paternal
aunt-nephew
and
for
couple's youngest
daughter was often married to their eldest grandson. favored
them.
paternal
The Nu
uncle-niece
arrangements to such an extent that within one lineage group a fifth of all couples were members of different generations who
were
variety
patrilineally of
Southwestern
related
to each other.
minority
Dulong, Wa, Benglong, and again
the
groups, Nu,
cross-generational Levirate is standard.
the
Among
including practice
a the of
In such systems a
widow may be required or at least expected to marry her late 9 husbands nephew or even father. All these practices raise
127
doubts
about
the
historical primacy
of
the
prohibition
against cross-generational marriages among kinsmen. Drawing upon the above evidence Tan presents one of the most
forceful critiques of Morgan's principles of
thus far advanced by a Chinese ethnologist. both
with
the primacy of consanguine
criticizes the way primary
stage
unquestioned has
affected
marriage
He takes
marriage,
issue
and
also
belief in such a universal Chinese
ethnology
as
a
discipline, saying: "The reason Chinese academics cling to their belief in the 'consanguine family theory' is that it is rooted in canonical works. Working from preconceived ideas scholars search high and low for legends and myths relating to brothers and sisters marrying each other and for real life examples of such marriages taking place. Because Morgan derived his notion of 'consanguine family' from the evidence of Polynesian kinship terminology (the Malayan system) people have searched high and low for similar terminological systems. Nobody however, has tried to find proof that prohibitions against cross-generational marriages have always existed and in fact such 10 proof cannot be found." Other
scholars
have
used
different,
methods to challenge Morgan's consanguine basing their critiques upon
less
family
direct, 11 theory,
certain statements of Frederick
Engels' that appear to contradict Morgan's premises. highly complimentary of Morgan in times
diverges
ethnologists have justifying their
from at
Morgan's time
used
own positions.
most
places,
framework. these
Some
Though
Engels
at
Chinese
inconsistencies in
For example, in his Origin
128
of Family, Private Property and the State, Engels says
that
"in by far the majority of cases" clans "originated directly
12 from the punaluan family" 13 Capital
he
conjugal
implies
ones
have used
; in
that
note
annotation
larger
not vice versa.
this
his
clan
Some
of
groups
Chinese
Marx's preceded
ethnologists
written by Engels to defend their own
rejections of Morgan's claim that families preceded clans in human cultural evolution. The idea that the clan rather than the family should be taken as the starting point for analyzing the development of marriage
systems,
Chinese
an
ethnology,
implications.
idea
which
has
many adherents
far-reaching
in
theoretical
It has been used by some as the first link in
a chain of arguments that leads to idea of the consanguine type.
has
family
as
a rejection of the whole the primordial marriage
Cai Junsheng, for example, works from
this
idea
to
conclude that dual clan marriage, as opposed to intra-family mating,
was 14
the
earliest
form
of
post-promiscuous
coupling. The
works 15
particular,
of
Soviet
scholars, and U.E.
provide the basis for the concept
clan (or dual gens) marriage stage, have
recently
advanced
in
which
Cai
China. This dual
posits that early societies were divided into distinctive descent groups or
gens,
and
Semenov of
a
in dual
and
others
clan
theory
two
or
more
that the earliest
129
rules relating to sexual activity had to do with intra- and inter-gen mating.
Group marriages were standard
during this period, with all all the females of
Gen
B
regulating
male as
members of Gen A viewing
their
"wives"
and all male
members of Gen B taking all the females of either Gen in some cases Gen others
C
or
D
as
their
A
or
"wives." Semenov and
have used primatological and archaeological as
well
as cross-cultural data, to support the view that a dual clan stage should supplant the evolutionary time-table.
consanguine Australian
family
section system marital
arrangements are offered as an example of the marriage exchanges which
these
stage in the
theorists
type of group
claim existed in
all cultures at the earliest post-promiscuous stage. Such
ethnographic
evidence for the dual
must be reconciled with theory well
as
point
and
theory
for this many Soviet as
Chinese scholars lean heavily
to
clan
upon
the statement by Engels in his last
Engels. revision
They of
Origin that "at the time Morgan wrote his book our knowledge of
group
marriage
subsequent
comments
knowledge.
The
was
still
regarding
evidence
very
limited,"
and
recent
additions
to
presented
by
Lorimer
his that
Fison and
16 Howitt
after the
publication
possibility, according to
of Morgan's work raised the
Engels,
that
dual clan marriage
may have arisen directly out of promiscuity.
By introducing
this possibility, Engels has enabled Marxist ethnologists to argue that a dual clan stage should
be allowed to usurp the
130
place alloted to the consanguine family in Morgan's scheme. A final point to mention marriage
theory.
relating
to
the
dual
While the theory represents an
important
break away from strict adherence to Morgan's scheme, still
advanced
in
a
unilinear mode.
theory generally do not
reject
the
Proponents
basic
idea
clan
it
is
of
the
that
all
cultures have developed along the same evolutionary path but simply modify
the
stages
of
the
path
by
arguing
that
promiscuity was always followed by a kind of inter-gen group marriage
rather than by brother-sister mating.
strictly adhering to Morgan, the dual clan theory allowance for the arrangements
possibility
developed
that
Though
not
makes
no
the earliest exogamous
by one group may
have
been
quite
unlike those developed by another. The Periodization of Primitive Society According to Marxist theory "primitive society" to
the
first socio-economic formation in
mankind; a
form
of
social
the
organization
refers
history
of
characterized by
communal ownership of all property,
the
distinctions and state structures.
Studies of varieties of
the "primitive societies," occupy the
field
having
a
relevance, Yuanshi
of
Chinese
great
deal
as
typified
Shehui
Shi(The
Studies are
scientific by Lin History
of
class
an important place within
ethnology. of
absense
and
Yaohua's of
also
viewed
political
introduction
Primitive
as
Society.
to 17
131
According
to
Lin, the study of
"primitive
communism"
is
valuable because it illuminates "the pre-class stage through which all people's
pass
in
their historical development."
Lin writes: [It] has a special importance for all subsequent historical periods, for it is a stage of development that not only illuminates the origins of human beings and human society, but also sheds light upon the earliest forms of social relations. It provides insights into the nature of the rise of private property, social classes and the state, and allows us to see human knowledge, science and art in their embryonic 18 form. He
goes
on
to
stress
political importance of
this
the
special theoretical
stage for Marxists, since its
existence provides tangible proof iniquities
of
manifestations
feudalism of
that
and
such
from
things as the
capitalism
innate human qualities, but
results of specific historical conditions. learn
"primitive
and
societies"
are
not
rather
the
There is much to
in which there
is
"no
exploitation, no private property, no class differentiation, no oppression of women, and also their existence shows that a similar egalitarianism
no
war,"
Lin
says,
for
"scientific socialism," in which is
joined
with technological and
economic sophistication, can be realized. Clearly demarcated stages of development, including one typical place
of within
"primitive societies," thus have Marxist
theory,
as
they
an do
important within
all
132
evolutionary
schematizations
of
human
development.
Periodization has for this reason always attracted attention from
evolutionists,
from
the
19th
century
Victorian
anthropolist
Edward Tylor to the 20th century theorist 19 Leslie White. It is not surprising therefore that Chinese Marxist ethnologists, influenced by Marx, Engels and Morgan, have
placed equal emphasis on periodization.
However,
Chinese ethnologists, the subject of periodization much more
than
simply
labelling
cultures
for
involves
"primitive" or
"feudal"; it also entails an attempt to grasp the historical determinants of these stages of history, for as
Marx
wrote
in one of his letters: "It is a mistake to lump together all societies
in
which primitive communism is
geological formation, the made up of a piling up of
formation
of
found;
like
a
these societies is
foundationary
layers,
secondary
20 layers, and later layers." not only on
the
Attention is therefore focused
general divisions between major historical
epochs, but also on subdivisions within these epochs. There is a great deal of controversy and opinion
relating
sub-periodization
to
questions
among
Chinese
of
diversity
periodization
ethnologists.
First, Marx and Engels deal
topic
of
so
many
different terms to
refer
their
main
with
occasionally
the using
to seemingly similar" or identical
concepts, therefore leaving a diversity of
works,
and
The
reasons are twofold. in
of
interpretations.
great
deal
of
room
for
a
Second, there is such a wide
133
a variety
of ethnic minority group experience to periodize.
Divisions
and
cultures,
subdivisions
past
reconstruction,
and is
of
contemporary
present,
minority
through
historical
so complex a task that it is
bound
to
approaches
to
provoke controversy and differences of opinion. Of
the
six
or
seven
different
periodization championed by groups of Chinese
ethnologists,
two in particular stand out as worthy of special
attention:
Lin Yaohua's The History of Primitive Society and Yang Kun's 21 Minzu xue gailun(General Introduction to Ethnology, While keeping within the
general
framework
1984.
of Marxist and
Morganian evolutionary concepts, each proposes modifications to
Morgan's
six
stages
"pre-civilized" societies
for
into
the
lower,
division
of
middle,
and
all upper
"Savagery" and "Barbarism." In
The
primitive
History society
"yuanshiqun" (consanguined
of
is
(primitve commune),
Primitive
divided
into
horde), "shizu
Society
the
three
stages:
"xueyuan
gongshe"
The first, yuanshiqun, is taken to have
soon
human beings distinguished themselves
walking upright
of the
gongshe"
(clan
periods. as
era
commune) begun
from
as
apes,
marking the birth of the "primitive horde."
Both Ramapithecus and Australopithecus groups are designated "primitive hordes," since they are seen as first to be distinct in important ways
from
among other
the
very
primate
134
bands. This
designation of Ramapithecus and
groups as the earliest break
with
human
the
models—which
societies
traditional
dominated
controversy.
has
Soviet
represents a sharp
Soviet
periodization
Chinese ethnological
primitive society during the first Revolution—and
Australopithecus
two
been
a
matter
models
of
human
objection
on
after
the
decades of
considerable
evolution
Ramapithecus and Australopithecus groups to be giving rise to
thinking
consider
"pre-human,"
from Chinese ethnologists as soon
as the "primitive horde" theory was defined to include these
22 bands.
Claiming
groups
should
"human" society
that Ramapithecus
properly counters
carriage and anatomical feet.
The claim
also
truly
separates
humans
labor.
be
Australopithecus
outside
emphasis
the realm
placed
differentiation
of
on upright
between
hand
and
contradicts Engel's notion that what from
As Engels would have
in
placed
the
stone tools, the first step labor
and
apes is their it,
is
capacity
for
when people began to make taken
toward
engaging
a meaningful sense only then can they
"wanchuan xingcheng" (fully formed)
humans.
be
Homo
in
called erectus
thus becomes, in this reasoning, the first human. The
second
stage
in Lin's
model,
the
"consanguine
commune" period, corresponds to the age of Homo erectus. time reckoning, there is the early part of
the
In
Paleolithic
135
era represented in China
by such archaeological excavations
as those of "Peking Man" and "Lantian
Man."
The
artifacts
found at these sites permit only a partial reconstruction of the way
human
beings of this era used tools and made fire.
There is much less evidence, however, for the reconstruction of social organization.
As a
result
they
rely
primarily
upon Morgan's postulates relating to the consanguine family, which have already
been
discussed in the previous section.
In addition to legendary brother and
and
factual
evidence relating to
sister marriages and references to Engels, upon
which defenders of the consanguine marriage theory generally depend, an excerpt from Marx's personal notes on used as a pillar for their simply:
"state
of
family
points to 23 intercourse."
arguments.
society indicated an
anterior
The proponents of Lin's
the
"Middle
Morganian
by
in
mid-to-late
consanguine
of
promiscuous
commune,
corresponds
to
Savagery" through "Upper Barbarism" in
schema.
From
technological
the
terms
Paleolithic
Matrilineality is thought part of
says
periodization model claim that
perspective
evolution, this period is that in which emerges;
excerpt
is
the
condition
its third stage, that of the clan the ages of
This
Morgan
to
Homo
of
human
Sapien
first
it
corresponds
through
Neolithic
predominate
to
the ages.
during the first
this period, gradually giving way to patrilineality
near the end
of
the
clan
commune
era.
This period was
136
particularly
rich
in
terms
of
cultural,
economic
and
technological innovation, since, according to proponents
of
Lin's
of
periodization
exogamy,
pottery
model,
it
making,
witnessed
agriculture,
the
origin
trading,
private
property. The other periodization that of Yang Kun and
his
model
to
associates, like 24
above, also consists of three stages. Yang begins with a stage horde" — then
As
characterized
though he defines this stage
introduces
new
be considered here,
terms,
"clan
that in
by
outlined
Lin's
the
"primitive
differently society"
model
and
society," to denote the second and third stages of
—
but
"tribal cultural
evolution. The major
difference
between
centers on the origin of exogamy complete
promiscuity
to
and
clan-based
Yang omits Lin's "consanguine
Yang the
and
transition
social
of
human
commune" stage, claiming that
development.
First
accidentally, matings between members
of
"primitive
horde"
stage,
according
of the first
taking
place
different
gradually became part of marital traditions at the
from
organization.
exogamous practices began to emerge at the end stage
Lin's models
to
the
groups end
Yang.
of The
establishment of these traditions, which took a corporate as opposed to individual form
with exogamous marriages linking
all the females of group A with all the males of group B and
137
so forth, marks the dawning
of
"clan
society"
in
Yang's
model. "Clan
society,"
once
it
takes
increasingly complex social system,
hold,
Yang
becomes
argues
an
and it is
this complexity which ultimately leads to its replacement by "tribal" systems. important
The emergence of clans is accompanied by
innovations
technology.
in
the
spheres
of
economy
A more sophisticated division of labor and more
complex
tools
broaden
the
made it possible for scope
of their
clans
activities.
to
continually
The
increasing
complexity of society makes it attractive for clans to ever
closer
associations
with
interaction between clans only,
is
other
limited
clans.
At
to accompany sexual ones. of
clans
is
to marital exchanges
The end result of this
the
evolution
conferations and then finally in Yang's view, proto-types states;
they
have
of
the
tribal networks. of
distinctive
form first
but gradually economic and defense-related ties
bonding
and
modern
come
increased first
clan
Tribes are,
national groups and
languages
or
dialects,
religions, cultures, economic structures, and political
and
military organizations. Despite the specific differences between Lin and Yang's theories, they share much in common.
Each
unilineal model for
of primitive society.
Each
also
breaks
the with
development Morgan
on
relies
specific
upon
points,
a
but
138
nonetheless bears the imprint of Morganian ideas of cultural evolution.
For example, Morgan's consanguine family concept
appears within Lin's model
in
a
virtually unaltered form.
Yang, for his part, is influenced heavily by Morgan's notion that
the
steadily
patterns of social organization shifts
from
being
increasingly complex. primitive
within
comparatively
cultures
simple
to
Like Morgan, he correlates the end of
society with the emergence of large-scale
social
structures, such as tribal organizations and confederacies. Most Chinese ethnologists, including Lin and Yang, hold to Engels' basic proposition that social structure is always determined by the
"liangzhong
production): the way human being
way human subsistence is produced, and the are
reproduced.
implications for the study and "primitive"
shengchan" (the two kinds of
family
This notion has important
of "primitive society" generally
structure
in
particular.
Engels also says; "The less the development of the
more
limited
preponderatingly
its does
ties
volume the
of
social 25
of sex".
For as
labour,
production... the order
appear
and more
to
be
societies
are
production,"
and
dominated
by
"Primitive"
obviously
ones
hence are
societies which Engels' implies should be studied
with "limited volumes of
primarily from the perspective of family relations. The intently
tendency upon
of
Chinese
ethnologists
marital and kinship patterns
to and
focus
so
construct
139
periodization
models
based
understood as related to early
societies for
economic
social
kinship
and
two
them, thus needs
main
factors.
ties of kinship have
repercussions and
upon
virtually
all
life.
Secondly,
marriage patterns fits in
be
First, within
important
aspects
to
practical
of
political,
concentrating well
with
emphasis on familial relations as a dominant
on
Engels'
force
in
the
reproduction
are
shaping of early social structure. Though material production and human both
viewed by Chinese ethnologists as crucial
forces, important "primitive
economic for
forces
shaping
society"
are
seen
social
as
ultimately
development.
transition
to
most
Thus
can be viewed primarily
familial structures, the
determining
in
while
terms
of
"class society" is
described mainly in terms of economic changes.
Prior to the
existence of classes both
"productive"
relations
are
mainly
"reproductive"
determined by
familial organizations and kinship
and
kinship
ties,
patterns effect not only
with whom one labors, but as well whom one marries. as social
since
As soon
classes emerge, however, kinship ties become more
and more confined to the realm factors come to
predominate
of
"reproduction"
"material
production."
when post-"primitive" stages of development analysis of non-kin relations
of
and
are
production
precedence over analysis of familial relations.
new Thus
considered
begin to take
140
The
general
issue of the nature
social relations
will
be
of
post-"primitive"
dealt with at length in the next
chapter, but it is worth examining here how between
"primitive"
development twofold:
are
and
post-"primitive"
treated.
first,
The
being
societies, and secondly, it great emphasis
value
it will make clear
ethnologists identify as
is
the
upon
stages
doing
what
special
will
placed
of
exactly about
help
transition
this
of is
Chinese
"primitive"
understand why such
kinship-related
topics in
Chinese studies of pre-class as opposed to class societies. The treatment by Chinese ethnologists of the transition to class society
can
be
illustrated
by a study of the Nu
people of the Nu River Valley. Nearly all of the Nu have argued that the have
in
fact
"primitive,"
been
which
Chinese
Nu, during the past century,
experiencing
a
transition
was characterized by the
economic and technological
students
factors
rise
to of
post new
and a weakiening of the 26
hold of kinship ties over social life.
The
brief description of the Nu people
a
and
following is a summary
of
the
interpretations of Nu history Chinese scholars advance. Numbering approximately living
in
ten
thousand
a narrow valley surrounded
by
or steep
inaccessible by roads, the Nu had little
contact
outside world prior to the 20th century.
During
and 1957 investigations
of
the
Nu
so
River
Valley
people, mountains with
the
the
1956
by
the
141
Chinese Ethnological Expedition teams,
a
concerted
was made to understand both the history of Nu
technological
development and the relationship between these and
kinship
structures.
The main evidence
attempt was obtained
by
actual
the investigators to
analyze
effort
developments used
in
observation, which allowed
the nature of contemporary Nu
society, and oral history accounts given by Nu elders. history was used to Valley society before
this
reconstruct outside
the
nature
of
Oral
Nu
River
forces began to impinge upon
it during the preceding half century or so. The Nu elder's picture one that technologically
of
traditional
"primitive"
and
Nu society was heavily
reliant
upon kin relations.
Until a few generations ago stone
were used
trees, open up lands, skin animals, and
to
fell
slash and burn all land only
agriculture
was
under
important
Headmen
had
function was
During this period
the control of lineage groups, and the
political
limited
practiced.
figures
powers and
were
lineage
privileges.
headmen.
Their
main
to settle inter- and intra-group disputes, for
which they might receive as compensation an skin.
axes
axe
Lineage unity was ensured through naming
surnames were not used but every father and
or
animal
practices:
son would share
certain common name segments, thus Mao Ying Chong might have a son Chong Lou Bing, whose son would be Lou Bing
Zhe,
and
his son's son named Zhe Mao Te. Some old people were able to recite this
form of name genealogy for several generations.
142
Knowledge of
name connection ensured that everyone could be
indentified
within
the
lineage
and
know
their
rights,
duties, and obligations. Scholars of
Nu Society believe that the kinship system
was directly reflective of
the
low
development in the Nu River Valley outsiders.
In
individuals relying
such
would
upon
a have
large
prior
"backward" been
level of technological
society,
unable
familial
to
groups.
to
contact
with
they claimed,
survive
without
Possessing
only
rudimentary tools and weapons, depending upon slash and burn agriculture, harsh
threatened
environment,
together
and
which served
the
share both
by wild beasts, and Nu
living
people were obliged
in
to
a
labor
resources.
Kin-based
organizations,
organize
production
and distribute
to
wealth among its members, were well suited to
assure
group
survival. Confirmation of control
and
a
low
these
scholars'
level
of
claim
that
lineage
technological advance
were
correlated came from the differences between the traditional society their actual—more
informants helped them to reconstruct and the "advanced"
which they observed.
and
less
During the
kin
past
dominated—society half
century,
changes occured within Nu society as a result of contacts with other peoples. other
tools
many
increasing
Iron ploughs, hoes, knives and
had come into use, and new land
use
patterns
143
developed,
including
agriculture people.
toward
a the
Economic and
results:
away
from
agricultural
technological
productivity
became more capable
move
slash
methods changes
of had
increased dramatically,
of
and
burn
settled dramatic
individuals
being self-reliant, land value rose
up, and the hold of lineage groups upon Nu social, political and economic life was threatened time.
seriously
The growth in land values led
households to lay claim property,
and
to
gradually
fields
some as
for
and
ownership began to take the place of lineages corporate land.
With
the
emergence
of
hired
solidarity when
the
labor, mortgages, and usery had field
small
such
practices.
were
began the Nu
generally seen life
than
often ignored, and lineage
group
things Kinship and
lineages
had
Naming
membership
was
as a less important factor in socio-economic
it had been in
previous
ethnologists interpreted this the transition from communes
generations.
change based
Chinese
as a clear example of on
kinship to communes
based on territory, a vindication of Marx, who considered virtually universal transitional process occurring near 27 end of the "primitive" age. The
of
decades,
already ceased to be the dominant landowning groups. practices
private
private property
weakened during the previous investigation
own
and
ownership
inequalities of wealth came into being, as did as
first
individuals
their
individualized
the
explanation of Nu society outlined above
a the
presents
144
an
effective
argument
for treating
the
"primitive" to post-"primitive" stages social systems in
which
transition
as a transition from
kinship relations are the dominant
force shaping society, to a system in which are overshadowed by other forces. introduction
of
new
technologies
less convincing, however, private
where
contributed
to
precipitated
the
a
in
weakening
the
of
the of
had
the
profound
is
insufficient
same
forces
Nu
lineages
communal
which also
property
private ownership predominated.
The main problem with the argument that a property arose
society
The data is somewhat
There
that
which
relations
the question of the origin
shift from a system
relations to one
Nu
clearly
property is concerned.
evidence to support the idea
such
Within
repercussion for kinship organization.
of
from
system of private
with the introduction of new technologies is
straightforward::
it
is
reputed
by
oral
history
which
contains evidence of longstanding traditions of individually held property and farm tools. general picture
in
which
household
contradiction
communal
obtained, there is evidence individual
In
that
formed
ownership
for
with
the
of property
many generations the
the most
important
unit
of
28 consumption within Nu society. thus have been a relatively
Traditional Nu society may
egalitarian
ownership and consumption were bound
to
one,
but
private
have
resulted
in
inequities. This last
point
touches
upon
a
general problematic
145
feature of the "primitive communism" paradigm and the notion of transition from pre-class to class society: the concrete examples private
ownership
societies
of
social
of
orders
land
and/or
lack
completely goods.
of
devoid of
Often
referred to as "primitive" what actually
was a quite complex mixture of public and private
within existed
ownership
of goods and obligatory services. The example of the Nu has already example
of
private
ownership
designated Island
a
as
who
practices 29 point.
group
The
unadulterated
of
which
one
of
"primitive"
is
the Li people
other
generally custom,
but
typical
"primitive
"hemuzhi" was a communal farming
of
Hainan
to
be
fact
systems"
two
This
based
on
type
of
kinship farmed
The means of production, farm implemenmts and
draft animals, were controlled by the senior members of collectivity, who any given day.
an
co-existed
ties, the participants owning all land in common and collectively.
in
to anything close
communism." system
system) cases
in
among the Li, only one of which conformed ideal
system
field
thought
of
a
relevant
distinctive kinds of "collective field
to
concrete
within
(cooperative
several
"hemuzhi"
existed
And
"hemuzhi"
one
at least some features
property
"primitive."
follow are
in
shown
the
decided how they should be distributed on
The goods produced by the collectivity
generally distributed on an egalitarian basis.
were
146
The
preceding
description
fits
well
the
image
of
"primitive" societies as egalitarian extended family groups, but along with the "hemuzhi" system, a variety also
existed.
farming system" was
This
less
second
directly
being composed of households were
blood
relations
generally existed of
"hemuzhi"
peripheral
but
type
others not.
A
some of whom
sharp
division
members who were linked by blood ties
position
and
The former
within
themselves a large share
of the "hemuzhi" frequently entered of
of "cooperative
individuals
of
produce, treating the latter as slaves.
result
communal
kin-based in structure,
group of non-related members.
for
less
within these systems between a core group
tend to have the dominant taking
and
much
the the
a
would
"hemuzhi," collectivity
Non-related members
the
cooperative
bankruptcy and always remained
in
an
as
a
inferior
position, being little better than indentured servants. The Nu and Li peoples described above, as
well as many
of the other minority groups classified as "primitive," pose similar problems for the attempt
to
place
clearly demarcated evolutionary categories. property
relations,
range
of kinship
patterns of labor organization simple classification.
Too
found
complex
societies The systems
obligations in
into
,
of and
these groups defy
to fit easily into the
category of "primitive communism" , they are often viewed as societies
in
transition.
This is more
satisfactory
than
reducing them to a single category, but it is problematic as
147
well.
If all such systems are seen to move from "primitive"
to "transitional" than the archaic
societies
than direct proof.
existence of completely communal
becomes a matter of
supposition
rather
148
NOTES TO CHAPTER III. 1 Morgan Ancient Society, p.391-531.
2 See Du Yuting, "Jino chuyi"
("A
Comparison
zu
qinshu
between the
bikan mo'ergen dushi Jino
Terminology
and
Morgan's Model"), in Minzu Yan.jiu(No. 2, 1981) ,pp.56-63; and Yan
Ruxian
and
Song
yiluoquei de bijiao the
Naxi
Zhaolin,"Naxi
yanjiu"
Matrilineal
("A
muxi
qinshu
zhi
yu
Comparative Study between
Terminology
and
the
Iroquois
System"), in Minzu Yan.jiu, (No. 2, 1980) , pp. 58-70. 3 Zhan et al., Azhu Marriage, p.248. 4 Yan and
Song, Matrilineal System, p.212; Zhan et al.,
Azhu Marriage, p.220 & p.247. 5 Yan
and Song, Matrilineal System,p.220; Zhan et
al.,
Azhu Marriage, p.218.
6 Ho Xingliang, "Cong Ha, zui gulao de qinshu
Ka,
Han
qinshu chengwei kan
zhi,"("The Oldest Terminological System
as Seen from the Kin Terms
of the Kazak, the Kirgiz and the
Han"), in Minzu Yanjiu (No. 5, 1982), p.72.
149
Tan
Leshan
"Yunnan
shaoshu
chutan"("A Preliminary Study
minzu
'yi-bei-hun*
of Cross-generational Marriage
among the Yunnan Minorities", in Minzu Yan.jiu (No. 6,
1981)
pp.62-70.
8 Morgan
theorized
that
this
familial
system
directly out of a state of complete promiscuity prohibition partners.
impinged The
upon
single
a
person's
prohibition
that
blood
in which no
choice
operating
relations
arose
of
mating
during
consanguine
phase,
of
generations
refrain from sexual relation, was thus
the
different singled
out by Morgan as the most basic of all taboos. 9 Tan "Cross-generational Marriage." pp.62-64. 10 Ibid. 11 See, for example, Yang Kun "Lun renlei qiyuan xue ji ge wunti"("Some Issues in the Science of in
The
Journal
of
Bei jing
Normal
Human
University
de
Origin") (No.
6,
1979),p.9.
12 Frederick
Engels
"Origin
of
Property and the State" in Karl Marx Selected Works (New York: orig.
1884), pp.483-84.
the and
International
Family,
Private
Frederick
Engels
Publishers,
1969,
150
13 Karl
Marx
Capital
Publishing House, 1957, orig.
(Moscow:
Foreign
Languages
1887), n.2, p.351.
14 Cai Junsheng "Lun qunhun"("0n
Group
Marriage"),
in
China's Social Sciences (No.l, 1983), p.143. 15 U.E.
Semenov
Family,(Moscow:Ideology
The
Origin
of
Marriage
and
Press, 1974).(Published in Russian).
16 Lorimer Fison & A. Group
W.
Howitt
Kamilaroi and Kurnai,
Marriage and Relationship, and Marriage by
Elopement
(Melbourne: George Robertson, 1880) 17 Lin
Yaohua
&
Huang
shi(The History of Primitive
Shupin
eds.
Society),
Yuanshi
(Beijing:
shehui Zhonghua
shuju, 1984),pp.1-6. 18 Ibid. 19 Edward Tylor Primitive Culture
(London:
J.
Murray,
1871); and Leslie White The Evolution of Culture (New
York:
McGraw-Hill, 1959).
20 Karl Marx "A Reply to Vera Zasulic" in Makesi quan.ji (The Complete Works of
Marx
and
Engels)
Engesi
(Beijing:
151
Renmin chuban she, 1963), v.
19. p.
432(The
quotation
is
the author's translation from Chinese). 21
Yang Kun Minzu
xue
gailun
(General Introduction to
Ethnology) (Beijing: Shehui kexu chuban she, 1984). 22
See Lin Yaohua and Cheng Deqi "Zai lun yuanshi shehui zaoqi
de
fenqi
Periodization yanjiu
of
wenti"(Rethinking
Question
Early Primitive Society"), in
(Ethnological
Ethnological Studies ed. v.
the
Studies),
Chinese
(Beijing:
of
Minzu
xue
Association
of
Minzu chuban she, 1981)
2, pp.1-12. 23 Karl Marx "Excerpts from
Lewis Kenry Morgan, Ancient
Society," in Lawrence Krader ed.
The Ethnological Notebooks
of Karl Marx (Assen: Van Gorcum & Comp. N.V., 1972) p.108. 24 Yang Kun General Introduction to Ethnology, p.184. 25 Engels "Origin" in Selected Works, pp.455-56.
26 See Song diyuan
gongshe
Consanguinity to &
Huang
Shuping
Shuhua
"Cong
xueyuan
("Transition
from
gongshe Commune
guoduo dao Based
on
Commune Based on Territory") in Lin Yaohua eds.
Primitive Society), pp.
Yuanshi
shehui
she
(History
of
354-56; Yang Heshu "Yunnan Nu zu de
152
shezu
yu
xuezu
buluo
canyu
yanjiu"("A
Reminants of Clan and Consanguineal Yunnan")
Research on
Tribes
of
the
in Yunnan shehui kexueCSocial Sciences in
(No. 6, 1982), pp.86-94; and
Nu
zu
shehui
Yunnan
Editorial
congshu(The
Five
Committed
Series
on
on
Minzu
Nationality
in
Yunnan)
lishi
(Investigation of the Social, History of the Nu), the
Nu
the
diaocha
edited
wenti
by
wuzhong
Issues)(Kunming;
Yunnan renmin chuban she, 1981). 27 See K. Marx "Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations." Hobsbawm
ed.,
Pre-Capitalist
Marx.(London: Lawrence &
Economic
Wishart,
Formatios:
1964),
E. Karl
p.76, (orig. ms.
1857-58).
28 Yunnan
Editorial
Committee
Investigation
on
the
hemuzhi
dao
Social History of the Nu pp.56-57. 29 See Hainan renmin
Investigation
gongshi"("From
Group
Cooperative
"Cong
Field
System
to
the
People's Commune"), in Minzu Yan.jiu (No.l, 1959) ,pp.35-46.
153
IV. THE STUDIES OF POST-PRIMITIVE SOCIAL ORDER What
is
the course of social
development
dissolution of primitive society? related disciplines, response to this the
unity
there
are
question.
behind
two
of
cultures
single
line
of
gives
greater
cultural
difference.
problematic.
This
classification The difference
reflected both theoretically how to approach It should also
terms
the be
of
common
While acknowledging the
development.
emphasis to
concerning the usefulness of consider
types of
of
thought
arranging diverse societies along
historical
approach
and
in
cultural difference, this school
sees little difficulty in a
fundamental
first approach emphasizes
historical materialist development. existence
the
In Chinese ethnology and
The
diverse
after
school
The
second
the
implications
is
more
of
sceptical
a unilineal evolutionary model according
to
its
terms
between
these
and
the practicalities of
in
approaches
is
ethnological study of minority groups. noted
in
passing
that
the
unilineal
position has been dominant since the Revolution and that the opposed
viewpoint
has
only
recently
produced
important
spokesmen. In this chapter I will divide the discussion into parts.
In the first section I will focus
four
the discussion on
a general level by presenting the relevance of unilineal and
154
multilineal development.
currents
of thought to two
These two
social classification
models and
the
models
of
social
are the five-stage model of so-called
Asiatic
Mode of
Production. In the second and third sections I will
present
ethnographic detailed data on two "post-primitive" societies as a means of bringing to the fore
the
relevance
theoretical models Chinese ethnography.
of these
These two societies
have attracted considerable attention in Chinese ethnography and their forms of social
organization
well
the
documented.
One,
slave-holding society. has been
have
Liangshan
been
Yi,
equally
typifies
a
The other, the Dai of Xishuangbanna,
generally recognized to represent the feudal stage
of social development.
In the final section I will
these two ethnographic cases in an adequacy of
attempt
to
compare
assess
the
the two theoretical models for illuminating the
ethnographic data.
The Five-Stage Development Model and the Asiatic Mode of Production Neither Marx nor Engels five-stage
development
formulated
model.
enunciated the concept when he
the
It was stated
notion of the
Stalin in
who
first
Dialectical
and
Historical Materialism that "Five main types of relations of production
are known to history: primitive commune,
slave,
155
feudal, capitalist and socialist". While
Mao
never
adopted
Stalin's
concept
in
its
entirety, he made use of it selectively.
He perceived
the Chinese nation (Han)
the same evolution
had
undergone
that Stalin had described for other nations "It
went
through
many
thousands
classless primitive communes. since
the
collapse
of
of
of
years
the of
that
world: life
in
Some 4,000 years have gone by
these primitive communes
transition to class society, which took the
form
and
the
first
of
2
slave and then of feudal society". accept Stalin's tenet pass
through
each
that
Mao
every
stage
of
however,
did
not
society must necessarily
evolutionary
development.
Specifically, he rejected the idea that China needed to pass through a capitalist stage of development in order to socialism in expounding
his
theory
of Chinese revolution.
He believed that China could proceed from a semi-feudal semi-colonial
society
directly
to
reach
the
construction
and of
socialist society. In the early 1950s the
general
a
consensus
applicability
of
the
treated China as a special case. a number of social scientists Soviet approach
to
social
Mao's basic orientation. of the notion
can
be
to
emerged that admitted five-stage
This made subscribe
development
model
but
it possible for to
while
prevailing maintaining
The authoritative interpretations found
in Ai Siqi's Lecture Notes on
156
Historical
Materialism
and
developmentC1953); Guo Moruo's Historic 1954);
Hu
Sheng,
History _A
Study
Yu Guangyuan
social
theory
backgrounds
as
Social
of Ancient Chinese and
Introduction to the Fundamentals of Social These authors, from
of
Wang
Huide's 3
Sciences(1952) .
diverse as philosophy,
and history, subscribed to
a
fundamentally
similar interpretation of the five-stage model. In
the
view of these theorists,
society's
evolution
through the five-stage sequence was propelled by the dynamic of
conflict between those classes representing the
productive forces and those production.
The need
of
tied
to
survival
constant
improvement
for
outdated relations of
human beings to supply themselves
with goods necessary for pressure
and
enjoyment creates a of
the
production, in which both technology
and
included.
forces
Any
improvement
necessarily alters the
to
obtain
in the
existing
defined as the relations that production
relations
people
material
are distributed and consumed. to
forces
human
labor
of
of are
production
of
production,
form in the course of
goods.
This
ownership of the means of production, and the
sufficient
growing
includes
way
products
When technological change is
create a complete transformation
relations to the means of production,
society
in is
have advanced one stage in the five stage sequence. the rise of European capitalism as an example,
the
social said
to
Taking gradual
157
shift
from craft production to manufacturing represented
fundamental advance in productive forces.
a
The manufacturing
system, entailing new forms of cooperation and new varieties of work relations, increased production enormously, fostered competition
and
trade,
Manufacturing, expanding
and
greatly
trade,
expanded
and
the
markets.
creation
of new
markets were all incompatible with the existing feudal order of production and thus feudal system
and
helped
lay
the
destroy
the
foundation
for
basis
of
the
the
rise
of
capitalism. While the five-stage model
of social evolution quickly
gained widespread currency in the
decades
after
revolution, its power to provide unambiguous gradually was brought into question. had to do with practical points of
transition
classifying
historical
problems
between
One area of difficulty of
identifying
which
such
seem
to
scholars
and of combine
This gave rise
as when did the stage of slavery end and
when did the subsequent some
precise
stages
elements from different evolutionary stages. to questions
1949
classification
evolutionary
periods
the
feudal
stage
begin.
consider that China entered
For example,
into
a
feudal
period in the Western Zhou period (1100 - 771 B.C.) and that the time from the Spring and Autumn
period (770 - 476 B.C.)
to the Warring States (475-221 B.C.) signalled a shift a
system
of
feudal
lords
in
which the people were
from the
158
private chattel of the lord, to a new feudal landlord-based 4 economic system.. In this latter system, labor was supplied by freemen.
A second periodization
may
be
found
in
the
writings of Guo Moruo. He treats the Western Zhou as a slave society, and
the
period
from the Spring and Autumn to the
Warring States as marking 5 society. with
a
shift
This debate has been
more
than
one
from
carried
hundred
slave to
articles
to
great
feudal heights,
appearing
on
the
subject. After the Cultural Revolution, questions
about
scholars began to raise
fields of study which
sacrosanct, including the model of
had
formerly
five-stage
development.
One of the main thrusts of questioning involved of the Asiatic mode originally Chinese
of
formulated
social
production, by
theory
reasons, there has been a anomalous.
Marx
for
a
concept
but had been
decades.
tendency
First, it was thought to
For
fail
In the view
and others, the concept
to
many
separate
and
notion
which absent
at
least
to
explain
tax.
return
from two
the 6
of Lu Zhengyu
in
which
the
owner of the land.
The
state beneficently endowed them with the land on which depended in
was
societies consisting of
independent communities
people regard the state as the true
the
to treat the concept as
true nature of Chinese society. refers
been
they
for which rent was taken in the form of
Because the land required irrigation , the
state
was
159
necessary to organize public works on a grand scale.
These
conditions led to the rise of a centralized government, power of which was unchallenged despotism. others, must
As
on
of
characterized
this interpretation and insists the
fundamental
Marxism. That is to say, realm
was
by
the following passage makes clear, Lu, among
rejects
rely
and
the
forces
of
one
analytical
that
one
framework
of
must identify elements in the
production
and
the
relations
of
production for valid historical interpretation. Treating the need for constructing as crucial for The need for specific
characterizing constructing
irrigation
societies
irrigation
is
systems
exaggerative.
systems results from
environmental conditions and cannot be treated
on
par with characterizations of society in terms of forces
of
production.
Although this
specific environmental condition
played some role in the formation of Asian was
by
no
means
determinative.
states, its role
For example,
unification of China under Qin Shi Huang (246 result from the
need
the
first
B.C.) did not
for hydraulic organization.
From the
perspective of relations of production, the social structure of Chinese society for more than the past thousand years was essentially characterized by feudal
landlords
and
peasants.
superstructural organization relations.
the
which
class The
relations state
maintained
The overemphasis on the role of
the
was
between only
a
these class state
and
160
its inherent rights
of
ownership over land inevitably lead
to an obfuscation of the true nature of class Thus, from
a
genuinely
Marxist
Chinese society is feudal in
exploitation.
perspective,
can 7 within the framework of the five-stage model. Other critics of to
changing
writings.
the
formulations The
phrase
infrequently used tentative term.
by
nature
traditional be
subsumed
Asiatic Mode of Production point of
the
Asiatic Marx
and
concept Mode
in
his
of
early
in Marx's
own
Production
was
writings
as
a
With the development of his thought and his
increased understanding of the
prehistory of human society,
he came to abandon this concept and
to replace it with more
8 scientific terminology. For supporters of distortions
of
the
concept, these views are simply
the original ideas of
scholars writing on the Asiatic Chinese supporters among
of
themselves
Nevertheless,
denies that Marx is said to run
in
their
schools of thought.
the
Mode
concept,
Marx. of
views can be grouped
ever
is
the
into
through
the
also differ
Marx's
ideas. two
major
viewpoint
which
abandoned this concept.
consistently
Western 9
Production,
however,
interpreting
First, there
Like
The concept
Marx's work following
its appearance in his early writings: from its appearance in The German Ideology, through Grundrisse to the late work Das Kapital. These scholars contend that the concept was refined
161
and perfected in the course of early period,
Marx
tended
historical societies
this
Asia
societies
continued to use the term
where this form of property Later, the use of the
lapsed to
as
a
seminal
into
disuse
term
but
Marx
refer to Asian societies such
as the Indian and Tsarist states. regarded
the
to use this concept to refer to
ownership continued to prevail. historical
In
based on communal ownership as well as
contemporary societies in
for
development.
Therefore,
concept
vital
this to
can
the
be
entire
10 development of Marx's thinking. Another school referring emerged
to
of
thought
treats
Marx's
Oriental absolutism, which is
concept as
said
to
from the dissolution of primitive communism.
have This
type of society is different from the European slave-holding system and from the feudal special
social
passing of
system
more generally.
formation with great stagnancy.
It is a With
the
dynasties over many centuries, its economic base 11
remains essentially unchanged. Proponents the fact
that
static.
As
modified his
of the first of these viewpoints Marx's
he
views
acquired
ideas.
on new
Proponents
human
society
knowledge, of
the
he
emphasize were
not
repeatedly
second viewpoint
stress that Marx recognized
the particularity and diversity
of different societies.
did
Western
social
He
formations
into
not
conflate Oriental and a
single
analytical
162
category.
"Marx treats historical development as a
and complex phenomenon which is rich in content. should
not
try
development.
to
squeeze it into
a
stiff
lively
Thus,
we
formula
of
In this way, the five-stage model is a formula
that chokes the
vitality, 12
complexity, and diversity out of
social history". In
the
realm
of
national
application of the five-stage has been more cautious than of the Asiatic
Mode
minorities
studies,
model by Chinese ethnologists the
use of theory by adherents
of Production. Most ethnologists using
the model are not concerned with exalting the theory but
are
simply interested in using it as a the
official
itself
framework
classification.
In
China 1 s
Minorities published in 1981,
National
the
publication
for
entitled more
than
fifty non-Han, pre-revolutionary groups were classified into the
categories
feudalism.
of
primitive
communism.
slavery,
and
Approximately a dozen groups with populations in
excess of 600,000 were development
communism,
considered
considered to
living
retain
in
elements
a of
stage
of
primitive
The societies classified at the stage of slavery
were found among the Yi groups
residing
in
the
Liangshan
area of Sichuan and Yunan provinces with a total
population
of about one million.
they
classified
into
early
feudal societies, like
As for feudal and late the
societies,
feudal
societies:
were early
Dai and Tibetans, were serfdoms
163
characterized
by mandatory corvee labor systems while
late
feudal societies, such as the Uighur and Huei, were landlord economy
in
which
tenants' obligations 13 through commodity exchange.
were
discharged
It is worth pointing out that some scholars sympathetic to
this
viewpoint
consider that
greater
flexibility
needed in fitting the model to the ethnographic record. example, as early as the 1950s, Fei Xiaotong argued
from
minority
the
areas
explanatory
perspective that
the
limitation.
of
rigid They
of
research
in
this
model
has
two
types
of
(a)
The
identified
problem in the rigid application of
this
For
and Lin Yaohua
first-hand use
is
model.
complexity of minority societies makes difficult the task of identifying representative cases which typify various stages of social evolution; most often, societies seem to present a combination
of
social
development rather than a any single stage.
(b)
called into question the
features complete
various
array
stages
of features from
basic
tenet pass
of unilinealism that
through
every stage of
The evidence from minority groups
of social change in the twentieth century seemed to that some minority groups primitive without
communism going
had
passed
from
directly
to the
stage
through
of
The evidence from minority cultures
each society must necessarily evolutionary development.
from
the
intermediate
the of
suggest stage
of
feudalism
slave-holding
164
stage. Du
Yuting,
societies studied
of were
a
scholar specializing
Yunnan,
considered
highly
in
that
diverse and
the
the
minority
societies
variegated.
A
he
unitary
diachronic model, in his view, does not always fit well with the synchronic variety of He
noted
southwestern
a frequent lack of
minority
correlation
in
cultures.
evolutionary
development in different institutions of minority To
his
mind,
structure
could
a
relatively be
found
primitive
form
in these cultures
relatively advanced system of political
that
of
economic
alongside
organization.
this reason, he was in general agreement with position
cultures.
a For
Fei and Lin's
southwestern minority cultures do
not
show 15
clear evidence of an invariable developmental sequence.
The Liangshan Yi; An Example of "Slave Society" Liangshan, which lterally means area located at the eastern edge The region
is
divided
Liangshan, which is "Xiao"
(Small)
"cool mountain," is an
of
the
Tibetan
plateau.
into two section, the "Da" (or Big)
administered
Liangshan,
which
by is
Sichuan Province, and considered
part
of
Yunnan. This area is characterized by a dramatic topographic mixture of high mountains and deep gorges, and is by approximately 1.2 million Yi people, as well
inhabited as
smaller
165
numbers of members of other ethnic groups. The
social
structure
of
the
Yi
people
Liangshan has been in a state of transition several decades,
because
which it was formerly
based
with the principles of the main
thrusts
abolish
all
official statement strive to take them so
that
the
of
forms
the
1956
customs
upon
in direct contradiction Democratic Reforms. Among
the Reform Campaign was an of
in
during the last
slave-holding stand
living
human servitude, as
ctempt to
the
following
issued at the time illustrates: "We must
all
the slave-holders' privileges away from
slaves
can be liberated; we must protect the
personal freedom and fundamental
rights
of
slaves and all
17 other kinds of laboring people as well." principles embodied in officials
in
Liangshan
regulations aimed at servitude.
statements
the
Buying and selling slaves
subjecting laborers to cruel
variety
of
specific
traditional system of was
treatment,
banned, kidnapping
into bondage, and coercing men and women into labor.
the
such as the above, local
developed a
abolishing
Working from
doing
as
was
people unpaid
During the Reform Campaign, the local administration
also developed programs
aimed
at helping slaves gain their
freedom and become resettled within society. Because Democratic
of
the
efforts
made
at
the
time
Reforms, slavery no longer exists in
of
the
Liangshan,
but the traditional social arrangements of the Yi people
of
166
that
area
have
nonetheless
scholarly interest.
place
a
great
while
the
slave
stage
in the Marxist evolutionary
funtioning societies based on
of
occupies
an
paradigm,
no
slavery exist in contemporary
China. Slave society is seen as the earliest
type of social
arrangement in which class-based stratification direct
deal
There are several reasons for this, the
main one being that, important
attracted
outgrowth from primitive communism.
appears,
The Yi
a
system,
as it existed prior to the Democratic Reforms, is thought by many to fit easily into the slave typical stage.
representation
of
society category, to be a
this
important
Much has been written about Yi
slavery
evolutionary during
the
18 past decades,
and Chinese
visitors to the Liangshan
ethnologists have been frequent area
ever
since the Revolution.
The earliest groups of post-Liberation ethnologists, some of whom became part of Democratic Reform work teams, were to directly
able
observe Yi slavery in practice; later scholarly
visitors have had to use interviews and other techniques
to
try to reconstruct the nature of this social system. The
interpretation of Yi slavery developed by
ethnologists is characterized upon class antagonism.
by
an
overarching
Chinese emphasis
The origin of Liangshan slavery, the
working of the rank system which played so
important a role
in pre-1956 social life, and the kinship structures Yi are all approached from the perspective of
class,
of
the which
167
is understood primarily in economic terms. inequalities of wealth is singled out as led to the
the
development
ranking
resulting
represented.
the
factor
which
of slavery in the first place, and
system is
division
The emergence of
seen
as
a
device
of society into ruling
by
which
the
and
ruled
was
In this light, the kinship practices of the Yi
are seen as having worked to keep antangonisms between upper and lower classes in check. the
connecting
understood intelligible.
thread,
for
all The
Thus class tensions are seen as the
key
aspects
way
factor
of
Chinese
the
which
must
be
to
be
society
scholars
approach
the
question of origins illustrates both the role class struggle play in their analysis and to
different
how
this emphasis can lead them
conclusions from those of
Before comparing the Chinese and
Western
Western
origin of slavery, however, it is worth picture of just how the Yi system is
scholars.
analyses getting
thought
of
a
to
the
clearer have come
into being.
Chinese scholars begin their Liangshan slavery with
comments
search
for
the roots of
by one of China's greatest
early historians pertaining to the way the Yi
people
lived
at the time of the Western Han (206 B.C.-25 A.D.). According to Si Maqian's Shi Ji Kunmin
ren,
the
people "moved from
(Records
forebears place
to
of
the
Grand
of the contemporary place
with
their
Historian), Yi, herds
were of
168
19 domestic animals, Through
the
ethnologists
having no fix homes and no chieftains."
use of historical records,
and
other
means,
theorize that this egalitarian nomadic way
life gradually
of
gave way during the next following centuries
to a more sedentary and hierarchical one.
Farming began
to
play an important role in Yi life, and this led to a surplus of food and other goods,
which
in turn led to inequalities
of wealth and social stratification. One important piece of evidence relating to the growing fragmentation
of
Yi
society
following
nomadic to an agricultural way local
legends
describing
of
the
According to one tale, sometime people of Liangshan decided chosen
to
elections
manage these
the
in
group's
leaders,
move from
a
life is the existence of
first
that
the
Liangshan
the
distant
tribal
past
the
leaders should be
affairs.
called
headmen.
"zi,"
Chosen were
through
granted
no
special prviliges beyond being allowed to administer certain aspects of communal life.
Over time, however, the zi became
increasingly powerful, politically and economically, as members began to use great wealth.
At
the
dominate Yi society, as
a
their same social
special time
its
position to accumulate the
zi
were
beginning
and economic life in Liangshan
whole was becoming increasingly
differentiated,
and
this led to the emergence of additional special ranks: there was no longer a mere dichotomy between zi administrators and
169
all others, but a complex "mo"
(dispute
stratification
mediators),
"bi"
of
society
(ritual
into
specialists
responsible for ancestor worhip practices), "geng" (smiths),
20 and "zhuo" (common laborers) groups. Yi society remained highly following centuries, but some categories took
place.
eventually merged
into
stratified important
the
restructurings
of
The two highest ranks, for example, a
single
ruling
which over time came to dominate all society.
throughout
"zimo" category,
aspects
of
A mere handful of zimo families ruled
and controlled the most prized resources of matter of fact, until early Qing times
the
the
when
Liangshan people
area.
another
In major
restructuring of the social order occurred, and zimo's reign was overturned by a more recently formed rank
—
the nuohe.
The nuohe began as a mid-ranking group,
but as early as the
Ming times had started to rebel against
zimo
rule.
After
several major battles, this new contender for power, by time of the Qing dynasty, succeeded 21 most of the Liangshan region. The centuries that
followed
in
taking
the
control
of
the nuohe's rise to power
saw the final restructuring of traditional Liangshan society into a five rank system: with nuohe, qunuo,
ajia,
and
society
xiaxi
divided
groups.
system is the main social order that
into
zimo,
This five-strata
Chinese
scholars
are
referring to when they discuss the nature of Liangshan slave
170
society.
Before delineating its precise nature, and the way
its workings are interpreted pausing to note
how
slave-holding
to
these the
by
ethnologists,
scholars
relate
stratification
it is worth the
rise
process
of
described
above. Enslavement practices of one
sort
or
another seem to
have been a part of Liangshan society since very early times and even East Han
refer
to
customs whereby some members of the population were made
to
serve others. that the
(25-220
A.D.)
texts
This has been used by ethnologists
growth
inter-related,
Dynasty
of that
to
argue
the slave and rank systems are closely the
same
development of highly stratified rise of the institution of
forces
which
led
to
the
social order triggered the
slavery.
The
polarization
of
society that took place when wealth was first accumulated by some portions of society at
the
expense of others, led not
only to the emergence of social ranking but to the growth of patterns of servitude as well, being made
up
primarily
society at the expense of managed to gain ownership. powerful enough not only to
with
the
slave
population
of members of the lowest ranks of whom
members of the higher ranks
The rulers of Yi society buy
became
the services of members of
the subservient ranks, but also to buy their very persons. This argument for the rise of Yi slavery, which focuses upon antangonisms inherent within Liangshan society, differs
171
in emphasis from the explanations Western scholars generally give for
the emergence of slave-holding systems.
explanations
of
Chinese
ethnologists admit
external forces in enlarging independently as a result scholars
generally
While the
the
role
of
slave populations which emerge
of class differentiation, Western
place
primary
emphasis
on
external
22 factors.
Western scholars tend to
systems
of
warfare
or other means.
tensions;
servitude
if
"insiders" of
class
to
capture
the
origins
of
of "outsiders"
by
Chinese ethnologists stress
tensions
do
not
exist
Yi
in the
development
class
among
a society, slavery will not emerge.
of the
the
Scholars
recognize that wars and clan feuds played a role of
swelled the ranks of the created
the
trace
a
Liangshan lower
slavery,
social
potential slave pool.
since captives
classes
However
process as an associated rather than as a
and
they
view
causative
hence this factor
in the rise of slavery. This theoretical divergence noted, it is worth taking a close
look
at the precise nature of the five
which pre-Democratic Reform society was with the ruling strata.
groups
divided,
The nuohe group —
into
beginning
whose name means
"black" and hence is usually designated as the "Black Yi" had come
to
control most of the Liangshan area by the 19th
century, as already mentioned, inferior
to
—
but
theoretically
the zimo up until the time of
the
remained Democratic
172
Reforms.
A quasi-dualistic power structure thus existed
Liangsha zi
society
uurins
Revolution, with the zimo
the
centuries
being
recognized
ruling group, but the nuohe wielded most power.
Along
before
in
the
as the nominal
of
the
with possessing large amounts
holding important positions
in
of
political land
and
the
local power structure, 23 the nuohe was also the main slave-holding group. The two lowest ranks of Liangshan society, the ajia and
xiaxi, were
made
up
entirely
of
slaves,
most
of
whom
belonged to nuohe families but some were owned by members of other ranks.
The first
name means "slaves accounted
for
population. could not
of
living
roughly
a
these
subservient ranks, whose
beside
the master's household,"
third
These ajia were marry
of
Liangshan
as they chose, had no right to claim their
The owner of an ajia—usually even
total
denied personal freedoms: they
own children, and could be sold as
or
the
qunuo—could
even
a
their
pleased.
nuohe but sometimes a zimo
kill
displeased with his services.
masters
Ajia
his
slave
slaves
if
he
was
were forced to
live beside their masters' homes, to work in the fields year round, as well as to undertake various and sundry
household
chores. The xiaxi group was the lowest of all Liangshan and its members were even Xiaxi slaves had as few
more rights
deprived
than
the
ranks, ajia..
as the ajia, being likewise
173
unable to marry at will was even more closely
and
so forth, but personal freedom
circumscribed.
xiaxi slaves were forced to live in thus being deprived of
the
from
In
their
lowest rank
owners'. xiaxi
Most their
privilege
significantly, masters'
of homelife distinct
addition, being members
could
made
People
up
roughly
generally
of
the
not have slaves of their own, but
ajia slaves could take xiaxi as their servants. group
homes,
10% of the
The
Liangshan
became members of the
two
xiaxi
population. slave
groups
either through birth or by bankruptcy or capture. The qunuo group, situated slaves, were the last of the
between five
the
Liangshan
name means "white" and its members are often
rulers and the groups.
Its
referred to as
"Bai [white] Yi" in Chinese texts.
It was the most populous
of all ranks, claiming roughly one
half
inhabitants as members.
Though
not
of
nearly
all
Liangshan
as powerful as
the nuohe and zimo, and in some regards subservient to these ruling
groups,
the
qunuo
enjoyed
advantageous position than either the Qunuo were free
to
live
and
a xiaxi
slighter or
the
more ajia.
work as they pleased and the
most successful of them even owned ajia or xiaxi slaves. Membership
in
one
determined
by
birth,
non-slaves
to
ajia
or but
or
another as
the
rank
was
geneology of
xiaxi status indicates
possible downward mobility.
A
generally bankrupt there
was
wide gap between the rulers
174
and
the
ruled existed.
qunuo to rise into
the
It was extremely rare for ranks
of
bankrupt members of the two top
the
nuohe
groups
even
a
or zimo, and
almost
never
were
lowered to slave status.
But within the three lowest groups
some upward and downward
movement
occurred.
If a xiaxi's
owner arranged a marriage between his charge and a member of the higher slave rank, then his slave automatically rose ajia status.
If ajia
slaves
gained
to
enough resources they
could redeem their own freedom and become qunuo. The
possibilities for downward mobility from qunuo
to
slave rank have already been described, but a few more words on the form this movement could kinds of
voluntary,
existed.
If
times, he
the
could
or
head use
mortgage his debts.
take
are
semi-voluntary,
in paths
one of his family memb ers
ajia
and
inter-clan
zimo
seldom
however, generally had to
swelled not only
for
provide
The ajia and by
took
xiaxi
them.
soldiers ranks
—
active
since they could usually
slaves to do the actual fighting
without
In addition, a
path to slavery existed
members
warfare,
non-slave rank.
rreedoin to
woman, a move which would
result in his own demotion to slave status.
Nuohe
to slavery
If a qunuo male was completely
non-voluntary
Two
of a qunuo household fell upon hard
resources he could marry an
wholly
order.
capture. parts
force Qunuo
in
their clans,
from their own were
therefore
members of economically indebted qunuo
175
households, but
also by qunuo fighters captured during clan
feuds. Along with the ranking system,
two
other
aspects
of
Liangshan social structure need to be examined: the division of
society
into
"blood"
groups
for
purposes of
ethnic
differentiation and marriage patterns, and the role of clans in social organization.
The "blood" groups correspond with,
but are
in all respects to, the rank groups
not
identical
described above.
As with the system of
five distinct "blood" groups—called mayao,
ranking
zihuo,
there
nuohe,
quhuo,
and longjie—membership in which determines who
considers
"consanguineous"
prescriptions of
marriage.
kin As
and
their
first two of these "blood" groups are composition to the
two
highest
ranks.
one
corresponding
names almost
are
suggest, the identical
in
Some intermarriage
would take place between these two groups, but
for the most
part zihuo and nuohe were expected to marry members of their own
"blood"
group.
The quhuo "blood"
category
does
not
correspond to a single rank, being comprised instead of
all
ajia and xiaxi slaves of the Yi, as well as all free members of the qunuo rank.
The
remaining
were comprised of members of non-Yi captured into
two
"blood"
peoples
who
categories had
been
slavery: mayao were non-Yi ajia slaves, while
longjie were xiaxi slaves.
Quhuo members of different ranks
were allowed the freedom to intermarry, but were discouraged
176
from marrying members of the mayao and longjie groups of the same rank. The clan system of the based on
Yi,
known as the "jiazhi," was
the existence of patrilineal descent groups, which
functioned as corporate landowning bodies, and whose members were tied by various kinds of
bonds
of
reciprocity.
most important of the clans were nuohe, however also (less numerous) Ajia and
zimo
The
there
were
and (less powerful) qunuo clans.
xiaxi slaves were almost never full-fledged jiazhi
members, but
instead were thought of as subservient members
of their masters' clans.
In a society
like
the
Liangshan
one, in which there was no centralized power structure, most powerful of the clans role.
played
an
important
the
political
Approximately
one hundred nuohe jiazhi of the region 24 controlled most of the Liangshan area. Chinese ethnologists have generally tried to understand Liangshan social structures and kin organizations above by approaching them from class.
In
local
officials
of
all
and slaves. those
social
of
the
Democratic
divided
all
members of
society into three basic class categories:
owners, laborers, defined as
perspective
1956, following the tenets
Reform Campaign, Liangshan
the
described
slave
The slave owner category was
people who had owned more than three
xiaxi or three households of ajia, and who had not worked in the
fields
themselves.
Laborers were
defined
as
those
177
people who owned some land or even
own
a
slave
predominately upon
or
other
two,
their
but
own
labor 25
slave category is self-explanatory.
resources,
and
nonetheless for
might
depended
sustinence.
The
Ethnologists have used
this tripartite division as a starting point for probing the nature of the complexities of Yi society. argue that this
three
class
In
essence
they
categorization corresponds to
the basic nature of the five-part ranking system, slave-owning class being composed of
zimo
and
with
the
nuohe,
the
laborers for the most part being former qunuo, and the slave category ranking
paralleling system.
the
There
ajia is
and
not
a
xiaxi
sector of
perfect
fit,
the the
ethnologists admit, since nuohe who had fallen on hard times would
sink
to
the
wealthiest qunuo would But while
laborer
category,
qualify
for
the
very
the slave-owner label.
rank and class are not completely interchangeable
terms in this context, most scholars have former is
more 26 the Liangshan case.
little
Chinese
argued
that
the
than an expression of the latter in
ethnologists'
system stresses the in more
while
interpretation
difference
of
the
jiazhi
between it and clan systems
"primitive" societies, which tend to be essentially
egalitarian. antagonisms
Arguing
that
the
existence
of
class
in Liangshan society destroyed any remnants
the kind of primitive
equilibrium
found
of
in societies with
178
egalitarian as
one
clan structures, they claim that jiazhi
more
dominate
structure
slaves.
through which slave
Marriage
prohibition
approached from the perspective
of
separation between rulers and ruled being important overarching principle the five ranks. members of
For
than
owners
rules
social
served could
are
also
class, with the seen
that
as
a
more
between each of
example, ethnologists note that while
society were discouraged from marrying people of
other ranks—except when their prospective spouse was of the same "blood" group—the only
serious prohibition applied to
mating between zimo or nuohe and members
of
lower
orders.
While a qunuo lowered his rank by marrying an ajia bride, he was not
punished
in other ways for this act.
who married, or even simply had woman of a lower death
for
his
rank,
on
actions.
sexual
A nuohe male
relations,
with
a
the other hand, might be put to A
similar
emphasis upon
class
antagonisms and class differences pervades analysis of other aspects of Liangshan life,
including
punishments and tortures—many physical mutilation—which
of
slave
the
which owners
various kinds of included forms of were
allowed
to
inflict upon their chattel. Post-revolution ethnologists have upon the antagonistic
aspects
placed much emphasis
of Liangshan social life and
strengthen their argument that Yi society be seen which
class
antagonisms played the central
as one in
shaping
role.
179
This treatment appears to be Pre-revolutionary
ethnographic
non-antagonistic side of into
account.
relations
somewhat
For
existed
in
description
Liangshan
example, certain
different
the
society
in
the
which
the
was also taken
relatively
circumstances
ruling and the ruled was described by
from
harmomious between
the
Lin Yaohua in his The
Lolo of Liangshan published in 1947: Actually, the black master is neither severe nor cruel in ruling his slaves. Notwithstanding the difference in class and social status, they enjoy equal material welfare. If a black Lolo (Yi) visits a white Lolo, the latter would treat him as the guest of honor and entertain him with all hospitality. In the case of a white Lolo visiting the black, he too will be provided with food and lodging so as not to starve or freeze. Ordinarily, all the food in the black Lolo household is shared equally by its members... The fair treatment accorded the slave is not confined to the distribution of food. All the clothes and ornaments of household slaves are supplied by the master... The care and protection given to white Lolo slaves by their black master are not limited to material aspects alone; they also have important psychological bearings. If a white Lolo slave has some trouble, the master would do his 27 best to help. As this quote illustrates, while class antagonisms doubtless play a vital role in shaping relations
between
the
ranks,
all social relations in Yi society were not characterized by hostility. Suzerainity among the Dai of Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna,
known
in
Thai
as
Sipshongpanna,
is
180
located in the southern part of Yunnan Province near China's border with 25,000 sq.
Laos km.
This area is land
area
climate,
and Burma. It covers an area of more than and has a population in
hilly is
in
made
there
but the greatest part of the
up of plains.
is
double-cropping
parts
an
and
excess of 200,000.
abundance sometimes
Due of
even
to
the
rainfall
tropical permitting
triple-cropping
of
wet-rice. For
centuries before the 1949 revolution, this
was governed by
a
In the adminstration
highly of
region
developed centralized authority. land,
mobilization of involuntary
labor, organization of political authority, this
government
reached a level unsurpassed among the indigenous governments of minority groups. great
deal
ethnologists.
of
For this reason,
attention
from
A steady stream
it
has
Chinese
attracted
historians
a and
of publications dealing with
aspects of this particular cultural system of government has appeared beginning with field 1956.
What
investigations
follows is an outline of the main
this system of government based on 28 these studies.
the
most
conducted
in
features
of
important
of
(l)Absolute Land Ownership All land in Xishuangbanna, including
farmland,
rivers
181
and woodlands, Pian Ling, society.
are
the
thought
of be the property of the Zhao
title given to the highest ruler of the Dai
In the Dai language,
the
means "the owner of vast lands."
title
Apart
Zhao
Pian
Ling
from him no one has
the right to own land or to transfer land.
Agriculturalists
who support themselves on his property are required to abide by tenancy arrangements which entitle the Zhao Pian Ling a share of the harvest. tilling
it
taxation
of
agricultural
tenants.
a
The Zhao
Pian
water,
and
land
rate
The rationale
is to charge the inhabitants for use
Zhao Pian Ling's roads, life.
live on the land without
are still required to make payments at
one-third of that for
Those who
to
in
of
their
the
daily
Ling's proprietary rights extended to
wild animals as hunters were required to make a presentation of the lower half of each animal is killed since that is the part
of
the animal in closest contact with the
Zhao
Pian
is
also
Ling's land. The absolute power
of
the
apparent in different stages The life
of
Zhao
Ling
of an individual's life-cycle.
each subject of the Zhao Pian Ling was divided
into four periods: (a) up
to the age of 15 was known as the
stage of 'wei fu dan nian ling' (or labor) burden.'
or the 'age without payment
Because people in this category are not
considered to be full social persons, case no
Pian
custom
of burial after death.
there
was
in
their
(b) From the age of
182
15
to
marriage
'learning to normally
was
the
period
assume burdens.'
given
one-quarter
of
'xue
xi fu dan'
or
People in this category were of
available to a fully
responsible
As community members
with
the
allotment
member
of
land
of the community.
partial social rights, people in
this category were entitled to a full burial. time of marriage to the age
(c) From the
of fifty, 'zheng shi fu dan' or
'(those who have) formally assumed burdens' will all receive equal
and
full shares of land and pay an
burden' (yi hu fu dan).
equal
'unit
of
Unmarrieds over the age of eighteen
were treated on the same basis as married 'zheng shi fu dan' subjects.
(d) Above the age of fifty was the period of 'xie
fu dan' or
'unloading
category who had sons required
to
the and
burden.' daughters,
assume the burdens of
without offspring and
in
For
those
in
this
their offspring were
their
circumstances
parents.
Those
of genuine poverty
were able to relinquish their burden but only
if they first
returned their land to the Zhao Pian Ling.
(2)Land Grants While the Zhao
Pian
Ling had ultimate and inalienable
rights of land ownership in this region, he
could make land
grants with differentiations made as to the
status
recipient.
Aside from land held directly and
of
the
hereditarily
183
by the Zhao Pian Ling and his immediate relatives, there was a related category of
non-hereditary
lands
awarded by the
Zhao Pian Ling to subordinate officials and nobles as reward for faithful
service.
There was generally a close relation
between the size of such a subordinate's landholding and his relative standing in
the
government.
The Zhao Pian Ling's
lands and those distributed to subordinates were both worked by agricultural laborers. differentiates lands
which
these lands from a second general were
distributed
agriculturalists, obligations. the tenant crop
to
family,
involves
directly
to
differences
which
category,
the in
tenant service
Land distributed directly to tenants obligated to
the
services.
The characteristic feature
present Zhao
payment of a specified share of his
Pian
Ling
and/or
to
provide
labor
Land under the control of the Zhao Pian Ling, his or
his
subordinates
was
worked
by
marshalling
agriculturalists bound by such corvee labor obligations. Land
distributed
directly to tenants can
be
further
sub-divided into three types
depending on whether allotment
was made to entire villages,
clan
Land
distributed
to
village
groups
or
or clan groups
further distributed among themselves.
was
usually
Attempts were made to
apportion good land and bad land equally among of the group who were expected to provide labor services to the Zhao Pian Ling.
individuals.
all
members
equal payments or
184
(3)Rank and 'Burden' The burden system in Dai society is complex and with
rank,
occupied.
social
status,
locality, and amount
varies of
'Gun de zhao' ('belonging to the master') is
lowest rank, one 29 population.
which
accounts
for
39%
of
the
main obligation
of
people
of
this
domestic service for officials in bureaucracy.
household rank
the
Secondarily, they were
Zhao also
time
slaves. is
to
the local
Most people in this category were at one
immigrants, captives, criminals or
land
The
provide
Pian's
Ling's
responsible
for
tilling lands under the direct control of the Zhao Pian Ling and his subordinates. 'Dai
meng' ('indigenes') occupy the next highest 30
and account for 54% of the total population. which they rendered irrigation lands. meng
construction
This are
include and
bridge the
The
rank
services
building, road repair, cultivation
of
corvee
latter obligation commences in spring when dai required
to
draught-animals to help with
bring
their
own
tools
and
planting continues through the
completion of harvest. The next rank, 'zhao zhuang,' population and the Zhao
Pian
is
limited to 5% of the
is composed entirely of distant relatives of 31 Ling's officials. Usually their service
185
requirements
are
relatively
lax, restricted
to
a
small
number of people needed to act as body-guards. The
service
described
were
obligations
each of the
further determined with a
specificity by residence. one village
of
ranks
high
just
degree
of
The members of a certain rank
in
might be responsible only for feasting visiting
officials of the Zhao Pian Ling
while
members
rank might be responsible for
sheltering
horses of officials during
visit.
a
tasks was so minute as to erecting mosquito candles
during
perform
these
nets,
holding
wedding tasks
cover
performed by
a
person
umbrellas,
of
Should
the
The apportionment of
The
transmitted
distinctions of rank enforced.
another
feeding
responsibilities
ceremonies.
was
and
of
and
such
as
lighting
obligation
hereditarily
to and
a
specific task be
inappropriate
rank, punishment
ensued.
(4)Government Enforcement The social control exercised by the Zhao Pian Ling was, in
the
first
place,
based
on
administrative authority to kinsmen. of the elite were the for only 2% of the
'meng*
entire
the
delegation
of
The two highest ranks
and the 'weng,' which account 32
population.
The
means 'skull' and reflects the belief that the
word
'meng'
skull is the
186
most important part of the
human
body.
Only the Zhao Pian
Ling himself and his immediate relatives could lay claim this rank.
The 'weng*
('relatives')
other, close relatives of 'weng' rank were usually while
females
positions.
were
Zhao
the
closely
Pian
was composed of Ling.
Males
of
assigned to bureaucratic positions
married to
Thus
interwoven
the
rank
to
officials
bureacratic
with
the
Zhao
occupying
high
administration
was
Pian
Ling's
kinship
network. The second characteristic of governmental
control
the strict division of administrative responsibility. the supervision of the Zhao Pian
Ling,
known
('chamber
as
the
affairs').
'yi
This
shi
ting'
there
was
for
was Under
a
body
discussing
was composed of four ministers ('ka zhen')
and representatives from administration ('kan').
various The
subordinate
four
ministers
units of the are
minister
serving as speaker of the chamber, the minister in charge of finance
and
tax,
the
household registration,
minister
body,
attention
concerned
the
problems
which
administration, officials.
Zhao had and
charge
of
laws
and
and the minister in charge of grain
and miscellaneous affairs. this
in
In
was
given
Pian Ling's defied (c)
meetings to
held regularly by (a)
entire
territories,
solution
appointments
affairs
in of
the various
which (b) lower high
Decisions made by this chamber generally went to
187
the Zhao Pian Ling for final authorization.
(5)Legal Sanctions Another important characteristic of this regime was the use of written documents for
purposes
of
social
control.
Legal regulations were comprehensive, including matters such as civil, penal, administrative, economic, ritual and status rights. The
position
of
the
Zhao
Pian
Ling vis-a-vis
society was legally institutionalized.
For example, as one
document states, the Zhao
Pian
over
millions of people.
water,
regulation
earth,
and
promulgated
becomes a subject
of
by the
Ling
being delivered from the womb.
local 33
of the Zhao Pian Ling.
of
In
another
Justice,
one
Pian Ling at the moment of This regulation goes
state that the millions of hairs of the speech denoting the
has supreme authority
the Ministry Zhao
the
head,
a
on
to
figure of
population, are all the property
Under this regime, the obedience of
all subjects to the rule of law was required: It is considered an offence against propriety if an apprentice rebukes the craft-master, if a monk rebukes the abbot, if a villager rebukes the headman, the bond-servant rebukes his master, the commoner rebukes the lord; similarly if the small feudatory rebels against the large, if officials rebel against the Zhao Pian Ling, or if a son rebels against his father, these are all not in accordance with civilized morality. Even if he
188
has grounds to do so, such conduct is not permitted... . Filial piety towards one's parents, master, headman, noble lord, abbot is the intelligent, moral, and superior comportment and is to be nurtered and protected... . For those who do not follow (this principle) or who rebel, punishment will be severe... . For those who assasinate officials, they shall be decapitated and their heads placed on public display and their 34 sons and daughters shall become bond-servants. Legislation differentiates
administratively
to differences in origin, tax status, Zhao
Pian
Ling's subjects.
denied eligibility
and
rank
For instance,
among
the
the
outsiders
to various official posts.
were
In one legal
document entitled "Tu Xi Dui Bai Xing Xun Tiao" from
according
(Admonition
feudal lord to the common people), it
is
stated
that "one cannot pretend to a higher status if one is of low rank."
"If
one
that person to
is
not a headman, it is inappropriate for
behave
as
a
headman for even one day.
would be inappropriate to raise one's status to one zhang (a unit of measurement) if one's status zhang.
Similarly
one
cannot
Legislation of this sort was
is only fifty
based
on
hundred the
zhi
required that those who reside in a
particular
administrative district (kan)
the
authorities.
It
obey
also
served
two 35
zhang."
zhi)
and
village
or
regulations of the to
support
centralized and authoritarian structure of the For instance, it was believed that "in
to
administrative
principle of 'rule through division' (fen er
local
hundred
raise one's status
hundred zhang if it is properly only one
It
one
the
bureaucracy.
district
(kan)
189
there should not be two chiefs (zhao), in one mountain there 36 should not be two tigers." Because household slaves feudal
lords,
were
strict regulations governed ^Iie
them, and it was considered a status of slaves. slaves,
that
Should
person
be
fined
restitution for household."
if the
one
"would
swallowed by the earth." won't
common in the houses of control
of
alter
the
criminal
act
to
abolish
the
right
be
condemned
to
own
by heaven
and
"If you steal another's slave, you
you
return
loss
of
the
the
slave
and
slave's
provide
labor
"If a male slave from one household
from with a female slave from another household,
in
the
runs
away
the
owner
of the male slave should compensate the owner
of the female
slave
female
by
paying one-half of the price for a
(600 wengan).
If the owner
of
slave
the male slave recovers the
female slave and returns her, he need only pay one-fourth of 37 this amount." In addition to the position of
rules
the
which tended directly to support
elite,
there
were
also
rules
more
concerned with the economic livelihood and social welfare of the
common
people.
In one regulation
Dealing with Lost Cattle." If
someone
is their responsibility to care for it. cannot be located, a report Legal action will
be
should
entitled
"Ways
of
finds a lost cow, it If
the cow's owner
be made to the headman.
taken against those who deliberatedly
190
appropriate, injure or cattle.
In
make
regulating
unauthorized
the
use of another's
exchange
of
commodities,
legislation encouraged fairness in business transactions and opposed
illegitimate
profiteering,
such
as
the
use
of
inaccurate scales. Those
who
commit
marital offences
subject to legal prosecution.
The
fine
causing death to an innocent man was excess of the standard 37
liang
the value of a single human
and
murder
in
the
were
case
109 liang of silver in
of silver considered to be
life.
For
those
who
murder
their parents, the punishment was the chopping off of and feet and body
of
banishment
legislation
from the locality.
helped
of
hands
This elaborate
ensure the stability
of
the
regime and social life as well.
(6)Control over Irrigation System Located
in
a
subtropical
distinct dry and wet seasons.
area,
Xishuangpanna
During the
rainy
season
has in
summer time heavy rains continue intermittently from several months.
The dry season,
experiences no rainfall.
from
November
Without
an
to February, often irrigation system to
protect against drought and flood, it is impossible for Dai people to manage their paddy rice agriculture.
the
191
To ensure system,
the
Zhao
Pian
administrative Pian
Ling
proper Ling
regime
to
be
personnel
maintaining irrigation works and the
top
of
the
entire
(a
system
water
of
Ling
levels
a
greater
At
a in
the
superintendent charge
of
region.
of
the
Below "kan"
administrative As the canal
officials
were
Each branch canal was administered by a committee
composed of
representatives from all the villages along the
route and headed by two reaches.
number
the
apportionment.
level) to be responsible for the major canals.
assigned.
of
two officials were appointed in every
expanded,
Zhao
and
bureaucratic unit directly below the top
system
specific
constructing
bureaucracy, there was
irrigation
superintendent
all
for
closely associated with Zhao Pian
the irregation
Administratively, to
responsible
of
stipulated
and legal measures.
appointed
bureaucracy
functioning
villagers
from its lower and upper
This arrangement ensured an equitable distribution
of water resources. Taking the Jinhong
irrigation
district
irrigable field covered an area of over 600 mu = 1 hectare).
the
east,
example,
thousand mu (15
The Lancang River transversed the district
from north to south. in
for
The Liusha River, which runs
eventually
converges
and
joins
parallel with
the
Lancang. Taking advantage of this natural configuration, the Dai people constructed two canals on the upper course of the
192
Liusha River. The passes through to
the
one
flowing
to
the
east
of the River
some twenty village while the other, flowing
west,
passes
through
more
Alongside both of these canals, a proliferated.
than
series
ten
of
villages.
small
canals
This created a canal network serving the more
than 60 villages in specific name
and
specific limits.
the
locality.
water
Each
apportionment
waterway was
had
controlled by
The amount of water given to each the
a
was usually determined by the size
of
amount of water to be allotted was
measured in terms of two
standardized units of local measurement 38 liang. Water allotment system sanctions.
was
People who took an
were subject to punishment
as
land;
village and
known
as
jin
strenghtened
by
specific
excessive were
amount
of
management,
those held responsible
canal system repairs director
were
were the
Under
disputes over water rights were
relatively uncommon as were abuses water distribution.
and
water
for causing physical damage to irrigation structures. this system of
the
such
Every year two undertaken.
as
major
favoritism repairs
Responsibility
shared among villages. yi shi ting(chamber for
In
most
for cases,
discussing
issued a decree
alerting
of repair work.
One of these decrees read,
of
in the
these the
affairs)
officials prior to the initiation
Now is the raining season and the time for transplanting rice. All villagers should prepare
193
for canal repairs so that water will flow smoothly and reach all fields. Every villager should deliberate carefully on the amount of water required by their fields and stand at the ready with the necessary tools. The irrigation official should conduct a complete inspection covering the length of the canal every five days. If any village should refuse to assume its part in the repair work, additional taxes shall be levied at the end of the year. All males, regardless of their status, shall be subjected to the same set of regulations in regard to irrigation repair 39 responsibilities. Upon completion of the irrigation repair, a ceremony in which pigs and chickens were
sacrificed
in
honor
of
the
water god was held.
There was also an open water observance
(kai shui yi
a
shi),
part
of
inspection of all repairs. observance sat
which
Officials
included a thorough taking
part in this
in a raft floating downstream accompanied by
people beating drums and gongs. ran aground, the official
At any place where the raft
ordered
the
adjacent village to
conduct further repairs or face punishment. The Dai and Yi: Two Societies in Comparative Perspective Yi and Dai societies are ethnologists stratification feature
as
classified
"post-primitive" which
has
of both societies.
the two groups based on labor.
both
been
because seen
to
of
by the
be an
In their classifications,
forms
of
class
important
However, they further
distinctive
Chinese
classify
involuntary
the system of involuntary
labor in Liangshan is termed "nuli zhi" or 'slavery' whereas
194
the
system
Xishuangbanna is termed "nongnu zhi" 40 "agri-serfdom." The basis of this distinction is
follows:
in
Under the slave system in Liangshan,
not only control the land and other means also
have
subjects.
complete
control
over
or as
slave-owners
of production but
the
lives
of
their
These slaves could be bought and sold, passed
as
property in inheritance, and killed at the owner's will.
In
contrast, in the
system
of
between master and subject complete
ownership
of
was
land
ownership of the human dependent
agri-serfdom, the relationship structured rather
subject.
than
on the master's on
his
direct
Propertyless peasants were
for their livelihood on arrangements under
they tilled the Zhao Pian Ling's property. access to his land, peasants were required
In to
which
return
for
provide
the
Zhao Pian Ling with a specified portion of the crops or with a
variety
voluntary status.
of
labor
but
was
While
tied
serfdom,
serfs
personal
rights
slaves.
services. mandated to
nonetheless
the
land
peasant's
in
enjoyed a
a
the
not
inherited
relationship
limited
them from
was
of
number
of
status
of
For example, they had the freedom to exchange goods
rights 41 arbitrary execution. The
by
distinguishing
on a small scale, retain animals,
the
This arrangement
and
had
relevance
of
ownership
their
tools
and
protecting them from
sale,
and
systems
of
this
over
difference
in
195
involuntary
labor
to issues of classification
evolutionary implications.
In strict
is
in
its
applications
of
the
five-stage evolutionary schema, slavery is classified as the earliest social formation contrast, serfdom which
is
in
post-primitive
classified
among
society.
feudal
formations
evolved following the dissolution of slavery.
the evolutionary implications of
In
While
this distinction have been
much discussed in Chinese academia. there has not been equal attention given to
examining
these
terms of social adaptations.
different societies in
Yet there is much
that such a comparison might be useful.
to
suggest
In the first place,
the different systems of involuntary labor are in both cases closely related
to similar systems of overarching rank.
shown in the previous chapter, the social Zhao Pian
Ling
ruo he elites
in
Yi
society
of
related
labor
are
Second, both systems in
important ways
patrilineal systems of kinship organization. two
the
are similar in the degree of
exercise.
the
of
and his relatives in Dai society and of the
social authority which they involuntary
position
As
previous
sections,
kinship
As examined in underlie
the
society
and
the fragmented system of local authority in Yi society.
It
organization of the entire state elite in
ties
to
Dai
is precisely this difference in the degree of centralization in the two societies, highly centralized among the highly
decentralized
crucial to a social
among
the
explanation
Yi, which appears of
Dai to
and be
systems of involuntary
196
labor and other differences in the two societies. The high society has In
order
degree
of
political
centralization
in Dai
already been described in the previous section. to contrast this with
the
highly
decentralized
nature of Yi society, it is useful to give at this
point
a
brief overview of the political organization of Liangshan Yi society.
The
Liangshan
area,
including
Da
Liangshan in
Sichuan and Xiao Liangshan in Yunnan province, has population of roughly 1.2 million and a total of approximately 100,000 sq.km. a rigorous system
of
slavery
surface
in
this
area,
to
area
the
ruo
he
there is no
The whole region
is dominated by over a hundred scattered clan belonging
total
Despite the enforcement of
overarching system of political authority.
Jia zhi and
a
groups
rank.
named
While these
various clan groups share certain genealogical links they do not all
share a single apical ancestor, despite genealogies
which may extend as far back as fifty the
ruo
he
jia
correspondingly holdings. and
hold
subjects.
zhi groups has varied
subject
generations.
its
own
territory
populations
with
and
land
Politically, they are independent of each
other
separate authority over their
slaves
and
other
Slave owners are not in any way restricted in the
punishments which they may inflict on slaves treatment
Each of
of
nor
slaves otherwise restricted by 42 system of law. In all of these respects,
is a Yi
their
codified society
197
contrasts sharply
with the highly centralized nature of Dai
society in Xishuangbanna. Some
insight
into
centralization and Yi
the
difference
decentralization
outcome of
historical
system
administration in the two
of
attempts
to
between
is
Dai
provided by the
impose
a hierarchical
areas.
The
authorities of the Yuan dynasty(1206-1368 A.D.)
central
implemented
a unified system of administration known as tu si in the two localities
and 43
minority area.
elsewhere Under
the
throughout
the
implementation
southwestern
of this policy,
local minority leaders were given titles such as xuanhuishi, xuanfushi,
anfushi, zhaotaoshi, and etc., their lands
classified into administrative categories and tuzhizhou.
These
leaders
such
as
were
tuzhifu
were required to pay tribute
to the central authorities on a regular basis. Despite the reforms
in
unitary
nature
of
the two areas, implementation
produced Very different results.
in
administrative of
the
reforms
In the Liangshan area, the
unified tu si system established in already
these
decline by the early
the
Ming
Yuan
dynasty
was
dynasty(1368-1644).
Eventually this system was almost entirely superceded by the 44 current system of fragmented ruo he Democratic
Reforms
of
1956,
rule.
Prior
there were only
representing an area of only 4,000 sq.km.
out
to
ten
the
areas,
of the total
area of 100,000 sq.km., which retained vestiges of the
tusi
198
system. By way of contrast, the
tusi
system took firm root in
the Xishuangbanna area shortly after 1350. It soon developed into
a
system of mutual support with the local
Zhao Pian Ling systems
authority
eventually
with
merged 45
political authority.
the
into
This
area's effective incorporation
result a
that
single
was
the
framework
of two of
marked
the
beginning
of the
into
the
national
polity.
From this time, tribute paid by the locality authorities
system
paid through the burden
to the central
system
discussed
previously. The question which this
raises
is
how such different
results could develop out of the implementation of a set of policies in the
two
localities.
to look at the radically
different
areas.
area
The
Liangshan
Here, it is useful
ecologies
is
single
of
characterized
the
two
by
high
mountains and deep gorges and includes the southern range of the
Da
Xue
Shan
and
the
numerous ravines of the
upper
Yangtze. Most of the inhabitants of this area live more than 2,000
meters
above
sea
level.
This
transportation extremely difficult. routes are precipitous
paths
as
a
result
of
makes
In many areas, the only
hewn into steep hillsides and
single-strand rope bridges strung Partly
topography
over
these
transportation, the topography
also
torrential
natural
rivers.
impediments
to
played a large part in
199
the
formation
boundaries.
of distinct territories divided
by
natural
These became, in turn, the homeland territories
of various ruling clans.
These clans resisted domination by
neighboring clans and, as
a consequence, frequently engaged
in feuds.
The
outcome
victory for either of commonly
the
of the
clan
feuds
feuding
destruction
of
between their territories.
was
seldom
parties
but
bridges or damage
This
total
was
more
to
paths
had the effect of further
weakening the already tenuous links between the areas. In
contrast,
the
topography
primarily a flat area with
only
cross-cutting
do
the
transportation
plain
but
transportation.
not
need
for
favored
As
serve
hills. as
topographical system
configuration
was
of
for
irrigation a
region
forms of social organization capable of
labor for the
construction
irrigation systems.
and
to
water-borne
already mentioned, there was
irrigation agriculture in this
is
Rivers
barriers
facilitate
ideally suited to a large-scale agriculture.
Xishuangbanna
scattered
actually
This
of
pressing and
this
mobilizing
maintenance of large-scale
The ethnographic data reveal that there
was in fact a close relationship between
the
structure
of
the Zhao Pian Ling's regime and its role in regulating these irrigation resources.
There are three points which help to
illuminate this relationship. public with water, local
(a)
In
order
to supply the
officials with responsibility over
200
circumscribed
areas were elected by villagers.
This
group
of water administrators was then incorporated into the lower ranks
of
the
administration
Zhao
Pian
under
Ling's
hierarchical
the authority of a
system
single
of
minister.
This system of administration of water resources is parallel to the system of political administration by which the
Zhao
Pian Ling incorporated local leaders into the administrative hierarchy. water
(b) In order
equibably,
to
guarantee
the distribution of
the Zhao Pian Ling
regime
introduced
system of standardized water measurement and a set of guidelines and procedures to in order to construct
on
the
contributed
legal
(c) Finally,
major irrigation facilities, villages
were organized in a unified based
handle disputes.
a
burden
system
system.
decisively
to
of All
the
labor of
social
conscription these
factors
integration
and
political centralization of the society. Some Chinese
ethnologists have offered the case of the
Xishuangbanna Dai as an
example
of
the
Asiatic
Mode
Production model proposed by Marx and Engels. Both Marx Engels considered irrigation to be agriculture and they identified irrigation
projects
as
authoritarian
centralized
Anti-Duhring,
Engels
the
the
basis
of
of and
oriental
the necessity of organizing springboard for the 46
regimes.
described
the
Furthermore, formation
of
rise
of
in
the
these
despotic regimes as a stage in the process of evolution from
201
egalitarian
to
stratified
societies.
Among
egalitarian
societies in the past, there were from the beginning certain common interests the safeguarding of which had to be handed over to individuals, even though under the control of the community as a whole: such were the adjudication of disputes; repression of ecocroachments by individuals on the rights of others; control of water supplies, especially in hot countries... They are naturally endowed with a certain measure of authority and the beginnings 47 of state power. The process of development from servant to master which Engels described
is not easily identified in the historical
record of Xishuangbanna; and it is not
possible
given
the
limited historical data to uncover causal factors to account precisely for the emergence of the Zhao Pian However,
a
close
administration of
association water
of
resources
the and
Ling Zhao
leaders. Pian
related
Ling
political
institutions appears clear. Legends and other data provide on the close
relationship
public interests,
between
and leadership.
additional
information
irrigation
facilities,
For instance, there is a
legend of wide currency in Xishuangbanna about She
Long
Fa
("The Big Tiger of Heaven"). This legend describes
how
She
Long
riverbed
Fa
led
the
people
in
transecting the Xi shuang ban known as Nan Meng
Xi
Zai,
hundred thousand youths.
digging na
which
a
plain. means
huge
This river is now the
river of one
Because of his contribution to the
202
success
of
this project, She Long Fa was given
control over all the villages
reached
project by Zhao Pian Ling. Although
by
he
this
was
conspiring
Zhao Pian Ling. The Zhao Pian accusation and had She source.
Long
From that time,
Ling Fa
the
to
object
of
accused by a
rebel against the
was
deceived
executed
river
of
irrigation
an
great veneration by villagers, She Long Fa was few jealous detractors of
rights
at
has
by
the
ceased
this
water's to
flow.
Ethnographers report
an attitude of wistfulness on the part 48 of villagers recounting these legendary events. Another existing
Buddha.
legend
describes
trunk-canals When
as
the
origin
resulting
from
of an
the
five
act of
the
the Buddha passed through
Xishuangbanna, 49 used his staff to draw the outlines of the riverbeds. After the Revolution, the Zhao
Pian
Ling
he
regime
was
replaced by the People's Government. However, the need for a centralized leadership for managing the existing system remained acute.
For
the
first
waterworks
several years after
the establishment of the People's Government, the irrigation budget accounted for 800 million
old
renovation and new
of
construction
waterways benefitting more
than
This alleviated problems of water several thousand
mu of land.
very positive response from
one
yuan. 95
li
This (47.5
thousand
shortage
for
enabled km)
of
households. more
than
These undertakings received a 50 local villagers. When Chinese
203
ethnologists first conducted field research in Xi shuang ban na
in
1956, they found that local villagers still
had
an
urgent desire to improve the local irrigation system. While these aspects of Xishuangbanna society conform to the general outlines
of
hydraulic
societies described for
many regions of Asia by Marx,
Engels,
writing
Mode
on
the
distinctiveness
Asiatic
and of
other
scholars
Production,
the
of Xishuangbanna in a wider ecological
and
cultural context raises questions as to the applicability of this model for
the
rest
compartmentalization Liangshan
Yi
large-scale
society
of
and
features,
projects
geographical Yet
is
the
communication, the
of
similar
a
absence
way
In respect to ecological
of
of
region
was
the
communication.
transportation
especially outside the Yarlung-Zangpo entire
of
entirely
to Liangshan because
difficulty
of
Production model, the
barriers to transportation and
despite
valley,
Mode
ecological
fragmentation
in
is more problematic.
Tibet
the
associated with the
consistent with the Asiatic Tibetan case
While
political
is
construction
Asia.
effectively
and river
centralized
through the religious
and
political authority of the Dalai
Lama in a way similar
to
that in Xishuangbanna. This state
of affairs is best explained not Production model
with
its
by
implicit
the
Asiatic
appeal
Mode
of
to ecological
factors but by the spread of religious ideology.
204
NOTES TO CHAPTER IV 1
Joseph
Stalin Dialectical and Historical
Materialism
(New York: International Publishers, 1940), p.34. 2 Mao
Zedong
"The Chinese Revolution and
Communist Party," Selected Works Foreign
Languages
Press,
the
Chinese
of Mao Tse-tung, (Beijing:
1965,
originally
published
in
1939), ii, pp.305-334. 3 Ai Siqi
Lishi
(Lecture Notes Social
on
weiwulun, Historicla
shehui
fazhan
Materialism
shi jiangyi
and
History of
Development)(Beijing: Gongren chupan she,1953);
Moruo
Zhongguo
gudai
shehui
yanjiu (A Study
of
Guo
Ancient
Chinese Societies) (Beijing: Kexue chuban she, 1954); and Hu Sheng, Yu Guangyuan & Wang Huide Shehui kexue jiangzuo (Introduction to Fundamentals of
jiben
Social
zhishi
Sciences)
(Beijing: Xuexi zazhi she, 1952). 4 See Zhong guo de nuli zhi yu fengjian zhi wenti lunwen xuanji (Collected Essays and Feudal
Eras
in
on
the Periodization of the Slave
China), comp.
by the editors of Lishi
yanjiu (Historical Studies) (Beijing, 1956). 5 See Guo, Ancient Chinese Societies.
205
Lu Zhengyu Shiqianqi zhongguo the
Prehistorical
Chinese
shehui yan.jiu (Study of
Society)
(Beijing:
Sanlian
shudian, 1961). 7 Ibid. 8 Yu
Ke
fangshi"
and
Song
Dunshu
("Exploring
the
"Shilun
issue
Production"), in The Journal of
of
Jilin
yaxiya
shengchan
Asiatic
Mode
University
(No.
of 4,
1979) 9 See Maurice
Godelier "The Concept of the Asiatic Mode
of Production and Marxist Models of Social Evolution" in Seddon ed. 1978),
Relation
pp.209-258;
of
Production
Karl
(London:
Wittfogel
Oriental
D.
Frank Cass, Despotism
(London: Oxford University Press, 1957); Lawrence Krader The Asiatic Mode
of
Production
(Assen,
The
Gorcum & Comp. B.V., 1975); and Anne Bailey ed.
The Asiatic Mode
of
Production:
Netherlands: Van & Josep Llobera
Science and Politics
(Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981). 10
Jiang Hong & Jiang Yu "Makesi za
wannian
yaxiya zhe yi gainian le ma?"("Did Marx abandon of Asiatic
Mode
of
fangqi the
le
Notion
Production in His Late Years?") in Wen
Shi Zhe(Literature, History, and Philosophy)(No.
5,
1981),
206
pp.19-28.. 11
Ho Xin "Lun Makesi de lishi guandian yu shehui fazhan de
wu
jieduan
gongshi"("Marx's
View of History
and
the
Formula of Five-Stage Social Development") in Jinyang Xuekan (No. 6, 1981), pp.27-40. 12
Ibid. 13 China's National Minorities Editorial Group Zhong guo shaoshu minzu (China's National Minorities) (Beijing: Renmin chuban she, 1981). 14 Fei
Xiaotong
&
Lin Yaohua
"Guanyu
shaoshu
shehui xingzhi de yanjiu" ("Study of the Societal the National
Minorities")
minzu
Types
Renmin
Ribao
(People's
shaoshu
minzu
qian
of
Daily)
(August 14, 1956). 15 Du Yuting shehui
xingtai
"Yunnan yu
lishi
fazhan
Pre-capitalist Social Formations of the Question Concerning the
guilu Yunnan
ziben zhuyi
wenti"
("The
Minorities
and
Law of Historical Development")
in Yunnan Shehui kexue (Social
Science
in
Yunnan)(No.
4,
1983), PP.47-56. 16 The Co-authoring Group of The
Yi
Slave
Society
in
207
Liangshan Liangshan Yizu in
Liangshan)
nuli
shehui (The Yi Slave Society
(Beijing: Renmin chuban she,
1982),
p.l
&
p.9. 17 "Regulations
Concerning
Democratic Reform in Liangshan
the Yi
Implementation
Autonomous
of
Prefecture,"
adopted by the Third People's Congress of the Prefecture Feb. 1956, in
China's
National
in
Minorities Editorial Group
China's National Minorities, p.314. 18
Some
of
the
noticeable
society include Lin Yaohua Past and Present of the zhanxian
(Social
Co-authoring Liangshan Liangshan)
Yizu
"Liangshan
Yi
Front)
(Beijing:
shehui
the
Yi
in
(China's Social
Yizu
mianmao"("The Characteristics
diqu
Yi
Yi
zhidu"
(No.
Kangnong, Zheng Xianming, Liu Yan Liangshan
2,
Society
(The
Liangshan")
Sciences)
minzhu
Region prior
to
slave
jin xi," ("The
1984); in
Slave
in the
in
("The Zhongguo
2, and
Soci-jty
gaige Sichuan
Yaohua
Jiazhi
System kexue
pp.205-20; Xia Yunda
yiqian
"Sichuan
de
Liangshan:
Democratic
in
He
shehui
1981), Luo
The
Liangshan
Renmin chuban she, 1982);
"Lun Liangshan Yizu de jiazhi among
(No.
of The Yi Slave
nuli
Yizu
Yi
in Liangshan"), in Shehui kexue
Sciences
Group
writings on the
shehui Societal
Reform"),
in
Nationality Studies (No. 1, 1958), pp.15-38; and Shi Xiushen and
Cheng
Jiyuan
"Dui
minzhu gaige qian
Liangshan
diqu
208
shehui xingzhi
de tantao" ("The Liangshan Yi Society before
the Democratic Reform: A Probe of Its
Social
Nature"),
in
("Account
of
Nationality Studies (No. 9, 1959), pp.25-36. 19 SiMa
Qian
"Xinan
yi
lie
zhuan"
Southwestern Barbarian") in Shi Ji
(Records
Historian). For English reference,
see Burton Watson trans.
Records
of
the
Grand
Historian
(New
of
York:
the
Grand
Columbia
University Press, 1968), p.290. 20 Liangshan Co-authoring Group The
Yi Slave Society in
Liangshan, pp.28-29. 21
Ibid. p.36-37. 22 See Moses Finley "Slavery" International Encyclopedia of the Social Igor
Kopytoff
Anthropological
Sciences eds.
v.14:307-313; and Suzanne Meirs and Slavery
Perspectives
in
Africa:
(Madison:
Historical
and
University
of
Wisconsin Press, 1977). 23 The Yi Slave Society in Liangshan(1982), pp.68-73. 24 Ibid. p.131-55; Also see He Yaohua "The Jiazhi System among the Yi in Liangshan" p.212-15.
209
25 Xia et al.
"The Yi Region in Liangshan," p.25.
26 The Yi Slave Society in Liangshan, pp.78-82. 27 Lin Yaohua (Lin Yueh-hua) The Ju-shu Pan trans.
and Wu-chi
Press, 1961), p.102.
Lolo
Liu
of
ed.
(New
Liang
Shan,
Haven:
Hraf
(Chinese version published in 1947).
28 a) Yunnan wenti wu zhong Xishuangbana
Provincial
congshu(The Daizu
Editorial Five
shehui
Investigations on Dai
Series of Nationalities),
zonghe
Society
Committee on Minzu
in
diaozha(Comprehensive Xishuangbana)
Yunnan minzu chuban she, 1983) Volumn 1-6;
b)
(Kunming:
Miao
Xishuangbana Daizu zizhi zhou de guoqu he xianzai
Luanhe
(The
Dai
Autonomous Prefecture in Xishuangbana: Its Past and Present) (Kunming:
Yunnan
"Xishuangbana
renmin
Daizu
chuban
she,
1957);
diqu minzhu gaige yiqian
c) Yun de
Lan
fengjian
lingzhu jingji ("The Dai Region in Xishuangbana prior to the Democratic Reform: the Suzerain Economy") Studies (No. 4, 1959), pp.33-45; qian Daizu de fengjian
lingzhu
d)
in
Song
tudi
Nationalities
Shuhua
suoyou
zhi
nongcun gongshe de guan xi" ("The System
of
Ownership and Its Relationship with
Rural
Pre-Liberation
Days")
Nationalities)
(No.
Provincial Institute of
in
4,
the
Minzu
1963),
Historical
26-37;
Studies
jiqi
Suzerain
tuanjie
pp.
"Jiefang he Land
Commune
in
(Unity
of
e)
"Daizu"
Yunnan ("Dai
210
Nationality")
in
Yunnan
shaoshu
minzu
(Yunnan
National
Minorities), Institute of Historical Studies ed. Yunnan minzu chuban she, 1983), pp. "Xishuangbana
shehui
diaozha
Yunnan
Minority
Dai"),
in
Societies) by the same
Chengzhang "Xishuangbana Daizu
1,
fengjian
Land
Yunnan shaoshu minzu
yanjiu (Investigations and Studies
Yunnan minzu chuban she, 1980), v.
in
139-72; f) Song Enchang
Daizu fengjian tudi zhidu" ("The Feudal
System of the Xishuangbana
("The Dai
(Kunming:
author,
of
(Kunming:
pp.216-30; shehui
the
de
g)
Cao
fazhi"
Society in Xishuangbana: A Feudal Legal System"),
Sixiang
zhanxian
(Ideological
Front)
pp.28-33; and h)Zhang Yuanqing "Xishuangbanna
(No.2, Daizu
1981), nongnu
shehui de dengji zhidu" ("The Dai Society of Agri-serfdom in Xishuangbanna: Its Ranking System"), in Ethnological Studies (No.3, 1982) pp.240-52. 29 Zhang Yuanqing "Ranking System," pp.241-42 30 Ibid. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Yunnan Provincial Editorial Investigations v.4, p.71.
Committee
Comprehensive
211
Ibid. 35 Cao
Chengzhang ("The Dai Society in Xishuangbana:
A
Feudal Legal System"),p.30. 36 Ibid, p.29. 37 Ibid. p.30. 38 See
Miao
Luanhe
The
Dai:
Its
Past and
Present,
pp.21-22 for a detail description of water apportionment and apportionment instrument used in the Dai society. 39 Miao Luanhe The Past and Present of the Dai, p.23. 40 The Editing Zhongguo
shaoshu
Group
of
China's
minzu
(China's
National
National
Minorities Minorities),
(Beijing: Renmin chuban she, 1981), p.4. 41 See Lin
Yaohua, Chen Yongling, Song Shuhua, and Wang
Furen "Dui wu guo Zangzu, Weiwu'erzu, he jiefang qian nongnu
zhidu
de
Daizu
bufen
diqu
chubu yanjiu"("A Preliminary
Study on Serfdom in Certain Tibetan, Uighur and
Dai Area in
Pre-liberation
(Historical
China"),
Studies), (No. 5, 1962), p.
in
Lishi
2; and Wang
yan.jiu
Jingyang "Cong wuo
212
guo
mo
xie shaoshu minzu qingkuang tan luli yu
nongnu
de
qubie" ("The Distinction between Slave and Serf as Seen from Some Cases of
China's 'Minorities"),
in Ideological Front,
(No. 6, 1979), pp.44-48. 42 Liangshan Co-authoring Group Yi. Slave Society,p.144. 43 The Xishuangbanna tusi administration was
called
by
the Yuan Imperial Government as cheli junmin zongguan fu and the Liangshan tusi administration was designated by the name of Luoluo si xuanhui si. Studies Yunnan National
See Yunnan Institute of Historical Minorities,
p.143;
and
Liangshan
Co-authoring Group Yi Slave Society, p.35. 44 Liangshan Co-authoring group Ti Slave Society, p.32. 45 According to the records of Bian Shi, the first Pian Ling came to power in 1180 A.D. In the second the thirteenth century, the the Zhao Pian administrative leader.
Ling rank
the
half
could
Xuan be
Hui
Shi, the highest
awarded
to
a
From that time, the Zhao Pian Ling maintained
dual title
of
central government's awarded to
title
that
Zhao
local this
and his chamber of councillors became identified
with the tusi admnistration. Present, p.20.
See Miao The Dai: Its Past and
213
Karl Marx "British Rule in
India."
New
York
Daily
Tribuno, (June 25, 1853). hi Frederick
Engels
Anti-Duhring.(New
York:
International Publishers, 1970, orig. 1877-1878), p.198. 48 Yunnan Provincial Editorial Investigations, v.6, p.33. 49 Ibid, v.2, p.40. 50 Ibid.
Committee
Comprehensive
214
GLOSSARY General Terms Ajia: A slave rank in the Liangshan Yi Society. Axia: A term used by the Yongning Naxi It
is
also
used
relationship. separately
to
imply
a
special
Couples involved in
in
their
to
respective
this natal
refer type
to lover. of
mating
relationship
live
homes,
male
with
visitations permitted at night. Dabu: A household head among the Yongning Naxi. Dai
meng:
The
rank
of commoner in
the
Dai
society
of
Xishuangbanna. Er: The most comprehensive unit
of
Naxi
kinship
structure, comprising both
siri and the yidu.
Despite
the
the absence of
known
er
is based on shared
membership
Yongning
genealogical links among its members, obligations
in
funeral
observances. gaige: "Reform." Gun de zhao: A low rank in Dai
society comprising household
slaves. Hemuzhi: A cooperative of Hainan Island.
field
system practised among the Li
215
Jiepou maque; "The Anatomy of a sparrow," for describing the
technique
of
an
analogy
used
making thorough, in-depth
study of a particular case. Kai diaocha hui: "To hold fact-finding meetings." Kan: An administrative unit within Xishuangbanna. Kanbu: A high title
in
the
lamaist
hierarchy,
from
the
Tibetan Khan-po. Langcang: The
Mekong
river,
which
bisects
Xishuangbanna
before flowing into Laos. liang: A unit of weight(=50 grams). liang gan cheng: "using to scales," means to be dishonest in the weighing of products for sale. Liangshan: "Cool mountain,"
located
at the eastern edge of
the Tibetan Plateau. Liangzhong shengchan: The
two
kinds
of human productions,
referring to economic and biological forms. Meng: The highest rank in Dai society of Xishuangbanna. Minzhi qimu, buzhi qifu: "People know their mothers, but not their fathers." Minzuxue: Literally, "study of
peoples."
In
contemporary
216
China, the term is equivalent
to
"ethnology" as it is used
in the West. Mu: A unit of area (=0.0667 hectares). Muxi fuxi bingcun jianting: ethnologists to all
refer
memebers
to
trace
A
term
used
by
the
Chinese
a type of descent group in which descent
from
an
apical
ancestor/ancestress through a combination of male and female links.
This type of descent pattern is known
as
cognatic,
ramage or ambilineal in Western anthropology. Nongnu zhi: Agri-serfdom. Nuli zhi: Slave system. Nuohe: Also
named
Black
Yi.
a
ruling
group
among
the
Liangshan Yi society. PiLin
PiKong: "Criticize Lin Biao, criticize Confucius,"
a
specific political campaign carried out in the course of the Cultural Revolution in the early 1970s. Qunuo: A rank intermediate
to
rulers
and
the
slaves
in
Liangshan Yi society. Ren duo liliang
da:
"The
more
people,
the
greater
the
strength." Ri Yue He: "Harmonization of the Sun and Moon," a place-name
217
in Yongning. san
tong;
living
"The three together," namely,
together
and
laboring
eating
together.
together,
This
is
a
methodological principle which was encouraged throughout the program of nationwide ethnological investigation. shizu gongshe; "Clan Commune." Siri;
A
localized
but
non-residential
unit
among
the
Yongning Naxi. Tusizhi: A system of appointment
of
local
officials
from
among non-Han indigenous people by the imperial government. Wanchuan xingcheng de ren: "Fully formed humans." Weng; An elite group ranking right elite status
was
below
the
Meng.
Their
based on kin ties with the Zhao Pian Ling
and his immediate relatives. wudao: "The five attainments"
advocated
by
the founder of
China's ethnology, Cai Yuanpei. The five consists of the use of one's feet to make
first-hand
dao), of one's mouth to inquire
field into
investigation
other
(zu
cultures
(kuo
dao), of one's ear to listen and learn attentively (er dao), of
one's
hands
to
recorde
investigations (shou dao), and of analyze and systemize(xin dao).
the one's
results mental
of
these
powers
to
218
Xiaxi: The lowest of all Liangshan ranks. Xishuangbanna:
An
area
located
in the southern
part
of
Yunnan province near China's border with Laos and Burma. Xuevuan gongshe: Consanguine Commune. Yamen: Goverriment office in imperial China. Yanshou jielu: "Observe strict religious discipline." Yao, Shun and Yu: Legendary leaders in prehistorical China. Yibeihun; Cross-generational marriage. Yifu yiqi; "One husband, one wife," monogamous marriage. Yi
shi
ting:
"Chamber
for
discussing
affairs,"
bureaucratic organ composed of all the ministers in the
a
Dai
society of Xishuangbanna. Yidu; A form of extended family among the Yongning Naxi. All members of a yidu share a single residence. Yiyi
zhiyi:
"Using tribesman to control
administrative policy of
creating
the
officials
tribes,"
an
out of tribal
chieftains developed in China's Yuan Dynasty(See tusizhi). Yongning; An area inhabited by
the
Naxi
on
the
highland
bordering the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. Yuanshiqun: "Primitive horde."
219
zhang; A unit of measurement (=3.33 meters). Zhao Pian Ling; The supreme ruler
of
the
Dai
society
in
Xishuangbanna. Zhao zhuang; A entitled
to
high certain
rank
of
privilge
commoners because
in of
Dai
society,
kin ties
with
officials of the Zhao Pian Ling. Zimo: an elite group in Liangshan Yi society. Zizhi zhi; Autonomy,
or
literally
means self-governing in
Chinese
Kinship Terms biao xiongdi: FaSiSo, MoBrSo, and MoSiSo. sun: SoSo. Tang xiongdi; FaBrSo. waisun; DaSo. waizufu; MoFa. zufu i FaFa.
220
APPENDIX I. CHINA'S INSTITUTIONS RELATING TO THE STUDY OF ETHNOLOGY
Zhongguo Minzuxue Yanjiuhui (Chinese Association of Ethnological Studies)
Beijing
Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo (Institute of Nationalities Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Beijing
Zhongyang Minzu Xueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo (Department of Nationalities Studies, Central Institute of Nationalities)
Beijing
Zhongguo Shijie Minzu Yanjiuhui (Chinese Association of World Nationalities Studies)
Beijing
Zhongshan Daxue Renleixue Xi (Department of Anthropology, Zhongshan University)
Guangzhou
221
Guangdongsheng Minzu Yanjiusuo (Guangdong provincial Institute of Nationalities Studies)
Guangzhou
Yunnansheng Shehui Kexueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo (Institute of Ethnological Studies,Yunnan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences)
Kunming
Yunnan Daxue Xinan Bianjiang Minzu Yanjiusuo (Institute of Southwestern Frontier Nationalities Studies, Yunnan University)
Kunming
Sichuansheng Minzu Yanjiusuo (Sichuan Provincial Institute of Nationalities Studies)
Chengdu
Hunansheng Minzu Yanjiusuo (Hunan Provincial Institute of Nationalities Studies)
Changsha
Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu Minzu Yanjiusuo (Institute of Nationalities Studies, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region)
Nanning
222
Zhongnan Minzu Xueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo (Department of Nationalities Studies,
Central China Institute of Nationalities)
Wuhan
Guizhou Minzu Yanjiusuo (Guizhou Institute of Nationalities Studies)
Guiyang
Gansusheng Minzu Yanjiusuo (Gansu Provincial Institute of Nationalities Studies)
Lanzhou
Xiamen Daxue Renleixue Xi (Department of Anthropology, Xiamen University)
Xiamen (Amoy)
Qinghai Minzu Xueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo (Qinhai Institute of Nationalities Studies)
Xining
Xibei Daxue Xibei Lishi Yanjiusuo (Institute of Northwestern History Studies, Northwestern Univeristy)
Xian
Xizhang Shehui Kexueyuan (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences)
Lhasa
223
Ningxia Shehui Kexueyuan Minzu Zhongjiao Yanjiushe (Department of Nationalities and Religions Studies, Ningxia Academy of Social Sciences)
Yinchuan
Nei Menggu Shehui Kexueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo (Institute of Nationalities Studies, Inner Mongolian Academy of Social Sciences)
Huhhot
Xinjiang Shehui Kexueyuan Minzu Yanjiusuo (Institute of Nationalities Studies, Xijiang Academy of Social Sciences)
Urumqi
Liaoningsheng Minzu Yanjiusuo (Liaoning Provincial Institute of Nationalities Studies)
Shenyang
224
APPENDIX II.
CHINESE JOURNALS
RELATING TO ETHNOLOGY
Minzu Yan.jiu (Nationality Studies)
Beijing
Shehui Kexue Zhanxian (Social Sciences Front)
Changchun
Zhongguo Shehui Kexue (China's Social Sciences)
Beijing
Yunna Shehui Kexue (Yunnan Social Sciences)
Kunming
Zhongyang Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal of Central Institute of Nationalities)
Beijing
Minzu Tuan.jie (Nationalities Unity)
Beijing
Guizhou Minzu Yan.jiu (Guizhou Nationality Studies)
Guizhou Shehui Kexue
Guiyang
225
(Guizhou Social Sciences)
Guiyang
Sixiang Zhanxian (Journal of Yunnan University)
Kunming
Minzuxue Bao {Journal of Ethnology)
Kunming
Xizhang Yan jiu (Tibetan Studies)
Lhasa
Xinan Minzu Xueyan Xuebao (Journal of Southwestern Institute of Nationalities)
Chengdu
Minzu Wenhua (Nationality Cultures)
Kunming
Minzuxue Yu Xiandaihua (Ethnology and Modernization)
Kunming
Yunnan Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal of Yunnan Institute of Nationalities)
Kunming
Zhongshan Daxue Xuebao (Journal of Zhongshan University)
Guangzhou
Xibei Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal of Northwestern Institute of Natalities)
Xianyang
226
Zhongnan Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal of Central China Institute of Nationalities)
Wuhan
Guangxi Minzu Yan.jiu
(Guangxi Nationalty Studies)
Nanning
Guangxi Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal
of Guangxi Institute of Nationalities)
Nanning
Gansu Minzu Yan.jiu
(Gansu Nationality Studies)
Lanzhou
Qinghai Minzu Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal
of Qinghai Institute of Nationalities)
Xining
Lanzhou Daxue Xuebao
(Journal of Lanzhou University)
Lanzhou
Xibei Daxue Xuebao
(Journal of Northwest University)
Xian
Nei Monggol Shehui Kexue
(Inner Mongolia Social Sciences)
Huhhot
Nei (Journal Monggol of Daxue Inner Mongolia Xuebao Univeristy)
Huhhot
227
Xinjiang Shehui Kexue
(Xinjing Social Sciences)
Urumqi
Ningxia (Ningxia Shehui SocialKexue Sciences)
Yinchuan
228
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