Anthropology and Ethnology

Chinese practices of The Initiative on Promoting Inter-ethnic Unity and Common Progress Abstract The work of Initiative on Promoting Inter-ethnic Unity and Common Progress (hereinafter referred to as “The Initiative Work”) originated from long-term historical practice and is a significant measure for China to promote inter-ethnic unity and progress. This article sorts out the development process of The Initiative Work in China, introduces the progress of its demonstration regions and units, elaborates the practices of The Initiative Work in the following aspects: consolidation of the top-level design, improvement of the quality and coverage, publicity of the national policies, cultivation of the demonstration models, management by the laws, and strengthening theoretical studies. This article also analyzes the shortcomings and challenges faced by the current work.

Modern Chinese nationalism and the awakening of self-consciousness of the Chinese Nation Abstract The concept of “Chinese nation” has a close relationship with the rise, development and upsurge of modern Chinese nationalism from its proposition to establishment, and to universal identification among people of all ethnic groups. The period of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China was the formation stage of modern Chinese nationalism and also the stage of the proposition and initial usage of the concept of “Chinese nation”: Modern Chinese nationalism developed around the period of the May 4th Movement. Under the impetus of the establishment of national self-determination theory, especially the rise of a national self-determination movement, the concept of “Chinese nation” was accepted and adopted by more and more people and finally established and formed. After the September 18th Incident, especially after the North China Incident and the July 7th Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the worsening national crisis promoted the upsurge of modern Chinese nationalism, and this upsurge made the concept of “Chinese nation” more widely and deeply disseminated and accepted.

Design ecologies: sustaining ethno-cultural significance of products through urban ecologies of creative practice Abstract This paper presents an account of field research and its findings from an international knowledge exchange project entitled Design Ecologies: Sustaining ethno-cultural significance of products through urban ecologies of creative practice, jointly funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing. The contribution of this paper is to effectively communicate the processes, mechanisms and benefits of an academic knowledge exchange programme. In this case, six exchange visits were carried out, three to China by the British team and three to the UK by the Chinese team. These visits offered opportunities for both teams to gain insights into a variety of heritage sites and craft practices, as well as to the wider policy landscapes in each country. We found that the use of certain terms, like ‘creative industries’, to refer to traditional craft practices and other heritage related activities can be problematic as they tend to emphasise their instrumental rather than their intrinsic value. The Chinese team found the importance and significance of volunteers within the UK’s cultural heritage landscape to be very different from that of China, which does not have a history of volunteering. On the other hand, China supports its Intangible Cultural Heritage through adoption of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, hereafter referred to as the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) programme or UNESCO convention (UNESCO 2019b; Cominelli and Greffe 2012); in contrast, the UK has not ratified the UNESCO convention. The China team commented on the UK’s approach to heritage that keeps a sense of ‘living’ heritage, e.g. The English Lake District is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre in which people still live and work. In China, such areas are often depopulated to preserve the heritage and focus on tourism. The British team identified opportunities for design contributions in the visualisation of interrelated and interdependent “ecosystems” of design and production, as observed in Jingdezhen Ceramics Factory. Also, at Taoxichuan Creative Zone design was already being used effectively for the design of artefacts, points of sale, branding and packaging. There is much potential for this to be explored and developed further with different case studies in the UK and China. A shared understanding was developed from the knowledge exchange visits and visit reports created by each of the respective teams. These led to a set of conclusions, insights and themes. Finally, this project has already paved the way for a further Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) research project entitled Located Making, in collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology and Ningxia University.

Case study of “Meilong model” ecological animal husbandry shareholding cooperatives in Qinghai Abstract This article examines Meilong animal husbandry cooperatives in the Haixi Prefecture of Qinghai Province, China as a study case, using information gathered through field surveys and questionnaires to explore the systemic structure and operational mechanisms of Meilong Cooperatives, as well as its impacts on pastoral areas and herdsmen. Based on the results, the main contribution of the Meilong Model is providing a new way for pastoral villages to pursue development through joint-stock cooperatives, and thus represents the long-term direction of pastoral area development. This model reforms the traditional cooperative concept that naturally arises among herdsmen; Meilong Share-holding Cooperative guarantees the equal rights of small or poor households to participate in the management of cooperatives on the basis of “one household, one vote”, rather than the principle of “shareholders have the right to manage, vote and speak according to the proportion of shareholding” found in the joint-stock systems of modern enterprises. It localizes the shareholding system theory to be more acceptable and feasible in order to ensure the survival of animal husbandry cooperatives.

New functionalism: rejuvenating historical and cultural heritage through urban revival Abstract The better protection and utilization of historical and cultural heritage sites, objects, and practices (especially intangible aspects of cultural heritage) based on anthropological research can work in the field of urban planning and design, an applied field with interdisciplinary cooperation, thus bringing new vitality to urban development. Additionally, the relationship between historical and cultural heritage and urban revival is not only binary opposition, but also coexistence and connection. Thus, this article does not highlight the dichotomy of tradition vs. modernity. After a critique of the inherited “view of cultural conservatism”, based on Malinowski’s classic and static “cultural functionalism”, Fei Xiaotong’s idea of “cultural development and utilization”, Li Peilin’s “continuous spectrum” theory and the “Wirth-Redfield” model, this paper puts forward a classic and dynamic theory of “new functionalism” that analyzes the relationship between historical and cultural heritage and urban revival through the new value of historical and cultural heritage in urban revival. The comparative cases focus on four domestic and foreign cities—— the City of York, England; Kyoto, Japan; Dali in Yunnan, China; and Haikou in Hainan, China—— and show that the protection and utilization of historical and cultural heritage is one of the core issues of urban revival. In this light, tangible historical and cultural heritage is the “body” and intangible heritage is the “soul” of urban areas. It is important to integrate the traditional “body” with the innovative “soul”. In urban revival, only when we protect and use sites of historical and cultural heritage well, and rejuvenate them for driving urban development, will the cities grow in a way that will be long-lived and healthy and along the path of sustainable development.

Educational diversity and ethnic cultural heritage in the process of globalization Abstract The inheritance of ethnic cultures is an important subject in the field of educational anthropology. As the most important conduit for the passing along of ethnic cultures, education strongly impacts that inheritance. Today, however, the rate of globalization is rapidly increasing. Whether in domestic or foreign education, or whether for primary or higher education, increasingly severe challenges in education are yielding profound changes. One of the most important developments in education at the present time is the cultivation of diversity. Increased diversity in education will have a profound impact on the inheritance of ethnic cultures. In light of the current age and contemporary social changes, the significance of the inheritance of ethnic cultures within the process of globalization is magnified. The current work uses the characteristics of educational development toward diversity to analyze the relationship between education and the inheritance of ethnic cultures, and suggests necessary changes in education to promote that inheritance.

An Overview of Anthropological Regional Studies Abstract Regional studies in anthropology are vital to the development of the discipline, for they supply anthropology with an approach that moves from individual cases to a holistic understanding of a region. Western anthropologists’ interests in researching non-western regions started as early as the Age of Discovery, and regional studies in anthropology, in the United States in particular, are well-organized and systematic. In China, regional studies serve to transcend China’s traditional village studies to understand Chinese civilization as a whole. Following this approach, several paradigms, including Skinner’s model, were proposed and regional studies were part of Fei Xiaotong’s entire academic life. Globalization poses both challenges and opportunities to regional studies while bringing new visions to its practice in China.

Review of “agricultural involution: the processes of ecological change in Indonesia” by Clifford Geertz

Exploration of the difficulties of economic development and modernization of pastoral areas of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, China Abstract Gaize County, located in Ngari Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and known as the “roof of the roof of the world,” is an area with the toughest production, living and working conditions in the country. During the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, leading farmers and herdsmen in pastoral areas to build a well-off society and to realize socialist modernization has always been the top priority for the work of party committees and government at all levels. In the new era, Gaize County has explored a “Six-pronged Unification” Model for collective economic cooperatives aimed at realizing the modernization of animal husbandry in the context of the prominent contradiction between human and land resources, the inefficiency of traditional nomadic production and the herdsmen’s weak awareness of market-orientation and market participation. The “Six-pronged Unification” Model has improved the risk resistance mechanism for production in animal husbandry, improved the income of herdsmen and their ability to participate in marketization, and enhanced the social governance capacity and governance system in pastoral areas. The “Six-pronged Unification” Model is not only a vivid practice of poverty alleviation in poverty-stricken pastoral areas in China, but also an organic part of the building of a comprehensive well-off society and realizing the modernization of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Ethnic issues management approaches with Chinese characteristics under the inter-ethnic political perspective Abstract Ethnic issues are not only hotspot issues within international relations, but also one of the most prominent problems in the majority of the multi-ethnic countries all round the world. Countries of the world have various management approaches due to their respective national or ethnic conditions and the cognitions of ethnic issue solutions; there isn’t any panacea that guarantee to cure all diseases. In China, the establishment of harmonious ethnic relations and societies is the substantial part of the overall situation for ethnic work. At the central ethnic work conference held in 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping made a brilliant summary of “eight-insistences” regarding the correct road to solving ethnic problems. Coming to understand and grasp the theoretical base and implementation approach of “unswervingly following the path of solving ethnic problems with Chinese characteristics” has become an unavoidable academic issue. China has invested in and made achievements in ethnic areas so that the Chinese ethnic management model has contributed to the promotion of the global governance system revolution and offers constructive theories of ethnic issues management.