Empire and Identity in Guizhou


Book Description

This historical investigation describes the Qing imperial authorities� attempts to consolidate control over the Zhongjia, a non-Han population, in eighteenth-century Guizhou, a poor, remote, and environmentally harsh province in Southwest China. Far from submitting peaceably to the state�s quest for hegemony, the locals clung steadfastly to livelihood choices�chiefly illegal activities such as robbery, raiding, and banditry�that had played an integral role in their cultural and economic survival. Using archival materials, indigenous folk narratives, and ethnographic research, Jodi Weinstein shows how these seemingly subordinate populations challenged state power.




Empire at the Margins


Book Description

Focusing on the Ming and Qing eras, this book analyses crucial moments in the formation of cultural, regional and religious identities. It demonstrates how the imperial discourse is many-faceted, rather than a monolithic agent of cultural assimilation.




Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China


Book Description

Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted in the 1980s and 1990s in southern Sichuan, this pathbreaking study examines the nature of ethnic consciousness and ethnic relations among local communities, focusing on the Nuosu (classified as Yi by the Chinese government), Prmi, Naze, and Han. It argues that even within the same regional social system, ethnic identity is formulated, perceived, and promoted differently by different communities at different times. Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China exemplifies a model in which ethnic consciousness and ethnic relations consist of drawing boundaries between one�s own group and others, crossing those boundaries, and promoting internal unity within a group. Leaders and members of ethnic groups use commonalties and differences in history, culture, and kinship to promote internal unity and to strengthen or cross external boundaries. Superimposed on the structure of competing and cooperating local groups is a state system of ethnic classification and administration; members and leaders of local groups incorporate this system into their own ethnic consciousness, co-opting or resisting it situationally. The heart of the book consists of detailed case studies of three Nuosu village communities, along with studies of Prmi and Naze communities, smaller groups such as the Yala and Nasu, and Han Chinese who live in minority areas. These are followed by a synthesis that compares different configurations of ethnic identity in different communities and discusses the implications of these examples for our understanding of ethnicity and for the near future of China. This lively description and analysis of the region�s complex ethnic identities and relationships constitutes an original and important contribution to the study of ethnic identity. Ways of Being Ethnic in Southwest China will be of interest to social scientists concerned with issues of ethnicity and state-building.




ASIAN HIGHLANDS PERSPECTIVES 35


Book Description

This volume features research articles on Tibetan marmot hunting, Tibetan use of camels, Sinophone Tibetan author Alai, and yurt production and use, complimented by three short stories and seven book reviews. Asian Highlands Perspectives 35 (000-285)Author(s): Various(Full Text)Yurts in Be si chung, A Pastoral Community in A mdo: Form, Construction, Types, and Rituals (001-048)Author(s): Lha mo sgrol ma, and Gerald Roche(Full Text)Tibetan Marmot Hunting (049-074)Author(s): Sangs rgyas bkra shis, and C. K. Stuart(Full Text)A Complex Identity: Red Color-Coding in Alai's Red Poppies (075-101)Author(s): Draggeim, Alexandra(Full Text)Tibetans, Camels, Yurts, and Singing to the Salt Goddesses: An A mdo Elder Reflects on Local Culture (103-124)Author(s): Wenchangjia, and C. K. Stuart(Full Text)A Small Piece of Turquoise (127-141)Author(s): Nyima Gyamtsan(Full Text)Under the Shadow: A Story (143-158)Author(s): Huatse Gyal(Full Text)An Abandoned Mountain Deity (159-193)Author(s): Limusishiden(Full Text)Review Essay: Comparative Borderlands Across Disciplines and Across Southeast Asia (197-217)Author(s): Noseworthy, William B.(Full Text)Review: A Century of Protests (219-225)Author(s): Chandra, Uday(Full Text)Review: Empire and Identity in Guizhou (227-236)Author(s): Luo, Yu(Full Text)Review: Monastic and Lay Traditions in North-Eastern Tibet (237-242)Author(s): Weiner, Benno(Full Text)Review: Re-Constructed Ancestors and the Lahu Minority in Southwest China (243-253)Author(s): Du, Shanshan(Full Text)Review: Tales of Kha ba dkar po (255-274)Author(s): Zhang, Jundan(Jasmine)(Full Text)Review: Tibet Wild (275-285)Author(s): Bleisch, William V.(Full Text)




Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples (Huang Qing zhigong tu)


Book Description

Commissioned by the Qianlong emperor in 1751, the Qing Imperial Illustrations of Tributary Peoples (Huang Qing zhigong tu 皇清職貢圖), is a captivating work of art and an ideological statement of universal rule best understood as a cultural cartography of empire. This translation of the ethnographic texts accompanied by a full-color reproduction of Xie Sui’s (謝遂) hand-painted scroll helps us to understand the conceptualization of imperial tributary relationships the work embodies as rooted in both dynastic history and the specifics of Qing rule.




Reshaping the Frontier Landscape: Dongchuan in Eighteenth-century Southwest China


Book Description

In Reshaping the Frontier Landscape: Dongchuan in Eighteenth-century Southwest China, Fei HUANG examines the process of reshaping the landscape of Dongchuan, a remote frontier city in Southwest China in the eighteenth century. Rich copper deposits transformed Dongchuan into one of the key outposts of the Qing dynasty, a nexus of encounters between various groups competing for power and space. The frontier landscape bears silent witness to the changes in its people’s daily lives and in their memories and imaginations. The literati, officials, itinerant merchants, commoners and the indigenous people who lived there shaped and reshaped the local landscape by their physical efforts and cultural representations. This book demonstrates how multiple landscape experiences developed among various people in dependencies, conflicts and negotiations in the imperial frontier.




China's International Relations in the 21st Century


Book Description

Most people believe China's foreign behavior is driven by its growing power status in world politics. Chinese leaders still firmly uphold some traditional values in foreign policy such as sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national unification. However, it is often neglected that China's behavior is also shaped by its changing perception of the globalizing world and, to a large extent, is a result of external pressure on China. By examining the dynamics of paradigm shifts in China's foreign policy thinking, this book explores the ideological sources of China's international relations in the new century. With growing economic interdependence with the outside world, which creates both constraints as well as incentives to adapt to the prevailing norms in contemporary international relations, authors of this volume analyze indigenous Chinese sources of intellect on the paradigm shifts. The concepts studied in this volume include national identity, nationalism, globalism, multilateralism, sovereignty, and the role of international law in Chinese foreign policy. This volume helps to shed new light on how the dynamics of paradigm shifts affect China's behavior in international affairs.




Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History


Book Description

The resurgence of modern China has generated much interest, not only in the country’s present day activities, but also in its long history. As the only uninterrupted ancient civilization still alive today, the study of China’s past promises to offer invaluable insights into understanding contemporary China. Providing coverage of the entire Imperial Era (221 BCE–1912 CE), this handbook takes a chronological approach. It includes comprehensive analysis of all major periods, from the powerful Han empire which rivalled Rome, and the crucial transformative period of the Five Dynasties, to the prosperous Ming era and the later dominance of the non-Han peoples. With contributions from a team of international authors, key themes include: Political events and leadership Religion and philosophy Cultural and literary achievements Legal, economic, and military institutions This book transcends the traditional boundaries of historiography, giving special attention to the role of archaeology. As such, the Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History is an indispensable reference work for students and scholars of Chinese, Asian, and World History.




Hmong/Miao in Asia


Book Description

This volume presents the most comprehensive collection of research on Hmong culture and life in Asia yet to be published. It compliments the abundant material on the Hmong diaspora by focusing instead on the Hmong in their Asian homeland. The contributors are scholars from a number of different backgrounds with a deep knowledge of Hmong society and culture, including several Hmong. The first group of essays addresses the fabric of Hmong culture by considering issues of history, language, and identity among the Hmong/Miao from Laos to China. The second part introduces the challenges faced by the Hmong in contemporary Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Nicholas Tapp is senior fellow in anthropology at the Australian National University. Jean Michaud is associate researcher in Asian studies at University de Montreal. Christian Culas is a member of the National Center for Scientific Research in Marseille. Gary Yia Lee is senior ethnic liaison officer for New South Wales.




The Myth of Chinese Capitalism


Book Description

The “vivid, provocative” untold story of how restrictive policies are preventing China from becoming the world’s largest economy (Evan Osnos). Dexter Roberts lived in Beijing for two decades working as a reporter on economics, business and politics for Bloomberg Businessweek. In The Myth of Chinese Capitalism, Roberts explores the reality behind today’s financially-ascendant China and pulls the curtain back on how the Chinese manufacturing machine is actually powered. He focuses on two places: the village of Binghuacun in the province of Guizhou, one of China’s poorest regions that sends the highest proportion of its youth away to become migrants; and Dongguan, China’s most infamous factory town located in Guangdong, home to both the largest number of migrant workers and the country’s biggest manufacturing base. Within these two towns and the people that move between them, Roberts focuses on the story of the Mo family, former farmers-turned-migrant-workers who are struggling to make a living in a fast-changing country that relegates one-half of its people to second-class status via household registration, land tenure policies and inequality in education and health care systems. In The Myth of Chinese Capitalism, Dexter Roberts brings to life the problems that China and its people face today as they attempt to overcome a divisive system that poses a serious challenge to the country’s future development. In so doing, Roberts paints a boots-on-the-ground cautionary picture of China for a world now held in its financial thrall. Praise for The Myth of Chinese Capitalism “A gimlet-eyed look at an economic miracle that may not be so miraculous after all.” —Kirkus Reviews “A clearheaded and persuasive counter-narrative to the notion that the Chinese economic model is set to take over the world. Readers looking for an informed and nuanced perspective on modern China will find it here.” —Publishers Weekly “A sophisticated and readable take of China’s triumphs and crises. . . . A first-hand witness to China’s transformation over the past quarter century, Roberts credibly challenges the myth of China’s inevitable rise and global dominance.” —Ian Johnson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and Beijing-based correspondent “A potent mix of personal stories and deft analysis, The Myth of Chinese Capitalism takes a hard look at China’s migrants and rural people.” —Mei Fong, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of One Child: The Story of China’s Most RadicalExperiment