The Miao Marriage System and Its Evolution from the Perspective of Cultural Anthropology | Chapter 6 | Anthropological Explorations of Gender, Identity, and Economics

The Miao are an important ethnic group in China, their ethnic culture is also very unique, and the marriage system of the Miao people is undoubtedly a representative of it. This paper analyzes the evolution of the Miao marriage by consulting the literature related to the Miao marriage system, and uses the perspective of cultural anthropology to interpret the significance of some of its important customs and concepts. In addition, due to the influence of various factors, the Miao marriage system has changed, so this paper also attempts to understand these changes from the perspective of cultural anthropology, and then discusses the possible significance of this change for the Miao group itself. Of course, this paper also attempts to compare the Miao marriage system with other ethnic groups, trying to interpret the universality and differences from the perspective of cultural anthropology.

Author(s) Details:

Qin Yao,
Graduate Student in Anthropology at the School of Sociology and Anthropology of Xiamen University at Xiamen in the Fujian Province, P. R. China.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/AEGIE/article/view/13573

Miao, Lineage and Community | Chapter 4 | Traditions and Cultural Heritage: Genesis, Reproduction, and Preservation

Miao, that can be interpreted as temple in English, can be seen everywhere in China, particularly in Han habitations, which has existed for a long time to serve gods or ghosts that Chinese people worship. Furthermore, some identified as culture heritage are run by authorities, but more run by lineage (a group of people sharing one surname) or community (a flock of people living in a particular area) as well as individuals. What must be emphasized is, the Miao here is not only a place to demonstrate one’s religion, but also an object created by humans as well as the object run by them as mentioned above, which means that there should be real relationships in it, for involving various aspects such as different persons or different things. And here we mainly pay attention to the relationships among the Miao, the lineage and the community. To be more specific, what we desire to explore is how Chinese people create Miao and how to run it? What roles the Miao play part in the real society rather in spiritual world? To discuss these questions, I will look for some cases from several researches or my own fieldwork, and more comparison will be necessary here.

Author(s) Details:

Zhao Dandan,
Department of Anthropology and Ethnology, Xiamen University, China.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/TCHGRP/article/view/9523