Activation and Protection of Traditional Culture of Ethnic Villages in Guizhou | Chapter 13 | Anthropological Explorations of Gender, Identity, and Economics

Guizhou has the largest number of traditional villages and ethnic minority characteristic villages in China, carrying a large number of conservative ethnic minority traditional culture. The semi-closed livelihood of residents makes the diverse traditional cultures of ethnic minorities feature a high sense of authenticity and mystery. Under the impact of modern life style however, these precious traditional cultures are faced with multiple vulnerabilities in terms of diversity, authenticity, viability, and sustainability. It is mainly manifested in the loss of cultural diversity and the destruction of cultural authenticity caused by the outflow of young people and the prosperity of tourism. In addition, the loss of cultural vitality and the threat of cultural sustainability caused by the modern life mode and the transformation and trends toward homogeneity are matters of concern. Relying on anthropological investigation and the analysis of the transmission and development mode of traditional culture, this paper takes ethnic villages in Guizhou as an example to explore the path of traditional culture inheritance and protection in southwest ethnic areas with rural revitalization as background.  It puts forward feasible suggestions on the activation and protection of traditional culture in ethnic villages.

Author(s) Details:

Wu Tingting,
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/13580

Television Media and the Inheritance of Chinese Traditional Culture: The Chinese Poetry Conference as an Example | Chapter 17 | Traditions and Cultural Heritage: Genesis, Reproduction, and Preservation

As an original TV cultural program, Chinese Poetry Conference has been loved by audiences since it was broadcast. Its success has also aroused scholars' attention to the combination of traditional culture and Television media technology. Poetry, as the representative of traditional culture, contains profound philosophy and carries the emotion of ancient people. It is the treasure of traditional Chinese culture. After entering the 21st century, the development of TV media technology has entered a new stage. How to combine it with traditional culture has become a problem worth thinking about. By reviewing the development of Chinese cultural TV programs, it is found that local cultural programs need to be deeply combined with traditional culture, and need to make use of advanced media technology to innovate in content and form, so as to arouse people's attention and thinking.

As we can see from Chinese Poetry Conference, with the development of television media, TV media and traditional culture have a deeper combination in the form and content. And this article will take the Chinese Poetry Conference as an example to discuss the influence of TV media on the inheritance and dissemination of Chinese traditional culture, as well as the changes of traditional culture in the process.

Author(s) Details:

Xu Xiaojing,
Department of Anthropology and Ethnology, Xiamen University, China.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/TCHGRP/article/view/9536

The Ritual Process of the Canoe Dragon Boat in the Qingshui River Basin | Chapter 10 | Traditions and Cultural Heritage: Genesis, Reproduction, and Preservation

The dragon boat culture of the ethnic groups in southern China has a long history. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, many ethnic groups will row a dragon boat to commemorate a great poet-Qu Yuan. However, in the Qingshui River Basin, the descendants of Chi You (a tribal leader defeated by the Yellow Emperor, who is a legendary ruler, in ancient times), the Miao people would row a dragon boat to commemorate a legend-the story of a brave father killing a dragon. The dragon boat in the Qingshui River Basin is different from the traditional Chinese dragon boat, but a "canoe dragon boat" with a whole stick of wood as the hull. The dragon boat culture of the Miao people is also quite special, in that there are not only the ritual process of killing dragons and eating dragon meat, but also the belief in worshiping and respecting dragons, the two are harmoniously combined in the Miao culture. Therefore, this writing assignment based on my fieldwork will discuss the various symbols in the Miao dragon boat ritual by combing through the ritual process of the Miao dragon boat, and how the Miao people construct their collective memory through rituals.

Author(s) Details:

Zhang Zhonghai,
Department of Anthropology and Ethnology, Xiamen University, China.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/TCHGRP/article/view/9529

Toujia: A Possibility of Village Autonomy in Southern Fujian? | Chapter 6 | Traditions and Cultural Heritage: Genesis, Reproduction, and Preservation

In southern Fujian, Toujia refers to the person who is the organizer of some folk festivals in the village, different from village head and recognized by the grass-roots self-governance. Is the possibility of village autonomy through toujia a realistic option? That is the issue addressed in this paper divided into three parts: The first introduces the responsibilities of the toujia and explain how they work based on fieldwork data. The second interprets toujia as a informal system and grass-roots self-governance from an anthropological perspective. The third examines if the toujia system can work as village autonomy. To achieve these goals, my research plan is as follows. First, it is necessary to collect as much theme-related literature as possible from journals and monographs, especially the latest published authoritative literature, and understand the mainstream views, cutting-edge concerns and research trends in this field. The second step is to understand the basic characteristics and typical cultural characteristics of villages in southern Fujian, and to understand the application of grass-roots self-goverance after reading literature. The third part will review the previous fieldwork materials and comb the relevant parts of the paper. Finally, the topic of this paper is discussed in combination with the theory.

Author(s) Details:

Yang Xueting,
Department of Anthropology and Ethnology, Xiamen University, China.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/TCHGRP/article/view/9525