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Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Ethnic group battles to keep unique traditions
By Wang Jiaquan, Wu Xiaoyang and Wang Wendi |
June 21, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MULA Bulu loves nothing more than to play his "qike," a crude wind instrument made of seven bamboo tubes.
The instrument is unique to the Jino ethnic group, which has a small population in a remote area of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province.
Qike music, the Jino dialect and other traditions such as the Big Drum Dance, a tribute to the gods, and making costumes are in danger of disappearing due to the pressure of modernization, some experts say.
Once isolated in the great mountains, the only access to the Jino community used to be a bridle trail for caravans. The Jino people and the outside world remained a mystery to each other until the 1960s, when a road from Mengyang to Mengla, two nearby towns, disturbed the quiet of Jino Mountain.
The road accelerated economic development in the area and the population of the ethnic group has grown from 3,860 in 1953 to more than 20,000 now. Interestingly, the Jinos were the last of China's 56 ethnic groups to be recognized by the government in 1979. This recognition came only after a nearly 20-year investigation by ethnic studies researchers and anthropologists.
However, the traditional culture of the Jino people has been facing mounting challenges from the commercial wave since the reform and opening-up, according to Du Yuting, a retired researcher with the Yunnan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.
Du warned in 1989 that the unique Jino costumes might disappear within 20 years, their traditional bamboo and wood houses, which suit the mountainous environment, might vanish within 10 years, while their traditional dances, songs and music would die out within 30 years.
The scholar also predicted that within half a century, there might be no Jinos who speak their mother tongue, the very carrier of tradition and culture for an ethnic group without its own written language.
He updated this timetable in 1995, advancing his vision by 10 to 20 years.
Du's warnings came at a time when economic growth became the sole focus of China's development agenda as traditional cultures and values were placed in a disadvantaged position in the drive to modernize.
His worries were described as overly pessimistic by some scholars, though they appreciated his speaking from his conscience as an ethnic studies researcher. These scholars says Du's doomsday predictions haven't come true two decades after he sounded the alarm.
Du's pessimism, however, was not based on imaginary fears.
According to research in 2008 by Bai Zhen and Zhang Shijun, two professors at the Southwest China University of Ethnic Studies in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, only 10 percent of Jino people could weave their own traditional clothing while 48 percent could not even sew. Many Jinos would only wear traditional clothing on ethnic holidays or other traditional occasions.
Not all doom and gloom
Their survey also found that only six percent of Jino people have a good command of traditional handicrafts and have apprentices, while 60 percent do not.
However, the picture is not all doom and gloom. The future of the Jino dialect doesn't look nearly as bad as Du predicted, according to the survey.
Though most young and middle-aged Jino people can speak Mandarin, they also found that 94 percent of respondents remain fluent Jino language speakers and often speak in their mother tongue. They also found that most pre-schoolers as well as middle-aged and old women in remote villages only speak the Jino tongue.
What is more fortunate is that traditional cultural protection is attracting more attention from the government, along with some non-governmental organizations.
The Big Drum Dance was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage in Yunnan in 2003. It was listed as a state-level cultural heritage in 2006.
A training center was established in Jino Township in December 2008, where the drum dance is taught. A troupe with 100 dancers was also formed.
To better preserve the ancient art, local cultural authorities have finished compiling an illustrated book with CDs introducing the drum dance.
The dance is also being taught on the campus of the township high school and about 400 students have received training.
In addition to the drum dance, other Jino cultural practices are attracting more attention from cultural experts and officials.
The ethnic group's unique Temaoke Festival, the New Year in the Jino calendar known as the iron forging festival, has already caught the eye of Duan Qiru, director of the cultural center in Xishuangbanna.
Though Duan's attempt to nominate the festival as another state intangible heritage failed in 2009, he said the center will never stop its efforts to protect and preserve the festival's traditions.
In the words of Bai Zhen and Zhang Shijun, however, how well and how long an ethnic culture can be preserved depends on the awareness of the people of an ethnic group themselves.
Mula Bulu, 70, understands this as a clan chief. He says his 22-year-old grandson Chegelong, who has never traveled more than 30 kilometers from his hometown, is tempted to live and work in the outside world even though he enjoys the "simple life full of sunshine" on Jino Mountain.
"I really wish to find work in a city," says Chegelong. "But now I'm bound by the farm work of the family."
Mula Bulu is not opposed to his grandson's ambition.
"I hope one day when he is back, he will still speak our mother tongue and observe our traditions," the old man said.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
The instrument is unique to the Jino ethnic group, which has a small population in a remote area of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province.
Qike music, the Jino dialect and other traditions such as the Big Drum Dance, a tribute to the gods, and making costumes are in danger of disappearing due to the pressure of modernization, some experts say.
Once isolated in the great mountains, the only access to the Jino community used to be a bridle trail for caravans. The Jino people and the outside world remained a mystery to each other until the 1960s, when a road from Mengyang to Mengla, two nearby towns, disturbed the quiet of Jino Mountain.
The road accelerated economic development in the area and the population of the ethnic group has grown from 3,860 in 1953 to more than 20,000 now. Interestingly, the Jinos were the last of China's 56 ethnic groups to be recognized by the government in 1979. This recognition came only after a nearly 20-year investigation by ethnic studies researchers and anthropologists.
However, the traditional culture of the Jino people has been facing mounting challenges from the commercial wave since the reform and opening-up, according to Du Yuting, a retired researcher with the Yunnan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.
Du warned in 1989 that the unique Jino costumes might disappear within 20 years, their traditional bamboo and wood houses, which suit the mountainous environment, might vanish within 10 years, while their traditional dances, songs and music would die out within 30 years.
The scholar also predicted that within half a century, there might be no Jinos who speak their mother tongue, the very carrier of tradition and culture for an ethnic group without its own written language.
He updated this timetable in 1995, advancing his vision by 10 to 20 years.
Du's warnings came at a time when economic growth became the sole focus of China's development agenda as traditional cultures and values were placed in a disadvantaged position in the drive to modernize.
His worries were described as overly pessimistic by some scholars, though they appreciated his speaking from his conscience as an ethnic studies researcher. These scholars says Du's doomsday predictions haven't come true two decades after he sounded the alarm.
Du's pessimism, however, was not based on imaginary fears.
According to research in 2008 by Bai Zhen and Zhang Shijun, two professors at the Southwest China University of Ethnic Studies in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, only 10 percent of Jino people could weave their own traditional clothing while 48 percent could not even sew. Many Jinos would only wear traditional clothing on ethnic holidays or other traditional occasions.
Not all doom and gloom
Their survey also found that only six percent of Jino people have a good command of traditional handicrafts and have apprentices, while 60 percent do not.
However, the picture is not all doom and gloom. The future of the Jino dialect doesn't look nearly as bad as Du predicted, according to the survey.
Though most young and middle-aged Jino people can speak Mandarin, they also found that 94 percent of respondents remain fluent Jino language speakers and often speak in their mother tongue. They also found that most pre-schoolers as well as middle-aged and old women in remote villages only speak the Jino tongue.
What is more fortunate is that traditional cultural protection is attracting more attention from the government, along with some non-governmental organizations.
The Big Drum Dance was listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage in Yunnan in 2003. It was listed as a state-level cultural heritage in 2006.
A training center was established in Jino Township in December 2008, where the drum dance is taught. A troupe with 100 dancers was also formed.
To better preserve the ancient art, local cultural authorities have finished compiling an illustrated book with CDs introducing the drum dance.
The dance is also being taught on the campus of the township high school and about 400 students have received training.
In addition to the drum dance, other Jino cultural practices are attracting more attention from cultural experts and officials.
The ethnic group's unique Temaoke Festival, the New Year in the Jino calendar known as the iron forging festival, has already caught the eye of Duan Qiru, director of the cultural center in Xishuangbanna.
Though Duan's attempt to nominate the festival as another state intangible heritage failed in 2009, he said the center will never stop its efforts to protect and preserve the festival's traditions.
In the words of Bai Zhen and Zhang Shijun, however, how well and how long an ethnic culture can be preserved depends on the awareness of the people of an ethnic group themselves.
Mula Bulu, 70, understands this as a clan chief. He says his 22-year-old grandson Chegelong, who has never traveled more than 30 kilometers from his hometown, is tempted to live and work in the outside world even though he enjoys the "simple life full of sunshine" on Jino Mountain.
"I really wish to find work in a city," says Chegelong. "But now I'm bound by the farm work of the family."
Mula Bulu is not opposed to his grandson's ambition.
"I hope one day when he is back, he will still speak our mother tongue and observe our traditions," the old man said.
(The authors are Xinhua writers.)
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