Diversity and politics of development in China’s ethnic borderland
Keywords:
ethnic minorities, religious revitalization, commerce, ChinaAbstract
China’s internal ethnic borderland has a long and complex history which dates back to the long dynastic period. Since the end of Cultural Revolution (1966~1976) and the turn to the market oriented economy in 1980s, the relative liberal policy and social environment have encouraged various kinds of ethnic and religious revitalization. This paper is based on two-years of ethnographic fieldwork in Gansu and Sichuan provinces in western China where I have observed the ethnic and religious revival in two local communities —the salient part of the Tibetans and the almost invisible part of the Hui, or Chinese Muslims. By comparing cases of two local ethnic groups, I discuss how the ethnic/religious identities have been reconstructed against the backdrop of the Chinese economic development. I argue that ethnic/religious identity formation goes well beyond religion and ethnicity and thus has to be investigated in broader social historical context.
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