“Am I What I Speak?”:
Language and Ethnic Identity of Yi Students Who Cannot Speak Yi Language
Multi-ethnicity is a national condition with Chinese characteristics. In Yunnan, this condition is especially noteworthy and ethnic culture preservation (or language preservation) is a heated topic. However, many young people now cannot speak their own ethnic languages. I thus focus on three Yi girls who cannot speak Yi language to investigate the relationship between language and ethnic identity. I adopt interview as my major research method. Based on my interviews with the three Yi girls and some other students with other backgrounds, I find that language competence does not have direct influence on ethnic identity. In present China, though the number of language-incompetent minority people is growing, ethnic identity (including self-identification) is not fading away, because ethnic identity now becomes more of a political construct.
China is a multi-ethnic country of fifty-six ethnic groups (minzu), including one majority ethnic group, Han people, and fifty-five minority ethnic groups. It is considered as an important characteristic of China, proudly promulgated by Chinese government and clearly stated in Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (1982).
In the 1950s, the classification project of ethnic groups was carried out and laid the foundation for the ethnic structure of China. With Han people occupying more than 90% of the whole population, Chinese government has repeatedly emphasized the rights of minority groups while promoting ethnic amalgamation. These rights include economic and political rights, as well as cultural rights. Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (1982) specifies the cultural rights of minority groups, “All [ethnic groups] have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages and to preserve or reform their own folkways and customs.”
Although endowed with rights from the Constitution, minority groups have been sometimes reported for “losing” their cultures or being Sinicized (hanhua), especially for those who live with a majority of Han people. Among all the representations of Sinicization, linguistic incompetence may be the most noticeable one. Many minority youths nowadays, and even their parents, cannot speak or understand minority languages, not to mention writing them. For them, does the identity as minority people still mean anything? If yes, what does it mean? These are some of the questions I will discuss later in this article.
Ethnic identity has been a widely discussed concept in a variety of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, anthropology and ethnology. Its definitions vary among different scholars. One way to define it is to compare it with other social identities. For instance, Jenkins (as cited in Hansen, 1999) thinks that “ethnic identity, like other social identities, is as much a product of external process of definition and categorization as it is an ongoing process of internal definition and group identification”. Others may define this concept by dividing it into several components, as Phinney (1990) points out in “Ethnic Identity in Adolescents and Adults: Review of Research”. She finds that “the components most widely studied were self-identification as a group member, a sense of belonging to the group, attitudes about one’s group membership, and ethnic involvement (social participation, cultural practices and attitudes)”. Self-identification refers to the ethnic label one puts on himself or herself. Sense of belonging means a felt bond between an individual and the ethnic group he or she belongs. Attitudes about one’s group membership include both negative and positive attitudes. Ethnic involvement can be assessed by a series of indexes, language, cultural tradition, religious practices and friendship for example.
In most countries, ethnicity equals to the country of origin under most circumstances. In China, however, ethnic groups are classified by Stalin’s definition (as cited in Fei, 1980), which includes common language, common territory, common economy and common mindset based on common culture as the four elements of a certain ethnic group. Because of the different conditions of China, Chinese scholars generally consider “ethnic identity” as a double-meaning concept. In a broad sense, it refers to the identity of being a Chinese (also known as national identity). Narrowly-defined “ethnic identity” concerns only Han people or minority people. Many studies are about the relationship between national identity and narrowly-defined “ethnic identity” and claim that they can coexist harmoniously under certain circumstances. Gao & Zhu (2010) think that the understanding from harmonious perspective rather than conflict perspective is scientific and to construct citizenship which integrates heterogeneous elements concerning of nationality with national unity is the way to unity the two.
In addition to what is mentioned above, since ethnic identity is sometimes treated as an unfixed identity, the process of its formation has also been a topic of discussion. Yet it is not the case in China. All Chinese have their ethnicity clearly printed their identity cards, so ethnic identity is generally speaking less vague and fluid. Few theses are about the formation of ethnic identity of Chinese ethnic groups.
Language and Ethnic Identity
Among all the theses on ethnic identity, many bring in the variable of language. Language is an element of culture, but it is special in that it is an external and independent being, according to Humboldt (2009). He writes that “language is the unconsciously emission of thinking” (eine unwillkϋhrliche Emanation des Geistes). Similarly, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (as cited in Fromkin, Rodman & Hyams, 2007) claims that “the language we speak determines how we perceive and think about the world”. Although now it is considered incorrect, it carries some valid point and it is thus reasonable to infer that language, rather than other cultural items, has a close and special relationship with ethnic identity. Humboldt (2009) even thinks that “national language is national spirit and national spirit is national language”.
In order to examine the relationship between language and ethnic identity, Echeverria (2003) introduces “language ideology” into the discussion. According to Irvine (as cited in Echeverria, 2003), language ideology means “cultural system of ideas about social and linguistic relationships and their loading of moral and political interests”. In another word, language is more than a mere communication tool and it carries social and political indication.
Many empirical studies about Chinese minority language and Mandarin have been done, providing much empirical results. As Yunnan has an ethnically and linguistically diverse population, a number of researchers choose Yunnan people to be their subjects. For instance, Yang (2013) conducted a research on language use and attitudes of Yunnan minority college students, and finds that ethnic identity and attitudes toward ethnic language significantly correlate. Most students hold positive attitudes towards Mandarin, ethnic languages and English, but Mandarin ranks first for its position, function and prospect. Cui (2007) researched on the attitudes towards Mandarin and dialects and concludes that “the pragmatic subject has a fairly clear understanding of its register and a calm attitude towards the use of Putonghua and dialect, which reflect the potential psychological expectation for linguistic harmony by the pragmatic subject”. While quantitative studies dominate this field, there are also some qualitative studies. Fieldwork done by Tian, Jin, Shi, Zhao & Cui (2009) shows that Han language (including Mandarin and Han dialects) and Yi language are in competition in Lishan Township, though the two languages are in harmony on the whole. Besides, due to long-time contact, Yi language has been largely influenced by Han language.
Studies on the topic of language and ethnic identity are mainly quantitative, capable of giving a general description of the current situation of language use and attitudes, of ethnic identity and the relationship between two. However, I agree with Woolard and Schieffelin (as cited in Echeverria, 2003) that “to the extent that speakers conceptualize language as socially purposive action, we must look at their ideas about the meaning, function, and value of language[s]”. Similarly, we must also look at their understanding of their ethnic identity. To get an in-depth and micro-level idea on this topic, qualitative researches should be a helpful complement.
As for the target groups of research, most studies treat minority groups indiscriminately, regardless of their ethnic language competence. Nevertheless, I think whether one can use his or her ethnic language makes a difference, as language plays an essential role in a certain culture and ethnic identity is, to a large extent, a cultural construction (though in China, it is also a political construction). Researches on minority people who cannot speak or understand their own languages can provide us with much information on language and ethnic identity. In addition, we can also learn more about the actual effect of some ethnic policies, which are meant to promote minority cultures and ethnic integration.
The research was carried out in Jianshui County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Jianshui located in southern Yunnan, with eight townships and six villages under its jurisdiction. Up to the end of 2008, it has a population of 514.6 thousand, with 57% Han people and 43% minority people. Among minority people, Yi people make up 74%. (“An Overview of Jianshui County”, 2010)
Many Yi people have entered the county and usually wear as Han people. For most people, especially non-locals, it is very hard to tell Yi people from Han people. Some Yi people have lived in the county for more than one generation. Most Yi students cannot speak or understand Yi language. Neither do some of their parents.
My approach to investigate and analyze is case study. Three female students of Yi, none of which can speak or understand Yi language, are chosen to be the focus of my discussion, because they are of the same ethnic group and share similar background, but their attitudes and perceptions on the topic of language and ethnic identity differ from each other. I also interview or talk to other students of Han, Yi, Dai and Hani, in order to have a better understanding of the ethnic environment in Jianshui County. Besides, one Dai and one Hani I interviewed can speak and understand their languages, thus their background and ideas can be an informative comparison.
I adopt semi-structured interview as the research method. Some basic questions about interviewees’ background and ideas were asked; extra questions based on their answers as well. With permission from the interviewees, all interviews were recorded. By analyzing the transcripts of interviews, I hope to view their ethnic identity from their perspectives, see what role does linguistic disability play in their understanding of Yi, and explore the connotation of being Yi in that environment.
Interviewees were chosen by accidental sampling and snowball sampling, since during summer vacation, it was difficult to find students in large groups.
Firstly, it is a pity that interviews did not extent to the three students’ relatives, friends and teachers, because they are still forming their ethnic identity and external influences should be taken into account. Besides, they are not the first generation far from their ethnic language, so their parents’ experience may lead to more insightful discussion.
Secondly, because of the time limit, I can only get information from the method of interview. Yet, on one hand, things said and done sometimes can be different; on the other hand, from the interviews I realize that the interviewees have thought so little about ethnic issues that they might have ignored many important facts in their daily life and thus failed to report them. If possible, observing the interviewees in some specific settings, such as family, school and ethnic festivals, will be very beneficial.
The three female students of Yi (to be more exactly, half-Yi) are all graduate students from Jianshui First Middle School, the best one in Honghe Prefecture. They are all Jianshui locals (born in Jianshui County). None of them can speak or understand Yi language. They are the typical kind of people that referred as “fake Yi people” by Han people, mainly because they do not know their own ethnic culture (including language).
Their similar backgrounds make them, to some extent, comparable. However, there are still many differences concerning the topic of language and ethnic identity, which are things that interest me most.
I come across Zhang in the only KFC in Jianshui County, when she is chatting with her friend. She share her minority identity with her mother, who is the oldest daughter in her family. They cannot speak or understand Yi language, neither do Zhang’s grandparents or her Yi classmates. She thinks that the ethnic identity leaves few markers and has little influence on her. During chatting, she says that she feels like a Han girl. She does not know much about Yi’s culture and traditions, including the most eye-catching festival – the Torch Festival. She only participated in the festival once when she was little, so she cannot recall much about this experience. She is not an exception: “[My Yi classmates] are just like me”.
The boundary between Yi people and Han people has been “blurred” there, according to Zhang. Yet she thinks that it is still necessary to distinguish ethnic group from ethnic group. When asked “why”, her immediate reaction is “China has fifty-six ethnic groups” which is later explained as a kind of diversity. Also, this classification can help people realize the difference among ethnic groups and thus help to preserves ethnic cultures. Her definition of “ethnic culture” is generally about festivals and ethnic costume, but not about language, since communication nowadays requires a mastery of Mandarin and English. Language will not be a criterion for ethnic classification anymore, because ethnic languages may disappear in a few decades, and so will dialects.
For herself, Zhang somewhat wants to learn Yi language if possible; but this wish is not strong. Comparatively speaking, she actually pays more attention to English. When I ask her whether she would send her children to a bilingual (Mandarin and Yi language) school, her immediate reaction is to ask “Will English be taught there?” English instrumentally is a necessity now: her cousin has been promoted because he is good at English, according to Zhang. Mandarin has this function too. She says “Speaking Mandarin well can give you extra credits; otherwise, you will leave a bad impression others and you yourself feel bad about it.”
When discussing about the next generation, Zhang wants her children to be Han people on their identity cards. This surprises her friend, who immediately cuts in “of course Yi” after my question “if you (Zhang) marry a Han man, will you register your children as Han or Yi?” When asking for the reason, she mentions ethnic discrimination. She feels it from some comments by “people out there”on Baidu Tieba (a BBS) which criticize ethnic groups for their “bad” habits and “backwardness” and claim that ethnic groups hold back China’s development. In addition, she tells me a story of her friends:
“Friends of mine was on the airplane and asked where she was from. They answered that they were from Jianshui and some place in Xishuangbanna. Then those people asked surprisingly, ‘Wow, are you minority?’ ‘Yes,’ answered my friends. ‘Do you go to school on elephant? Do you bring peacocks to the school?’”
In telling this story, there are two underlying assumptions. One is that these phenomena mentioned are backward. The other is that the passengers nearby were seriously asking the questions. However, in my view, a greater possibility is that the passengers were joking or trying to break the ice.
Even though Zhang feels discrimination against minority groups, she does not want to change her ethnic identity, because in Jianshui there is little difference between Yi people and Han people and Yi people at the same time can enjoy some preferential policies (such as priority to be a civil servant (gongwuyuan)), which is the reason why her parents registered her as a Yi. She only came to realize that she is a Yi girl when she was in third grade in primary school. Novelty was her immediate feeling and then gladness for being “different from others”.
Interview with Zhang gives me an impression that ethnic issues are little discussed, regardless of the circumstances. The only exception may be the time before College Entrance Examination when some students get extra points for their ethnic identity and household registration (hukou). Rural minority students can get 10 extra points in the examination. This, as well as other preferential policies, seems to be the most talked issue related to ethnic groups.
Analysis of Case One
Zhang’s background and experience are very common. As far as I am concerned, her attitudes and future path are quite typical as well. She does, in a sense, have cultural consciousness. For example, she refers to some practices in Japan and Korea as good examples of culture preservation and gives out some suggestions on this issue. Her mother is culturally sensitive too, in my view. During interview, Zhang mentions a detail that her mother would criticize her for making some oral mistakes in Jianshui dialect. This shows that speaking proper dialect is important in her mother’s view and this value has, more or less, been inherited by Zhang. Therefore, when it comes to Yi language, she holds similar view that these non-mainstream language should be preserved. However, I think she sees Yi language (as well as Yi culture) from a Han’s perspective, because she has never been immersed in that culture and thus feels rather distant with it.
This distance is clear in her feelings towards Yi people. This kind of feelings is neither positive nor negative, which I call “indifference”. She knows and acknowledges that she is a Yi, but she is not that proud of this ethnic identity or this ethnic group, though she thinks that people should take pride in languages and good traditional culture (youxiu chuantong wenhua). Also, she will not pay special attention to someone just because they share same ethnic identity, no matter he or she is a star or a classmate. This is understandable, because in Jianshui, Yi makes up about 31% of the whole population (“An Overview of Jianshui County”, 2010), so she may not feel her difference and give special attention to this identity. Likewise, we do not often feel that we are Chinese when in China; but if we are aboard, this feeling gets stronger.
In the interview with Zhang, I sometimes notice her internal conflicts on ethnic issues from one answer to another. These conflicts mainly result from the gap between her actual feelings and the ingrained official discourse about ethnic identity. For instance, she takes the fact of fifty-five minority groups (including Yi) and her Yi identity for granted, while never really feel the difference and a sense of belonging. It is true that she willingly acknowledges her Yi identity, yet I still think this is an identity “forced” upon her. Her present self-identification is a result of accommodation to the external definition of herself. This explains her “indifference”.
Though existing, these conflicts are not bothering Zhang, because she can find ways to solve them. One way is to refine ethnicity. She is a Yi who cannot speak or understand Yi language, so she thinks that the determining element of ethnicity is clothing and activities on special occasions, rather than language. A second way is to find external reasons to justify some inconsistence between thoughts and actions. Her way to justify bad culture preservation of Yi is to think government as the main responsibility-taker of culture preservation. Of course, this may also due to the big-government-image which has been established since 1949. However, the “real” minority students feel obliged to inherit their unique cultures. It is actually also easier for them to inherit, because they have more first-hand material of cultural experiences and practices. A third way to solve conflicts for Zhang is to identify herself more with her hometown and less with her ethnic group. It is the same with most Han people, since identification with Han means little under most circumstances and identifying with the places of origin carries more significance. For Zhang, the ethnic identity of Yi carries little significance (because she does not speak Yi language, or participate in Yi festivals, or have friends who are mostly Yi), and she chooses to find sense of belonging in her identity as a Jianshui local.
In short, due to a lack of ethnic atmosphere, for Zhang, there is a lack of personal affinity with Yi. Her ideas about Yi and attitudes towards Yi mainly come from official discourse about minority ethnic groups. However, because a gap exists between the official version and her personal feeling, she finds different ways to adjust the inconsistence of her actions and expectations upon her as a Yi.
I met Chi at her get-together with junior high school classmates. She is an only child. In her family, her father is a Yi, as well as her paternal grandparents who now live in Qinglong Township (one of the eight townships of Jianshui County). This is also where her father grew up. Qinglong Township, located in Southwest of Jianshui County, has a population of 15125, 58% of which are Yi and 41% are Han. (“Basic Facts”, 2007) However, most people there cannot speak Yi. Therefore, although her father grew up there, he can only speak little Yi. Chi almost cannot speak Yi at all.
Although, in Qinglong Township, Yi language is not common now, some traditional practices still exist. In other words, there is still some cultural atmosphere. For instance, when Chi’s father was young, he used to wear the traditional clothes. In addition, her father would take her to participate in the Torch Festival (though not in Qinglong) in nearby townships. A few years earlier, bonfire was made each year during the festival; yet in the recent years, she feels that the festival is only about a feast, so she no longer goes for the festival. These experiences contribute to her knowledge about Yi; she also gets some information from books and the Internet. Her interest in Yi culture also results from the changes she experienced in ethnic events. She strongly feels that culture and cultural items should be passed down from generation to generation, especially when she is participating in the festivals of Yi. That is partly why she wants to learns more about the culture of Yi. Other reasons include the pressure upon her from her ethnic identity and a feeling of shame when she cannot answer questions related to Yi.
Nevertheless, Chi never thought of learning Yi language, because she thinks learning language requires a suitable environment in which one has a lot of chances to use this language. This probably also has something to do with her ideas about the usefulness of languages. When asked about how useful the languages are, she puts Yi language in the last place, while putting Mandarin, English and dialect in the first, second and third place, respectively. In terms of social influence, her list is English, Mandarin, Yi language and dialect. She ranks Yi language the second (next to Jianshui dialect) in terms of affinity, followed by Mandarin and English. In the ranking of euphoniousness, English is the first, Yi language is the second, dialect is the third and Mandarin is the fourth. Since “usefulness” and “social influence” are more about practical values, and “affinity” and “euphoniousness” are more about emotional values, I think Chi feels attachment towards Yi language, but practically values Yi language little.
As for her ethnic identity, Chi was not born Yi. Her parents changed her ethnic identity when she was in second grade of primary school and they did it for preferential policies, which is the most obvious reason for this kind of changes. When I ask her whether she thinks herself as a Yi, she answers “Ethnically speaking, I am a Yi; yet I am not a Yi in my blood.” Later she adds that “blood” mean the culture of Yi. Due to this self-perception, she thinks she will not register her children as Yi if her husband is not a Yi. After she went to Ningxia for college-prep class of minority students (minzu yukeban), she feels even more “Sinicized”, as students around her can speak some ethnic languages and know about the “real rules”, but she needs to check up everything at the last moment.
Actually, Chi knows more than other Yi students I met. Almost all her knowledge about Yi is factual and segmented. In art class, she learnt about traditional dresses; in music class, she learnt about ethnic music; on newspaper, she learnt about the Torch Festival and the relationship between Yi and Japanese. Not much commentative or value-involved information was delivered. However, her perception about Yi is mainly concerning antiquity. When asked to describe Yi, her answers are “ancient”, “ancestral” and “remote”. I think she also relates Yi with “rural” and “montanic”. During our discussion about the population distribution of Yi people, she claims that the percentage of Yi people in Guanting Township (another township of Jianshui County) is higher than the one of Qinglong Township, because “[Guanting] is farther from the county and people there live deep in the mountains”. Nevertheless, according to official statistics, until the end of 2006, Yi people make up 51% in Qinglong Township, while minority groups in total make up 49.3% in Guanting Township. (“Basic Facts”, 2007; “An Overview of Population in Guanting Township”, 2007). This indicates that in her unconscious mind, she connects attributes like being primeval and traditional with minority groups, including Yi, though she avoids judging them. This contrast also exists in mass media reports, most of which are the “objective” representation of culture and the rest of which usually depicts certain Yi people as the weak and someone in need.
Analysis of Case Two
Chi is a typical Yi person who is strongly influenced by political definitions of Yi given by government. The experience of changing ethnic identity is not unique in places like Jianshui County, where minority groups are not that “minority” and enjoy substantial preferential policies. So for Chi, it is clear for her that this identity is, at least, not inborn, regardless of whether this identity is forced upon her. Her acknowledgement of this identity is more like a submission to “established fact”. In her words, “Since identity card says I am a Yi, I am a Yi.” For others, she does not have the idea of “fake minority”; if someone says he or she is a Yi, Chi accepts him or her as a Yi, even though she may not find especially close to he or she. In her opinion, the criteria to differentiate people of one ethnic group from people of another are firstly their identity cards and blood lineage, and then maybe the knowledge about the ethnic groups they belong to. Her view supports the constructivist side in the debate on how to explain ethnicity. Anderson and Gellner argue that “modernization or even concrete state policies play large roles in forming groups where no group consciousness existed before.”(as cited in Hale, 2004) For individuals like Chi, I think what they hold makes sense.
Although this identity sometimes brings her embarrassment (when she cannot answer questions about Yi culture for instance), she accepts this identity with positive attitudes. Before she (or more exactly, her parents) changed her ethnic identity, she knew little about Yi. After she accepted it, she tries to be more like a Yi by learning the culture, not only from introductory articles, but also from first-hand experiences. Even so, she still faces some predicaments. Language learning is one problem. She regards language as the most important element in knowledge about ethnic groups, but she has few resources she can turn to for learning Yi language and she does not have a good environment for that. Another problem is that she cannot have many chances to put Yi culture in practice. Her way to escape from the dilemma is to put up with the second best choice, learning Yi culture as much as possible. In this sense, college-prep class of minority students is a good policy, because it offers some classes about minority culture according to Gu (a Hui student I interviewed, who is also in college-prep class now). Moreover, for Chi, she gets her first ethnic clothes of Yi because college asks students to bring their ethnic clothes with them.
In the case of Chi, the positive effects of government’s ethnic policies in terms of culture preservation and inheritance somehow justify the preferential policies. Yet I realize that whether the effects are positive or negative partly depends on the ideas towards culture and minority groups of that individual. This ratio of “positive” to “negative” is unknown and almost impossible to estimate. Some people may change their ethnic identities without taking the responsibilities of culture inheritance. Even for Chi, language incompetence is also unavoidable. This phenomenon leaves still another question. That is, while the population of minority groups got larger during the period between the fifth census and the sixth census (Liu, 2011), are minority groups getting more prosperous as the government expects in the White Paper of China’s Ethnic Policies and Common Prosperous Development of All Ethnic Groups (2009), especially in the culture sphere.
Wei was introduced to me by another interviewee of mine. She is not an only child, having a younger brother. Her parents are both peasants, so she is the only girl with a rural household registration among my three major interviewees. Her mother is a Yi, graduated from a primary school. None of her family members can speak or understand Yi language, including her maternal grandfather who is also a Yi. She almost knows nothing about Yi and has never participated in any ethnic events. Unlike the other two interviewees, especially Chi, she has no intention to learn about the culture at all, because she is not interested in it. According to her, even if she wants to learn something about Yi, “It is not out of the fact that I am a Yi, but out of an interest in this kind of things. It is just like other interests. I am interested in something and then I want to study it and know more about it.” This quite “extreme” idea (in my view) is what makes her different from many other Yi people, though they do not speak Yi language either.
Wei came to know her ethnic identity when she was in the fifth or sixth grade of primary school filling some forms. She thinks that ethnic identity is “only a kind of label on people” which carries little substantial meaning. So this label does not have much impact on her and her life, especially in the county, where almost no difference exists between Han people and Yi people. When asked whether she regards herself as a Yi, she answers that “in the real sense, I am not a Yi”. She also calls herself “fake” Yi which rarely appears in my interviews with so-called “fake” Yis. However, she does not mind being called a “fake” Yi, since a “real” Yi usually grows up in an environment where traditions are preserved, Yi language is spoken and ethnic clothes are worn. Later I asks her “But you still think yourself as a Yi?” Her answer is “Yes, after all, minority groups still have the upper hand.” This “upper hand” refers to all the preferential policies, which is also the reason for Wei’s parents to register her as a Yi.
Like Chi, Wei is also a direct beneficiary of preferential policies. As a rural Yi, she gets ten extra points in the College Entrance Examination. That is the only moment she feels pride being a Yi girl, because though there are many minority classmates, not many can get extra points. Under most circumstances, her attitude towards Yi is neutral, or indifferent. As for her attitude towards preferential policies, she holds positive view, I think partly because of the rootedness of official discourse and partly her own interests in them. In her opinion, all the preferential policies are essentially about the imbalanced development of regions, including rural area vs. urban area and Eastern China vs. Western China. The underdeveloped or less developed areas coincide with the regions where most minority live. For instance, the favorable scoring policy in college entrance examination (gaokao jiafen zhengce) is not only about ethnic identities, but also about household registration and the surrounding environment of the household. I think this can be interpreted in the way that preferential policies are more about the economic development of different regions/areas than about the prosperous development of minority groups.
As for her attitude towards the future of Yi, it is basically positive as well. Although Wei knows nothing about Yi culture, she believes that the differences between Yi and Han in terms of culture will always exist. That is to say, culturally Yi will not be extinct, because “in modern society, more and more attention is paid to traditional culture” and Yi culture is also part of the traditional culture. Policies will make sure this kind of culture are not extinct. It implies that preserving culture is government’s responsibility.
Analysis of Case Three
Wei represents a subculture group of Yi people (not ethnically, but socially). No matter how little she knows about Yi, or how differently she behaves and thinks comparing to a tradition Yi person, she is still a Yi. Even if she is called a “fake” Yi and she accepts it, she is still a Yi. As for the expression of “fake Yi people”, I think a more proper expression should be “more acculturated Yi people”. Individually speaking, maybe she is the most acculturated among the three interviewees. In fact, many of their perceptions about Yi or minority groups are similar, but Wei’s difference is the acknowledgement of the subculture groups within the circle of Yi. Maybe due to this perception, she does not have to “struggle” on ethnic issues, like whether to learn Yi tradition or not. (Of course, she, on the question of whether she is a Yi, follows a double standard too.) For her, ethnicity is only a minor label which cannot define a person, but can describe a person to some extent.
Another factor I notice that may contribute to Wei’s ethnic identity is her plan for the future. Unlike the other two girls who plan to stay in Yunnan willingly or in obedience to mother, Wei wants to “go out and see the world”. Out there in many provinces (I think it means out of Yunnan), ethnicity is a less frequent topic and preferential policies as well, since minority groups do not have strong influence or power. Thus in her case, ethnicity will hardly be an advantage, but instead, may be a burden (if ethnic discrimination mentioned by Zhang exists there). Strong features of ethnicity will not help her, so she chooses not to give attention to them.
In this part, I will present some findings and some questions I think worth further discussion. These are mainly based on the interviews with the three Yi girls, Zhang, Chi and Wei. At the same time, interviews with other interviewees may also be referred to, since interactions create ethnic boundaries according to F. Barth (1998). Students of other ethnic groups and even from the same ethnic group provide an image of the external environment for the three girls.
Language and Ethnic Identity
The interviews with the three Yi girls prove that language competence does not necessarily correlate with ethnic identity. Although it has been a long time for most people of some ethnic groups (like Manchu and Hui) to speak Han instead of their own ethnic languages, language is still closely associated with ethnic identity, maybe because of the criteria for ethnic classification put forward by Stalin. The three Yi girls, none of who can speak or understand Yi language, all self-identify with Yi. It is true that they may consider themselves “like Han” or “a fake Yi”, but this differs from identifying with Han or other minority groups.
Actually, a similar finding has already been brought up by Tan Chee Beng in his article, “People of Chinese Descent: Language, Nationality and Identity”. It is about Chinese descendants in Southeast Asia (mainly Malaysia), some of who cannot speak any kind of Chinese, no matter dialects or Mandarin, any more. Here he writes: “Language is an import sign of ethnic identity, but loss of language does not necessarily mean loss of ethnic identity.” This finding works on the three Yi girls of my research as well. In Malaysia, different levels of Chinese competence can make a distinction among different kinds of Chinese; similarly, I think different levels of Yi language competence can make a distinction among different kinds of Yi. One important thing we should keep in mind is that, though they cannot speak Yi, they self-identify with Yi and people surrounding regard them as Yi too.
Of course, the ethnic identity of this kind of minority people (like Zhang, Chi and Wei) is different other kinds of minority people. Among my interviewees, there are a Dai boy, a Hani boy and a Hui boy, who can be regarded as “real minority people”. They, firstly, see themselves as minority people, without feeling like Han. Secondly, they all can distinguish certain kind of people from themselves as “fake” minority people. (For example, the Dai boy considers Dai people who cannot speak or understand Dai, and Han people who imitate Dai as two kinds of “fake” Dais.) Thirdly, they actively participate in ethnic activities and seem to have the instinct to learn ethnic culture and pass it down. Another kind of minority people I met only includes one interviewee, who is a Hani boy. Though he speaks little Hani language and can only understand about one-third, he has a strong will to learn Hani language now. On one hand, that is because his maternal grandmother asks him to do so. On the other hand, he wants to learn because in his hometown, about two-thirds of the dialogues are carried out in Hani language, and he plans to go back home after university graduation. He values language very much, telling me “without unique languages, minority groups are just like Han”. Comparing to other ethnic groups, Han may be the most special one among the fifty-six ethnic groups of China. Although the population of Han is in dominant majority, Han people have little ethnic consciousness, which is always mixed with national consciousness, even though almost every Han person in China can speak and understand Han language (Chinese) very well.
All above shows that language, no matter how unique its function is as regards the ethnic culture, does not has a direct influence on ethnic identity. Ethnic identity is more of a social construct, or political construct, rather than a cultural construct, especially for those who have been, or whose ancestors have been acculturated to Han culture.
A Political Construct, Rather than A Cultural Construct
In China, political power and influence is omnipresent, and sometimes seems to be omnipotent as well. In the respect of ethnic issues, political influence is even more striking. Admittedly, before ethnic classification, there were already the concept of “ethnic groups” in China. Yet at that time, “ethnic groups” were more about self-identification, blood lineage and culture. As for now, I think self-identification and blood lineage still relate to “ethnic groups”, but culture is no longer a must for belonging to a certain ethnic group. Instead, government policies take its place.
First of all, since ethnic identity is printed on the identity card as household registration is, it becomes a kind of status, relatively fixed (as only through some procedures can someone change his or her ethnic identity). All it requires to belong to a certain ethnic group is direct blood lineage. Thus ethnic identity becomes more like a “birthmark” given by parents and the government (or its issuing authority of identity cards).
Secondly, for those minority who are deeply acculturated to Han culture, the reason to be registered as a minority person is preferential policies. Even some Han people register themselves as minority people for these. I think this widespread phenomena is policy-driven and almost has nothing to do with other factors. As for the preferential policies, they are, to a great degree, worth debating. What are their purposes, and do they achieve their ends? However, these questions can be left for a book, so I will not go into them here.
Although ethnicity is more of a political construct, instead of a cultural construct, interestingly, I find most of these interviewees (including deeply acculturated minority people) quite culturally sensitive, or at least, speaking culturally sensitively. They talk about cultural inheritance, cultural diversity and intangible cultural heritage. They all agree that minority culture should be preserved. No matter how mechanically they learn this idea, it is deeply rooted in their minds. Now allow me to switch to a finding in Lessons in Being Chinese first. The author writes, “The spokesman for a revival of ethnic identity who have themselves participated in state education are better able to express and make themselves heard within the context of the state.” (Hansen, 1999) This points out the advantages of minority elites in preserving minority cultures. As I supporter of cultural diversity, I think this advantage as well as the culture-related ideas instilled through education should be utilized. Of course, some preferable conditions should be created or protected in order to activate this kind of mindset, if cultural preservation is one of the ends of preferential policies for minority groups.
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