Expanded Families--the Survey Of Sha Ney-Traditional Folk Organization Of The Tibetan-in Taohe Basin

Taohe, the biggest tributary of the Yellow River in the upper reaches, is located in the border region of Gansu Province, Qinghai Province and Sichuan Province. The source of it can be traced to a branch range of the Xiqing Mountains. It is especially as important as the gateway for the national amalgamation of the Han and the Tibetan in northwest, for the transition from agriculture to animal husbandry, for association between the east and the west, the north and the south. Moreover, it is one of the main Tibetan inhabited regions in Gansu in the middle and upper reaches after experiencing continual great changes of administrative division in the thousands of years in history since it used to be the settlement of the Qiang people as an uncivilized area.There is Sha Nye-Latin is Sha Nye-a traditional folk organization which is similar to the blood ---relationship organization like family of the Han people in the Tibetan villages in the Taohe Basin, satisfying all the factors of family of the Han people: reproduction mainly based on the paternal line; the family is the basic unit; living together as a clan in fixed areas; sharing same object of sacrifice to form spiritual cohesion. However, comparing to the family of the Han people, there are more types of it:Sha Nye of lineage characterized by the bond of blood---relationship; Sha Nye of farmland characterized by the transactions of land in Tusi period; Sha Nye of mutual cooperation characterized by the needs of mutual aid in new period. The latter two are genuine extended family because they beyond the scope of the family of the Han people which is supported by and bounded in blood relationship.According to the adequate survey, this dissertation analyses Sha Nye in Taohe Basin in the following sections:a detailed introduction of society in the areas where Sha Nye live in the perspective of Sha Nye's natural space, historical space and societal space; analysis on origin and formation path of Sha Nye in the perspective of comparing similarities and dissimilarities between different institutional space in the history; description of unique organization structure of Sha Nye by comparing to what of the Han family; ceremony of Sha Nye and Sha Nye in the ceremony; display of interaction mode of Sha Nye through describing daily microcosmic circumstances; adaptation and vicissitudes of Sha Nye in the modern society. All the sections try to present a panorama of Sha Nye organization in the Tibetan society in Taohe Basin to fill the gap in the research, as well as study the role it plays in the rural community of the Tibetan to explore the construction and integration of modern minority community.