A Study Of The Aesthetic Ideas Of Diqiang Ethnic Groups In The Southwest China

The southwest China is an important birthplace of mankind and the hometown of Yuanmou people. It has full of remote ancient cultural remains. Diqiang ethnic groups in southwest China is the largest one of minority nationalities there and there is close contact with the traditional Chinese culture in many aspects. Diqiang ethnic groups in southwest China preserves a vast amount of original ancient civilized traditions, customs and habits, primitive beliefs and aesthetic ideas and becomes the significant living fossil about dealing with the distant ancient civilization.This paper, starting with the idea of pluralism and entirety, aims to study deeply the unique cultural implications of the aesthetic ideas of Diqiang ethnic groups in southwest China under this background, and finds out the original relationship between the aesthetic ideas of Diqiang ethnic groups in southwest China and the traditional Chinese culture and promotes the aesthetic study of minority nationalities. Apart from the preface and conclusions, this paper includes 5 chapters.Chapter 1 discusses the cultural origin of Diqiang ethnic groups. It includes 3 sections. Section 1 puts the data of ancient Chinese documents related to Diqiang ethnic groups in order. It makes us know the origin about Diqiang ethnic groups and influence on the ethnic development and evolution in the Chinese history, especially the relations between the ancient Diqiang and the Han people and other ethnic groups in southwest China. Section 2 discusses the Diqiang peoples of minority nationalities in southwest China. Amongst the minority nationalities in southwest China, the Yi people, Tebitan, the Bai people, the Naxi people, the Hani people, the Jingpo people, the A'chang people, the Lahu people, the Lisu people, the Pumi people, the Nu people and the Dulong people, etc., are the ethnic groups which come from Diqiang or have a close relations with it. They inhabit altogether and show many common psychological traits. Section 3 is about the cultural evolution of Diqiang ethnic groups. Diqiang ethnic groups is a common name who originally inhabited in the Gan and Qing highland areas in northwest China, and then scattered in alldirections. They moved constantly from the northwest to the southwest China, and even to the central China. Therefore they had a close contact with many nationalities of China. There was fusion, division and change between them.Chapter 2 discusses the formation of aesthetic ideas of Diqiang ethnic groups in southwest China. It includes 3 sections. Section 1 discusses the influence of geographical environment on Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest China. Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest China live mainly in the higher sea level and poor-traffic areas. They are typical highland peoples, so the aesthetic ideas of them relate to the natural environment of highland. Section 2 discusses the reasons of the formation of aesthetic ideas of Diqiang ethnic groups. Diqiang ethnic groups was a constant moving people before, and they came here from distant northwest China to southwest China, so their aesthetic ideas relate to the ancestral worship and totem worship, and manifest the strong consciousness of asking-ancestors and coming back to ancestors. Section 3 discusses the deep causes of formation of aesthetic ideas of Diqiang ethnic groups in southwest from the primitive religious beliefs. Because of the natural environment and ethnic migration etc., the primitive religious beliefs of Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest are very strong, so that the aesthetic ideas of them characterize the primitive religions, and relate to something with witchcraft.Chapter 3 discusses the connotation of the aesthetic ideas. It includes 3 sections. Section 1 is the consciousness of gods and witches. It is the most eminent cultural traits of Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest. It differs from the ordinary mysterious mind because of the primitive religions, so it has a close relations with witchcraft. To meet the needs of living, they have to ask the gods for protection and shelter. Under these circumstances, they produce the strong ideas of gods and witchcraft.Section 2 is the consciousness of ethnic myself. When talking about the ideas of Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest, the concept of the "ethnic myself is very strong. It differs from the "other people". The "ethnic myself means the sense of admitting myself and belonging to it. It is the spiritual attachment and the source of power, and thereforeproduces the cultural traditions, beliefs and customs and habits which differ from other peoples. For example, the ideas of ancestors, beginning ancestors, totem and "Benzhu"(king of native place) relating to the ethnic myself. It has a deep influence on their aesthetic activities.Section 3 is the consciousness of life worship. It mainly indicates a primitive worship to the power of natural life, especially to Diqang ethnic groups. It expresses the original consciousness of life and comes from the instinct impulse. In their aesthetic world, they combined the worship for natural life with the worship for gods. In their opinions, the power of life was controlled by something mysterious, and it came from "gods'. The power of life means connection and dialogue with gods, this is because life go into the blending state of god and man, and life connect the heaven and the earth, the ghost and the god.Section 4 is the consciousness of happy life. Diqiang ethnic groups has a attitude surpassing life, it relates to their cultural traditions. Diqiang culture originated in the culture of nomadic tribes, it emphasized the significance of life and the unimportance of death. This attitude of happy life makes them face the arriving of life and death, and enjoys the pleasure of life and death. It relates to the primitive religions which means "soul is not dead". It differs from the attitude of "carefree life" of the Han people.Chapter 4 discusses the expressing form of the aesthetic ideas. It includes 4 sections. Section 1 is monstrous. It has a lot of the primitive cultural implications, and mainly manifest the characteristic of anti-aesthetics. It includes many complicated social and historical content, and has a close relations with the ideas of primitive worship of mankind. The monstrous shape as the primitive aesthetic form disappears in many nationalities, but It preserves in Diqiang's societies in the southwest China through their myth, religious music and dance, old customs and habits and plastic arts.Section 2 is hideous. It has a close relations with the aesthetic ideas of mankind in ancient times. In the Han's aesthetic traditions, the hideous shape had become historical memories in their mind, but it exists a lot in Diqiang's aesthetic customs in the southwest. It shows in theirbody-decoration, totem, mask, Nuo ceremony (exorcise in ceremony), Nuo dance(exorcise in dance) and so on except plastic culture. It expresses the aesthetic implications of the sense of fear, threaten and dread with the social utility. It emphasizes the content rather than the form.Section 3 is unskilful. It is similar to childish mind for children and is a reflection of primitive thinking. It displays all kinds of plastic arts and daily life. This paper mainly analyses the unskillful and childish characteristics manifested in their arts such as colors, plastic and complications of Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest.Section 4 is mysterious. It is often related to the ideas for gods. Art is mysterious and in their opinions of minority nationalities, arts have life and spirit and can speak something, just as man. This is the most traits of ethnic folk arts, it is related to the idea that everything has a soul. The sense of this mystery displays a consciousness of witchcraft and primitive witch culture.Chapter 5 discusses the relations between the aesthetic ideas of Diqiang in the southwest and that of the Han's culture. It includes 3 sections. Section 1 is about the relationship of the cultural origin of Diqiang ethnic groups with the Han's culture. According to the archaeological materials, Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest China had a relationship of the same cultural origin with many peoples, including the Han people. They were initial creators for Chinese civilization. The old peoples lived in the land of China were common ancestors of the Chinese nations. They manifested the change and migration from south to north and from north to south. The highland of Yunnan and Guizhou province is an important birthplace of old Chinese peoples. There is a close relationship between them, whether from south to north or from north to south. This is the evidence about the same cultural origin. Because of the evolution of the ecological environment, they had to constantly move and scatter everywhere, and produced nations in the world.In the cultural system of Chinese nation, all peoples, including the Huaxia people(predecessor of the Han people), are the "minor current",not the "source". What is the "source" of composing Chinese nation is a "merging power', which is made up by all kinds of cultural elements, that is the multiorigin. Chinese nation is either the multiorigin or the whole. The culture of Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest relates to close relationship with the traditional Chinese culture under this historical background.Section 2 discusses the Han's cultural factors in literature and art of Diqiang ethnic groups, this discussion includes the patterns of the cosmos and aesthetic experiences and expression in their literature and art. The aesthetic ideas of Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest have a close relations with the ideas of cosmos, nature and experiences in traditional Chinese aesthetics, for example, "Qi"(air, gas) is a essential category, it stands for material phenomenon and spiritual phenomenon. The primitive cognition of the Yi, Naxi, Bai and Hani embody all kinds of sense of "Qi", which explains the origin of cosmos and everything, or the initial elements. But they explain the implications of "Qi" related to their primitive religions. The explanation of Yi, Naxi's philosophy about "Hundun"(chaos), "wu xing"(five elements to explain the cosmos) also embodied amount of factors of primitive religious beliefs and totem worship. They expressed the ideas about truth and goodness related to the beliefs of gods, and differed from the aesthetic ideas of Confucius ethics and Daoist natural ideas. This paper also make a concrete analysis of the Han's cultural factors through the architecture, paintings, crafts and literature of Diqiang ethnic groups in the southwest.