Study Of The National Food Culture In Western Sichuan Province

Diet is the primary material base of mankind's survival and development, and only humans become eating into a culture. In the long history, people extend the scope of diet, but also make the diet culture encompasses a broad meaning, including the development of food sources, expansion of foodstuffs, food selection and processing, the invention and production of eating utensils, the color, smell, taste, shape of food and other physical areas, it also includes the concept of diet, cooking concept, cooking techniques, dietetic therapeutic theories forming in the various dietary practice and activities, and religious beliefs, holiday consuetude, art and other spiritual and aesthetic areas. With human social development, food culture will always accompany with humans, it will never be divorced from human culture and living. From the perspective of time and space, food culture has historic, regional, national, successive, variable characteristics. These characteristics also determine food culture will endlessly exchange and change in the process of culture development.Chinese food culture has accumulated to form a unique cultural tradition in several thousand years of history along with the continuous development of Chinese civilization. Particularly, those representational local cuisines of the Han food culture have become the main pillar in the development of Chinese catering culture. However, we can not forget that the traditional Chinese food culture is mainly built by the Han people (more than 90% of the population) and 55 ethnic minority groups. Because different nationalities surviving and reproducing in the land of China interact and learn from each other on the food culture, the Chinese food culture continually develop and improve.Western Sichuan is the cradle of the ancient Shu, and is dwelled by the minorities since ancient times. The food culture of the Western Sichuan peoples (including minorities and the Han) as an integral part of Chinese food culture is an important aspect of national culture study. In history, minorities of Western Sichuan flow and migrate very frequently, after a long-term development, and now Western Sichuan became a habitation being made up of Tibetan, Yi, Qiang and other minorities. From a historical perspective, the formation and development of the minorities'food culture of Western Sichuan mainly is influenced by social, economic, geographical environment and the developmental level of productive forces and cultural quality. When the development of productive forces is the low level, geographical environment often plays a leading role for food culture development.Regardless of the staple food, non-staple food, or drink, the Western Sichuan minorities have their own unique food culture. With the development of society and economy, as well as all ethnic groups living together, the food culture of Western Sichuan minorities has taken place in a larger change in exchange with other ethnic groups, particularly with the Han on food culture. In particular, the world-renowned Sichuan food culture coming of and developing in Chengdu will inevitably exchange with the surrounding ethnic minorities in the long history. Such exchanges would make the factors of ethnic minorities'food culture into the Han people's lives, in the same time make the food culture of Han strongly influenced the food culture of minorities. This is to be worthy of attention and research for ethnologists.At present, there are many research monographs and books on food culture in China, including the studies on minorities' food culture for the purpose of seeking novelty. But from the perspective of ethnology, the study specifically aimed at the exchange of distinctive food culture between minorities and the Han is also less. From perspective of cultural exchange and changes in dietary between Western Sichuan minorities and the Han, using the theory and method of ethnology, anthropology, sociology, history, economics and other disciplines, this dissertation study the inter-ethnic food cultural exchanges and changes under the background of modern society. Further, author discusses how to protect and pass on traditional national food culture, and continuously innovate and develop it in the progress of modern society.The structure of the dissertation is divided into six. Introduction introduces mainly the origin of the study, interrelated research productions, the used research theories and research methods, and defines some theoretical concepts in text.The first chapter "Food Cultural Exchanges and Changes of the Main Minorities of Contemporary Western Sichuan" summarizes traditional food culture of Western Sichuan Tibetan, Yi, Qiang, Hui, Mongolian, at the same time, discusses the development and changes in contemporary society, analyses specific items of diet cultural exchange, explains that food culture of Western Sichuan minorities is affected enormously by the concepts and the structure of the modern diet.Chapterâ…¡"The Exchange and Amalgamation of Food Culture in Chengdu" chiefly discusses the formation and development of Sichuan cuisines basing on its cradle Chengdu, and food culture characteristics of Chengdu. Further, the writer combine with unique Hakka food culture and Tibetan, Hui and other diet culture in Chengdu, and indicate the amalgamation of food culture of different nationalities, different sub-ethnic groups in Chengdu is the inevitable result of food cultural exchanges.The third chapter "Analysis on Food Cultural Exchanges and Changes of Western Sichuan Nationalities" mostly discusses the social functions of food culture, analyses the diet cultural exchange elements in methods and theories of ethnology, anthropology.Chapterâ…£"The Practical Value of Traditional National Food Culture", which focuses on how to protect and develop traditional national food culture under the background of the rapid development of society and economy in the modern times. Especially, we must develop and protect our traditional food culture combining with innovation, using tourism, film and media industry, book publishing industry, and using the developmental opportunities of non-material cultural heritage.Finally, the conclusion indicates that food cultural exchanges and development of Western Sichuan nationalities is a long historical development process and is an important part of national cultural exchanges and development in Western Sichuan. It can't be neglected not only it plays an important role for the progress of minorities, is an important contribution to the formation of Sichuan food culture, but also it contributes to the development of Chinese catering culture, it has made an important contribution to the formation of a culture of diversity and unity of the Chinese nation.