Huang Gang Dongzhai Population And Household Economic Research

The relationship between population, resource and their environment is high on the agenda in contemporary Chinese academia. The study in human ecology has grown up in China for the need of both social development and academic research. China has developed with unprecedented speed in the process of industrialization and modernization. It is increasingly shrouded in environmental pollution though. Environmental issues are being in the public view; taking control of the environmental pollution matters a great deal to people’s livelihood. Achieving the harmonious ecology has made a national policy, guiding the future development of China.From a human ecology perspective, the thesis itself is so different than the usual ecological studies. Based on the fieldwork in Huang Gang, an alpine pre-industrial village of Dong people living mainly by farming, we analyze the demographic processes, livelihood and life cycle of the households to gain a cross-section of the human adaptation to ecology. It is expected to explore the human adaptive processes in a "simple" community, also the basic logic of the individual adaptation to its social environment. The framework of the whole research depends on its main theoretical basis——"adaptation" in Julian Steward’s cultural ecology. Some perspectives in Marvin Harris’s cultural materialism are included as well. Besides, the "microscopic demography" of John Caldwell dealing with the community population and the "optimum population theory" of the French demographer Alfred Sauvy are both of great help to my research.Generally, the research on adaptation was to interpret the relationship between human and the environment, the natural, social and historical environment. The environment constrains a community by offering people the opportunities of living and developing. These opportunities and constraints are prerequisite for man to take appropriate adaptive strategies. Through human agency, man adapts to the environment, and gradually changes the structure that always reshapes the agent. Such dynamic a process never stops. Society in itself would not be stagnant. There are different levels of human adaptation, like individual decision-making, adaptive strategies and processes. It is on this basis that the piece of writing is formed.Being a so-called eco-village, Huang Gang becomes to a large extent an ideal location for field study. Affected by political movements in the beginning of People’s Republic of China and then the market-driven economy since the1980s’, many an ethnic village is modeled on the developed areas culturally and economically. Huang Gang embarked on the transformation at the same time, but the truth is that the small peasant economy still prevails at present, the traditional culture of Dong people relatively intact. We can see it from these three manifestations. First of all, endogamy has existed in Huang Gang for over two hundred years. Demographically, it consists a typical "closed population", therefore, is a perfect sample of the population changing naturally. On the other hand, as many Southern villages of Dong people, it has its own methods of population control. The "family planning policy" has not much to do with its social and cultural tradition. In addition, because of the traditional means of subsistence, rice farming, Huang Gang has achieved in ecology a dynamic homeostasis. Thanks to the traditional methods of population control, its population keeps steady and the large-size farmland in Huang Gang can be able to feed it. In this way, it maintains the balance between man and nature. Under the influence of state policy, the Huang Gang population rises faster than ever before, but it is far from damaging the original ecological relationship. In Huang Gang, it is harmonious between man and nature; the ceremonies and daily activities toward nature both indicate the collective wisdom of the local people. In a word, the Huang Gang people put an emphasis on the balance of nature and the maintenance of environment in their material and cultural practice. It would have important implications for the research in human ecology. It is the adaptive interaction between the individual and community that shapes the wisdom of the local people.The writing is organized along the interaction between the population and household economy. In the article, I firstly give an overview of the Huang Gang’s historical and social situation, that is, the location of Huang Gang, its population distribution, the architectural features, historical facts, the clan, religious life and other social organizations, so as to have a general understanding of the local environment. Its traditional means of subsistence, new economic activities in the background of state policy and market-driven economy, and the life cycle of individuals and households are all discussed ethnographically in the main parts of the paper, also including detailed statistics on the formation of population and its demographic process. Huang Gang’s natural resources, its ecological agriculture, the labor forces, new economies, and the economic migrants are intertwined with the important life events of individuals and households, from which we could tell the household economy’s characteristics. The demographic characteristics are also of great significance, especially the fertility with relation to the surrounding environment and the modes of subsistence. Base on the study in Huang Gang, I conclude the dissertation with a review of the "adaptation" theory and a brief analysis of the future of Huang Gang in different aspects.All in all, with the adaptation theory, this dissertation aims to interpret the intrinsic relationship between population, livelihoods, culture and resources in Huang Gang. To understand the Huang Gang culture and society better, my anthropological research also borrow some demographic ideas. I sincerely hope the study would contribute to the Chinese human ecology. May the demographic anthropology be prosperous in the near future?...