Study On Ecology Of Huizhou Culture In Late Qing Dynasty

Cultural ecology analyzes the acculturation and the transformation process in specific naturalenvironment by dint of cultural anthropology. Ecology of Huizhou culture in the Late Qing Dynasty wasoperated well, achieving striking cultural achievements. This paper is intended to observe the changefulLate Qing Dynasty and explore the environment, individuals, clans, and values in the operation ofcultural ecology in the hope of probing into the influence of all factors on the operation of culturalecosystemEcology of Huizhou culture in the Late Qing Dynasty was developed based on the culturalenvironment with large population and little land, where the agriculture only accepted limitedpopulation, and thus, Huizhou people were forced to earn a living through doing business outside. Inorder to guarantee the sustainable development of regional society, clan organization was turned into thecore force of the society. Under the guidance of Neo-Confucianism elites, the core values for ecology ofHuizhou culture were brought into existence based on Chu Hsi’s family rituals with equality of fouroccupations as value orientation and family glories as the pursuit. In the ecosystem of Huizhou culturein Ming and Qing Dynasty, there was an effective interaction among natural environment, Huizhouindividuals, clans, and values, which has achieved the objective of exploiting Huizhou talents,strengthening clans and protecting nature. With the factors influencing each other, cultural ecology withvirtuous cycle was shaped. Ecosystem of Huizhou culture not only maintained a virtuous cycle andachieved a dynamic balance, but also kept a dynamic interaction with cultural ecology of the countryand other regions. All these have furthered the prosperity of the ecology of Huizhou culture in the LateQing Dynasty.Since the Late Qing Dynasty, economic structure, political system and ideology of the countryhave been impacted. Besides, Huizhou has undergone over10years of war chaos, thus resulting in theloss of two-third of total population. Not only has the sharp reduction of population shaken thefoundation of the whole system, but the ecological balance of Huizhou culture has been also broken,because individuals were the basic elements of cultural ecology. Additionally, clans were also exposedto the problems such as instable organizational structure and the weakening of cohesive force andcentripetal force. Besides, the decrease of Confucian scholars and the destruction of cultural symbolshave interrupted hereditary and diversity of cultural ecosystem to varying degrees, which has imposeduncertainty on the change and evolution of cultural ecology.As a result of the fire, havoc, and turmoil caused by war, ecology of Huizhou culture in the LateQing Dynasty faced the distant man-earth relationship. However, influenced by inertia, individuals,organizations and thoughts showed the feature of continuity and hysteresis. Therefore, when choosingmeans of livelihood, a vast majority of adult males were inclined to select business. With regionaleconomy putting focus on the development of agriculture and industry, migrants came to fill in the industrial and agricultural vacancy with the outflow of Huizhou people. As a result, natives andmigrants finally lived together. Therefore, the development of Huizhou livelihood culture in the LateQing Dynasty showed a trend that the subjects were constituted by aborigines and migrants and thecontents were composed of the agriculture and business that were of the same importance. Withlivelihood culture serving as the foundation for the construction of Huizhou cultural ecology, the subjectand content change of livelihood culture presented new requirements for the development of socialorganization and values in cultural ecology.For the ecology of Huizhou culture in Late Qing Dynasty, clans displayed strong vitality. In theshort period after the fight against insurgency, not only were the external symbols of tangible culturerestored, but the internal clan management was reinforced, which was aimed at realizing the harmoniousrelationship in the clan. In respects of value orientation and moral judgment, the clan kept providingguidance for the clan members, and served as the core force in social management. However, Huizhouclan showed an implicit declining trend in the regeneration under the influence of Buddhism thoughtsand new ideas due to the stagnancy of social economy, the weakening of its centripetal force and itsinfluence on the cohesion of clan members, and the awakening of selfish departmentalism amongfemales and farm servants.In the ecology of Huizhou culture in the Late Qing Dynasty, the values experienced minor changes,and besides, the popularized system still existed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Huizhou wasinfluenced by the new trends of national cultural ecology, because Huizhou culture ecosystem has beenbound up with outside world. In national cultural ecology, industry and business increased theirproportion in economic structure and caused the change of national values. Additionally, itsdevelopment trend kept in line with the Huizhou values, which has thus presented diverse approachesfor Huizhou people to realize their value. In the Late Qing Dynasty, the increase of the lectured contentsand the establishment of new schools have diversified the contents of values. With the involvement ofwestern missionaries and the release of newspapers and periodicals, Huizhou people have developed abroader vision toward the world and even the universe, and meanwhile, the new thoughts wereconveniently brought in. Therefore, the inertia of systems, the race of variances, and the game betweennew forces and conservative forces during the decades of Late Qing Dynasty have exercised afar-reaching influence on the future development of ecology of Huizhou culture.