The Spread, The Evolvement And The Culture Significances Of The Christian Hymns In The Area Inhabited By The Miao Nationality In The North Of Yunnan Province

As one branch of the Miao nationalities, Da Hua Miao has lived in the mountains of the North of Yunnan province since its migration. Before the liberation, the people made living by primitive farming and hunting for generations. They were almost completely isolated from the outside world after the migration because of the suppression from the feudal dynasts of the past dynasties and the repulsion of the other minority nationalities.Not until the arrival of the western missionaries at the beginning of the 20 century was the life of the Miao people in the North of Yunnan changed. Among the minority nationalities in Yunnan, the Miao nationality was maximally influenced by the Christian culture. At the same time, the Christian culture gradually changed the traditional culture of the Miao nationality in this area in the following 100 years or so. This process is similar to the one that Christianity changed the barbarism in medieval time. As the most important part of Christian culture, the Christian hymns played the significant role in promoting the civilization and education among the Miao people. In the recent two years, I visited the area inhabited by the Miao nationality in the North of Yunnan for several times and carried out much field-work. I intend to interpret this cultural phenomenon by presenting the spread history of the Christian Hymns in this area from the perspective of the western music.As a kind of foreign music cultures, why could the Christian Hymns base themselves upon the Miao nationality in the North of Yunnan and have the considerable influence after overcoming the barriers between different music cultures? What kind of cultural impact had taken place? Compare with the Christian music cultures of other minority nationalities which had already spread earlier, why did the Christian music of the Miao nationality in the North of Yunnan revive and become thriving even in some small villages after the religious activities had been resumed in 1980s?Focusing on the Christian hymns, by presenting the early development history and the process of the spread of the Christianity and the hymns by the foreign missionaries to the area inhabited by the Miao nationality in the North of Yunnan at the beginning of the 20th century, this thesis aims at inquiring into the implied cultural meaning by systematically studying and analyzing the existent "Pollard Script" notation and the reserved hymns of the Miao nationality in various.