Programs, Events And Process Analysis

The architectural technics of the suspended building passed through oral instruction and memory from generation to generation among Miao people of Miao village in Xijang Qianhu has been entitled one of the first groups of the "National Intangible Cultural Heritage". Afterwards, a series of events occurred in Xijiang which we can call "Heritage Ritual Process". Based on the tracing analyses of the correlatives incidents happened in the village in recent years, this thesis describes the process of popularizing the concept of "Protection of Cultural Heritages" in this minority community and the corresponding influences upon the local ethnic identity of the Miao people. Methods, such as participant observation, profound interview, and original literal documents, have been adopted in the process of investigation and writing.There are six chapters altogether. First chapter is about reasons for topic-selecting, which includes the review of the contemporary theories of ethnic identity and cultural heritage. Furthermore, it indicates the elaborating frame of the whole paper: by invoking the discourse study of Michel Foucault as one of the aspects under the analytic strategy of the "process-and-event analysis", the influence upon the ethnic identity in minority communities caused by the national promotion of the "Heritage Ritual Process" has been discussed. The second part interprets Qianhu Miao village from the angel of cultural heritage view. The culture of Miao people in Xijiang has been roughly described from different aspects, such as history, village environment, architecture, dressing and embroidering art, festivals, silver decoration arts and drinking custom, etc.Paper devoted to the third part specially describes suspended building in Xijiang Qianhu Miao village and the relating cultural components of Miao people which were directly shown on the surface of construction or implied in the forms of construction. This part also provides an independent section analyzing the ceremony of "putting the beam" in the construction of suspended building only to show that suspended building as "cultural heritage" can also reflect the unique way of thinking, imagination and cultural awareness of Miao ethnic group as well as outlining the ethnic boundary.The fourth part of the paper focuses on analyzing the activities topped the theme of "the protection of cultural heritage", such as "congregation for competing cosmetic" in Xijiang and also interviewing the villagers about the influence of such activities. Based on this we draw the conclusion that these kinds of activities of the protection of cultural heritage play the role in building the platform for national survival skills. At the same time, they strengthen the symbols of ethnic groups. The attention from the outside world actually makes Miao accelerate in self-observation and carry forward.On the fifth part, we bring in the narration and promotion of the concept of national cultural heritage protection and analysis the role which the national forces and other various forces play in the construction of minority communities.As the epilogue of the paper, the sixth part mainly expounds the significance of power and knowledge-buliding to self-identity. The author believes that the entire "process of cultural heritage" in Xijiang Miao village is actually a process of building knowledge and the national power. Through this process, the national discourse is embedded into the ordinary people's lives profoundly and thoroughly and therefore its own power structure and meaning system has been constructed.