Cultural Difference And Aesthetic Distance

The Hani nationality has a long history, full of rich culture. The ethnic minority of Hani is one of the main ethnic groups in Yunnan Province, mainly inhabiting in the Honghe Hani&Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yuxi area, Puer as well as Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous prefecture. The mushroom house, Hani’s traditional architecture, manifests its own aesthetic value and cultural charm. Since the practice of the reform and opening-up policy, the tourism has increased rapidly. Therefore, the ethnic village tourism activities has become a new trend, aiming to experience the distinctive cultures, to pursue simplicity and pureness, to meet the psychological motive of seeking "novelty, difference, happiness, and knowledge". The Mushroom House, as the building unknown to people, naturally attracts the visits of more people.The previous researches on Hani people mainly concentrate on the Hani’s origin, philosophy and religion, language&literature&art, folklore, and culture. Besides, there are also studies on the Mushroom House, including the architectural style, the building construction, and residential patterns. And some suggestions were put forward in terms of the development and protection of the Mushroom House. This thesis takes the Mushroom House in Qingkou village Yuanyang County Yunnan Province as an example, attempting to explore the views on the Mushroom House from local villagers and tourists, based on actual field survey of the Qingkou village.Through the survey, it found that visitors had the aesthetic sense of the Mushroom House while the villagers did not. And villagers want to destroy the old house, but the governments want to protect the Mushroom House. This thesis attempts to the reasons why villagers and others have different aesthetic feelings on the Mushroom House based on the theory of Bullough’s "psychological distance". Since "psychological distance" was put forward, widespread discussions have been generated. However, those discussions are in the homogeneous culture. In other words, the aesthetic subject must psychologically keep a certain distance from the object in order to produce the aesthetic effects. The author of this thesis will explore the relationship between the cultural differences and the aesthetic distance and the influences of the cultural differences on the aesthetic distance in heterogeneous culture.