A Study Of The Culture Adaptability Of Cedar Plant Along Qingshui River

Qingshui River Basin is located in the transition zone between Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the Xiangxi hills. The climate there is warm and humid and the basin is the typical original evergreen broadleaf forest zonation. Since the Ming Dynasty, the original evergreen broadleaf forest was gradually replaced by cedar plantations in Qingshui River Basin due to increasing and expansion of timber trade. The cedar normally grows on altitude of 1000 meters to 2500 meters boreal forest, but in Qingshui River Basin, the area where cedar grows was gradually moved down from high altitude mountain location to low altitude mountain location. The growth of cedar has not been affected by ecological problems, and it has made Qingshui River Basin the South’s largest cedar plantations. In addition to economic, political and other reasons, the change of the area where cedar grows was also directly related to the Basin’s inhabitants’ use of indigenous knowledge. The frequent timber trade has lead the intersection of different cultures. In order to survive and develop, the local Miao and Dong ethnic groups of people adapted accordingly their way of life, institutional culture and customs. Local farmers acquired a series of local ecological knowledge in the long-term accumulation of practice, and created unique cedar forestation techniques. They restructured a new culture through cultural adaption, and promote their own survival and development. The thesis based on the research of the moving-down location of cedar growth from high altitude mountain areas in Qingshui River Basin to low altitude mountain areas, and tries to explain the adaptive transformation of the environment due to its culture.