Change Influence And The Invention Of Tradition

Globalization and modernization accelerating the process of indigenization of ethnic culture has made ethnic culture more diverse and then been controlled by today’s mainstream discourses like marketization, modernization, inheritance, protection and innovation. As a cultural phenomenon and a special kind of ideology, religion has been changed by modernization to different degrees in different countries, regions, ethnic groups and individuals. The change of religious culture has a very close relationship with social culture change. On one hand, the change of religious culture is always explained under the background of social culture change. On the other hand, the revive of religion is seen as a special kind of culture change phenomenon in the period of dramatic change, which is organized consciously or change the cultural traditions. The phenomenon that Pumi in Hexi, Lanping County built the Tibetan Buddhist white pagoda this paper focuses on is discussed under the realistic and theoretical background mentioned above.Four Tibetan Buddhist white pagoda was successively built in some Pumi villages in Hexi, Lanping County since 2010 and there is likely to be more white pagoda built in Hexi, which arouse my interest. I used to consider that the religion of Pumi is diverse and their Tibetan Buddhism belief requires more conformations. Does the appearance of the white pagoda mean that the religious culture of Pumi lived in Hexi has been changed? Could we take this phenomenon in Hexi as a representation of religious culture change under the social culture change? With these questions, I inquired the whole event with the method of ethnological (anthropological) fieldwork research, focusing on problems like the social and cultural changes of Pumi villages in Hexi around the year of 2010, the reasons and process of the White Towers’building there, and local people’s attitudes and their relevant behaviors towards the towers.Through the research, I have drawn some conclusions of the tower-building event and its reasons. Firstly, the local Pumi people invented their traditional culture by means of building the White Towers. Secondly, the policies of reform and opening up and freedom of religious belief have provided a guarantee to the revive of religious.cultures. Thirdly, the self-identity of Pumi provides favorable conditions for the building of the White Towers. Fourthly, the features and transmission of Tibetan Buddhism are also one of the reasons of tower building. In addition, the local people are likely to obtain relevant beneficial treatments through building Tibetan Buddhist towers. Lastly, as the’mediators’of the social and cultural change, the local communities’elites have played important roles in the building process of the White Towers.