The Voluntary Adoption Of Floating Ethnicity:Presentation Of Urban Ethnicity In Shanghai

Chinese society had historically experienced several national integrations. Till nowadays, minority people scattered around modern metropolis have almost nothing different from Han on their clothing, language, diet and even religion, since they have lived together with Han people (or other minority people) for a long time. After the new national policy was unveiled in1980s, these scattered minorities, based on their community, began to regularly participate in national conference, launch national activities and learn national policy, and also began to learn and show their own national culture and customs. Perhaps because of the unique charm of minority culture or the national policy’ preference on minority culture, some Han people began to be interested in ethnic culture. There are also some Han who have special feelings on the minority culture. These people gather together for minority culture, to form regular social groups performing ethnic culture in modern cities. This kind of phenomenon appears to be romantic and exotic in multicultural metropolis.So, does these minorities living in the city still carry ethnicity? To explore this question, the author will choose the Banjin culture studio, which was established for a Manchu female writer by government in West Nanjing road, the Jing’an District, Shanghai, as an example, trying to analyze whether the formation of the groups centering around the studio still follow primordial, instrumentalist? At the same time, the author will explore their ethnicity presentation during frequent inter-ethnic communication.And how did we understand their ethnicity?Based on reflection for questions above, the author’s ideas are as follow: Among the main part of the thesis, the writer will firstly analyze the process of the studio’s runner Ms.B’s rebuilt of her Manchu identity in order to be recognized by the community. Then, the author will try to explore the ethnicity of the dance group of Banjin culture studio. The members of dance group had been in the ethnic region during culture revolution, and now they perform ethnic dance in the studio. According to Erwing Goffman’s "drama theory ", their ethnicity is variable:in the "front stage" as minority and in the "back stage" as Han. At last, the writer will try to explore the instrumental application of national symbols in modern city, through four community activities co-held by the studio and other social organizations.Based on the above, the thesis finally will reach a conclusion that the formation of urban ethnicity presentation space is based on the national symbols’ instrumental applications. At the same time, favorably replicating the national symbol will benefit the remodeling of urban ethnic identity which is also a kind of true representation. Furthermore, the ethnicity presentation in this interactive space is a kind of ethnic identity based on individual.