A Research On The Acculturation Of Hinterland Tibetan College Students

Acculturation, an important research area in cross-cultural psychology, refers to the process when various cultural communities get contact and due to the cultural differences the culture individuals get changes in psychological and behavioral levels, reflecting how the individuals coordinate the relationship between his own culture and other cultures. In China, with 56 ethnic nationalities, the adaptation level will directly affect the individual’s physical and mental health and the degree of integration and contribute to the successful construction of the socialist harmonious society.The Tibetan college students go to the economically more developed hinterland from the Tibetan plateau, from the farming and pasturing dominated area to the industry and service industry dominated hinterland cities, from the Tibetan autonomous region with strong Tibetan culture atmosphere to the area mainly composed of ethnic Han group, this kind of phenomenon is called cultural acculturation or culture change. In the brand new surroundings, except for the totally different natural environment, another great challenge for the Tibetan college students is from the changes in society, language and life style etc. Tibetan college students’ situation in coping the cultural conflicts and the culture adaptation have a significant impact in their study in the mainland.In this paper, with the Tibetan college students from the Tibet Autonomous Region as the research object, the current situation of Tibetan college students’ acculturation in the hinterland, reasons and countermeasures are researched and analyzed. Based on theories of acculturation, with the research methods of questionnaire and interviews, Tibetan college students’ cross-cultural learning and life in the hinterland are surveyed and described in detail. The study found that the region and gender affect the acculturation, students’ hometown and their university location influence their acculturation level, different phases are shown in the process. The countermeasures of improving the Tibetan college students’ acculturation level in the hinterland are given from individual, university and government perspective respectively.