Transformation Of Livelihoods And Changes In Ancestor Worshiip

The Zhuang nationality is an ethnic group based on "Na"(land).In the traditional Zhuang society,fields and labor as "innate" economic element play a pivotal role in local economic and social development.The worship of land and ancestors has also become an important part of the Zhuang folk belief.Qingle Village,Wuming,Guangxi is a village inhabited by Zhuang people.Before 1949,the locals lived on rice cultivation and lived the natural economic life of "sunrise and sunset," and worship of land and ancestors was more prevalent.In the 1960 s and 1970 s,due to the profound changes in production methods and social organization forms,the folk beliefs of Zhuang people in Qingle Village fell into a certain level of silence.After 1978,with the implementation of the policy of "dividing fields to households",the right to manage the fields was returned to the villagers,and some traditional folk customs were gradually restored.In the 1990 s,the production of cash crops replaced the cultivation of rice and gradually became a "new growth point" for local economic development.The more diversified career choices under the market economy conditions have also allowed more and more villagers to enter cities and economically developed areas,gradually leaving the fields and the small villages where their ancestors lived.With the huge changes in livelihoods,the ancestor worship custom,which is one of the most important social life contents in the local area,has undergone the transformation of prosperity and decline at the same time.The development of the market economy and the rapid advancement of urbanization have changed the traditional way of livelihood of the Zhuang people in Qingle Village,and also profoundly changed theimagination and expectations of ancestors shaped by livelihood to a certain extent.Under the intertwined appearance of ancestral worship custom "decline" and "rejuvenation",it is the nostalgia of Qingle people who "go out" and the call of the old people residing in the village to return to tradition.The modern economic development and the change of national traditional culture do not seem to be the relationship between "decision" and "determined" in a simple sense,nor is it a relationship of "pushing" or "blocking" with a single trajectory,but more likely to be a dynamic,diverse and dialectical social processes are the result of continuous adjustment and self-balancing made by the people in the face of environmental changes.