Comparative Study On The Imagination Of "Holy Places"under The Lahu "E Sha"Beliefs In China And Myanmar

The belief of"E Sha"is an embodiment of Lahu primitive religion.For Lahu people,this world exists because"E Sha"exists.As a migrating people,"E Sha"belief also affected by such migration,and form a myth about "Look for home by shooting arrow”.In this myth,golden arrow and silver arrow landed abroad,copper arrow landed in China,the territory golden arrow and silver arrow landed become the beautiful homeland in the eyes of Lahu people who are in China.During the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties,mahayana was introduced into the Lahu people,and become a theocratic military force to resist Qing Dynasty after combining with"E Sha"belief.As the theocratic military disintegrates,Lahu people moved further south to other southeast Asian countries.The last leader of theocratic military Zhu A Xia(Third Buddha)stay at Xi Meng county in China,continue to resist.Therefor,for Lahu abroad,the Lahu center is in China,true"E Sha"is in Xi Meng county,it becomes the holy place at the same time.Under the i"E Sha"belief,the imagination of "holy places"of Lahu includes religion and homeland two sides.This study take Laba village and Tenglong village where Lahu people settle as main field sites,focus on the belief,history,economic and political impact;investigated communication and interaction between the two villages and surrounding villages and its people.Expounded the specific performance of the holy place imagination between Lahu in China and Lahu in Myanmar,represented by this two villages.Analyzed the reason about holy place imagination differences.Firstly,it affected by historical memories of migration;secondly,from the perspective of ethnic relations,it is suggested that the marginal status of Lahu is the realistic motivation for deepening the holy place imagination;besides,the social fact of dual unity makes the unity of deification and secularization realized between "E Sha"and the leader,this gives the holy place the dual meaning of home of life and home of faith.The emergence of nation state directly leads to the formation of cross-border ethnic group.The sovereignty of the state takes on an obvious "political-economic" character among Lahu living on both sides of the border,and the state's role as the subject of behavior also makes Lahu belief in"E Sha"once again fuse with the state identity.However,the national identity of "we are all children of E Sha",which has long been formed within Lahu society,can transcend the political boundary line of the nation state and constitute the self-boundary line within the nation.In the context of globalization,similar national self-boundary lines may also contribute to the formation of"symbiotic relations"between nations and countries.