Cultural Inheritance And Social Integration Of Kongbai Silversmiths

Silver jewelry is popular among all ethnics in southwest China,especially among Miao,Dong,Yao,Buyi and Shui ethnics,among which Miao is the most prominent.Miao silver jewelry in southeastern Guizhou province is so prosperous that no other ethnic in the world can match it.There is no doubt that the prosperity of Miao silver jewelry must be the result of various factors,but the role that silversmiths play in this process must be unique.At present,the research on Miao silver jewelry in southeastern of Guizhou and its surrounding areas is popular,but the silversmith who is the creator of Miao silver jewelry,receive little attention in the academic circles.The problems about when and how the Miao silversmith group are originally formed an,how to inherit and develop,the relationship between the silversmith group and its regional social culture are still smattering.Kongbai village of Leishan County,which is located in Miao and Dong ethnic Autonomous Prefecture of southeastern Guizhou,is recognized as the "Miao Silver Craftsman First Village" by the local citizens and surrounding ethnics.As early as 1994,Kongbai village was officially awarded as "Miao Silver Art Town" by Guizhou Provincial Cultural Department.The Kongbai silversmith,which the representative of silversmith group in southeastern Guizhou province,make an important influence on the formation and prosperity of silver culture.It also exerts great influence on the integration and transition of Kongbai.At the same time,the Kongbai silver craftsman who are in the process of silver creation,production and sales,are affected by the silver jewelry.They are also through the beginning of silver culture,feeling the development and prosperity of it.In this research,it is studied on the background,time,inheritance ways and process of Kongbai silversmith,the interactive relationship between silversmith and silver jewelry,the integration between silversmith and regional society from the theoretical perspective of ethnology.The methodologies adopted are participatory observation,individual interviews and historical documents.It is aimed to provide some references and supplements for the study of Miao silver jewelry and the study of silver jewelry in Southwest ethnics of China.Five parts are divided in this paper.A brief introduction about the history,natural and cultural environment and the current situation of Kongbai silversmith group in Kongbai village is stated in the first part.In the second part,the political,economic,social and cultural conditions of the emergence of Kongbai silversmith are separately explained from the perspective of the Miao silver jewelry's source,the source of forging techniques and the tradition of Miao people's decoration fondness through a large amount of literature collection and detailed field investigation.Through the mutual confirmation of literature and field data,the time and background of the emergence of Kongbai silversmith group is clarified.The opinion that the Miao silversmith have a very long history,which some experts hold,is disproved.In the third part,the inheritance and development of the Kongbai silversmith group is analyzed.Besides,the inheritance mode,content and the frustration and predicament encountered in the process of inheritance after the formation Kongbai silversmith group are also stated.In the fourth part,the effect that Kongbai silversmiths have on the creation of silver jewelry and the changing of Miao silver jewelry is presented.The influence that the silver jewelry has on Kongbai silversmith is also shown in this part.Through different effect,the relationship between Kongbai silversmith group and changing of silver jewelry is stated in detail.In the fifth part,the effect that Kongbai silversmith group have on the regional social integration of Kongbai Miao Village is elaborated mainly from professional,consanguineous and geographic aspects.The positive influences that Kongbai silver craftsmen association,family-style silver forging workshop,company and the regional symbol of Kongbai have on the silversmith and the social unity and social integration are also discussed in this part.