Cultural Resilience And Social Adaptation Of Mountain Peoples

Marriage and family are the most fundamental structure of human society and a key joint to ensure the succession of future generations.This is concurrently a field for modern countries to maintain and foster their ethnic culture.Therefore,it contains organizational and cultural values.This thesis compares the marriage and family life of the Miao people in Vietnam and China.On the other hand,the thesis discusses marriage and family in two proliferating relations of humanity,which are kinship and marriage relations.Marriage and family are also a mutually constructive relationship on a higher level to the economy,society and each country.Not only does it reflect the socio-economic conditions and the development along with it,but it also,through the forms of marriage,birth,old age,sickness,death,and religious activities,reflects the influential relationship with the economy,society and national policies.Accordingly,the thesis suggests the following primary hypotheses:the marriage and family organization system,beliefs,customs and related cultural values of nations and ethnic groups in the world are all not only flexible and resilient to adapt to the actual conditions,but also valuable and resistant to pressure.Previous researchers studied the diverse differences of marriage and family of the Miao people in the flexible adaption distributed in different countries.The latter researchers have made great contribution to the determination of perceived value,which enables them to maintain widespread cultural awareness and familiarity of the Miao people.In order to further understand this issue,the thesis describes the flexible external adaptive mechanism of marriage and family to show“the social visibility" and describes other contents of the resilient mechanism to represent "the cultural invisibility".Thus,this thesis draws a new innovative conclusion:people from all ethnic groups in the world can become citizens of their home countries through their social adaptation and their flexibility to preserve their cultural diversity and maintain their national identity.To verify the above theory,the thesis selected two villages of the Miao people in Vietnam and China to conduct surveys on their marriage and family life,in order to make an ethnographic summary of the two villages and the lives of their people based on observed data and in-depth interviews,to represent and interpret their social resilience and maintain their cultural values.On that basis,this thesis also,through a study comparing the ethnic policies of Vietnamese and Chinese governments,illustrates how the Miao people from both countries adapt to the socio-economic conditions and their experience in maintaining the traditional culture in their home country.The thesis concludes that:the traditions of mountainous ethnic groups and modern countries have the ability to change in accordance with the times and the need for compatible engagement with diverse identities through cultural and social re-creation.Therefore,the government,the orthodox society and the ethnic minorities in the border areas all have to respect and tolerate each other,not be self-interested and unilateral."Compatibility leads to independence and division leaves both wounded".It is not only a political and social principle worthy of being supported,but it is also an indestructible cultural ecology principle.This thesis consists of three parts:introduction,major contents and conclusion.Chapter 1:Introduction.This chapter explains the reasons for choosing the topic;the significance of the study about mountainous ethnic groups;in accordance with the collected documents,this chapter presents the research meaning of the topic and research approach;explains the hypotheses and theories,the scope of arguments and the definition of crucial terminologies of the thesis.Chapter 2:Overview of the situation of the Miao people in Vietnam and China.In reference to the prior documents and research results,this chapter describes the social history,the worldview and the daily life of the Miao people in Vietnam and China,including the population distribution and ramifications of the Miao people,to indicate that the Miao people in both countries have the same ethnic origin,meanwhile,the Miao people in Bac Ha village,Lao Cai and those in Dawan village,Weixin County,Zhaotong City,Yunnan Province,China are of the same ramification of the Miao ethnic group.This chapter also presents the general "archetype" of ecology,livelihood,social organizations,language,religion,marriage and family,and the life of the Miao people in Vietnam and China in order to provide a cultural and historical foundation for the analysis and interpretation of the comparison of the Miao people's marriage and family life.Chapter 3 and chapter 4:regarding the ethnographic materials in 2 villages of the Miao people in the two countries,these chapters describe the livelihoods,society,settlement and development history of the Miao people in two villages of Vietnam and China(including the period of land reform,cooperatives,opening-up...important events).The main point of these two chapters revolves around the principles of marriage and family pattern,including kinship relation and the Miao people's "rationality" in their daily life.These two chapters are presented separately to show the different experiences of the Miao community in Vietnam and China and the reasons for these current differences.Both chapters use examples of the Miao people interacting with current national policies and regulations,with local authorities and other ethnic groups around them,to demonstrate that they persistently cope with socio-economic challenges and strive to preserve their traditional culture.These two chapters are presented in linear order,but they have to be structurally parallel.Chapter 5:The analysis and comparison of the Miao people's marriage and family in Vietnam and China.This chapter uses the comparative method to indicate the similarities and differences in the marriage of the Miao people in Vietnam and China,and the causes of such similarities and differences,to specify the social adaptability and cultural flexibility in marriage and family of the Miao people in the two countries.To describe the political environment of the two countries,this thesis also presents the legal regulations,new and complete preferential policies in ethnic policies of Vietnam and China in different periods to show that although the conditions of the two countries are different,they share the same political views and international context,hence they still maintain the national unity and solidarity effectively.The unification of a country proves the general prosperity of the country and its people.Chapter 6:Conclusion.This chapter is based on the structure of the previous chapters,especially the lives of the Miao communities in two countries,as well as the analysis and comparison of ethnic conditions in the two countries,thereby confirming the practical relation in the marriage and family life of the Miao people in the two countries,completely reflecting the traditional cultural concepts and modern national political economy,along with the global human needs,the inheritance of family is vertical,meanwhile culture values,and marriages are horizontally connected.Human development is undoubtedly associated with the assistance and cooperation of kinship and marriage relations.This is an inseparable association of modern national politics and society and traditional culture.The ethnic policies of Vietnam and China and the real life of the Miao people in mountainous areas embody the functional structure principles of a community and the future of humanity.