This might be the largest reservoir-flooded area in the world. China’s Three Gorges project is the largest hydropower project in the world to date. How much protection will be exercised over the relics to be submerged? Reliable information indicates that the Chinese Government has spent hundreds of millions of yuan in solving this problem.
   But now what we care about are these issues: Minority ethnic groups in this area will be flooded. Has their way of life been given attention? Will their folk customs and relics be protected? The protection of the traditional culture of minorities will reflect the care and concern of the Chinese Government over the culture of ethnic groups.
   The Cultural Relics Protection Planning and Design Group of the Three Gorges Project Area has designed the research projects that involve multidisciplinary collaboration, including anthropology. Projects related to anthropology have been properly included in the plan of ethnic folk customs and relics protection. This is the first plan in China designed to protect the ethnic folk customs and relics for a large engineering project.
   Professor Zhuang Kongshao, who returned from a post-doctoral research in the University of Washington at Seattle in the United States, was in charge of the project during 1995 to 1998, and is working on some other applied research projects now, said: “Anthropologists have been really involved in the emergency research over the cultural heritage at the Three Gorges of Yangtze River... This represents an important effort of the Chinese anthropologists and cultural relics protection planners in publicizing the latest knowledge concerning the protection of the world cultural heritage. ”
   China’s Three Gorges project has attracted attention of the world. The project will last 18 years, and the emigration will be going on for 20 years. In 2003, the first batch of generation units of the power station will start generating power. By that time, the water level of the reservoir will go up to 135 meters. Thirteen cities or counties will be submerged completely or partly. When the whole project is completed in 2009, the water level will rise up to 175 meters. Twenty-two cities and counties (districts) will be under water. More than 1 million people need to be relocated.
   In the reservoir area, the sites of cultural relics submerged could be traced back to 10,000 to 100,000 years ago. Ba People (known as Ba’ren), who lived in this area, was an ancient ethnic group found in the Chinese history. The archeological remains dated since the Qin Dynasty (200 B.C.), such as cliff tombs and hanging coffins, indicated the distinctive characteristics of Ba People’s culture. The ethnic people of Tujia, who live in the Three Gorges area, have regarded Ba People as their ancestors. Their assumption was based on the long history, historical records and cultural remains of Ba People. What is intriguing is the mystery concerning ancient ethnic groups including Ba People as well as their relationship with the local ethnic people living in the Three Gorges area today.
   Anthropologists are involved in the protection of ethnic customs and relics in the Three Gorges area
   Many of the world’s major projects have involved the scholars of humanities and social sciences to handle such issues as the protection of cultural relics, emigration and community reconstruction. Their role has been regarded as essential, not alternative. This indicates an improved system of human civilization construction. In China, it also represents a progress in knowledge comprehension.
   The Cultural Relics Protection Planning and Design Group of the Three Gorges Project Area designed the research projects that require multidisciplinary collaboration, including anthropology. The anthropology-related projects are properly included in the plan for the protection of folk customs and relics protection.  This is the first plan in China designed to protect the ethnic folk customs and relics for a large engineering project. It also represents an important effort of the Chinese anthropologists and cultural relics protection planners in publicizing the latest knowledge concerning the protection of the world cultural heritage.
   The ethnic cultural relics are the traditional folk articles and various cultural resources of the people who live in a cultural and geographical area. They include tangible relics, such as civilian dwellings, paintings, garments, artwork and man-made utensils, and intangible relics, such as performance and music. Folk relics also refer to the routine custom activities and the materials and techniques used. Although such relics are still being used and the customs performed nowadays, they carry the traces ofcultural and technical modification and continuation. They serve as the representatives of the collective .

When anthropology is involved in social changes

wisdom of local ethnic groups and the materialized and non-materialized transfer of culture, as well as the important evidence and illustration of the cultural relationship between the ancient and the present. Therefore, what fall into the category of cultural relics are not only the underground relics in the traditional sense and ancient buildings. The on-the-ground folk relics, which we somewhat ignored before, also constitute an important part of the cultural heritage of mankind.
   Therefore, in addition to the protective excavations, reinforcement, relocation and collection work on the on- and under-ground relics, we have conducted emergency recordings and research over the folk lives of major communities and ethnic groups - particularly the Tujia minority -- in the area as well as their change of dwelling places.  Our projects have been going on in the process of carrying out the plan to protect the ethnic and folk relics. At the same time, a collaborative research project, coordinated by anthropologies, has emerged under this plan. So anthropologies have really got involved in the emergency research on the cultural heritage of the Three Gorges.
   The ethnic and folk relics in the Three Gorges and their classification and protection
   The current administrative division has not confined the protective survey and collection work over the folkway and ethnic relics. The main consideration is given to:  ecological environment - regional technical emergence - human-area  relationship that reflects community’s collective wisdom; sense of ethnic groups of different historical periods, recognition of ethnic groups and the relationship shaping the regional folk tradition; formation of the dwelling communities and the form of clans, families and population as well as the process of emigration and emigration in historical periods; and the specific demonstration of macro and micro traditions in the gorges area.
   The Three Gorges and its surrounding areas are the main dwelling places and cradle of China’s Tujia ethnic group. The folkways of Tujia can still be found in Shizhu and Badong counties today. Along the branches of the Yangtze River, one can find the details of Tujia’s life: pole-supported houses, dustpan-shaped houses, courtyard houses and three-room houses built on the slope; traditional workshops for pottery making, cloth weaving and dying, milling, oil squeezing and wine brewing; and boats and back baskets, which are inevitable tools for transportation. One can also find the unique tools for labor, which were made for farming on the mountains. The traditional farming tools have been passed down and still in use. The inclination of the sticks and the blades of hoes and sickles are completely different from that of the tools in other areas. The living and dining habits have blended both southern and northern characteristics. Hunting was one of the traditional ways of production for mountaineers, and surround hunting was particularly favored. Separate households, using various types of fishing tools, did fishing on their own.
   In Badong County inhabited by the Tujia people, the project team found nearly 10 workshops. The traditional pottery-making there resembles the fast-wheel and clay dough techniques in the New Stone Age 5,000 years ago. It aroused our interest in this long-lasting traditional culture. In the well-noted Dacheng Town, one can see the horizontal bellows for iron forgery.  The craftsmen can use even strength on pushing and pulling, which yields double work. Actually, this type of bellows was in practical use as early as in the Song Dynasty. Earl Gorge Macartney, who headed the British envoys, brought home a sample of these bellows in September 1794 and then spread it in the country. The fan engines invented in UK later provided technical guarantee for the whole iron and steel industry in Europe during the Industrial Revolution. The ancient folkway techniques are the outcome of the collective wisdom of local people, whose great value is reflected in the fact that it has been translated into the motive force of modernization.
   In everyday-life ceremonies, local people pay great attention to wedding and funeral ceremonies. “Tearful wedding”is popular among the Tujia people. The bridegroom’s family who come to take the bride should first pay respect to Earth King Temple (also called Xiangwang Temple). The bride’s family pretends to refuse. The wedding articles should be daintily prepared. The bed, wardrobe, clothing, kitchenware and the decoration of the bridal chamber should be arranged according to the old practice. Local people believe funerals should be coupled by “revelry singing”. When a family member dies, the relatives will dance and sing around his or her coffin accompanied by drumming. This is to perform “dancing funeral” (a variation of  “sitting funeral” and “rotating funeral” in the area).  Duangong (Lord Duan, local form of Shaman) is popular in the area. People who die of accidents will have their souls released from suffering by “Tima” who climbs up to the knife ladder. People who die of illness will also invite Taoist priests to hold the ritual. In the remote villages in Zigui county and Badong county, one can still find the utensils used by Taoist priests and Duangong, such as buffalo horn trumpets, gongs, and knife ladders. Tujia people are meticulous in tomb building. The tomb stone carvings are varied in styles and contents. Many of them are good artworks.
   In April 1995, the planning and design group entrusted me to take charge of the planning and investigation of folkways and relics in the submerged area of the Three Gorges area and relocation areas. In May, August and November 1995, the experts from the project group did three-month fieldwork to review the overall situation of the folkways and relics in the reservoir area. They obtained fairly rich materials. The folkways and relics surveyed generally fall into the following aspects:
   (i) The objects and written materials reflecting the social history, political organizations, ethnic relationship of Tujia and other local minorities (including rural grassroots communities);
   (ii) The objects reflecting the regional economic life and economic activities of Tujia and other local minorities (similarities or differences, such as agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery as well as various kinds of handicraft tools).
   (iii) The objects relating to everyday life, such as dwelling houses, garments, food, weddings and funerals, new year and festival celebrations.
   (iv) The materials about the spiritual life, such as religions and believes, weddings and funerals and festival ceremonies.
   (v) The objects and written materials on the cultural and art activities such as music, dance, folk drama (arias or dramas), story-telling, paintings, carvings, craftsmanship (e.g. pottery molding, condense weaving, paper and other local folk skills)
   (vi) Other materials.
   There was no major project in the past in the Three Gorges area. Only in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, a large-scale migration once took place. Compared with other plain areas, the folkways and tradition here have been very much maintained. The Three Gorges project is no doubt having a huge and unprecedented impact over the area. The way of life will lead to the change of economic life, which will then trigger a shock to the traditional material civilization. Of course, the shock to the spiritual life would be even greater. In this sense, the collection and protection of the typical folkways and relics in the reservoir area is not just a matter of material life protection, but a note to the past and present way of life for the future development.
   The recording and preservation of films, television, images and other means
   The imprints of human civilization on the earth that will soon disappear, such as the cultural remains in the Three Gorges area, should be depicted, recorded and studied within a set period of time. We designed our research to focus on the linkage of past and present and the interaction of culture and environment. The serial was shot from multidisciplinary angles  Ñ history, journalism and anthropology - and coupled with commentary. With the help of video images, we aim to probe into the thoughts and behaviors of local people in their pursuit of survival.
   According to modern documentary shooting theory and past experiences, we adopted the research-shooting procedure. The shooting group mainly comprised anthropologists and documentary photographers. It has planned 30 documentaries on folkways and relics, traditional way of life, techniques and local cultures. The documentaries will not merely tell the stories flatly. China’s documentaries on ethnic groups and cultures in the 1950s and 1970s stressed social development. In the past decade, they turned their attention more on the material and spiritual cultures of different ethnic groups. This change has prompted the point of departure of China’s records of traditional culture to integrate with the world’s mainstream.
   The group has shot a documentary entitled: “Water Submerges the Three Gorges” (60 minutes), narrating the life stories in the towns and villages along the Three Gorges before submergence while displaying the process of anthropologists’ selecting the survey items and their fieldwork. Other important documentaries to be shot are: “In Search of the Culture of Ba People at the Three Gorges”, “The Whistles of the Gorges”, “The Song of the White Tiger”,  “Mountain Fields”, “The End of Ancient City” and “Serial of Workshops” (10 parts), “Nuoxi”(a local opera with dance) and “Festivals at the Three Gorges” (8 parts).
    New method and practice: A joint action involving DNA, history, archaeology and anthropology
    We believe that multidisciplinary integration is one of the effective ways to push China’s anthropological studies in the 21st century. The development of some natural sciences such as ecology and genetics are expected to provide a new possibility for cultural studies. Take genetic plasma and DNA code for instance. Can we find out the genetic relationship that links the ancient and modern mankind from the comparative study of ancient and modern culture of local ethnic groups?  Here we tried a new “common dialogue language” -- the demonstration evidence for the comparability obtained from DNA. This experiment indicated the new vitality that the fast-developing genetics in 1990s has injected into the traditional Chinese cultural studies.
    The limit of time made us speed up the process of our new study. We invited molecule biologists to do the emergency sampling and analysis on the site of our fieldwork, which has shown initial results.
    he Three Gorges area had been one of the areas with active human activities in ancient times. Historical records showed that prior to the Han Dynasty, the fairly influential ethnic groups were Ba people, Chu people and Shu people. The most mysterious one should be Ba people. To be specific, who are the descendents of Ba people? Are Tujia people the direct descendents of Ba people? Which ethnic group do the hanging coffins and the tomb on the riverbanks belong to? These are all the questions that have been perplexing historians.
    Starting from 1995, our project group had made several studies on the hanging coffins and the tombs of different historical periods by using historical records, archaeological discoveries and ethnology. We also set the sites of study for the relationship between ancient and modern mankind. For instance, we did DNA analysis over the samples of bones and teeth found in some hanging coffins and tombs excavated at different times while doing DNA analysis over the blood samples taken from the people of some ethnic and surname groups. In this way, the molecule biology has been joined for the first time by anthropology and ethnology Ñ in a common language for “dialogue”. We planned for the DNA collection and test spots for ancient and modern mankind, and invited two doctors from the State Genetic Medical Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences to take part in the study. In March 1997, they succeeded in doing the DNA study over the bones and teeth from the coffins in Wushan County. Their initial report, which was the first in the country, has been completed.
    The anthropological study over the migration from the Three Gorges
    The migration from the Three Gorges could be compared with other migration at home and abroad as a result of major engineering projects.  What we are studying is the way of migration practiced by the Chinese Government and its results. In theory, developmental migration stresses the exploitation of resources and economic development as well as the compensation in living facilities. It focuses on how to effectively use the migration funds to adjust local industrial mix and foster pillar industries. In general, farmers and urban residents to be migrated each take up half of the total people, and different migration policies were adopted for them. Whether the Three Gorges area will take this opportunity of township reconstruction (2 cities, 11 county towns, 25 townships and 89 community towns will be relocated) to push the non-farming process for rural labor and population urbanization is the priority observation point for China’s rural-urban transition design and study. Here, the urban anthropological theory of floating population and rural-urban migration will be touched upon. But the migration process within a time limit to make way for a project is different in its background. It occurs against the macro backdrop of China’s rural-urban transition. At the same time, it is of the irresistible nature for the emigrants. The “voluntary” and “passive” behavior and attitude of the farmer emigrants found in recent studies may be helpful to coming up with an analytical theory for the research of common psychology of emigrants as well as the internal linkage between thoughts and behaviors of local ethnic groups.
    Incidentally, the ancient migrations in the Three Gorges area can still be found in the historical records and consulted among local people. They seem to have nothing to do with today’s migration. But after field studies at the Three Gorges, we can find the linkage between ancient and today’s people’s thought and behaviors. It is a pity that the observation of historical migrations is more focused on the causes and orientation of the move, in addition to their linkage with political and production relations. The migrated groups, families and people are also fascinating things to study.
About the author:
Zhuang Kongshao
    The first Ph.D. in ethnology in China. He is the director of the Institute of Anthropology, Renmin University of China. He was the chief director of the Research and Protection Group for the Three Gorges Cultural Heritage during 1995 to 1998. Currently he is working on some applied studies in the area of Public Health, directing several research programs for China-UK HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project. He also authored “Research on the Form of Patrilineal Communes”, “Educational Anthropology” and “Silver Wings: Social and Cultural Changes in Chinese Local Societies”.
   Translator: Wanghao