PUBLISHED
Selected Ancient Books of Ethnic Minorities of China --Ntilde; First of its kind in China
“Selected Ancient Books of Ethnic
Minorities of China” Edited by Xu Lihua was published on April 8 in Chengdu, capital
city of Sichuan Province. This is China’s first collection of historical literature
of ethnic minorities . The whole book in 16-mo has 100 volumes. Collected in the
book are ancient literature about philosophies, religions, military affairs, economies,
cultures, languages, literary works, arts, history and geography, customs and
conventions, astronomy and medicine of ethnic minorities in China. Historical
literature, which covers all aspects of life of ChinaÕs minorities, is
indispensable in studying the history, culture and sociology of minorities and
the history of the country as a whole. It occupies an extremely important position
in China’s academic studies.
There were many
voluminous series and books in Chinese history, such as “Si Ku “uan Shu”(complete
library in the Four Branches of Literature), “Gu Jin Cong Shu Ji Cheng” (Collection
of Ancient and Present-Day Book Series), “Si Bu Bei Yao” (336 titles of essential
ancient book series), “Wan You Wen Ku” (A Complete Library), “Xiao Fang Hu Zai
Yu Di Cong Chao” (A collection of 1,400 titles of books on geography), “The Twenty-Five
Histories”, “Tai Ping Yu Lan” (A collection of 1,000 volumes of reference books
for the reading by Emperor Tai Zong of the Song and “Ce Fu Yuan Gui” (A collection
of 1,000 volumes of reference books, mainly about historical events) only to mention
a few. But little such books are devoted to ethnic minorities. The new publication
has filled in this historically regrettable gap.
Commenting
on the book, Mr. Ren Jiyu, Curator of the State Library, said: It might have been
a very common book that would have caught not much attention 200 years ago. But
today, it looks very precious ..... The collection and sorting out and publishing
of ancient books about China’s minorities concern the preservation and development
of their cultures. There should be no slack off. A slightest negligence would
cause irreparable losses. The compilation and publication of the Collection of
Ancient Books of Ethnic Minorities of China” is the fruit of strenuous efforts
to rescue and preserve the historical literatures of the ethnic minorities and
carry forward the fine traditional culture. This is yet another major achievement
in the area of ethnic cultures since the country introduced reform and opening
up policy. The book will not only provide a rich resource for studying minorities
in China but also promote the further development and prosperity in such studies.”
The “Collection of Ancient Books of Ethnic Minorities
of China” contains many rare editions, such as “Dian Bian Yao Lu Lue” (Outlined
history of Yunnan), “Gui Zhou Miao Yi Cong Kao” (Book series on the ethnic Miao
in Guizhou), “Qian Zhong Miao Cheng” (Buddhism of the ethnic Miao in Guizhou),
“Da Yuan Sheng Hui Ben Jue Xin Yao Xiu Zheng Ci Di” (Enlightenment of Sheng Hui,
the great fullness), “Family tree of the Manchurian Hada Gua’erjia of the Zhenghong
Banner”, “Family tree of Manchurian Niu Gu Lu of the Xianghuang Banner”,
“Order of hereditary dukes of imperial family and kings”, “Manuscript of travelogue
by Kang Qing”, “Investigation of Prince Da’erghan of Horqin Left Wing Middle Banner”
and “Chronicles of Four Major Towns in Xinjiang”. Many of them are hand-written
copies, duplicated copies, manuscripts and only copies. They are not only of academic
values but also collection values.
All
the historical literatures collected in the book have strictly been screened,
making them most representative of the peculiarities of various ethnic minorities.
The stylistic rules and layout are scientific, with the contents arranged in the
order of regions and politics, economy, geography and historical materials, giving
full consideration to the historical distribution of ethnic minorities and the
characteristics of the ancient literature, thus making it easier to read. All
the materials are scanned and photo-printed, recapturing their originality and
ensuring their reliability and truthfulness. Missing and damaged pages and stained
parts are properly handled. Also kept in the original are notes and commentaries
at the top of a page, flying style signatures, annotation with comments, inserts
of random notes, cover, back cover and fly-over and inserts by collectors. All
these have provided useful experience for collectors, literature studies and proof
readings.
There are many other classics on China’s
minorities. Collected here in the book is only par of the most valuable ones.
More will be added in the future.
“Atlas
of China’s Ethnic Minorities Distribution” published
Edited by Hao Shiyuan, the atlas has been published by the China Map Publishing
House. It is a basic research project of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The cartographers
have exerted themselves to reflect the characteristics of the distribution of
the 55 ethnic minorities by making full use of the completeness, regional features
and colors and symbols, matched with the typical figures representing various
minorities and captions. The information provided is accurate and reliable with
regard to the population distribution, historical origin, environment and resources,
languages and written languages, culture and arts, customs and conventions, religious
beliefs as well as social, political and economic development..
The atlas covers China’s administrative regions, landscapes, distribution
of minorities, table of the distribution of minorities, distribution of ethnic
autonomous regions and the basic conditions charts of the autonomous regions.
It also contains a plain chart of the population data from the 2000 5th national
population census. It may well serve as a good material for knowing the distribution
of the ethnic minorities in China.
The atlas is the first of its kind completed independently
by the Chinese academic circles.
Cai Hua’s
works wins “Gold Medal of French-Speaking Countries”
The book “Society without Fathers and Husband - Maosuo people of ethnic Naxi
in China” (French Edition) by Chinese anthropologist Cai Hua, a research fellow
of Beijing University, won a gold medal of French-Speaking Countries given by
the Academy of France for 2002.
The book is
a doctorate treatise of Cai Hua at the Tenth University of Paris, published by
the French University Press in 1997. It also has an English edition. With the
Maosuo people of ethnic Naxi as the subject of study, the book gives a detailed
account of the ethnography and penetrating analysis of the theory before redefining
the four basic concepts of blood relations, incest and taboos, marriage and family.
Just contrary to what is commonly believed by anthropologists, he points out,
the purpose of marriage does not necessarily lie in ensuring the propagation of
mankind, thus untying the paradox theory on marriage and family put forward by
Claude Levi Strausss half a century ago. It reveals the basic principle of dominating
the social life of mankind - the law of the expulsion of social blood relations
and the principle of desires. He asserts that the real basic structure of blood
relations are the one parent system formed by blood relations and the bi-element
structure made up of blood relations plus marriage relations.
Cai Hua is the first Chinese anthropologist that has won such an honor.
China
Ethnic Minority language character set VCD
The new VCD of the character sets of minority languages of China has been
published.
Developed by the Institute of
Ethnology and Anthropology,chinese
Academy of Social Sciences , the project is part of the language and literature
applying project launched by the National Language Commission for the Tenth Five-Year
Plan period. The character set includes the general description of the written
languages of ethnic minorities of China,character sets (dictionaries) of various
minorities , and samples of the literatures of various languages.
The publication has given a comprehensive and systematic description of
the written languages used and spread by various minorities, the languages created
and once used by them, including phonetic transcriptions or non-phonetic transcriptions
(picture writing, pictograph etc.), characteristics, use and writing rules of
each written language.
This is the first VCD
version on the subject. The birth of such VCD has laid a solid foundation for
Chinese minority languages codes to be incorporated into ISO10646.
TIBETOLOGY
“Donggar Dictionary
of Tibetology”
The dictionary was published toward the end of 2002 by the China Tibetology
Press. It was a major project for the Ninth Five-Year Plan period undertaken by
the China Tibetology Research Center.
The author,
Mr. Donggar Lhosang Chilie, is a noted scholar of Tibetology. Before his death,
he served as a professor of the Tibet University,eputy secretary General of the
China Tibetology Research Center, enjoying quite a name in the International Tibetology
circles. He started collecting materials, selecting entries from the 1960s before
it was listed as a major project of the China Tibetology Research Center. Thanks
to the support from all quarters, he completed the works that has 14,000 entries,
running up to 2.8 million words.
The entries
cover historical figures and events of Tibet, relations between the Central government
of various dynasties and local government of Tibet, ancient laws of Tibet, local
government organizations and documents of the original Tibet, historical sites
and major temples and monasteries in the Tibet Autonomous Region, customs and
conventions of Tibetans, and ABC of Tibetology.
This
is yet another encyclopedia book on Tibetology following the “Tibetan-Chinese
Dictionary” compiled by Zhang Yisun, a top-end works in the studies of Tibetology
in the 20th century.
“Modern Chinese
Tibetology Book Series”
Edited by Lhaba Pingcuo, Secretary General of the China Tibetology Research
Center, the book was published by the China Tibetology Press. Collected in the
library are academic treatises by Chinese Tibetologists (including those in Hong
Kong, Macao and Taiwan), literature about Tibetology of major values (including
historical documents collected by modern scholars), famous academic works that
have been translated into Chinese and doctorate treatises on Tibet studies.
The academic theses are of high standards. The publishing
of these theses is for the purpose of conducting exchanges with Tibetologists
in the other parts of the world so as to promote the studies of Chinese Tibetology.
The first of the series includes “On the Study of Tibetan
Language” by Hu Tan, “Study of Tibetan Tribes” edited by Chen Qingying, ‘Selected
Articles on the Study of Tibetology by Zhu “iyuan”,’Study of Legal Codes of the
Qing Dynasty for the Governance of Tibet” by Zhang Yuxin, “History of the Organizations
Governing Border Areas of China” by Chao Yuntian, ‘Study of Tibetan Literature”
by Tong Jinhua. All these demonstrate the achievements in the studies of Tibet
since the founding of New China.
Third
Workshop on the Teaching of Tibetology and Tibetan Language at Ethnic Colleges
The Third Workshop on the Teaching of Tibetology and Tibetan Language at ethnic
colleges was held from April 1-3 at the Central Ethnic University in Beijing. Participants discussed in
depth the healthy development of the teaching of Tibetology and the Tibetan language
in the 21st century.
With the Òestablishment
of main regular curriculum of the Tibetan languageÓ as the theme, the workshop
reviewed and summed up achievements and experience in the teaching of the Tibetan
language and in scientific research and pinpointed the shortcomings at present.
In line with the realities of the research and teaching of Tibetology, the workshop
worked out a curriculum system that reflects the original contents of Tibetology
and meets the demand for modernization in the Tibetan language region.
Traditional
Tibetan Drugs Help Fight SARS
When a SARS epidemic was spreading in Beijing earlier this year, a traditional
Tibetan drug proved effective in helping people protect themselves from the highly
infectious, sometimes fatal, disease.
The bagged
drug is called Jiuwei Fangwen San, or "powder of nine medicinal herbs for
warding off seasonal febrile diseases". By smelling the drug in a small bag
in the morning and carrying the bag the rest of the day, a person will be free
from attack by the disease caused by as a previously unknown cronavirus.
Khroru Tsenam, president of the Lhasa-based Tibet Hospital
of Traditional Tibetan Medicine and honorary president of the Beijing Hospital
of Traditional Tibetan Medicine, was charged with heading a group of experts to
search for methods to help fight SARS from among the voluminous classics of traditional
Tibetan medicine. The government earmarked a fund of 500,000 yuan special for
their project.
Not long after the group was
given the task, Khroru Tsenam, a master of traditional Tibetan medicine, found
that the symptoms of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, coincide with
the description provided in an eighth century Tibetan medical record for a disease
called "luo ca". The "luo ca" disease never occurred in areas
inhabited by ancient Tibetans. Despite that, the record, entitled Ganlu Daping
or the Great Vase of Sweet Dew, provides a description of the disease, along with
its cause and the method of treatment. Basing themselves on this and other findings,
the group proposed that the traditional drug Jiuwei Fangwen San be used to protect
people from SARS.
According to the Great Vase
of Sweet Dew, the pathogenic elements of the febrile disease luo ca contaminate
the air, and the bagged Jiuwei Fangwen San carried by a person serves as a protective
shield as it volatizes. For this reason, Khroru Tsenam and his colleagues believe
that it is especially good for use on doctors and nurses with close contact with
SARS patients.
Doctors of traditional
Tibetan medicine saved the life of a SARS patient hospitalized at the Dongzhimen
Hospital in Beijing, who was once in critical conditions. On learning the success,
Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Wu Yi ordered, in written instructions, work
to spread the use of traditional Tibetan drugs for prevention and treatment of
SARS.
On their instructions, the Beijing Hospital
of Traditional Tibetan Medicine had, by the end of May, held 11 state-level meetings
on use of Tibet's traditional methods to help fight the SARS epidemic.
WHITE
PAPER
“History and
Development of Xinjiang”
The Information Office of the State Council published a white paper on the
“History and Development of Xinjiang” on May 26. This is the first white paper
of the Chinese government on Xinjiang. Running up to about 22,000 Chinese characters,
the paper is divided into 12 parts: (1) Foreword; (2) Xinjiang has been a multi-ethnic
area since ancient times; (3) Co-existence and spread of multiple religions in
Xinjiang; (4) Governance of Xinjiang by the central government of all dynasties;
(5) The origin of the East Turkistan issue; (6) Economic development in Xinjiang
since the founding of New China; (7) Progress of education, science and technology,
culture and health in Xinjiang; (8) Improvement of the living standards and quality
of the people in Xinjiang; (9) Ethnic equality
and unity and freedom of religious belief; (10) Establishment, development and
functions of the Production and Construction Corps; (11) State support to Xinjiang;
(12) Concluding remarks.
FIELD
SURVEY
Comparative study of nomadic economy, culture and ecology of
border areas Between China and Mongolia
The project “Comparative study of nomadic
economy, culture and ecology of border areas
between China and Mongolia” has been completed recently.
Organized jointly by the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences and the Society Study of International Nomadic culture
of the Mongolian Academy, a ten-member expedition from both nations carried out
a field work in the Eastern Province of Mongolia and eight Sumus of the Hulun
Buir League of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China from June 10 to
July 14, 2002. The expedition traveled 6,100 kilometers by air and by land, focusing
their attention on the conditions and development of the livestock breeding economies
of the two countries, basic conditions of the life of herdsmen’s families, the
development of culture and education, the Sino-Mongolian trading relations in
the context of globalization and the evolution of the nomadic style of living.
The expedition ended their journey with two investigation reports. One is “Report
on the Comparative Study of the Nomadic Economies, Cultures and Ecologies of the
Mongolia and the People’s Republic of China”. The other is “Report on the Evolution
of the Nomadic Economy and Culture in the Xin Barag Left Banner”.
EXCHANGE
Dongba culture
of Ethnic Naxi finds its way into
America
An exhibition of the NaxiÕs culture and arts and its transformation
and development is scheduled for January 10-August 30, 2003 in Washington, Oregon
and Portland of the United States of America.
Organized by the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, the Yunnan Ethnic Museum
of China and the Whiteman Institute of the United States, the exhibition will
display the ceremony of offering sacrifices to ancestors characteristic of the
traditional Dongba Religion of Ethnic Naxi , the pictograph of Dongba, ritual
instruments of Dongba Religion, classics of Dongba and modern paintings by contemporary
Dongba painters.
The theme of the exhibition is ÒIcon and Transformation: (Re) Imagings
in Dongba ArtÓ. Exhibits include both literature and objects. The exhibition
will also feature lectures on Naxi culture and arts and demonstration of ceremony
of offering sacrifices to ancestors. All these are designed to present Naxi culture
and arts in both abstract and specific perspectives and from history to the present
day and from plain angle to three-dimensional perspective. This is another exhibition
of Dongba culture in other countries following that held in Zurich of Switzerland.
Dancing With Wolves
With Wolves
The wolf, the totem of the ancestors of the Mongolian people, is regarded
as one of the most intelligent animals bestowed on this earth by Heaven. Even
today, the Mongolian people do not resent wolves killing their livestock. They think it's God's decree.
If wolves become a great threat,
some are killed to drive the others away, and the orphan cubs are adopted
by the Mongolians. But few of the cubs can be tamed. The Ewenki people, neighbors of the Mongolians, regard wolves
as dogs from Heaven, pets of the gods, so they are careful not to hurt them.
A young man named Dulaer Heping, who lives in Bayantuohai Town, Ewenki Banner,
in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in June 1998 saved two wolf cubs
from starvation. He took them home with him, and fed them milk. The little wolves
revived under Dulaer's care. Wolves are very picky about their food, but Dulaer
spared no pains to buy good meat to feed them. Day by day, the wolves grew sturdier.
Their innocent manner disappeared gradually, and their natural instincts
prevailed-suspicious eyes, fierce glances, hiding from strangers, afraid of the
sunlight and roaming at night.
As the cubs matured, they began to reject Dulaer. One of them bit his hand
when he went to feed it. Dulaer's friends tried to persuade him to kill the young
wolves, but he believed that his heart could move the wolves' hearts. He spent
a lot of time with them, eating with them, caressing them, letting them run on
the grassland, and training them to pull a sled. He also made them and his dogs
good friends.
The two wolves and Dulaer have now established a profound friendship. When
Dulaer is away from home, the wolves howl in sorrow.
Dulaer Heping has long campaigned for the protection of wolves. He was delighted
when the Chinese government issued a regulation putting wolves on the nation's
protected species list a few years ago. Now, he is training the two wolves to
survive in their natural habitat, and will soon release them into the wild, where
they belong.
