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北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
Although in all times and all countries, the nations and ethnic groups are closely
related with politics, the traditional Chinese concept on the ethnic groups actually
managed to be ―culturalized‖ both in concept and in actual conduct. ―Culturalization‖
became an effective method of the ―core ethnic groups‖ in the better developed
Central Plains to gather and merge the ethnic groups around them. The traditional
thought of ethnic distinction mainly as cultural distinction made it possible to
―transform Yi (the minorities) into Xia (the majority)‖, to merge and assimilate the
ethnic groups around the Central Plains of China and finally build up a ―great
Chinese nation with many ethnic groups‖ with the core of Han people in the Central
Plains.
There are about two types of policies on the ethnic affairs in different countries with
more than one ethnic group. The first type ―political oriented‖ policies is called. They
stress the political status and rights of each ethnic group, standardize the ethnic
groups with official recognition of policies and regulations, fix the identity of ethnic
group members by giving them ―ethnic identity‖ officially, and make clear the
boundary between their living regions by setting up autonomous republics or regions.
The consequence is that the ―ethnic awareness‖ of each ethnic group is
strengthened. The second type ―cultural oriented‖ policies is called, which guide the
public to treat the differences (such as in language, religion, etc.) among ethnic
groups as mainly cultural differences, blur the boundaries among ethnic groups, and
weaken people‘s ―ethnic awareness‖ meanwhile strengthen their ―citizen-national
awareness‖. The government manages to ―culturalize‖ the relationship between
ethnic groups by building up a common self-identity in the hearts of all nationals, that
is, making everyone value his identity as a national of the country and consider his
ethnic, racial identity and his religion as only a ―cultural feature‖ which is less
important and inferior to his national identity. When the problem of self-identification
is solved, the conflicts turn into internal conflicts between citizens of the same
country and therefore can be solve as a domestic affair.
China Reading Weekly: How shall we look on the phenomenon that the culture of
specific ethnic groups declined and died out in the merging of ethnic groups?
Ma Rong: With the development of society, some specific cultures are due to die out.
It is beyond the control of human will. For example, the Oroqen people once created
their special ―birch bark culture‖: birch barks were used to make bowls, boxes,
barrels, ships, etc. but with the economic development, these things made out of
birch barks have lost their practical value and are definitely going to disappear. Now
the Oroqen people are making handicrafts of birch bark to sell on the markets. In this
way their birch bark culture could last long. Thus one way to protect the ethnic
culture is to explore their value on modern markets. Besides, experts and scholars
are still needed to study the culture of each ethnic group, keep records of them, save
them in the cultural gene banks, and thus keep a sample for the diverse culture.
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