Miao Identities, Indigenism and the

AsianEthnicity,Volume4,Number1,February2003MiaoIdentities,IndigenismandthePoliticsofAppropriationinSouthwestChinaduringtheRepublicanPeriod1CHEUNGSIU-WOO(DivisionofHumanities,TheHongKongUniversityofScienceandTechnology)ThispaperexaminestheconceptionofMiaoidentitiesinthewritingsofthreeindigenousintellectualsduringtheRepublicanperiod.BeingmembersofthreedifferentindigenousgroupswhoareclassifiedasMiaotoday,thesewritersimaginedtheMiaocommunitydifferentlyintermsofgeographicalboundaries,culturalcontents,andhistoricalexperi-ences.Whilethesedifferencesneedtobeexplainedbythewriters’uniquelifehistoriesunfoldedinparticularlocal,nationalandtransnationalcontexts,thesewritersingeneralappropriatedanddomesticatedChineseethniccategoriestoreformulatetheirownconceptionsoftheindigenouscommunityintermsthatstretchedbeyondtheboundaryoftheirownlocalgroups,formingpartoftheirpoliticalactivismtostruggleforofficialrecognitionofethnicminoritystatusintheRepublicanregimes’nation-buildingproject.Thispoliticsofappropriationandrecognitionconstitutessomeindigenousgroups’specialformofactivisminSouthwestChinatostruggleforself-definitionintheprocessofbeingintegratedintothemodernChinesestate.ItshapedthehistoricalconditionsforindigenousresponsestotheCommunistParty’sminoritypolicies,showingthatindigenouspeoplewerenotwaitingpassivelyfortheirhistoricalfateofbeingclassifiedaccordingtosomestate-imposedsupra-localethnicidentitiesaftertheCommunisttakeover.Inthe1930sand1940s,threeintellectualsfromthreeseparateindigenousgroupsinSouthwestChinawroteonnativehistoryandculture,‘imagining’theirethniccommunity2intermsoftheencompassingcategoryof‘Miao’inordertoargueforpoliticalrecogni-tioninRepublicanChina.ShiQigui,aKhoXiongfromwesternHunan,YangHanxian,aAHmaofromthecontiguousregionofnorthwesternGuizhouandnortheasternYunnan,andLiangJuwu,aGeNaofromsoutheasternGuizhou,wereallfromindigenousgroupsthatareclassifiedasMiaotoday,speakingthreedifferentMiaodialects(seeFigure1fortheirdistribution).Inanalysingthesethreeintellectuals’textualproductionintermsoftheirlifehistoryasitunfoldedinregional,nationalandtransnationalpoliticalcontexts,Iwillmaketwoarguments:1ThisessayisbasedonmyfieldresearchinGuizhouduring1991and1992.Iamindebtedtothelocalconsultantsinmyfieldworkforprovidinginformation,andtocolleaguesinGuizhoufortheirgenerousexchangeswithme.MyfieldresearchwasmadepossiblebymyaffiliationwiththeGuizhouInstituteofNationalitiesandagrantfromtheWenner-GrenFoundationforAnthropologicalResearch.Follow-upresearchwassupportedbytheDirectAllocationGrantoftheHongKongUniversityofScienceandTechnology.2BenedictAnderson,ImaginedCommunities:ReflectionsontheOriginandSpreadofNationalism(Verso,LondonandNewYork,1983).ISSN1463-1369print;1469-2953online/03/010085-302003Taylor&FrancisLtdDOI:10.1080/146313602200003946086CheungSiu-wooFigure1.MiaodistributioninChina.1.TheMiaoidentityportrayedintheirwritingsisoneexampleoftheappropriationofChineseethniccategoriesinSouthwestChinabyindigenousintellectualsaspartofindigenouspeoples’struggleforofficialrecognitionoftheirethnicminoritystatusintheRepublicanregime’snation-buildingproject.2.ByredefiningtheMiaoidentityinindigenousethnographyandhistoriography,thesethreeintellectualsreformulatedtheirownconceptionsoftheindigenouscommunityintermswhichstretchedbeyondtheboundaryoftheirownlocalgroups.IntheliteratureonethnicminoritiesinSouthwestChina,ithasbeengenerallyassumedthat,beforetheCommunisttakeoverin1949,theindigenouspeoplewerescatteredsmallgroupswithdiverselanguagesandculture,lackingcommonconsciousnessofasupra-localethnicidentity.InChinesesources,thissituationisusuallydescribedasdafensanxiaojuhe(scatteredingeneral,withsmallconcentrations),anditisoftenexplainedbythephysicalfactoroftheruggedmountainousenvironment,whichimpededcommunication,andthehistoricalfactoroftheencroachmentofHanChineseexpansion.3Inthisview,theimmediatechallengeoftheChineseCommunistParty(CCP)afteritstakeoverwastointegratethesescatteredindigenousgroupsintotheChinesestatetoexerciseitsruleandimplementsocialreforms.TheminorityworkinSouthwestChinathusfocusedonclassifyingthediversesmallgroupsintosomebroadethnic3Forexample,seeXuXinjian,Xinanyanjiulun(OntheStudyoftheSouthwest)(YunnanJiaoyuchubanshe,Kunming,1992),pp.134–41.SouthwestChinaduringtheRepublicanPeriod87categories,suchas‘Yi’,‘Miao’and‘Zhuang’,basedonwhichvariousformsofminorityautonomousareas(shaoshuminzuquyuzizhi)wereestablished.4Inrecentyears,therehavebeencasestudiesonhowindividualgroupscontestedofficialethnicclassificationandstruggledforseparateidentity.5Yetthesecaseslooklikeminorskirmishescomparedwiththegeneralsuccessofthestateprojectofintegration.InKatherinePalmerKaup’srecentbook,CreatingtheZhuang:EthnicPoliticsinChina,shediscussestheCCP’sstrategyforrulingoverthenumerousgeographicallyscatteredandculturallydiverseindigenousgroupsinGuangxithroughethnicintegrationaroundtheZhuangidentity.6Sheexplainsthepolicyofethnicintegration,asitwasexercisedinSouthwestChina,asanimpositionofthemodelthattheCCPhaddevelopedinthenorthaftermovingtheirbasetoYan’aninthem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