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“Little Tibet” with “Little Mecca”: Religion, Ethnicity and Social Change on the Sino-Tibetan Borderland (China)

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“Little Tibet” with “Little Mecca”: Religion, Ethnicity and Social Change on the Sino-Tibetan Borderland (China) “LITTLE TIBET” WITH “LITTLE MECCA”: RELIGION, ETHNICITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE ON THE SINO-TIBETAN BORDERLAND (CHINA) A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Yinong Zhang August 2009 © 2009 Yinong Zhang “LITTLE TIBET” WITH “LITTLE MECCA”: RELIGION, ETHNICITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE ON THE SINO-TIBETAN BORDERLAND (CHINA) Yinong Zhang, Ph. D. Cornell University 2009 This dissertation examines the complexity of religious and ethnic diversity in the context of contemporary China. Based on my two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Taktsang Lhamo (Ch: Langmusi) of southern Gansu province, I investigate the ethnic and religious revival since the Chinese political relaxation in the 1980s in two local communities: one is the salient Tibetan Buddhist revival represented by the rebuilding of the local monastery, the revitalization of religious and folk ceremonies, and the rising attention from the tourists; the other is the almost invisible Islamic revival among the Chinese Muslims (Hui) who have inhabited in this Tibetan land for centuries. Distinctive when compared to their Tibetan counterpart, the most noticeable phenomenon in the local Hui revival is a revitalization of Hui entrepreneurship, which is represented by the dominant Hui restaurants, shops, hotels, and bus lines. As I show in my dissertation both the Tibetan monastic ceremonies and Hui entrepreneurship are the intrinsic part of local ethnoreligious revival. Moreover these seemingly unrelated phenomena are in fact closely related and reflect the modern Chinese nation-building as well as the influences from an increasingly globalized and government directed Chinese market. The Chinese policy change since the 1980s and the transition to the market- oriented economy have made the local ethnic and religious revival possible but also more complicated. Against the backdrop of the transition from a former frontier of two empires to the modern nation state, I show how various contemporary events and historic memories have been uniquely experienced by two local ethnic communities. I then further analyze the political economic basis of this ethnoreligious revival, which demonstrates the dynamics of religion and ethnicity in the cultural complexity of a multi-ethnic nation-state on the one hand, and the role of nation-state and the global consumerism as a new form of civilizing agent and governmentality on the other. Finally, I argue that identifying the process of social production in complex and conflicting phenomena like this unsettles those conventionally defined ethnic, religious, and national boundaries through which I explore the conceptual limits of such theoretical concepts as modernity, post/colonialism and trans/nationalism. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Yinong Zhang was born in Beijing, China. He received his bachelor of arts degree in political economy from Sichuan University (Chengdu, China) in 1991. Upon graduation he took up a job in an IT company during which he had traveled extensively in western China. He had worked as a freelance writer and photographer for several years until he decided to go back to school. In 1995 he successfully passed the Chinese National Entrance Examination for graduate school and enrolled in a master of arts program in Tibetan language and history at the Central University of Nationalities (Beijing, China). He began his Ph.D. studies in anthropology at Cornell University in 1999. After finishing all course work and a five-month pre-dissertation fieldwork, he received a master of arts degree in anthropology in 2003. From 2003 to 2005 he had conducted his dissertation fieldwork in Taktsang Lhamo (Langmusi) of southern Gansu province in western China. His primary research examines the complexities of religion and ethnicity in the contemporary multi-ethnic state of China. He is particularly interested in ethnic and religious interaction on the Sino-Tibetan borderland against the backdrop of the Chinese political and economic reform since the 1980s. iii To the people of Taktsang Lhamo iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project has been carried out for nearly ten years without counting my previous experiences that is also closely related to the current work. Over this long period of time so many people have been involved in this project in different ways. Bruce Doar and Susan Dewer are memorable persons both in my academic life and in my personal life. As friends and colleagues they have helped to build my intellectual strength and also to locate my personal path in a critical period of my life. Judith Farquhar first introduced me to the world of anthropology when my knowledge was limited to textual studies. Her encouragement opened the door of a whole new world in my life and gave me the initial confidence to follow her example of scholarly excellence. Mark Aldenderfer has given me all his confidence and support as a mentor, a working partner and a friend since the very beginning, without which I would not have been able to make the first step out of China. I am very honored and grateful to have him read the whole dissertation. At Cornell I am greatly indebted to my dissertation committee members. David Holmberg has been an insightful academic advisor, a supportive department chair, and a friend who has accompanied my Ph.D. journey since the first day I arrived in Ithaca. As my committee chair, he has given me invaluable advices and guidance as well as total confidence on my intellectual growth. I would not have achieved what I have today without both his guidance and confidence. Steve Sangren has helped me enormously with his extraordinary knowledge, challenging requirements and thought provoking mind. His intellectual integrity and academic excellence has set up a high standard for my academic career. I thank Jane Marie Law for being both a committee member and my “Jewish mother” at Cornell. I have been benefited from her insight on religion and also learned the importance of wearing a helmet when biking. Magnus v Fiskesjo joined my committee later yet has inspired me in the way that I had never experienced before. As a committee member who shares the closest research interest with me his comments and suggestions have been extremely helpful during my writing-up period. I am especially grateful to his careful reading of my draft and his very detailed corrections from a suggestion of ideas to sentence structure and Chinese spelling. I also benefit greatly from his knowledge on Chinese history as well as his critical perspective to understand it. Being a person with erudite knowledge and rich experiences, his easy-to-approach personality has made our friendship enjoyable and long lasting. Faculty and cohorts at Cornell also helped me to grow throughout these years. I would like to thank Kath March, Jane Fajans, Fred Gleach, Adam Arcadi, Terence Tuner, Viranjini Munasinghe, Annelise Riles, Andrew Willford, Sienna Craig, Faharna Ibrahim, Elana Chipman, Eric Henry, Mukta, Tamang, Noa Vaisman, Abraham Zablocki, Sara Shneiderman, Ma Hongnan, Matthew Erie, Yue Kun, Heather Harrick, for their academic and personal support. Back in China I would like to thank those who have led me into the Tibetan Studies at the Central University of Nationalities. Professor Wang Yao has been exemplary for me with both his knowledge and enthusiasm, which initially got me interested into many Tibetan related Studies. Namgrol has been an excellent Tibetan language teacher with her passionate love of her hometown Lhasa. Tsewang Lhamo, Zhou Jiwen, Luo Bingfen, Zhou Runnian, Li Bingquan have all taught me different Tibetan classes which have built an important part of the knowledge I have today. Professor Huo Wei from Sichuan University has generously offered to host me during my fieldwork years. It is impossible for me to carry out my dissertation fieldwork without this affiliation. Professor Xu Xinjian from Sichuan University and Professor Badeng Nima from Sichuan Normal University have also helped me with vi necessary paperwork. I am grateful to all their help. My study at Cornell over these years has been primarily funded by Cornell Sage Fellowship and anthropology department TA assistantship. I also received fellowship from Cornell East Asia Program for a semester long stay at Taktsang Lhamo as my pre-dissertation fieldwork. Both East Asia Program and Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University have supported my project with travel grants. My dissertation fieldwork was funded by the Individual Research Grant for dissertation fieldwork from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. I feel most indebted to the people in Taktsang Lhamo who have helped me in various ways—some may not even realize that—and yet I do not feel comfortable listing their names here. This is not just because of the trouble it might bring to their life. The diversity of hospitality I have received in Taktsang Lhamo helps me to understand better both the complex local relationships and diverse need in return. For these reasons and my academic resistance to the conventional categorization of local people as Tibetan, Hui, and Chinese, I dedicate this work to the people of Taktsang Lhamo. Family and friends are the foundation of my life. My parents Zhang Chuanzhao and Wang Aiwen, my brother Zhang Fan have supported me at every point of my life. Even when my choices did not make much sense to them they still gave me their wholehearted support with complete confidence on me. Yu Li and his family have hosted me in his Xiangheli house every time I passed by Chengdu. Nyima Tashi has witnessed my whole academic journey in Tibetan Studies. His friendship and understanding have once and again given me the confidence to continue my research on Tibetan related studies. Other friends from Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Lhasa, and Lanzhou have helped my numerous trips to Tibetan regions throughout vii these years.
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