Forest Policy and Economics 22 (2012) 47–52

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Forest Policy and Economics

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Understanding indigenous knowledge in sustainable management of natural resources in China Taking two villages from Guizhou Province as a case

Yuan Juanwen a, Quanxin Wu b, Jinlong Liu c,⁎ a School of Resources and Environmental Management, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang 550004, China b Cultural Institute, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Kaili 556000, Guizhou Province, China c School of Agriculture and Rural Development, Renmin University, Beijing, 100872, China article info abstract

Article history: This paper documents two ethnic groups (The Dong of Zhanli Village and the Buyi of Guntang Village in Guizhou Received 24 November 2009 Province, China) who use traditional knowledge in managing natural resources sustainably.Traditionalregulations Received in revised form 30 January 2012 significantly influence villagers’ practice of resource management and family planning. Indigenous knowledge Accepted 20 February 2012 plays an important role in the sustainable development of rural villages but it is also fast disappearing. This Available online 13 March 2012 shows that development practices need to involve indigenous knowledge to achieve sustainable development in the long run. Keywords: Indigenous knowledge © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Natural resource management Ethnic groups Guizhou

1. Introduction are rich in traditional knowledge, have led to a general erosion of the traditional knowledge. Under the discourse of “scientific development” Indigenous knowledge, mostly interwoven with local religious and “developing an innovative society and economy”, very little beliefs, customs, folklore, and land use practices, plays an important attention has been given to the traditional knowledge in China (Liu, role in sustainable nature resource management, traditional culture 2007). The paper intends to stir up academic discussion to address the and livelihoods (Parrotta et al., 2007; Liu, 2007). Distinguished from role of indigenous knowledge in sustainable natural resource manage- scientific knowledge, traditional knowledge is maintained in daily live- ment, taking a case of two selected minorities in Guizhou Province, lihood, and found to be effective in natural resource management in southwestern China. Why and how the village regulations are effective conditional situation. However, despite its importance and contribution in resource management are further elucidated herein. Such discussion to sustainable rural livelihood and nature resource management, the is essential as to date there are only a few scientific papers highlighting traditional knowledge and practice are fast disappearing in China (Liu, the role of traditional knowledge in natural resource management in 2007), and the rest of the world as well. China. China has thousands of years of traditional farming practices with great diversity of minority culture, covered vast and great diverse terri- 2. Data collection methods tory with different land, topography, climate and rainfall. Crossing from the eastern to western region, China enjoys a great difference in terms The main research methods used in this investigation are key of religious belief, lifestyle, and value towards the nature resource. informant interview, group discussion, participant observation and sec- Rapid globalization and free mechanization under the “forced to be ondary data collection. The village elders, village heads, fengshui master developed” in the hinterlands of western China in particular, which and Zhailaos were the main interviewees. Women were also involved in group discussion. The details about the research are listed in Table 1.

☆ This paper is part of research findings from the Project “Traditional Knowledge of 3. Introduction of Guizhou Province Dong ethnic group and its implication to forest policy” (approved code: 71163006) funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the project “Forest Guizhou Province is a mountainous province located in the Southwest land tenure reform in China” (No. 09AZD029) funded by the Nation Social Science of China (Fig. 1). It is a karst limestone area, and there is no plateau in the Foundation of China. ⁎ Corresponding author. Fax: +86 1082509118. Guizhou Province. The average altitude of this province is 1100 m. The 2 E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Liu). total land area is 17,620,000 ha or 0.1762 million km . The cultivated

1389-9341/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2012.02.012 48 Y. Juanwen et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 22 (2012) 47–52

Table 1 Research schedules, activities and methods.

Methods Activities Reasons and purposes Schedule

Preparations ● Literature review To do preparation after topic selection Aug.–Sept. 2007 ● Participation observation ● Non-formal key informant interview ● Secondary data collection ● Villages selection ● Interview guidelines preparation Key informant interviews Interviewing aged persons, village heads, Zhailaos To know the village, current and historical Oct.2007–Feb. 2008 (respected persons in the village) natural resource management Focus group discussions Mixed group discussions To understand villagers’ perception about indigenous March 2008 knowledge, natural resource management Data processing Qualitative data processing To group and analyze data March 2008 Preliminary research integration Writing up literature review To write the research results Apr.–Nov.2008 Second research integration Qualitative data processing To write and revise the research results May–Nov. 2009 Revising writing-up Literature review

land is 4,487,455 ha (25% of total land area), accounting for 1.7 mu The history of this village dated back to 1100 years ago. About (15 mu=1ha) per capita (GPG, 2009). The forest coverage is 40% of 400 years ago, the local villagers formulated the unique population the total land area. Water resources are rich, but difficult to use in this control regulations (Zhang and Sun, 1999). As a result, the population karst area. size of this village remains strikingly stable over the years, i.e. 728 in There are nine prefectures (regions), 88 counties and 1451 town- 1951 and 725 in 2009. (Zhang and Sun, 1999), almost all households ships in the Guizhou Province. The total population was 39.76 million have one son and one daughter. in 2007, among which the rural population amounted to 28.52 million, Before the wider laterite road was constructed in 2003, no vehicle accounting for 71.8% (GSGSSB, 2008). There are 49 ethnic groups could have access to Zhanli Village. Nowadays, when it rains, the road accounting for 91% of the total 54 ethnic groups in China. The main is muddy and very difficult for the outsiders to visit. There is still no ethnic groups are Miao, Buyi and Dong, who together account for 38% public transportation in the village. The villagers still practice typical of the total population. These three ethnic groups are highly dependent rural livelihood where men cultivate and women weave. Many on natural resources for meeting their daily needs, and they have rich women and men still wear traditional costumes. There is one primary knowledge in utilizing and managing the natural resources. school which teaches both the Dong language and Mandarin. The In 2007, the main grain crops in Guizhou Province were rice and Dong language is the lingua franca among the villagers resulting in maize (3.2 million ha or 71% of total cultivated land) (GSGSSB, 2008). lesser use of Mandarin (official Chinese language). In their interaction Animal husbandry accounted for 33.7% of the agricultural income in with outsiders, men can use not so fluent Mandarin. Due to the lack of 2008 (GPG, 2009). The main income sources are from wine production interaction with outsiders, many women cannot speak Mandarin. and tobacco production. The government is promoting tourism in this There are five Zhailaos, i.e. local highly-respected persons who are province and there were 62.6 million tourists to this destination in very important in dealing daily and trivial affairs in the village. They 2007 (GSGSSB, 2008). Out migration for off-farm jobs is very common are selected as Zhailaos because they are talented, fair, highly educated in the rural areas of the Guizhou Province and remittances by migrant and more knowledgeable in settling village affairs. The formal village family members are important sources of income for the rural house- heads would like to invite them to provide suggestions in village holds. There were 780,000 migrants in 2006 (GPLSSD, 2007) and the management and development. The oldest person in the village was amount of remittances was 6.9 billion yuan in 2004 (Jingqianzaixian, more than 90 years old in 2009. 2004). In 2008, the income per capita in the rural area was 2374 yuan More than 90% of the girls got married with men in the same village. (GSGSSB, 2008), which was half the national level of 4761 yuan in They do not want to marry outsiders which involve out-migration be- rural China in 2009 (SSB, 2009). cause they feel that their village is the best village compared with nearby villages. In recent years, this traditional marriage pattern is gradually 4. Natural resource management in a Dong-aggregated village– changing. Migrant female villagers married outsiders when they met Zhanli Village the husband in urban factories. In 2009, there were more than ten people who are government employees (working within the county or outside The Zhanli Village belongs to Congjiang County, Qiandongnan the county) and there were 30 young people who migrated for income Prefecture of Guizhou Province, and characterizes as a closed, natural generation. and underdeveloped village. This village is an administrative village Both genders enjoy equal land ownership in Zhanli Village. The farm comprising eight natural villages.1 In 2009, there were 996 mu land is allocated to both married men and women. Traditionally, (66.4 ha) of paddy field and only 50 mu (3.3 ha) of upland. With a villagers in Zhanli have their own rules. The land was redistributed population of 725 people (177 households) in 2009, the paddy field every five years within groups (there are 8 groups which are categorized per capita was 1.37 mu, which was higher than the average level of by naturally living adjacently) and every 15 years within the adminis- 0.58 mu in Guizhou Province. The main crop is glutinous rice, which is trative village. This traditional practice changed with government policy their staple food. Every household raises fish, pigs, cattle, ducks and intervention. The latest land redistribution was carried out in 2004 chicken. Their cash sources are from glutinous rice and charcoal. There which witnessed the change from community land management to were only ten motorcycles in this village in 2009. The altitude of Zhanli household land management. This was based on the agreements for village is 380 m. It is a typical Dong-aggregated village with a Drum land redistribution formulated by the Household Responsibility System tower in the center of the village. Important meetings are held in this (HRS)2 in 1979. These new managements allow equal land distribution special building, which is also a recreation place for the villagers. among households, which differs greatly with unequal land distribution

1 The Chinese management system under county level includes township, adminis- 2 HRS means land is allocated to each household to manage and not by the collective trative village and natural village (group). any more. Y. Juanwen et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 22 (2012) 47–52 49

Zhanli Guntang

Fig. 1. Location of Kaizuo Township (adapted from Tyler, 2006). as practiced in some other places in China. In 1992, the Chinese govern- The village has enforced very strict local regulations in forest ment issued the policy for re-contracting the land to the household to management. These traditional regulations are orally inherited and manage, after that, there is no land reallocation anymore in many places, are very effective. The villagers regard trees as one necessary compo- so some farming households have less land to cultivate than average nent for the village. There is a saying in the village: the hills are not level. tall enough, planting trees will make you stand higher and see your future clearly. The main regulations include the following.

5. Results and discussion (a) Ancient trees are strictly prohibited from cutting. (b) Cutting the firewood is only permitted in the private forestland. 5.1. Indigenous knowledge in forest management in Zhanli Village (c) Fined is imposed if one cut the trees in other households’ forestland. People who cut one tree of other household will be The traditional arrangements on forest management have been fined 1.2 liang (20 liang=1 kg) silver. Higher fine is imposed continuingly implemented in the Zhanli Village and Guntang Village when one cuts a tree in the fengshui forest, i.e. tree cutting (to be further described in a later section). In Zhanli Village, two 12 liang. Zhailaos have strong voice and maintain collective authority over (d) Fire-setting is prohibited. making decision on forest management. They are very proud of the (e) One who sets fire in the forest will be fined with 3 kinds of green mountains in this village. Both of them are retired government “120”: rice 120 jin (2 jin=1 kg), pork 120 jin and wine 120 officials who now stay with their own family members in the village. jin. The disobeyed person will also be required to plant the Zhanli village is rich in forest resources and 75% of its land is covered trees and take care of them for 3 years. by forest. All the houses were built by wood because brick house is prohibited to be built. In this village, there are many ancient trees The local village has implemented stricter regulations than the which are several hundred years old. government regulations. As local traditional regulations are effective As stated earlier, government land policy has been implemented and well obeyed by the villagers, the local forest station officially in the village in 2004 resulting in allocating of collective forests to accepts the villagers’ traditional forest management. According to individual households. Except one parcel of forest (about 2000 mu Zhailo, to date, there was only one violated case happened in 1980s. or 133 ha) managed in collective way, the rest of the forest land In that incident, one teenager disregarded local regulation and cut a was allocated to each household to manage. The forests are classified tree for sale to a new free wood market. Consequently, his family into two types. For the zerenshan forest (about 560 ha), it is the was fined to kill one cattle to serve all the villagers. village that possesses the ownership of land and trees, and the Other than local traditional regulations, the Zhanli Village has its villagers only take the responsibility to manage it. The second type own festivals, which are also related to forest management. Afforesta- of forest is the ziliushan (about 70 ha)—the villagers themselves and tion Day is January 28 (Chinese lunar calendar,3 below is the same), not the collective own the trees, and can freely deal with them. Tree Harvesting Day on Dec. 15 and Herb Medicine Day on August Within the zerenshan forest are the trees surrounding the village 15. These festivals are celebrated every year. The practice of these commonly known as fengshui forest (where big and old trees exist) festivals teaches and reminds the villagers that they should admire used for religious purposes. Each household is allocated to have one and not violate the nature deliberately. parcel of the fengshui forest and has the responsibility to manage the The villagers have 2000 mu (133 ha) collective pasture land. Since the trees well. The main tree varieties in the fengshui forest are fir, pine 1980s, the villagers were asked to plant trees by the local government and some broad-leave ones. However, although ownership of fengshui and the land is now afforested completely. When the government forests has devolved to individual households in the community, the implements this official regulation, conflict arises. The villagers are Zhailaos de facto reserve the decision making authority for managing unwilling to follow this formal regulation because it is difficult for them fengshui forests. In accordance with traditional arrangement, the to take care of the cattle in the pasture land. They now have to collect benefits generated from the fengshui forests are used to serve collective purposes. 3 Chinese lunar calendar is about one month later than Gregorian calendar. 50 Y. Juanwen et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 22 (2012) 47–52 grass to raise cattle, and can no longer send cattle to feed themselves in The local people also build a small home garden above the water the collective pasture land anymore. Cattle are very essential for meeting pond in front of their home buildings. Usually garlic and other the daily needs of villages and in villagers’ daily life. Villagers use cattle in seasoning plants are cultivated in this home garden. The ideal site is many occasions such as celebration of new births, birthdays and festivals helpful for the plants to grow because water supply is sufficient. Zhanli as well as funeral preparation. The conflict between government's villagers are wise in using water resource where they also build rice requirement and local people's daily needs still persists. storage house above water pond thus preventing mouse and fire.

5.3. Indigenous knowledge in family planning 5.2. Indigenous knowledge in water resource management Before the implementation of official family planning policy in China Zhanli Village is rich in paddy fields, and has higher paddy field since the 1980s, Zhanli village had its own family planning ideologies. landholdings per capita than the adjacent villages. As stated earlier, While residents in other villages perceive that more children would the paddy field per capita was 1.37 mu in this village while it was bring well-being and prosperity, the villagers in Zhanli still have a about 0.61 mu per capita in the adjacent Fuzhong village which had strong feeling to practice family planning that would ensure a better only 200 mu with about 328 people in 82 households in the 1950s livelihood. Consequently, the available resources in the village are able (year 19644). to sustain a relative small population size in Zhanli Village. There is no A paddy field does not only serve the staple food source of the need for any villager to migrate for employment or to beg for food. In villagers. The paddy fields are used to provide other food sources. fact, many outside villagers came to work for villagers in Zhanli before According to the former village head, villages in Zhanli have a long the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. tradition of raising fish in the paddy field and utilizing water in a According to retired doctor Wu Yu and one former village head, very efficient way. Almost every household raises fish in the paddy 98% households have only one boy and one girl. The former village field and has its own fish pond to raise the fish fry. It is very common head has only one son and there are five households which have for them to treat guests with cooked preserved fish. According to one child only. He was the head in the 1980s when the official family Zeng and Wang (2006), raising fish in paddy field is sustainable and planning policy of having a child per household in the urban area and eco-friendly as local people take local ecology surroundings into two children for minority people and rural people was launched. He consideration and make innovations in managing the ecology well. was very happy to have one child. In his opinion, fewer children bring It has both economical and ecological benefits. This balance in richer and happier life. If a household has more than two children in paddy land use also solves land use conflict. Zhanli, others will laugh. Due to this traditional practice of family plan- According to villagers in Zhanli, all the paddy fields can be used to ning, villagers in Zhanli value life as very precious and hence delivering raise fish. They place the fish fry after rice seedlings are cultivated, a baby is regarded as a very important event. Upon a new birth, every and collect the grown up fish when they begin to harvest the household in the village congratulates the host family, which would paddy. There are two kinds of fishing systems, namely placing the slaughter a cattle to hold a banquet, especially delivering the first child. fish in the paddy field after planting the seedlings and placing them If the host family does not slaughter a cattle to celebrate the occasion, after the seedlings have grown up. There are more than ten native it will become a laughing joke. glutinous rice varieties, and all of them can exist together with any How does villagers in Zhanli practice family planning? Zhanli fish. They plant different rice varieties in different altitude fields. For villagers use traditional herb medicines and village regulations to example, the fragrant glutinous rice fields, accounting for one fourth control the population and sex ratio. Nobody can tell exactly when of total paddy fields, are located in high altitude, up to 600 m. Other these medicines started to be used and how these medicines played glutinous rice varieties are planted in low altitude fields. Glutinous a role in family planning. Many experts and researchers tried to find rice has no hybrid variety. Hybrid rice is usually cultivated in high the reasons to explain how each household is able to have only one altitude and rain-fed fields. Glutinous rice is Zhanli people's staple daughter and one son. It seems there is still no clear answer. Some food while the hybrid rice is only used for feeding cattle and pigs. relates the situation to food, others think it should be explained from nu- Now, they still use traditional feeding method to raise pigs and only tritional, anthropological and medicinal perspectives (Liu, 2006). Doctor a few households began to use feed bought outside. Wu, who graduated from the local medicine school, said that this special Besides fish, each household also raises at least five ducks in the family planning practice is dif ficult to explain. According to him, some paddy fields. Duck eat insects in the paddy field thus ensuring good local women used local medicines and changed their diet during the rice harvest. Duck-paddy field-fish is a very good traditional practice pregnant period. The family planning is only passed down among in Zhanli Village. All these food products are closely related to their women and he knows very little about that. The eldest woman in this culture. Fish and duck are very important in a local village's daily village was 85 years old in 2009 and she too could not explain clearly life, as food sources, to treat guests and as gifts. The villagers are not about the use of herbal medicine in family planning. In any case, through allowed to eat pork and only eat fish during funeral mourning period. family planning, there is only one son and one daughter for most house- The above traditional practice of native rice–fish–duck production holds. Doctor Wu perceived such family planning and gender ratio may is gradually changing. Over the years, villagers gradually use more and be linked to local food, medicine and environment. more hybrid rice because the yield is higher. More paddy field is used The current village head, Yan, is the only man who has some for hybrid rice cultivation resulting in native rice variety cultivation traditional family planning knowledge. He received the knowledge almos disappearing. This change in rice variety affects fish production from his aunt who knows the medicinal herbs used in family planning in the paddy field. It is not so common to put fish in hybrid rice field after her daughter passed away. He knows the medicinal herbs for because the rice growth period is shorter (60–70 days compared to preventing pregnancy and abortion, but has little knowledge about 90 days in native glutinous rice cultivation) and the fish is not ready the herbs for determining sex. This knowledge exists but is fading. for harvesting when hybrid rice is matured. Moreover, more pesticide According to Yan, the surrounded villages also have the same plants and chemical fertilizer are used in hybrid rice field, which threatens but villagers there do not know how to utilize them. Only Zhanli fish survival. The consequence is the duck–paddy field–fish practice is villagers use them for family planning. The medicine for preventing becoming less common. pregnancy and abortion is from one plant, and that for determining sex is from three medicine herbs. Only the roots are used as medicines and all these herbs are collected in winter and spring after Medicine 4 Internal material from www.gzlib.org Herb Day. Y. Juanwen et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 22 (2012) 47–52 51

Besides the medicinal birth controlling method, the value of building village. The average timber stocking volume is 237 m3/ha, about harmonious relationships between “people and people” and “people twice that of other forests in the village. and nature” plays a very important role in controlling the population The forest management in Guntang Village has undergone several (Liu et al., 2006). According to Yan, their ancestors came and lived in changes since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in Zhanli Village a very peaceful way. Later, with the rise in local popula- 1949. In 1958, during the Great Leap period, all the forest trees in tion, conflicts arose in resource use from time to time. One ancestor the village were cut except a large fengshui tree was kept by villagers. noticed this situation, discussed it with other villagers and a decision It was a period when the harmony of man and nature was totally was made to practice and use family planning. So, the family planning disrupted (Murphey, 1967). Now, most forests except some fengshui idea was formulated and implemented. forests have been allocated to individual households to manage. In The following local sayings and regulations are used to control 1982, with the implementation of the official ‘three-fixes6’ policy, forest population growth, reflecting Zhanli villagers’ perception about the land was allocated for management by each household. In 1999, the harmony and the balanced development. official ‘Natural Forest Protection Programme’ was implemented and a ban was imposed on tree cutting. Consequently, villagers did not cut (a) All the villagers get together in the Drum tower to sing the trees after the implementation of the ‘three-fixes’ policy. All the existing family planning regulations and listen to Zhailao's speech on fengshui pine trees were planted in 1963 at the back hill while the trees February 1 and August 1. now growing on the front hill are the results of natural regeneration (b) The new wedding couples have to swear to obey family planning since the Great Leap period. regulations in front of the god altar. Fengshui forest is managed based on the traditional Cunguimingyue.7 (c) There are some local famous proverbs: one boat can bear 500 kg The management is strict even it is only orally passed on from genera- and more will make the boat upside; one brood of birds with tion to generation. There are many regulations for the protection and more chicks will make the mother die; one household keeps utilization of fengshui forests and these include the following. two children, one boy and one girl is enough and will not make you hungry. (a) No tree cutting for personal use. (b) No land reclamation. The local people observed these regulations very well in the past ex- (c) No burning for ash. cept in one occasion. In the 1970s, more households delivered three (d) If a tree dies, nobody can cut it and it is left to decay naturally. children because the collective land allocation system stimulates them The tree branches of the dead trees cannot be used as fuelwood to deliver more children: more members can get more labour scores. to prevent villagers purposely cutting trees for fuelwood. After the introduction of Household Responsibility System in 1981, (e) Violation of these regulations can result in serious punishment. fi however, the land was allocated to each household to manage, and (f) Trees in fengshui forests can be cut only for some speci c col- women in the Zhanli Village stopped to deliver three children anymore. lective purpose, such as the special pole used for carrying the fi There is no household which has three children at this moment. cof n of the deceased (as noted above) but the pole must be Because of relatively high landholding per capita and sound kept in village head's hand. The tree can be used for collective resource management, the income per capita in Zhanli Village was welfare on other special occasions, for example several trees about 3000 yuan in 20095 and this village is classified as middle-level were cut and sold for constructing the village road in 1999. village in terms of economic well-being compared with the situation These traditional management regulations are formulated and well in Congjiang County with 2680 yuan income per capita in 2009 (Li enforced by the local people. Similar findings were reported by and Yang, 2010). Andersen (1995) in India and by Cox and Elmqvist (1991) in a tropical rain-forest reserve in Samoa. These local regulations are effective in — 5.4. Forest resource management in a Buyi village Guntang village managing some small damages to the fengshui forests than government regulations because government staff does not have the capacity to de- Guntang is a Buyi-dominated village with 310 people. The area of tect all these small damages. The same phenomenon was observed by arable land is 50 ha or 450 mu. The arable land is 1.45 mu per capita. Chen (1999) and Weng et al. (2003) in other parts of Guizhou Province. Forest activities provide little cash income for the villagers. However, Local villagers can report violations and actions are taken immediately Guntang Village is well known for management of the fengshui forests to enforce these oral regulations. (holy forests). There are one Zhailao and one fengshui master in this There was one case that occurred 30 years ago, a villager cut several village. Buyi culture is kept alive by the elders who can speak the poles of 5 cm in diameter for building houses. The act was witnessed by Buyi language, sing Buyi songs and wear traditional clothing. Most another villager who reported it to the village head. All the villagers went young people migrate outside the village to earn cash incomes and to the violator's house, killed his pig, cooked and consumed the pork they are generally not interested in traditional culture. according to oral regulations. The villager accepted this punishment The villagers hold traditional belief in nature's power. Zhong and and felt sorry for his irrational behavior. Since then, nobody violated Boris (2007) explained that Chinese fengshui aims at the harmonious these regulations. Local Cunguimingyue thus plays a very important coexistence of humans and nature. It is believed that some formidable role in fengshui forest management. Villagers generally abide to these spirits inside the forest would come out if the villagers disrupted the regulations and this makes enforcement effective. The Cuiguimingyue – harmonious forest human relationship. As noted by Hamilton (2002), contains forest management regulations and facilitates self governance a forest becomes sacred through the recognition of the power it has. in forest resource management (Weng et al., 2003; Wang and Tu, 2006). In Guntang Village, the practice of unique festivals is closely related to Some special festivals also emphasize award and punishment of oral nature, e.g. Sanyuesan (Mar. 3), Siyueba (Apr. 4) and Liuyueliu (June regulations. For example, during the Sanyuesan festival, representatives 6). In these special festivals, the Buyi people take the opportunities to of households gather to pay respect and worship their ancestors and gather and discuss about the enforcement of traditional village reiterate the importance of regulation enforcement. regulations. Cunguimingyue is passed down by oral tradition in the village. There are two parcels of fengshui forests, one is contracted to indi- Villagers, young or old, follow these regulations strictly. The current vidual household for management while the other is collectively managed. These fengshui forests are the best managed forests in the 6 It refers to fixed forest ownership, fixed private ownership of mountains, and fixed responsibility for forest management. 5 Interviewing the village head by telephone. 7 Cuiguimingyue means traditional village regulations and folk customs. 52 Y. Juanwen et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 22 (2012) 47–52 issue faced in the village is that many youth migrate for employment run. The keeping and innovating of traditional knowledge are key elsewhere and they show little interest in this traditional manage- ideas for long term local sustainable development. ment system. Fewer meetings were held during the Buyi festivals and fewer legends are now orally passed on to the younger genera- Acknowledgements tion. In the meantime, nobody is currently learning fengshui. We would like to give our sincere thanks to the local villagers for 6. Conclusions and discussion sharing their time and knowledge with us. We also thank Dr. Lim Hin Fui and Liang Luohui for the kindness to help edit the paper. Special This case study illustrated that richness of traditional knowledge in thanks also go to the two anonymous reviewers and the organizers managing natural resources for sustainable development owned by of the special column. these two ethnic groups in rural China. They passed on their traditional knowledge from generation to generation and utilize the resources very References well for their daily life and all these knowledge and skills contributed to Andersen, K.E., 1995. Institutional flaws of collective forest management. Ambio 24, sustainable development. The customary regulations play an essential 349–353. role in natural resource management and sustainable management of Chen, D.S., 1999. Research on comprehension of community-based natural resources the village (Yuan and Liu, 2009). management in the mountainous areas of Guizhou. China Population, Resources and Environment. 9, 22–26 (in Chinese). The Dong people of Zhanli Village have rich indigenous knowledge Coale, A.J., 1973. The demographic transition reconsidered. The International Union for in utilizing natural resources and in family planning. The villagers the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), Liege. focus on the importance of harmony between nature and people, as Cox, P.A., Elmqvist, T., 1991. Indigenous control of tropical rain-forest reserves: an – well as address the balance between resources and population, which alternative strategy for conservation. Ambio 20, 317 321. Guizhou People's Government (GPG), 2009. Introduction of Guizhou. http://www. are also the ideology of Buddhism in China. Coale (1973) highlighted gzgov.gov.cn/2005pages/gzgk/gzgk_xzqh.asp. that fertility decreasing is based on three factors: the rational choice, Guizhou Survey Group of State Statistics Bureau (GSGSSB), 2008. Socio-economy and the perception of the advantages of low fertility, as well as the means social development report of Guizhou Province in 2007. Guzihou Provincial Labour and Social Security Department (GPLSSD), 2007. Labour migra- for family planning. The Dong people in Zhanli Village made the rational tion introduction. hhtp://gz.iss.gov.cn/gzldt/72345670563921920/20070924/2852. choice based on their limited natural resources. They also utilize natural html. resources (herb medicines) very well to make family planning possible. Hamilton, L.S., 2002. Through metaphysical constraints or processes. Forest and Tree Conservation 19, 53–78 http://210.40.89.7/index/dqbg/showdoc.asp?blockcode=DQBG The consequence is the low fertility ratio and their living conditions are GUIGB&filename=200812240695. better than that of the nearby villages. The income per capita in Zhanli Jingqianzaixian, 2004. Guizhou migrants sent remittances 6.9 billion. http://gzdsb.gog. Village was 2680 yuan in 2009, while it was only 1883 in 2009 in the com.cn/system/2004/01/08/000537910.shtml. Li, T.Q., Yang, Zh.G., 2010. Report on Congjiang Economic and Social development. same township (Wu, 2010). This shows that harmony between the http://news.gz163.cn/content/2010_10_29/1034396.shtml. natural resources and the people brings long term benefits. Similarly, Liu, Jinlong, 2007. Traditional knowledge in the eyes of development anthropology and the Buyi ethnic group of Guntang Village also has very effective its implication to development practices. Journal of China's Agriculture University (Social Sciences) 2, 133–141. management regulations on fengshui forest. Liu, Z.B., 2006. The cultural value of the Dong's birth customs at Zhanli and its compar- The government policies considerably influence the local village's nat- isons to the Han's traditional customs. Guizhou Ethnic Studies. 26 (1), 41–46. ural resource management regulations. Government intervention has Murphey, R., 1967. Man and nature in China. Modern Asian Studies 1, 313–333. made the practice of traditional knowledge more vulnerable. As a conse- Parrotta, J.A., Liu, J., Sin, H.-C., 2007. Sustainable forest management and poverty alleviation: roles of traditional forest-related knowledge. IUFRO, Vienna. quence, the traditional knowledge is rapidly eroded, and the conflict State Statistics Bureau (SSB), 2009. Chinese Statistics 2009. Chinese Statistics Publishing arises at the local level. It is strongly recommended that the policy makers House, Beijing. and development practitioners should take the customary regulations Tyler, R.S., 2006. COMMUNITIES, LIVELIHOODS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Action Re- search and Policy Change in Asia. Practical Action Publishing/IDRC. into consideration, and provide more room and autonomy for local Wang, H.J., Tu, Y., 2006. A case of sustainable forest resource use and management in people to manage the natural resources. Without outside intervention, Buyi village in Guizhou. Guangdong Forest Science 22, 80–84 (in Chinese). the villagers have practiced sustainable resource management for better Weng, Z.W., Zhu, J., Wu, Q.L., Wu, D.S., Ma, H.X., 2003. Cunguimingyue and forest resource conservation—report form three Buyi village in Duyun, Guizhou. Forest and Society livelihood (Ying and Ding, 2003). 23–27 (in Chinese). Are outside interventions necessary? The villagers already have a Wu, Y.Zh., 2010. Annual report of Gaozhen Townsip in 2009. http://www.cjxgzx.cn/ good system of natural resource management. Traditionally, all compo- E_ReadNews.asp?NewsId=221. Ying, L., Ding, Y., 2003. Village Wisdom. http://www.boloji.com/wfs/wfs183.htm. nents and activities are important for the traditional management system Yuan, J., Liu, J., 2009. Fengshui forest management by the Buyi ethnic minority in China. to function well. If the interventions are necessary, should the policy Forest Ecology and Management 257 (10), 2002–2009. makers consider the impacts of the interventions on the traditional Zeng, Y., Wang, S.M., 2006. Analysis on the history of rice-fish system development and its causes—taking the case of Guizhou as an example. Journal of Nanjing Agricultural management system? How to balance development and conservation? University (Social Science edition) 6 (3), 78–83. How to take the endogenous development into account? We have no Zhang, S.L., Sun, S.J., 1999. Investigation on unique childbearing aspirations that features answer for these questions, but we understand that sustainable develop- low birth rate in the Dong nationality, Zhanli village, Guizhou Province. , pp. 15– 17 (1). — ment is critical and local wisdom is important. Zhong, Z.Q., Boris, D.C., 2007. Fengshui a systematic research of vernacular sustainable development in ancient China and its lessons for future. 7th UK CARE Annual General In the meantime, indigenous and traditional knowledge is disap- Meeting, UK Chinese Association of Resources and Environment, Greenwich, 15 pearing. Globalization accelerates its erosion and depletion. Indigenous September 2007. knowledge plays an important role in the sustainable development of rural villages, implying that development practices need to involve indigenous knowledge to achieve sustainable development in the long