REVIEW ARTICLES Review of: Butler-Diaz, Jacqueline, 1981. Yao Design ritual manuals for spirit mediums, but also ofNorthern Thailand. Bangkok: The Siam Society. included are genealogical records, horoscopic Diep Trung Binh, 1997. Patterns on Textiles of the texts, cloth embroidered with blessings, painted Ethnic Group of Vietnam. Hanoi: Cultures of masks and headdresses for ritual experts, and Nationalities Publishing House. two copies of the "King Ping Charter."1 Goldman, Ann Yarwood, 1995. Lao Mien Embroi­ The introduction to the catalog contains dery: Migration and Change. Bangkok: White Lotus. background information on the Yao and their Hollmann, Thomas 0. and Freidrich, Michael, 1999. religion and books, as well as the extensive Botschaften an die Gotter: Religiose Handschriften collection of Yao manuscripts at the Bavarian der Yao; Sildchina, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, State Library, writing materials, woodblock Myanmar. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. stamps, the restoration of masks, and the King Lemoine, Jacques, 1982. Yao Ceremonial Paintings. Ping Charter. Finally, the book contains a useful Bangkok: White Lotus. 41-item bibliography of works on Yao in Lewis, Paul and Lewis, Elaine, 1984. Peoples ofthe Western languages. Golden Triangle: Six Tribes of Thailand. London: The calligraphy and the illustrations in the Thames and Hudson. manuscripts are in many cases striking, even if the items are in less than pristine condition. I Hjorfeifur Jonsson liked photos of dog-eared, singed, water­ damaged, and worn manuscripts for the sense What makes Yao culture collectible, and they gave that the books had really been used. what sense do these collectibles make? By Given the long history and wide dispersal of the looking at some of the writings about the Yao Yao, this sense of movement and wear and tear over the last two decades, I want to suggest that is a welcome reminder about their multiple to a considerable degree (that is, with one histories. Some of the most compelling pieces exception), the exhibits and picture books about in the catalog show that the Y ao have not just the Yao reveal a culture of collecting and carried books about. One example is the text of governmentality while ostensibly portraying the a chant most likely used for ordination rituals, unique, shared, and timeless culture of the Yao written on the unprinted side of a recycled people. The notion that "traditional" cultures American C~P"e-package, a relic from the war in are fast disappearing adds a sense of urgency to Laos. The catalog also contains a photo of the these displays, and contributes to the reality­ other side of the cardboard that identifies the effect of these portrayals as being about the country of origin and states that the contents Yao. were "not to be sold or exchanged "(pp. 34-5). Botschaften . ("Instructions to the Gods: Another reminder of the war in Laos is on a Yao Religious Manuscripts") is a catalog for an single sheet found within one of the manuscripts. exhibit of Yao manuscripts and related objects It is written in Lao and shows an encounter at the Bavarian State Library in Munich, between an old (Lao) couple and two soldiers. Germany. The exhibit was for less than two The grandfather asks for mercy from the soldiers, months in late 1999, but the book remains and who reassure him that they are genuine Lao stands as a major effort to present Yao through soldiers and here to protect them from a display of their texts. There is no comparable harassment by the Vietnamese army. After this work on Yao manuscripts, and thus the book revelation, the grandmother declares her great has significant value as an inventory of Y ao relief that the two are "our Lao soldiers" (pp. texts. Botschaften contains catalog descriptions 60-1 ). A third reminder of the world within and photographs of 55 items. The majority are which the Yao have found themselves is a 1951 Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) Review Articles 223 addition to the King Ping Charter (not shown), attract interest and the kinds of prices paid. that declares how the Yao were going to From these conversations, I gained some sense cooperate with the Han Chinese now that they of the prices at different levels of this had been liberated and were under the Chairman international trade-network, and the difference Mao's leadership. (pp. 31-2).2 in the tourist price of one or a few books and the Botschaften is not an ethnography. The range dealer-price for ten, a hundred, or more books, and variation of social and cultural formations and then how long one would have to wait for a within the Yao category is not seriously bulk shipment. These mechanics of acquisition discussed in the introduction's brief overviews and trade matter for two reasons not discussed of the Yao and their religion (about two pages in the catalog but which are relevant to its each). But given the subtitle's promise about content. One is the genealogy of European the Yao of southern China, Vietnam, Laos, collections of Oriental objects, and the other is Thailand, and Myanmar, the absence of the apparent lack of knowledge about the Yao ethnographic content is frustrating. The reality by those in the antique trade. of the book's Y ao is that of Chinese texts and There is one reason why objects from textual traditions. The bulk of the exhibit­ peoples such as the Yao take on new conno­ materials is identified as variously belonging to tations when they are traded elsewhere. They Youmian or Jingmen subgroups of Yao which become meaningful in a range of ways Botschaften says are both influenced by Chinese connected to their new contexts. My point is Daoism, Jingmen being "orthodox" while not a purist argument about an authentic "Yao" Youmian are defined as ''undogmatic" (p. 12). meaning of these objects. This is because Yao The former have two kinds of ritual specialists, peoples appropriated Daoism and various other Daogong and Shigong, whereas the Y oumian aspects of Chinese culture and society, often have only the lower-ranking Shigong. These for purposes other than their sources would ritual specialists are the primary book-keepers, indicate. Because of these reasons, a textual so to speak. Therefore, some indication of the approach will miss whatever relevance these importance of the ritual experts and their texts texts have had for the Yao. Given social, in social life, as well as the distinction between economic, religious, and other variety among Youmian and Jingmen and that between the more than two million Y ao people, it is orthodox and undogmatic Daoism would have unlikely that there ever was a uniform Yao set been informative. Yao households in Thailand, of meanings for these texts. Yet this is precisely Vietnam and elsewhere sometimes maintain the museum-effect of the display of Yao considerable collections of manuscripts. How manuscripts. It takes on a collective Yao they are used in daily life is a topic of much reference whose sources are the Bavarian State relevance. Library and the international market in Recent generations of Y ao in both Thailand antiquities and "primitive" art and culture, not and Vietnam are schooled in national languages any Yao background of the objects.3 and in general they do not study the Chinese This is not unique to Y ao exhibits. script in which the texts are written. This is part Why, given the lack of knowledge about the of the untold story of why there are so many Yao, is this material collected and exhibited? Yao manuscripts on the market for antiquities What makes Yao objects collectible? For some, and "primitive art." The Bavarian State Library an interest in Y ao things comes from the appeal collection contains over 1,000 manuscripts (p. of Eastern religions in the West. Just outside the 17). By asking traders about these goods, I city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, there learned that the German library most likely is a Center for Daoist Studies. Quite a few acquired its collection over a few years from a people, after taking the Center's courses, visit calligraphy dealer in England, who bought them nearby shops selling objects such as spirit­ from a "tribal and primitive art" dealer in paintings. The reasons for the exhibit in Munich Thailand. This specialist in Y ao materials in are doubtless more complex. For one thing, it tum makes collecting trips. His scouts in Laos has funding and an institutional framework, a and Vietnam have a sense of what materials Yao Project by the Departments of Chinese Journal ofthe Siam Society 88.1 & 2 (2000) 224 Review Articles Studies at the Universities of Hamburg and tainable essences of French Indochina and Munich and the Bavarian State Library, in Chinese Singapore. 5 operation for four years before the exhibit. This Museums and collections do not just satisfy institutional context contributes to an expla­ already-existing longings, they also contribute nation of the Chinese textual emphasis and to defmitions of the world and its components possibly of the lack of ethnographic content that can refme and/or create particular tastes concerning the Yao. and desires. An exhibit on Yao manuscripts Some reasons for collecting Yao things are makes the public conversant with the objects, related to the collectors' sense of their identity, which in this case is beneficial for the Y ao and have precious little to do with the Yao Project vis-a-vis its sponsors. It is also likely to themselves. Y ao materials, in spite of their local create not only an interest in these items but significance, come to represent a key to also a desire for these now-valued and significant outsiders' personal or historical space that may but previously obscure or unknown objects.6 have little to do with Y ao realities.