TRADITION IN PROCESS: FRAMING TRADITION IN CULTURAL PRESERVATION AND INVENTION IN JIXIAN IN THE COURSE OF THE MODERNIZATION OF CHINA Xiaohong Chen Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University October 2015 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Doctoral Committee ______________________________ Jason B. Jackson, Ph.D. Chairperson ______________________________ Michael D. Foster, Ph.D. ______________________________ John H. McDowell, Ph.D. ______________________________ Henry H. Glassie, Ph.D. Date of Dissertation Defense: September 10, 2015 ii © 2015 Xiaohong Chen ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii To the Jixian People in China iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Pursuing a PhD degree is an academic journey, and also a life journey. At I complete my dissertation and end this long journey at Indiana University, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the people who have supported me. I am deeply grateful to my dissertation research committee members Jason Jackson, Michael Foster, John McDowell, and Henry Glassie. They are great scholars and also great people. Their generous support and academic inspiration through various stages of my PhD degree program -from coursework, candidacy examines, to the final stages of dissertation research- made it possible for me to achieve this education goal. I am especially indebted to my mentor and dissertation committee chair, Dr. Jason Jackson, for his patience, understanding, inspiration, and advice. His strategic supervision really motivated and energized me to achieve my best. When I finally finished my writing and let him read the full draft, his comments were a special reward to my several years work with this project. I also especially thank to Dr. Michael Foster, for his critical input from the proposal phase to the initial writing, which has greatly influenced and inspired me during my continuous writing process. Sincere thanks also give to Dr. McDowell for his careful reading and valuable remarks and his as well Dr. Glassie’s steadfast encouragement and support from my first year coursework to this final project. At the end of this academic journey, I would also like to thank Professor Roger Janelli and Professor William Hansen, who influenced my studies of folklore at Indiana University in many ways. Professor Hansen also read my manuscript and provided me with great comments. I give my sincere gratitude to Moira Marsh and Sheri Sherrill for their generous support of my studies during this long journey. Thanks to the department staff Chris Roush and Michelle Melhouse for their administrative assistance throughout the years. Thanks for Daniel Peretti’s v editing assistance in the final submission stages of this work. Thanks to Indiana University Libraries and my supervisor Lisa Lent for offering me an enjoyable working position at the Wells Library, so I could complete my dissertation work with peace of mind. When I hold this final product in my hands, I sincerely feel that without the stories from the Jixian people, I could not have produced these more than three hundred pages. I wish to thank the Jixian people, both named and unnamed in this work, for generously telling me their life stories. I especially thank Yu Qingcheng, Wang Ruihong, and Zhang Xianyue for their kind assistance during my fieldwork in Jixian. I am particularly indebted to my elder sister Yu’e, who led me to a connection with Jixian. Thanks to my family and all my friends in Bloomington and elsewhere in the world who have supported me as I accomplished this research work and my doctoral degree at Indiana University. vi Xiaohong Chen TRADITION IN PROCESS: FRAMING TRADITION IN CULTURAL PRESERVATION AND INVENTION IN JIXIAN IN THE COURSE OF THE MODERNIZATION OF CHINA In this report of ethnographic research, I explore the relationships characterizing tradition and modernity, culture and economy, and the roles played by the state, local agencies, community, and individuals in the pursuit of local tourism and culturally-focused economic development. My study is based on research observing and analyzing local cultural projects and daily cultural life in Jixian, China. Specific cases include restoring ancient structures, organization of the Dule Temple Fair, and the development of rural cultural tourism and local folk art products. To understand broader themes in these contexts, I formulate a theoretical model of processing tradition in terms of “preserving,” “reconstructing and remaking,” and “inventing” tradition. This research shows that tradition and modernity are co-constitutive aspects of common process of social change. Tradition contributes to the acceleration of local modernization, whereas, modernization revitalizes tradition with new values and functions in promoting local development. In the context of China, processes relating to local heritage and tradition are incorporated into the state’s modernization plans. In Jixian, local agencies and individuals have wisely used their own strategies to negotiate the conflicts between traditional life and modern life. They have been aware that tradition is a treasure for them to use in building today’s and tomorrow’s life. They creatively find ways to utilize, adapt, and invent traditions and to make tradition modern so as to serve contemporary social needs. vii ______________________________ Jason B. Jackson, Ph.D. Chair ______________________________ Michael D. Foster, Ph.D. ______________________________ John H. McDowell, Ph.D. __________________________ Henry H. Glassie, Ph.D. viii Table of Contents Acknowledgments v Lists of Illustrations xiii Figures xiii Tables xv Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Theoretical Review of “Tradition” 3 Defining and Redefining “Tradition” 4 Tradition and Modernity 8 Debates about Chinese Tradition and Modernity 9 Contemporary Issues of Tradition and Modernization in China 15 Reflections of Chinese Folklorists 21 Research Objectives 26 Fieldwork and Methodology 33 Outline of the Dissertation 42 Chapter 2: Locating Jixian in Chinese History and Transformation 46 Chinese Culture in History 46 Jixian as a Part of a Whole 49 Reading Jixian from History and Local Gazetteers 56 The Impact of Modernization on Traditional Culture 66 Transformation of Jixian Culture 74 Findings from the Old and the New Local Gazetteers 78 ix Chapter 3: Cultural Tourism Played in the Preservation and Invention of Local Cultures 82 The Modernization of Jixian in the Chinese Tourism Boom 84 Jixian’s Potential for Developing Cultural Tourism 87 Jixian’s Strategies: Utilization of Tradition and Innovation of Culture 90 The Rise of Rural Leisure Tours and Folk Village Projects in Jixian 102 Encounters in Yushi Zhuang: Modern Tourism Changes the Village 109 The Legends of Yushi Village 110 Interview with Yushi Village’s Hero Han Zhen 121 The Other Voice I heard from Yushi Village 125 Chapter 4: Preserving, Remaking, and Inventing Tradition: The Model of Processing Tradition 130 Preserving the Original Form of the Dule Temple 132 Reconstructing the Ancient Town 139 Remaking Tradition: The Dule Temple Fair 148 Inventing Tradition: Folk Arts in Local Cultural Innovation 169 The Emergence of the New Stone Art Culture 171 UNESCO Folk Art Master Yu Qingcheng 182 Yushi Village’s Craftsman 193 Dynamics in Processing Tradition 196 Chapter 5: Framing Tradition and Cultural Mixing: Old and New, Rural and Urban, Local and Global 198 The Breakdown of Boundaries in Local Cultural Practices 199 During the Holiday Season: the Lunar Chinese New Year 201 x The Temple Fair Visitors 205 Celebrating Western Valentine’s Day in Jixian Town 211 The Lantern Festival and the Huahui Assembly 213 Daily Cultural Life in Jixian Town 219 A Family’s Life from Village to Town 221 Public Entertainment in the Drum Tower Square 223 Gan Ji （赶集）: A Traditional Way of Shopping 230 Local Snacks (Little Eats 小吃) 233 San beng zi: Transportation in Town 234 Conclusion 236 Chapter 6: Framing Tradition and Cultural Mixing: Rural Culture in the Interaction of Urban and Rural 237 Urban and Rural Encounters in the Mountain Village Dapingan 239 City People Come down to the Mountain Village 240 Tan Zhong and the Folklore Performance Stage 246 Root Carving Craftsman Gao Changgui 255 Staying in a Farmer’s Guest House at the Foot of Pan Mountain 259 A Rural Paradise: Guojiagou Village 265 The Gourd Painting Craft Program 266 A Foreigners’ Chinese Wedding Ceremony in Guojiagou Village 268 Preservation and Reinvention of Tradition in Xijingyu Village 275 Feng Jicai Speaking on Preserving Historic Cultural Villages 277 Xijingyu, an Old Historical Cultural Village 279 xi Xijingyu at the Crossroads of the Traditional and the Modern 271 Traditional Homes 285 Traditional Crafts Workshops 293 Zhou Jiguang’s Puppet Show House 296 The Future: A New Plan for Preserving Xijingyu Village 304 Chapter 7: Conclusion 310 Traditional Culture and Cultural Tradition 312 Authentic Tradition is Tradition through Social Processes 315 The Relationship of Culture and Economy: Dynamics of Culture 317 Power Relations among the State, Local Agencies, and Individuals 319 One Process: Tradition and Modernity 322 Notes 325 Bibliography 335 Glossary 343 Appendixes 345 A Chart of the Main Chinese Lunar Festivals A Chart of the Main Chinese Solar Calendar Festivals Curriculum Vitae xii Lists of Illustrations Figures: Figure 1.1 Location of Jixian 27 Figure 1.2 Jixian Today. Photo by author, 2011 29 Figure1.3 The Conceptual Model of Processes of Tradition 37 Figure 2.1 Luo Zhongli’s oil painting Father, 1980 47 Figure 2.2 Grandmother, by Yu Qingcheng. Photo by author, 2011 49 Figure 2.3 Printed image of Jizhou zhi 58 Figure 2.4 Printed image of Minguo Jixian zhi 61 Figure 2.5 A picture of the editors of Minguo Jixian zhi. 61 Figure 3.1 Jixian county tourism map. Source: Jixian Travel Bureau website 100 Figure 3.2 Ye yan painting “Wen Dao.” Source: Jixian Travel Bureau website 102 Figure 3.3 Tourists in Guojiagou village.