Qiang: The Land, the People and their Histories

Mezinárodní sinologické centrum Chiang Ching-kuovy nadace při UK v Praze, Institut pro studium strategických regionů a Orientální ústav AV ČR zvou na přednášku QIANG: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE AND THEIR HISTORIES.

Přednáší Prof. Wang Ming-ke, ředitel Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.

Abstrakt přednášky:
The Qiang are one of the fifty-five officially recognized ethnic minorities in China, with a population of approximately 300,000 living in northwestern Sichuan province along the eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau. Despite being a minority nationality, they are believed to be a very old and once numerous group of people whose offspring can be found among the Han, the Tibetans, and more than ten other minorities in southwestern China. Despite the fact that today’s Qiang are commonly seen as the ancient Qiang’s direct heirs, most of the people never heard about the ethnonym “Qiang” or thought of themselves as such before 1960s. In this talk based on field research conducted during 1990s and early 2000s, I will introduce the geographical background, social groupings, and cultural practice of this mountainous people dwelling in the upper Min River valley. The discussion will focus on the changes of the people’s historical memory and ethnic identity before and after locals acquired their Qiang identity, which occurred in the 1950s and through to 1980s as a result of government-implemented national census.