An Alternative to the “Indigenous” in Early Twenty-First-Century China

Guizhou’s Branding ofYuanshengtai

Bibliographic Data

ID6008029
AuthorsYu Luo (0000-0001-6450-9410, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume44
Issue1
Pages68-102
Publication date2018-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0097-7004 • E-ISSN: 1552-6836
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0097700417696830
OpenAlexW2602912151
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited57

This article analyzes the contemporary salience of yuanshengtai, a Chinese concept that valorizes core features similar to those of “indigeneity,” including cultural distinctiveness and environmental stewardship of ethnic, rural peoples. Yuanshengtai deflects attention away from historically and politically contentious issues and transnational claims for rights that would call for official recognition of “indigenous peoples” by the Chinese state. Such a romanticized rhetoric instead helps reassert the polyethnic nation’s worthiness, mostly through cultural industries since the early 2000s. This article, based on interpretive readings and ethnographic observation, zeroes in on the example of Guizhou to explore how yuanshengtai has been widely constructed as an emergent eco-cultural brand through a combination of academic forums, media events, and cultural industry promotions. It argues that the construction and promulgation of yuanshengtai allows regional elites to reiterate local uniqueness and provincial identity while embracing the state’s agenda and global aspirations, precisely because yuanshengtai hinges upon the state-market mechanism in contemporary China

China · Ethnography · Indigenous · Political economy · Political science · Rhetoric · Salience (neuroscience · Sociology · State (computer science · Tourism · Anthropology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies