Original by Hou Yuangao, Liangshan State Mawi Social Worker
Hou Yuangao || Text, Zou Biyu || Photography
Note: This article has nothing to do with the cryptocurrency circle.
The grandest festival in Daliangshan is not the Spring Festival but the Yi New Year. In late November, after the harvest, cattle and sheep are brought home, and each village invites Bimo (priest) to calculate the days, choosing three days to celebrate the New Year. Millions of Yi people working and studying outside will return home before the New Year, no matter how far.
Although it is cold in winter, the Daliangshan region has lost its past desolation and bleakness. The cleared original forests have donned green attire again. The golden leaves of late autumn and the pure white snow of early winter complement each other beautifully. The sounds of pig slaughtering echo, and people continuously visit each other for New Year greetings, with friends and relatives arriving one after another, immersing themselves in the warmth of family and friendship, healing their tired bodies and souls.
This year, I initially did not plan to go to the countryside for the Yi New Year, considering that the date of our Mawi Charity's 20th anniversary celebration was approaching. I needed to revisit the Yi families we had funded to understand the changes they had undergone over the years for a documentary project to gather material. I decided to take a photographer to the mountains for New Year greetings. Coincidentally, I met several friends in the film industry who specifically traveled from Malaysia, South Korea, Shanghai, and Chengdu to Liangshan for inspiration and also wanted to accompany us.
1. The 7 families we revisited
1. The first rural social worker in Daliangshan: Ma Hai Mu Ji
The first family we visited is Ma Hai Mu Ji's family in Wu He Village, Zhuheng Town, Zhaojue County. He is 57 years old this year. In the early 1990s, he ventured out. During that time, Yi youth could not find legitimate job opportunities in cities, and many resorted to theft to survive. Mu Ji could help them dispose of stolen goods because he spoke Chinese. Soon, many out-of-town compatriots developed drug addictions, and he realized that if he did not leave them, he would also become addicted, so he ran back.
In 2001, Ma Qu Zhe, a small entrepreneur doing business in Zhaojue County, returned to Zhuheng and mobilized families to unite against drugs, establishing China's first grassroots anti-drug association—Zhaojue County Zhuheng Er Gu Grassroots Anti-drug Association. Ma Hai Mu Ji served as the patrol team leader of this association. The patrol team's task was to monitor suspected drug dealers in various villages, assist the county's anti-drug brigade in capturing drug dealers, and organize drug users to undergo mandatory rehabilitation.
In the same year, Professor Zhang Haiyang from Central University for Nationalities led the application for the Ministry of Health's 'Sino-British STD and AIDS Prevention Cooperation Project Office' supported applied research project: 'Local Knowledge and Participation Paths and Models for Vulnerable Groups in AIDS Prevention', which passed the review.
In the winter and summer vacations of 2002, we organized Yi scholars from Central University for Nationalities, Southwest University for Nationalities, Xichang College, and Liangshan State Institute for Nationality Studies to conduct systematic investigations in several townships where drug and AIDS issues were most severe in Daliangshan. In Zhuheng Township, I met Ma Qu Zhe and Ma Hai Mu Ji and learned that due to the lack of funding support, their grassroots anti-drug work was difficult to sustain. I helped them apply for a small grant from the World Bank to support their efforts to continue anti-drug work and incorporate AIDS prevention into the association's work.
In March 2005, I returned to Liangshan and founded the 'Liangshan Yi Women and Children Development Center' (now renamed Liangshan State Mawi Social Work Development Center), starting to raise funds to assist women and children harmed by drugs and AIDS. We established the first rural working station in Zhuheng Township, with Ma Hai Mu Ji as our first rural social worker, becoming a bridge for our rural work.
Ma Hai Mu Ji has a nickname, we all call him 'Professor Mu Ji'. The reason is that several doctoral students came to the bamboo core for field investigations, and it was Mu Ji who acted as their guide, translator, and in-depth interviewee. This includes Liu Shaohua (Taiwan), who wrote 'My Liangshan Brothers', and Zhou Runan (Sun Yat-sen University), who wrote 'The Broken-winged Eagle'. The photographer Xu Shuang, who came with me for the revisit, had lived with her classmate Dr. Luo Yan at Mu Ji's home for a month ten years ago.
In 2016, Mu Ji resigned, returned home to run a ranch, and became a De Gu (community elder), participating in mediating civil disputes. In the past two years, Ma Hai Mu Ji has gained a new nickname; villagers call him 'Ukraine'. This is because, in various discussions about the Russia-Ukraine war, he firmly supported Ukraine against the majority opinion.
During this visit to his home, I noticed a significant change: the house has been renovated, with all new furniture, and they bought a sedan and a van. The reason for the improvement in their economic conditions is mainly that their children have grown up. The eldest son is married and has separated from the family; the eldest daughter married and received a bride price; the second daughter graduated from university and works at the township government; the second son is studying at a vocational college, learning auto repair; and the youngest son is in junior high school.
At Mu Ji's home, I met Ma Hai A Zhi and Ma Hai A Ke, who rushed over after hearing the news. They were originally actors in our Daliangshan Rural Art Troupe. This art troupe was established in 2006 and is a grassroots cultural group dedicated to drug and AIDS prevention education. All the actors are rural youth who enjoy singing and dancing, as well as folk artists. We staged Liangshan's first Yi-language drama (Awakening from Nightmare) and toured the mountains and rivers of Daliangshan for five years. CCTV filmed a special program about it.
Ma Hai A Zhi is also an orphan, having lost her father and with her mother remarrying inland. She and her younger brother rely on each other. When we helped her in 2005, she was already 12 years old. We sent her to school, but she returned to participate in our peer education team. Two years later, she joined the art troupe. After the art troupe disbanded, she sang and danced in the western villages of Xichang City and opened a barbecue restaurant, supporting her younger brother through college. A few years ago, she managed a training school in Chengdu, and this year she returned to Xichang to open a tutoring school.
Ma Hai A Ke is the youngest actor in the art troupe, playing an orphan in the drama. His singing has made countless people cry. He is now working in Xinjiang with migrant workers, contracting cable-laying projects. He has already bought a house in Xichang and moved the children's household registration there for school. The most interesting thing is that he has 11 siblings, and they have more than 40 children, some of whom are already in college.
2. The first child we rescued: Yoya
After establishing the working station in Zhuheng Township in 2005, our first task was to seek out orphans. In Er Gu Village, Mu Ji pointed to a dilapidated house and told us: This family has a father in prison, and the mother has passed away, leaving only the grandfather to care for three grandchildren. When we opened the door, we saw the courtyard filled with people and asked them what they were doing. Their answer shocked us. They said that a child in this family was dying, and they were preparing for the funeral. I went in and lifted the blanket to see a severely malnourished child (6 years old, weighing only over 20 pounds). I asked why they didn't take him to the hospital. His grandfather said: We took him to the hospital, but the examination costs a lot of money, and we can't afford it, so we brought him back.
I noticed that this child's eyes were fixed on me, so I immediately asked Mu Ji to flag down a vehicle on the road to take him to the hospital in Zhaojue County. The examination results: severe malnutrition, pleurisy, and tuberculosis. The doctor said that such a child might not survive. I said to try everything possible. Three months later, the child was basically cured and discharged. In the following years, we frequently sent living supplies to this family and urged his grandfather to ensure the child goes to school. Later, I tried to visit him several times, but he said he went out to work at 16 and only returned during the Yi New Year.
During this New Year visit to the mountains, the person I most wanted to see was Yoya. Due to the construction of the highway, some of his family's land was taken, and they received some compensation, which allowed them to build a small, somewhat simple house. His grandfather has passed away, his father has returned home after serving his sentence, and his two older brothers are still working outside and haven't returned for the New Year. Yoya is tall and plump but not in very good health and has been on medication. His mental state is okay; when asked if he gets tired from work, he says he doesn't. Seeing him like this gives me some comfort, but I still worry about what his future will be like.
3. From an orphan to a philanthropist: Leze Zhang Yong
In September 2005, we established Liangshan's first fully boarding caring class in Temuli Town, where there were many orphans. In September 2005, we opened another caring class at the Central Primary School in Luo'e Yigang Township, Meigu County, and at the Central Primary School in Si Kai Town, Zhaojue County. Later, we gradually opened caring classes in Jinyang County, Puge County, Yuexi County, and Xide County. As the number of children we helped increased, in October 2010, with full government support, we gathered the children from the caring classes and founded the Minsheng Bank Red Ribbon Charity School in Meigu County. In 2018, we opened the Wanda Rongchuang Charity School in Zhaojue County. Furthermore, starting from September 2009, we have been organizing 2-3 special classes for girls from impoverished ethnic minority families at Liangshan National Secondary School and other schools every year. By September 2024, the total number of children we have accompanied in Liangshan has reached over 6,000.
Leze Zhang Yong is the first child from the caring class in Meigu County. His father passed away when he was only 7, leaving him to drop out of school and herd cattle at home. When we helped him, he was already 11 years old. He attended the caring class from first grade through to junior high graduation. None of his classmates passed the high school entrance exam, so we sent them to Yangzhou Tianhai Vocational School to learn catering and hotel services, and some to Wanjiang Vocational School to study auto repair. Those studying catering worked for several years at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center before returning after obtaining their associate degree. Those studying auto repair also worked at a 4S shop in Ma'anshan, Anhui, for a few years before coming back. They have now opened five auto repair shops and two restaurants in Meigu County and Zhaojue County.
Zhang Yong returned from Nanjing not to start a business but to do public welfare, becoming a resident social worker at the caring school in Meigu County. He now serves as the head of our social work station in Ri Ha Township, Zhaojue County, responsible for carrying out aesthetic education, cultural inheritance, and women's support work.
He is now married with children, and his wife runs a barbecue restaurant in Butuo County. However, during the New Year, he still returns to his hometown in Wawu Village, Jiukou Township, Meigu County, where a two-story building was allocated to his family during targeted poverty alleviation. Their family is a large family, with six grandfathers, and it has expanded to the fourth generation, now totaling over 50 people.
In Liangshan, there are many such large families. The advantage of human resources has become the greatest potential for Liangshan's future development. It is also an important contribution of the Yi people to help the country solve the problem of an aging population.
4. Lead singer of the Light Chasers band: Qu Bi Wu Li
Qu Bi Wu Li lost his father at a young age and was raised by his mother along with his siblings. When he first attended the caring class, I noticed his talent for performance, and I enrolled him in art summer and winter camps every year. After the Daliangshan Rural Art Troupe disbanded, we retained the core members and sent them to the caring class to work as administrators and art teachers, teaching children Yi folk songs to soothe their souls with music. However, the children still preferred to sing popular music, so at that time, there were no children's songs in Yi pop music, and we decided to write songs for the children.
In 2014, I asked the county mayor to send Ji Bu Ni He to the caring school as a music teacher. He is a somewhat famous original musician who can write lyrics and compose music. After arriving at the school, we established the Mawi Children's Art Troupe and wrote 12 bilingual campus songs in Yi and Chinese. In 2015, they participated in the Liangshan State Primary and Secondary School Art Festival, and the songs performed by the children, 'Child of the Motherland' and 'Spring Breeze Blows,' went viral online overnight. During the Yi New Year in 2015, we held a special concert for the children in Xichang City. In 2016, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission specially invited the children to perform at the Beijing National Theater for the 'Mawi Blossoms: Daliangshan Rural Children's Concert'. In 2017, Qu Bi Wu Li and Sister Lian Zha participated in the Guangxi Satellite TV program 'Dadi Feige', singing 'Mawi' and 'Child of the Motherland', winning the annual award and being praised by the media as the 'Best School Song'. During the 2017 Spring Festival Gala, Ji Ke Jun Yi sang 'Child of the Motherland' with Qu Bi Wu Li and Sister Lian Zha.
After graduating from elementary school, Mr. Zhu Chuan Hai, chairman of the Dream Pursuit Education Group in Anhui Province, took all the children from the 'Mawi Children's Art Troupe' to Ma'anshan Zhongjia Bilingual School for their secondary education. However, Qu Bi Wu Li and a few classmates who wanted to continue singing decided to return to Liangshan to form a band: The Light Chasers Project. They learned music while studying and began writing their own songs. In 2022, they participated in the 'Chinese Yi Song Conference' and won first place. This year, they were admitted to Sichuan Film and Television Academy and were selected by the academy to participate in the '2024 Original Musician Selection Competition' held in Chengdu, winning the annual grand prize. Their award-winning song was specifically written for the 20th anniversary celebration of Mawi Charity (Wild Grass).
Wu Li's home is located on a mountain 7 kilometers from Meigu County. His family has built a new house, but he and his mother still prefer to live in the old one. In the high-altitude mountainous area, if there is no fire pit, no matter how well the new house is built, it will still be cold, while the old house, no matter how dilapidated, feels warm. This is not only about the heating effect but also about the different family atmosphere and functions. With a fire pit, the family is willing to gather around and communicate, creating a completely different living atmosphere. The fire pit can also be used for cooking, barbecuing, and smoking food. Receiving guests by the fire pit is a kind of ceremony, with strong participation and experiential feelings. These cannot be replaced by electrical appliances. Many officials do not understand this and mistakenly regard the elimination of earthen houses and fire pits as the goal of poverty alleviation work. This is also one of the reasons for the low occupancy rate of centralized resettlement houses.
5. Child of the Motherland: Sister Lian Zha
At Qu Bi Wu Li's home, I encountered Sister Lian Zha and several other classmates from the caring class who also came to pay New Year visits. They agreed to call on the other members of the Light Chasers band and visit Sister Lian Zha's home for New Year greetings in the evening.
Sister Lian Zha and Qu Bi Wu Li are well-known child singers in Liangshan. However, they have taken different musical paths. Sister Lian Zha stayed at the Zhongjia Bilingual School in Ma'anshan, Anhui Province, to finish high school and was accepted into Sichuan Conservatory of Music last year, starting to systematically learn modern music knowledge and embark on an academic music path. Qu Bi Wu Li and others studied music at Sichuan Film and Television Academy but chose the path of popular music. Different paths lead to the same goal, which is to bring Yi music to the world stage.
Sister Lian Zha also lost her parents at a young age and grew up under the care of her older siblings. She lives in a new house, but everyone still prefers to sit around the fire pit in the courtyard, drinking and singing. Many people come to her house to pay New Year visits, and late into the night, groups of young people come in waves, finishing a box of beer in just a few minutes. Moreover, we were surprised that the girls who came to toast us were more and more beautiful, and the young men were increasingly handsome. 'Lian Zha' is a family surname, meaning beautiful in Yi language. Therefore, we cannot help but marvel: this family truly lives up to its name!
6. Women's Mutual Aid Group Leader: Alo (pseudonym)
From 2012 to 2014, with the support of the Merck Foundation and the European Union, we collaborated with health departments to implement the 'AIDS Treatment Advocacy and Entrepreneurship Support Project' in Zhaojue County and Butuo County. At that time, although the state had formulated the 'Four Frees and One Care' policy for AIDS-infected individuals, providing free antiviral treatment, very few were willing to accept treatment, and even fewer could persist in taking their medication daily, leading to poor compliance. In fact, China's AIDS treatment medications are already very effective; with consistent medication, individuals can recover their health and live to 60-70 years old without issue, meaning AIDS is no longer an incurable disease but a chronic illness. More importantly, adhering to medication can significantly reduce the viral load in the body, thereby lowering the chance of virus transmission. Treating one infected individual can reduce one source of transmission.
Our project mainly targets women who are infected. We selected the 40 villages with the most severe AIDS issues in Zhaojue County and Butuo County, organizing the infected women in the villages into mutual aid groups. On one hand, we organized them for training to understand the necessity of AIDS treatment and relevant knowledge, and we invited county hospitals to create treatment plans for each person. Group members encourage and supervise each other to adhere to daily medication. On the other hand, to reduce mobility and allow them to focus on treatment at home, we developed family entrepreneurship plans and provided startup funds. We distributed breeding sows and ewes, built standardized pigpens and sheep pens, and provided technical training for developing family farming.
Over three years, we have supported over 1,000 women infected with AIDS in 40 villages, helping them regain health and increase their family's economic income. This not only strengthened their confidence and courage in life but also encouraged male infected individuals in the village to seek treatment.
In June 2018, Peng Liyuan, the goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and AIDS prevention of the World Health Organization, visited Zhaojue County, specifically to express care, support, and encouragement to the members of the women's mutual aid group.
Alo is the representative of infected individuals whom Peng Liyuan personally visited at home. She is the leader of the women's group, working proactively and expressing herself well. I took her to participate in the AIDS prevention and control exchange conference organized by the Ministry of Health in Kunming, where she spoke in Yi.
Ten years have passed; how are these women infected individuals now? In September of this year, our team originally responsible for executing this project revisited dozens of families and received information that brought us great comfort. This time, we arranged to visit Alo's home to see their changes for ourselves. The result was beyond my expectations.
Alo raised five sons by herself after her husband's death. The eldest son graduated from university and works at a construction company; the second and fourth sons work outside, the third son has a disability and farms at home, and the youngest son is studying nursing at a vocational school.
Alo's family is the best decorated and cleanest rural household I have ever seen, even better than many urban families. Not only has the government helped her build a well-maintained house, but she also spent 200,000 to build a two-story small building for her disabled son. The support from the government and social organizations has transformed a woman on the brink of death into someone unrecognizable.
7. Head of the Mawi Children's Art Troupe: He Re Ri Zhe
The last family we visited was the He Re Ri Zhe family. He is 18 years old and currently in the third year of junior high. Like many others, he lost his father and was raised by his mother along with four siblings. When we helped him, he was 10 years old, still herding sheep on the mountain. This child is also very talented; while studying in the caring class at Zhi Ha Township, he joined the Mawi Children's Art Troupe. He can learn anything, whether it's folk songs, mouth harp, moon lute, Mabu, or guitar. Their art teacher, Ji Mu Zi Wu, simply taught him first and then let him teach other classmates.
The Mawi Children's Art Troupe in Zhaojue won first place in the music group at the Sichuan Provincial Primary and Secondary School Art Festival in 2017. In 2018, the headquarters of Kuaishou organized a three-day Yi New Year live broadcast event at Ri Zhe's home and made his photos into public welfare advertisements, posting them at Beijing International Airport.
In 2019, their family moved from Guli Gorge to a resettlement community in Zhaojue County and moved into a multi-story building. The mother runs a business in the city, while the brother, sister, and younger sister work outside, and he and his younger brother attend school in the county. Grandfather and mother really like city life and no longer feel as exhausted as in the past!
Telling the stories of these families is not to prove how great our charity organization is but to convey a principle: the poverty and backwardness of Liangshan are not due to the laziness or lack of ambition of the Yi people but rather a lack of development conditions. As long as they are given fair educational and employment opportunities, they can also develop and live happy lives!
I also want to emphasize that the help for these families did not come solely from the government and social organizations, but also from thousands of families and socially responsible enterprises across the country. Without their donations and the love and commitment they provided, we could not have achieved anything. The first bilingual campus song we created and performed, 'Child of the Motherland', expresses this sentiment. This is also the most solid foundation laid by social organizations conducting public welfare activities in ethnic minority areas to strengthen the awareness of the Chinese national community.
2. The intertwining of history, reality, and future in Meigu County.
The cultural ancestor shared by the Yi people in the four provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi is called 'A Pu Du Mu'. Around the Spring and Autumn Period, he unified the various Yi clans in Zizipu (Zhaotong, Yunnan), established local governments, gradually became strong, and began to expand. Around the Eastern Han Dynasty, Gu Hou and Qu Ni led two major tribes across the Jinsha River into Liangshan, where they dispersed after an alliance in Meigu Bridge. Now, when the Bimo in various parts of Liangshan read the scriptures to guide the spirits back to the ancestral realm, they must pass through Meigu. Due to its location in the heart of Daliangshan, where external cultural shocks are minimal, Meigu County has preserved the richest intangible cultural heritage of the Yi people. Therefore, it is known as the 'Holy Land of Ancient Yi and Capital of Intangible Cultural Heritage'.
Originally, we did not plan to investigate the intangible cultural heritage of Meigu County, but several accompanying friends wanted to see the traditional Yi residences, so I took them there.
Ten years ago, to build a loving school and children's hope home with Yi architectural characteristics, I invited architects from Hong Kong, Beijing, and Chengdu to conduct preliminary investigations on the traditional architecture of Liangshan's Yi people. It was found that the traditional architecture of Liangshan's Yi people is a unique architectural form that cannot be categorized. Moreover, this form is still developing and innovating independently.
1. An entrepreneur with both new and old Yi residences: Da Ze Mu Tie
Da Ze Mu Tie from Ba Pu Village in Meigu County has been relying on salt trading for prosperity since his grandfather's time. He built a beautiful rammed earth and wood structure that has been preserved to this day, with many old Yi-style furniture inside. After the reform and opening up, his father started doing business and became the richest person in Meigu County at that time. He bought the land of the Meigu County Meteorological Station and built three new-style Yi residences. The difference between his new-style Yi residence and the old-style Yi residence is that the rammed earth walls have been replaced with brick walls, and the wooden tiles have been replaced with brick tiles, but the interior still retains the traditional mortise and tenon structure, and no iron nails are used in the entire building.
Da Ze Mu Tie, as the third-generation Yi wealthy man, returned after graduating from university to inherit the family business and is designing and building a Yi-style hotel.
2. De Gu's Home: The Yi Residence of Doctor Hai Lai
Dr. Hai Lai, president of the Meigu County Folk De Gu Cultural Association, is also one of the wealthier individuals, having invested over 1 million to build a manor-style building in the village a decade ago. The four corners of the wall feature watchtowers, the main building is founded on large stone blocks, and the internal structure is also a wooden framework. Inside, there are many wooden carvings. He also carved family maxims in Yi script on the wooden walls, fully reflecting the aesthetic taste and value orientation of the Yi people, as well as demonstrating the Yi people's ability and determination to independently construct modernity.
As far as I know, Meigu County has now constructed seven or eight such buildings, and Xichang City also has a few. The Daliangshan Rural Creative Station we built in Zhaojue County is also a similar type of building. Currently, the Yi architecture in Meigu County has been included in the provincial intangible cultural heritage list.
3. Listening to 'Ku Shi Niu Niu He' (New Year Song) by the Fire Pit.
At Qu Bi Wu Li's home, we heard a unique endangered intangible cultural heritage music called 'Ku Shi Niu Niu He', a folk song sung only during the New Year. The duet tells of beautiful aspects of life and wishes for each family's better days ahead!
There are dozens of music-related cultural heritages from Liangshan that have been included in the national, provincial, and state-level intangible cultural heritage lists. Niu Niu He is just one type of the provincial-level intangible cultural heritage 'Yi Nuo Folk Songs', with others including 'Xi Xi Niu Niu He (Wedding Songs)', 'A Gu He (Funeral Songs)', 'Gu Ji He (Love Songs)', 'Niu Bo He (Labor Songs)', and 'A Yi He (Children's Songs)'.
Wu Li had long told me that his mother could sing many Niu Niu He songs, but I didn't expect that his sister-in-law and cousin were also very talented folk singers. Although Wu Li is already a star, he still needs to continue learning about Yi folk songs. Only by being rooted in the soil of ethnic culture can the path of music become broader.
4. The reclusive photographer in the deep mountains: Li Dong
Li Dong is a senior engineer and entrepreneur who abandoned business for photography and writing over a decade ago. He became famous for photographing Africans in Guangzhou. Four years ago, he left Guangzhou to become a volunteer teacher in Meigu County. After teaching for a year, he simply decided to stay and rented a house in a small village in Jingyete Xi Township, Meigu County, living a hidden life. While writing novels, he also photographs and documents the lives and rituals of villagers.
When I met him, he had already integrated himself into the community, not only taking photos of the villagers but also helping repair water and electrical lines as well as various electrical appliances. Villagers invite him to their weddings and religious ceremonies, and when they slaughter pigs during the New Year, they also send meat to him. Approaching the age of 60, he still insists on using a mountain bike for transportation and shopping, traveling dozens of miles back and forth to the county town every week.
In fact, he is not reclusive but is trying a new way of life. Living in the mountains, he connects with the outside world through the internet, and many of the things he eats and uses are purchased online. The photos and videos he shoots are also disseminated through social media. This not only allows him to escape the hustle and bustle and disputes of the city but also enables him to enjoy the tranquility and harmony of the mountains. More importantly, he can personally experience the traditional life of the mountain people, including human relationships, rituals, beliefs, and labor. By switching and contrasting between tradition and modernity, he searches for the most ideal state of human life in the AI era.
Last month, I brought professors from six domestic and foreign universities to Meigu County for an investigation, attending a Yi wedding and a Bimo ceremony. They were all deeply moved by the historical and cultural resources that Daliangshan has preserved intact. Professor Wu Gaolan from Zhejiang University said: Liangshan is a mirror that reflects urban life and can reflect many problems existing in modern civilization.
3. Overall changes happening in Daliangshan.
As an activist anthropologist, I have spent 20 years conducting social practice and public welfare innovations in Liangshan, aiming to reduce the costs borne by marginalized groups during intense social transformation and cultural change through action research, social advocacy, and policy development, exploring the possibility of reconstructing ecological and spiritual homes.
This time visiting Daliangshan for the New Year, I not only saw the changes in these individuals and families but also gained new observations and insights into the overall development of this region, experiencing both joy and anxiety.
1. The troubles of development: traffic congestion.
Once you get on the road, you will feel the biggest change that has occurred in Daliangshan in recent years: there are more and more vehicles, and the roads are becoming increasingly congested. From the state capital Xichang to the county town and then to various villages, the further you go into the countryside, the more congested it becomes. This phenomenon is unprecedented. In our impression, the larger the city, the more congested the traffic. How could this happen in the most underdeveloped areas of China? In fact, this is the result of the inevitability of development combined with the particularity of culture.
Firstly, since the implementation of targeted poverty alleviation, the government has paved all rural roads, allowing cars to reach the doorsteps of farmers. The once isolated Daliangshan has opened up the last barriers connecting to the outside world and is beginning to integrate into globalization and the large market.
Secondly, more farmers are buying cars, and transportation no longer requires manpower or horses. It has become the norm for cars to be used for social visits and exchanges. Most of the cars purchased by farmers are sedans and SUVs, with many agricultural vehicles, tractors, and motorcycles as well.
Third, the customs of celebrating the Yi New Year have not changed much. On the first day, they kill pigs, on the second and third days, they go to pay New Year visits. The key word for visiting is 'carrying meat', which means giving meat, cigarettes, wine, and sugar to the closest family members such as grandparents, parents, uncles, and aunts. Now, the time for celebrating New Year is becoming more unified, with everyone rushing to pay New Year visits on November 21-22. All vehicles are on the road, and village-level roads are one-way, so how can traffic not be congested?
2. The economic situation of farmers has indeed improved.
For more than a decade, Liangshan has been a focus for the media, with many explosive news stories. Naturally, the public's impression is dominated by Liangshan's poverty and backwardness. Targeted poverty alleviation has ended for four years, and whether the poverty problem has truly been solved is the most concerning question for everyone.
From my observations, most farmers not only have money to buy cars, but their various consumption is also upgrading. When returning for the New Year, the clothing and cigarettes of rural youth are even better than mine. The number of hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets in the county town and townships is increasing. There are also more and more renovated houses, with flooring, ceilings, sofas, Sealy mattresses, and various electrical appliances becoming widespread.
Currently, farmers' income has three main sources: firstly, the increasing number of people going out to work and earning money; secondly, the sales income of agricultural products, especially livestock products, is increasing; and thirdly, various subsidies from the government are also increasing, ensuring the basic livelihoods of low-income groups through rural minimum living allowances, orphan subsidies, special hardship children subsidies, grain and grass subsidies, boarding subsidies, nutritious lunches, and public welfare job wages.
3. The overall improvement in population quality.
The long-term persistence of poverty in Liangshan's Yi rural areas is primarily due to a large number of illiterate and semi-illiterate individuals. Fifteen years ago, the average years of education was only four years. It was not until 2009 that nine years of compulsory education was fully achieved. Targeted poverty alleviation has also adopted the 9+3 policy, where students can study for three more years at vocational schools after graduating from junior high. More importantly, as long as they are accepted into high school, they can attend university, leading to an increasing number of rural college students, with almost every family having a child in university. Now, Liangshan has about 40,000 students admitted to universities each year, fundamentally changing the population structure and development foundation.
Another significant change brought by the improvement of population quality is the significant increase in employment rates. Over the past 30 years, Liangshan has faced numerous social issues, including high youth crime rates, rampant drug abuse, a high prevalence of AIDS, and an increasing number of children losing parental support, all due to the lack of educational and employment opportunities for rural youth. As long as rural Yi youth have received education above junior high school, they no longer face cultural barriers when entering cities. If they have received university education, they can navigate life and employment in cities with ease.
What struck us the most this time was the change in the young Yi people. Firstly, they are clean and tidy, dressed fashionably, and no longer differ much from urban youth; secondly, the girls have learned to apply makeup and enhance their beauty, combined with the Yi people's excellent genetic heritage, making the young women stunningly beautiful. At the same time, the simple, kind, polite, affectionate, and respectful qualities of the Yi people stand in stark contrast to the urban phenomenon of anxiety, passivity, severed family ties, depression, and choices against marriage and childbirth, highlighting the value and significance of traditional education.
The friends accompanying me did not expect that Daliangshan could maintain such a strong festive atmosphere for the New Year. I have never drunk so much New Year wine, heard so many blessings, or met so many warm and hospitable young people.
What confuses me is that there are fewer and fewer people wearing Yi clothing, including middle-aged and elderly people. When I think that Japanese and Korean people only wear ethnic clothing during grand ceremonial activities, I feel relieved.
However, the traditional cultural education received by Yi children and youth is decreasing, and the crisis of cultural disconnection is becoming increasingly prominent, which is an issue we should not ignore. Cultural diversity is the lifeblood and foundation of human development, an irreplaceable and invaluable resource, and the source of innovation and development for humanity. Protecting cultural diversity is a historical mission that humanity shares in common and is also a fundamental principle of international conventions established by the Chinese government.
I have visited 8 countries and conducted anthropological field research in over 30 ethnic areas. There is not a single ethnic group that does not mourn the loss of its culture and regret its absence. China's modernization should not be a homogenizing process that erases cultural differences but rather a process that maintains regional and ethnic cultural characteristics. The fundamental question is whether various regions and ethnicities can independently construct modernity.
Currently, we are launching a monthly donation plan, advocating for 'civilian charity, everyone participates in public welfare', supporting us to continue the activity of 'rescuing Liangshan's endangered culture and promoting intangible cultural heritage into campuses', hoping more friends will join us!
‘Different paths do not contradict, everything nurtures without harming each other; small virtues flow, great virtues cultivate, this is how the world thrives.’