Acculturation And Domestication

The formation of the "folklore "in the Liberated Area during Yan'an period, a special stage in the history of the Chinese popular literature, is the result of the joint strands of influences. The academic development of folklore from late Qing Dynasty to the 1930s has paved the foundation. The Chinese Communist Party's traditional preference on the folks and the cultural-ecological environment of the north in shanxi under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have also attributed to the formation. The folklore at that particular stage, due to the influences of the political institution of the CCP and the natural tension of folklore's own sake, has undergone acculturation and a diversion to its original standard. Under the joint influences mentioned above, the "folklore" has formed its own characteristics, i.e. it is treated as literary creations and secluded from folkloric research by those intellectuals. The so-called "folk", different from its true meaning, is the assumption concocted from the intellectual's own perspective, which has performed positive functions and promoted the folklore development at that specific historical context. In addition, the development has provided valuable experience for researchers. The later folklore researchers have inherited this tradition, and they have confined their folklore to the literary research. Instead of studying the folklore from the creation of the folks, the researchers, starting their research from their own assumed "folks", have failed in promotion of scientific research. The concept of the assumed "folks", with the change of the historical context, has become a bottleneck which has blocked the real development of folklore. Therefore, in order to boost a fundamental change of folklore research, transformation of research concept and methods is of the must.The dissertation is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, the author has put her emphasis on how those Chinese intellectuals have paid their attention on "folks" in the middle and later Qing Dynasty. The author has analyzed the crisis China faced at that time and the efforts intellectuals made so as to save the country. While learning from the foreign cultures, the intellectuals found the enlightenment of the folks as the way to save their country. Thus, there appeared the first attempt to study the folks. The intellectuals, forming a fragmentary and distorted understanding of folklore, started the pre-disciplinaryconcept of folklore research. This tradition has served as the direct academic source for the folklore development during Yan'an period. The second chapter has discussed the close connection folklore has with the literary revolution. Firstly, folklore comes into being with the new cultural revolution. Secondly, the researchers treat folklore as a means to start a literary revolution to reverse the traditional literature. To them, folklore encompasses the literary elements. This tradition has overstated during Yan'an period. Hoping to establish a new cultural value system, the researches put the ultimate goal of the literary revolution to form a new nation. As the enlightenment precursors, those advocators of the literary revolution, wishing to find some enlightened ideas from the folklore, have concocted the ideal "folks". This assumed concept has found its continuity during Yan'an period. The third chapter has analyzed the other two influential factors: the CCP's preference on folklore traditions and the rich resources of the north in Shanxi folk culture. To treat the folklore as a means to integrate the common folks and form an empathy, the CCP has issued mature policies, by involving the folklore into a literary system, to encourage the CCP for a better leadership and for the common folks to understand the CCP policies. The rich resources of the local folk culture have guaranteed the flourishing of the folklore at that time. Chapter Four has further discussed the features of folklore during Yan'an period from four aspects: the theoretical research, the reforms, the writers' creations and the creations of the folk artists. After the analysis, the author has demonstrated the features of folklore: its acculturation and diversion to its natural origin. In Chapter Five, the author has explored the transmission and extension of the folklore concept established during Yan'an period to the folklore research after 1949.Besides, in the Introduction of the dissertation, the author has briefly explored the historical and current research done on folklore in the liberated area during Yan'an period. And in this section, the author has given a brief account on her research goal, meaning, methodology and frame to be used. In the part of the conclusion, the author has expounded the concept of "folks ", research object of folklore as the summary of the dissertation.