Middleman: The Flow And Exchange

Economic Anthropology tells us that behind human economic behavior is existing the cultural and social significance. The exchange of objects as "merchandise" is not only to meet the realities of human needs but also to serve as important interactive media between different groups of people. Materials have been given the life and soul. As a result, relation ships between different goups of people which is based on reciprocity bears social meaning of life. The economic process is not only "natural", but also of society. it is both real and imagery. As economic anthropologist Polanyi put it, economy is embeded in society. This reveals the profound multiple significances of economy in social life of the humankind.During the historical development of Hui, so important part of Hui's economic structure has been the commerce that it even becomes a logo of Hui ethnic economy. However, how is it closely related with survival, development, and group identity of Hui ethnic group, and how does it set up the relationship between the networks across multiple borders, thus attaining the integrity and improvement of the regional society? This article holds that the commercial activities of the Hui is not only shaped by its business ethics but also determined by its historical context and local physical geography, community structure and power relations. Furthurmore, the commercial activities of the Hui play a role in the context of social involvements and set internal and external social borders of the goup.Making use of theory and methodology of economic anthropology, this article conducts a case study by choosing Hui business group in the "old city" area of Lintan county which is regarded as transitional and intersectional zone between two cultural types of pastoral and agricutural economies because it is located between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau. More attention is paid to structure approach in terms of cultural and structural methods of anthropology research. "Middleman" as a core concept is selected in the research. "Middleman" is different from the concept of "economic man" who is in pursuit of maximizing the interests in that it has a connotation of "moral person" and "societal person". "Middleman" hereby refers to a business group who have set up a multi-level economic cultural and social interaction system through the flow and exchange of merchandise under the guidance of economical rationality.This article is divided into nine chapters. It clarifies the development and the process of change of Hui business group in the "old city". By analyzing the formation of a network through commercial activity, group identity and two-way interactive process and their significance between Hui, Tibetan and Han are revealed. The construction and expression of the identity showcases Concentric Diversity-Orderly Structure. This article holds that Hui in the "old city" used commercial activity as a survival strategy by which they break through multiple tight encirclement formed by local natural, social and cultural difficulties. Objectively speaking, the "old city' Hui business group as a "middleman" carried out an effective link not only between themselves with greater outside world but also between inner China and Tibetan people. The relationship between the commercial activities and Hui group identity reflects the diversity and complexity of the group identity in the current discourse of the time as well as the nature of self-awareness and practice process. Challenges and adjustment encountered by the "old city" Hui business group carry dialetical revealing significance in the context of the integration after the differentiation of society in the process of transformation of Chinese society.