Exploration Xibe Culture

Historically, as a relatively minor ethnic group, the people of Xibo nationality have long been living apart in Northeast and Xinjiang. Such a residence pattern has formed the diversities for different dwellers, mirroring the cultural varieties of the people.Chronically and realistically, the text takes three typical fields as the subjects investigated after one year's research and probes into the culture of the Xibo ethnic minority group based on the co-existence and the co-sourcing of the harmonious society which stems from the analysis and comparison both synchronic and diachronic. From the angle of ethnology and anthropology, the text illustrates its culture by the group's society, history and culture memories on which to treat with the individual cultural election and the relationship between the individuals and the whole ethnic group's fortunes, and finally reveals the rich contents of its culture. And because of this, it provides some clues to the sustainable development of the nationalistic culture as well as the diversities of the human cultures. The aim is to stress the healthy and persistent progress of man's modernization and the Xibo culture with its heritage. What is worthy of thinking is how the Xibo culture under the background of the globalization can retain its features in the inheritance and development.The dissertation is divided into eight chapters:the preface, the epilogue and the main body.The preface introduces the reasons and senses of the selected topics with its correlation studies, elementary theories and means of application, not exclusive of the selection and illustrations of the field study spots, as well as basic clues and the framing plan of the whole work.Chapter One introduces the distribution and residential modes of the people, with highlights on the historical evolution and general aspect of the two societies, and also their migration history. Chapter two introduces the economic life of the group. It tells the traditional means of livelihood and the vicissitudes of the expanding economy and the production mode of life.Chapter three introduces the social organizations and the clan regime. The tight coupling of Halamukun and the Eight Banner System is the fabric of the peculiar Xibo societies. Its organism, family and clan regime are embodied in the culture of family trees.Chapter Four analyses its tongue and writing. From the source of the Sibe tongue with its evolution from Manchurian to the Manju gisun backed by the studies about the borrowed vocabulary, the clan-contacts and the changes of the language offer a perspective view.Chapter five describes the differences and diversities of the customs in Xibo nationalities. Due to the reasons of history and geography, different Xibo people have formed their own conventions in such aspects as diets, residences, habiliment, matrimony and funeral ceremony, thus incarnating the multiplicities of the group.Chapter Six brings into view the folk culture. Whether in the native Northeast China or in Xinjiang, the ethnic group hold in store profound national cultures and prolific cultural resources. Such items as ballads, folklores, meditative equanimities, folk music, dancing arts, traditional athletics and creations are all a strange burst of color by its long standing, which is a well-defined foundation for the people's culture. The chapter also introduces the festivities, e.g. Discredit Festival, Water-splashing Festival and West-Migration Festival, not exclusive of other unique rites, all of which exhibit the rich connotations.Chapter seven introduces the Xibo that locates between the traditions and the modern times. To meet the needs of comparative studies about the communities, the chapter goes out of the way to choose Beijing the most populous city dwelt by the Xibo race as the scattered living place where the new immigrants are interacting in the international metropolis for their survival strategies and also for their cultural elections from the "newcomers".Chapter Eight shows the inner world of belief-from the worship to the ancestors to that of barbarism-from Shamanism to the holy space of spirit, the Xibo family temple is annotated along the lines of gradual thinning convicted consciousness at the new age. However, the ancestral worship is the only factor that has never been tottered in the metal world of the people. At the same time, the Xibo family temple is still their Holy Lands.The epilogue part is the whole reflection over the Xibo culture and its fortune. It expounds the rich contents of the Xibo culture by the indication of the heritance, variability, closeness, openness, adaptabilities, regionalism and diversities. And it also emphasizes the cultural characteristics in the multi-cultural background with the significance of its heritage and progress, as well as the development of the culture.