Altar Women: Women's Studies Dali Bai Village "Lotus Will.

"Lian chi Hui", usually known as "old mother’s community", widely exists in Bai villages of Dali, Yunnan Province. This women community is constructed spontaneously by middle and old aged village women and its core activities are related to regional indigenous worship. Although "Lian chi Hui" originally came out and developed at Dali area in "Nan zhao" Tang dynasty, it still plays a significant part in Bai people’s daily life until now. At Dali, nearly every Bai village has its own women community-"Lian chi Hui" while almost every family has at least one community member of "Lian Chi Hui".This dissertation is a case study about hometown-folklore. It takes village women and women community-"Lian Chi Hui" as two research objects and mainly focuses on role and gender practice in two aspects:a separate family woman’s individual role practice in private family space and those women community members cooperative role-practice in village and regional public space. Given the data obtained in field work, this study will discuss the following two questions:(1) Village women, as separate members of individual family, how to experience the process of socialization and enculturation through their personal study and practice about family regulations and village customs, and gradually become members of "Lian Chi Hui";(2) village women, as members of "Lian Chi Hui", how to practice their agency during the course to construct and reconstruct regulation and custom in both family private space and village regional public space. The first question mainly emphasizes the social and cultural structure. Those "Lian Chi Hui" community’s sacrifice rituals have significant meanings of "Li". Every female person in village space needs to study indigenous knowledge and local rules of sacrifice rituals. They are in the same process that the young generation to study the sacrifice knowledge and the old women to teach the ritual knowledge, and with the process "Lian Chi Hui" community was handed down from one generation to another generation. Unlike the first one, the second question mainly focuses on women’s agency and practice. Through their role practice, village women not only master some power in private and public space, but also play a significant part in social construction of village and native regional society. This research divides into five chapters:The first chapter illustrates the indigenous concept of "place" and local women’s living world through describing the daily practice of village women. Through different descriptions of village women’s oral legends, individual life history and the present village daily life, a dynastic and multi-facets "place" was unfolded in local people’s practice.The second chapter firstly presents the regional cultural fostering space of "Lian Chi Hui" and takes both multi-culture of Dali, and specific culture of Longkan village in which the concept of people-"Xian" is included, as the indigenous social soil of the women community. Secondly, It analyzes the origin of "Lian Chi Hui" in Dali area and then fully shows the enrollment ritual and personal mental differences with a new membership. Finally, It explains the structure, operation and sacred text about "Lian Chi Hui" community.The third chapter talks about female role alternation of a village woman and the inheritance of "Lian Chi Hui". Firstly, it shows a female person, from her birth, how to be a little girl "Xiao Nv Nan Zi", an aged girl "Da Nv Nan Zi", a bride and a little daughter-in-law. During the process of enculturation and socialization,"Lian chi hui" sacrifice knowledge, which includes the meaning of "Li" in village society is passed down. Secondly, it illustrates the Female elders’ two identities-as a family member and as a member of women community. Through their dual identities’role practice, they gradually master the power in private family and public village space.The fourth chapter discusses village women’s family sacrifice rituals and their role-practice. It firstly hows the role change for an aged daughter-in-law and her daily life and then describes those family sacrifice rituals hold for family members. All the sacrifice rituals, from which a woman’s agency and role practice can easily been examined, have an important impact on woman’s individual evaluation and even family "Li" construction.The fifth chapter talks about "Lian Chi Hui"women’s sacrifice rituals and their practice in public space."Lao Ma Ma", as aged and old women, with the role-change in private family space, their public roles and functions are recognized in village and regional space. Through both individual and group participation in village sacrifice rituals and ceremonies, old women and their community "Lian Chi Hui" are practicing and constructing "Lisu" and tradition in village and regional society. Through their agency and practice, a united social structure connecting different space layers-"family-village-place-society" is fully constructed.