A Study On The Cultural Change Of Sai Erlong Mongolian

Cultural change is one of the important topics of ethnology research. Since the1980s’, Chinese scholars have changed their research emphasis on from the theory of social construction in the past time to the ethnic specific cultural phenomenon and the process of modernization. There have been numerous achievements in academic circles. But the research achievement on the Sai Erlong Mongolian is less and lacks of in-depth investigations and studies.The Sixth census showed that Sai Erlong has3038people and the Mongolian population accounts for more than96%of the total population. Surrounding Sai Erlong, there are many homologous Mongolian and a large number of Tibetan. Hundreds years ago, Sai Erlong Mongolian as well as the whole Henan Mongolian moved out from Xinjiang and other regions, then they took root, germinated, growth in Qinghai-Tibet plateau. After full contact with Sai Erlong Mongolian and local Tibetan, all levels of culture have a certain degree of "inclined to Tibetan culture". That is the phenomenon they speak in Tibetan, write with Tibetan, eat Tsampa, and believe Tibetan Buddhism."Inclined to Tibetan culture" is an important content of acculturation which is a basic form of cultural changes. There are many reasons that Sai Erlong Mongolian have occurred "inclining to Tibetan culture" phenomenon. And these reasons have different influence on cultural change. With the development of the society and the transformation of the system, as well as the ethnic relations closely, the deepening of reform and opening up and modernization drive, a series of changes have taken place in the Sai Erlong Mongolian’s traditional culture. These changes include both the changes of the external culture and the changes of the implicit culture; both "modernization" and "inclined to Mongolian culture".This dissertation being used acculturation theory and ethnic identity theory and being based on the combination of the field investigation and literature data on Sai Erlong Mongolian cultural changes made a diachronic pectination. This dissertation take proper comparison research in synchronic background to describe the cultural change matters, to find reasons of the changes, to analysis on the affection brought by Sai Erlong Mongolian’s changes, to understand the relationship between the cultural level and ethnic identity. This dissertation’s study ways and means will provide reference to other ethnic group’s cultural changes. The dissertation consists of seven chapters.The introduction which is mainly about the reasons for the choosing of the topic, significance and the domestic and international current research conditions, introduce some basic information about the research area. At the same time, I pointed out the innovation of this study, which is the value of this article.The first chapter, which is mainly about the Henan Mongolian’s history and national identity by taking the time as the axis and supplemented by oral history data, believes that the current Henan Mongolian is not pure Mongolian and30%of them were transformed from Tibetan identity. This is not only a portrayal of the Mongolian and Tibetan in this area, but also a manifestation and result of acculturation, which happened between Mongolian culture and Tibetan culture.The second chapter is mainly about Sai Erlong’s basic necessities of life culture. These surface cultural changes lead to the collapse of Mongolian traditional culture. There are many reasons for these changes, such as the change of economic type, productivity development, modernization, cultural communication, national consciousness, and national power propulsion. These changes bring about the two sides affection. Changes in surface culture affect the middle and inner culture changes, and then drive the change of Sai Erlong Mongolian culture.The third chapter which analyzes the changes of Sai Erlong’s marriage and family analyzes its reasons and effects. As an important part, marriage and family in Sai Erlong Mongolian are changing, such as the establishment of legal marriage, the simplification of marriage form, the diversification of standards of choosing spouse, the enlargement of intermarriage, the freedom of divorce, the simplify of marriage custom, the emerged of staying home, the rising of women status, the obviously of post figurative culture, the change of fertility concept, the simplification of separation and inheritance mode. These changes are caused by deepening and affection of modern conception, which affected the cultural change and development of the whole nation.The fourth chapter analyzes the history and present situation of Sai Erlong Mongolian’s religion. It also analyzes the reasons and impaction from these changes, In this chapter, I mention the religious secularization tendency. The secularization of religion doesn’t mean the disappearance and death of religion, but an existence form or social process of religion in order to adapt to the change of the society. The secularization affects the whole Sai Erlong Mongolian’s all aspects of life. From second chapter to the fourth chapter which is the analyses of the field data parts are the main research parts of the dissertation.The fifth chapter is the theoretical analysis part. This chapter which analyzes the dynamic mechanism of culture changes and the characteristics of changes expound the changing mode of Mongolian culture by using the related theories of acculturation and ethnic identity. Finally, it point out that the development of Sai Erlong Mongolian is a kind of "harmony but not sameness" way.In the conclusion, I put forward the relationship between the cultural level and ethnic identity that even if the surface, the middle, the inner of ethnic culture has a series of acculturation, as long as the core of culture:ethnic identity still exist, ethnic group will not disappear.