The Diasporaand Return Of Ancestral Graves: The Practice Of Interaction Between The State And The Border Ethnic Groups

In the Guangxi Sino-Vietnamese border area,there is a special phenomenon of grave relocation in a special period.The ancestral graves of the Chinese border ethnic groups who were buried abroad for special reasons are relocated from abroad and buried within the country,which is a cross-border relocation of graves.Based on anthropological field investigation methods and literature research methods,and taking the phenomenon of cross-border relocation of graves in Xiaqizhu as an example.The research uses the theory of the interaction between the state and society to comprehensively analyze the reasons why the ancestral graves of the Xiaqizhu people are buried abroad,and the background and motives of moving back the ancestral graves abroad.The purpose of the research is to reveal the all-round interaction relationship between the state and the border ethnic groups in the cross-border movement of the ancestral graves.Qizhu had not been divided into two by the national boundary before the separation of the border between China and Vietnam.At that time,the Qizhu people were able to choose to bury their ancestors in the higher ground of village inside according to the traditional cultural habits of the clan or ethnic group.China and France formally delineated the sovereign boundary between China and Vietnam in the sense of a modern nation-state in the 20 th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty(1894AD).The delineation of the Sino-Vietnamese boundary caused Qizhu to be divided into Xiaqizhu and Shangqizhu.Among them,the Xiaqizhu belonged to China,and the Shangqizhu belonged to Vietnam.Since the original ancestral graves of the Xiaqizhu people were buried in the higher terrain of Shangqizhu of Vietnam,the ancestral graves of the Xiaqizhu people were passively separated from the boundary between China and Vietnam.At the same time,after the separation of the border between China and Vietnam,China and Vietnam have although gradually strengthened the entry and exit management of border ethnic groups,but the relative relaxation of border control has made daily cross-border interactions between the Xiaqizhu people and the Shangqizhu people who are the same ethnic group and the same clan not interrupted.At this time,due to the cultural habits of the Xiaqizhu people and the state’s relatively loose border management,the Xiaqizhu people still chose to bury their ancestral graves in the original clan graves of Shangqizhu,which resulted in the active diaspora of the Xiaqizhu people’s ancestral graves.In 2009,China and Vietnam listed the work of guiding and mobilizing border ethnic groups to relocate their ancestral graves abroad as one of the follow-up tasks of the demarcation of the boundary and the erection of the boundary markers for the sake of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.From 2009 to 2013,after extensive publicity and mobilization in the border areas by the state and Guangxi foreign affairs departments at all levels,the Xiaqizhu people actively chose to relocate their ancestral graves from abroad to China for another burial after experiencing some ideological struggles between relocating and not relocating their graves.The ancestral graves of the Xiaqzhu people experienced a complex cross-border movement from diaspora to return.From the perspective of the interactive relationship between the state and the border ethnic groups,in the process of the diaspora and return of the ancestral graves of the Xiaqzhu people,the presence of a powerful state power centered on the powerful rule of state power and the border discipline of national sovereign has been playing a leading and promoting role.In a certain sense,it is the division of the sovereign boundary between China and Vietnam that led to the diaspora and return of the ancestral graves of the Xiaqizhu people.At the same time,the Xiaqizhu people have also given full play to their subjective initiative in the process of diaspora and return of their ancestral graves,and making a wide range of active choices.One is choosing to continue to maintain daily cross-border interaction habits such as cross-border burial and grave sweeping based on blood lineage and ethnic identity.The second is to actively select and requisition national symbols in cross-border grave relocation and burial ceremonies,and strengthen the awareness of national identity,territorial sovereignty and the awareness of conserving soil and consolidating borders,and break traditional habits,as well as construct new ritual traditions to achieve a win-win situation between national sovereign interests and self-realistic needs.The third is that the diaspora and return of the ancestral graves of the Xiaqizhu people deeply reflects the rational choice of survival and economic rationality of the local people.Fourth,the activity of cross-border relocation of graves reflects the cross-border division of clan or ethnic group between the Xiaqizhu people and the Shangqizhu people who are the same ethnic group and the same clan.Fifth,the cross-border grave relocation and burial ceremonies of the Xiaqizhu people also reflected the local people’s maintenance of cultural traditions and blood relationship.It can be seen from the respective roles played by the state and the Xiaqizhu people in the cross-border movement practice of the ancestral graves’ diaspora and return,although the state power has long-term strong dominance over the border ethnic groups,but the state and the border ethnic groups as a whole are in a state of benign interaction and positive sum game.In other words,from the perspective of the interaction between the state and the border ethnic groups,the benign interaction relationship between the state and the border ethnic groups under the premise of a“powerful state” has always been in the mainstream of history.If the national system and policy are regarded as structural factors,and the independent choice and practice of border ethnic groups are regarded as active factors,then there is an interactive and inclusive relationship between structural factors and active factors.It can be seen that traditional Western state-centered theory and social-centered theory,as well as structural determinism theory and subjective action constructivism theory,are not suitable for explaining Chinese special historical and cultural connotations due to the one-sidedness of binary opposition.On the contrary,understanding Chinese history from the perspective of the two-way benign interaction between the state and society under the premise of a “powerful state” is more in line with Chinese special cultural logic.At the same time,ancestral graves are special objects,so to a certain extent it has expanded the horizon of academia on the study of diaspora and return.It expands from the study of “people” to the study of “object”.In addition,the research has also expanded the horizon of academia on the study of “object”.It expands from the research on the material nature,life history,flow,reciprocity and exchange of the“object” to the research on the diaspora and return of the “object”.