Study On The Changing Livelihood Of Chahar Mongolian In Xinjiang

The bsasic function of culture is to ensure that people whose life patterns follow the rules of living can actually survive. This makes the livelihood study means so much to Anthropology. In the course of time, Mongolian in Chahar, Xinjiang, witnessed a great change in their way of living and culture. Both internal and external dynamic factors led to the change of livelihood. At the same time, changing livelihood led to changes on local Mongolian’s life pattern and way of thinking. This article attempts to analyse the livelihood of Mongolian in Chahar from the perspective of changing livelihood. On the basis of campestral investigation, this analysis will also utilize theories and methods of ethnonymics in oeder to achieve the above purpose. Besides, from the point of cultural change, this article tries to reveal the living features of local Mongolian, and will seek the internal relation between modern changing livelihood of Chahar Mongolian and changing social culture. I wish that this article can contribute to some relevant researchs about Chahar Mongolian.This paper consists of five parts. The first part is introduction. In this part, I explained briefly about my reasons for choosing this certain topic, as well as the meaning of the study and methods applied in the study. I used existing research results for referenc, defined the relevant concepts. In the second part, I described the basic information about the investigation area and project site. In the third part, I sorted out the traditional way of livelihood according to historical documents and materials as well as interviews. The fourth part is body part of the paper. I discussed the changing livelihood pattern of Mingetoleh village by means of Interview Method and Participant Observation. In the fifth part, with all those information above, I analysed and discussed mainly about the reasons and impacts of changing livelihood of Chahar Mongolian. In the sixth part, I made a conclusion. I had a reflection about confronting problems in the livelihood changing process of Chahar Mongolian, and looked forward to the future development of this process.