A Study On Ethnic Identity Of The Uyghur Nationality In Hunan

Hunan Uygur is one of the eight nationalities in Hunan province which has a long history. They have been in Hunan for more than 630 years. Their Ancestors was originated from the Western of China. With the development of history, they moved to Hunan in Ming Dynasty with special reasons, and got a name, Jian, honored by the Emperor. Hunan Uygur was far away from their main group—Xinjiang Uygur, and was subjected to a area with specific local natural environment and human environment. Their culture had undergone great changes. It had already established a set of cultural patterns in order to adapt to local environment. With the reasons of contacting with other ethnic group as well as the inter-marriage, they had already formed a harmonious multi-ethnic community with a culture pattern of "I live in your group, and you live in my group". But the Uygur didn't melt in the other local groups, and they maintained a strong sense of identity of the nationality. What is the situation of their national identity? The author interested in it very much.Therefore, this study took villagers who lived in Hui-wei village of Tao-yuan as the research object, using the theory of "Bath's ethnic Boundary" to discuss the ethnic identity of Hunan Uighur. After the investigation, this study came to several conclusions as following. First of all, the identity cognitive capacity of Hunan Uygur came from the national positive policy of ethnic identification. Before the publish of the policy, there was no word of Uighur in any dictionalry, but a distinction between Hui and Han. With the publishing of the policy, the Jian clan was identified as "Uygur", and gradually build their national identity. Historical memory is the primary emotional element in the construction of Uygur's national identity. Furthermore, the activities which held by elites in group enhanced the national identity of Uighur. Secondly, the lasting of a nationality depends on the maintenance of the frontier. There were clear boundaries among Hunan Uygur, Han and Hui. The explicit objective cultural characteristics was the main boundary between Uygur and Han. While the boundary between the Uygur and Hui was the outcome of the active construction. Finally, Hunan Uygur has good relationships with other groups. There is a strong homogeneity in culture. But they still have their own national identities, with a cultural phenomenon of "melting but independent, harmonious but different". In the author's opinion, Mr. Fei Xiao-tong's theory, "Unity of the Chinese pattern", can explain this phenomenon very well. China's ethnic groups are not only have cultural inextricably association, but also have their relative independence. The culture phenomenon of Uygur, is not only the result of association with other nations in the development of history, but also the reflection of the diversity of Chinese culture. In addition, I believe that either the objective characteristics of ethnic identity or the subjective identity theory should not be subjected to the opposing positions. They all have their merits. Objective characteristics can be used to figure out the meaning of ethnic groups and Subjective theory can be used to depict the ethnic boundary. In China, the phenomenon of ethnic identity are complex and diverse, due to the reason of national "big mixed, small settlements", frequent exchanges between ethnic groups as well as the similarity of cultural interaction. Therefore, these two views of ethnic identity are all worth to be referenced. I also believe that, in the development of nationality, there is no similarity between religious identity and national identity. It will not affect the maintenance of their national identity as well as the development of the nationality, whether it is in the situation of normal historical progressing.