Tour Summary
by Kate Field

INTRODUCTION:
This past summer I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel with seven other educators to China to study ethnic minority groups in Yunnan and Xinjiang Provinces.  The trip was sponsored by the Freeman Foundation and Yale University’s Programs in International Resources Program (PIER).  Our group, led by Mr. Jeffrey Levick of Yale University and Dr. Eileen Walsh of Skidmore College, spent nearly a month in China, learning about the diverse minority groups living in the regions we visited, including the Mosuo, Bai, Naxi, Yi, Tibetan, Uyghur, Tajik, and Kyrgyz nationalities.  We focused not just on the unique cultures and religious beliefs of these groups, but on the environmental problems that threaten their livelihoods and health, the positive and negative effects of local and national government policies, and the challenges and opportunities posed by  increased tourism in these regions.

UNIQUE CULTURES AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF MINORITY GROUPS:   
The Chinese government officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups within their borders.  The largest ethnic group is the Han Chinese, making up 92% of the total population.  The other 8% of the population is divided among the remaining 55 minority groups living throughout China.  Our group visited Yunnan and Xinjiang Provinces, two of the most ethnically diverse regions of the country.

The unique cultural practices and religious beliefs of the various groups we studied were often immediately evident in the clothing worn by each group.  Each minority group has a distinctive style of dress.  Naxi women, for example, typically wear a blue cap, while Yi women wear a very distinct, tall black headdress.  While it was common to see groups in their traditional dress in the rural areas, it was rare in larger cities, especially among young, unmarried people, who seemed to prefer more current fashions.  Many elderly people, however, still wore traditional dress, even in the larger cities. They also wear their traditional costumes to festivals, dances, performances, and on other special occasions.  I felt the changing styles of dress reflected the changing cultural beliefs and mores of these groups as they struggle to reconcile their traditions with their desire to become a part of the modern world.

In Xinjiang, the influence of Islam was everywhere, and both men and women tended to wear very loose-fitting clothing that covered much of their bodies.  Many Uyghur and Tajik women wore the hijab, a head scarf to preserve their modesty.  In some cases, women covered their heads and bodies completely, including their face and hands.  Many Tajik, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur women in the countryside wore vibrant colors, including cherry reds, canary yellows, and azure blues. Our guide explained this by saying women enjoyed wearing bright colors to contrast with the prevailing grey of the landscape—Xinjiang receives very little rain, and there are only isolated pockets of color.  

In Yunnan Province, many of the ethnic groups we encountered were highly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism, including the Naxi, Yi, and Mosuo peoples.   Each of these groups practice some form of Tibetan Buddhism, but they mix in their own local beliefs as well.  As an example, the Naxi have their own priests, called Dongbas, who are as important as the Tibetan Lamas.  The Mosuo, a matrilineal group, still practices Tibetan Buddhism, a highly paternalistic religion, but is able to adapt the religion in ways that do not conflict with their culture.  We visited a Buddhist Temple in Kunming called Yuan Tong Temple, which combined Theravada, Mahayana, and Tibetan Buddhism on the same premises.  Many of the ethnic groups in Yunnan seem to have adapted Buddhist beliefs to suit their own local needs and beliefs, creating new forms of the religion.  This contrasts sharply with religion in Xinjiang, where Islam has not mixed with indigenous religious practices, but appears to have supplanted them.  Because of this, I did not see as wide an array of religious practices in Xinjiang as I did in Yunnan even though there are a comparable number of ethnic groups living in the area.  As an example, although the Uyghurs are Sunni Muslims and the Tajiks are Shi’a, they both follow the same basic practices and follow the same uniform code of beliefs.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AFFFECTING MINORITY CULTURES:
The environmental problems in Yunnan and Xinjiang are dire and pose a direct threat to the health, livelihood, and cultures of the many minority groups living in these areas.  When our group drove from Lijiang to the Lugu Lake area, we saw huge swatches of land that had been deforested.  The road we took was also new, and we could see the massive soil erosion that resulted from its construction.  The area is so mountainous, it will be virtually impossible to plant more trees to slow this problem.  The soil slides down the mountains and into the rivers, blocking the flow of water in some places.  This problem is compounded by the construction of hydroelectric dams in the area.  In addition, the Mosuo, Yi, and Naxi people, among others, all use wood for fuel, and if an alternate source is not found, they will continue to deforest large tracts of land in the years to come, exacerbating the soil erosion problem.

Most of the rivers and streams throughout China, including those in Yunnan and Xinjiang, are polluted and are not potable.  At one point on our drive to Lugu Lake, we stopped at a rest stop to go to the bathroom and discovered that the human waste flowed down a chute directly into the river.

In the Lugu Lake area, increased tourism has resulted in increased water pollution.  Human waste is left untreated and contaminates the lake water.  Until five years ago, residents used to drink the water from the lake, but because of rising pollution levels they are now unable to do so.

Similar problems exist in Xinjiang.  Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, is one of China’s ten most polluted cities.  Gas refineries and coal plants pollute the air with levels of carbon monoxide so high a person would have to smoke over two packs of cigarettes a day to compare.  Although Xinjiang receives very little rainfall, there are forests in the northern part of the province, which are being rapidly cut down, resulting in increased desertification.  The changing ecology in the region is resulting in the drying of lakes, and large scale water storage plans and massive irrigation projects divert water from their natural courses, lowering the water tables and resulting in an actual loss of arable land.
 
EFFECT OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES:
National Government policies in the Yunnan region were more beneficial than I had originally anticipated.  The Chinese government has created a program similar to Affirmative Action in the United States.  Minority students can score slightly lower than their Han counterparts and still be accepted into competitive schools and universities.  This is an attempt to compensate for the fact that, overall, minority students do not have access to the same quality of education that many Han students are fortunate to have, although this is an over-simplification.  Many Han students in rural areas are similarly disadvantaged.  Additionally, in some cases, minorities are more likely to receive financial assistance to help pay school tuition.  Another example of a beneficial government policy is many ethnic minorities, especially in rural and inland regions, are exempt from the country’s “one-child” policy.

National policies in Xinjiang Province are less beneficial.  There has been a history of social unrest in this area, which has been brutally suppressed by the PLA.  Military presence in this area is much higher than in Yunnan.  Additionally, the “Go West” policy has a negative effect on the minorities living in this area as well.  As greater and greater numbers of Han Chinese move into the area, levels of resentment go up correspondingly.  While in Kashgar, I met some young Uyghur men who spoke excellent English.  I was planning on attending an “English Corner” at a local café, and decided to invite my new friends along.  At the event it became strikingly obvious that there was a physical division of Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the room, with no interaction between them.  We had a huge group photo taken of the event, which reveals these divisions.  All of the Chinese are on the right side of the picture, and all of the Uyghurs are on the left.  I asked my friends why they didn’t speak to the pretty Chinese women at the event, but they replied “They’re outsiders.”  I felt the comment revealed a certain hostility and resentment, resulting from the huge influx of Chinese to the area in recent years.
Local government policies have been far less beneficial than the national policies in Yunnan.  Local political corruption is a serious problem, and contributes to hostilities between various ethnic groups living in the same region.   When the national government grants autonomy to a certain group, it is left up to the local governments to figure out how to implement this.  It is not uncommon in both Yunnan and Xinjiang to have Autonomous territories within Autonomous Regions.  For example, the Tajiks have an autonomous territory within the Uyghur Autonomous Region.  This creates tensions and conflicts between the governments of the territories and regions, which are being run by different ethnic groups.

Local government corruption compounds this problem.  In the Lugu Lake area, for example, the pollution caused by increased tourism has remained unresolved for several years, despite the large influx of money.  Much of this money is funneled into the hands of the corrupt government officials and a few of the more prominent families in the area, or care more about short-term gain than long-term solutions to environmental problems.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF TOURISM:
 Both Yunnan and Xinjiang Provinces have experienced a rapid increase in tourism over the past ten years, resulting in both positive and negative effects.  Tourism has resulted in an overall improvement in the standard-of-living of many families.  We stayed with a Mosuo family, for example, that was able to afford a cell phone.  We also visited a Tajik family who had a television and telephone in their home, something that is now not uncommon.  Every school we visited, no matter how poor or how remote, had at least one computer with Internet access.  With these rising standards-of-living, however, there are also negative consequences.  Outside influences change the culture in ways that may not be desirable.  At Lugu Lake, for example, tourism has resulted in an increase in prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases.   Some members of minority groups like the Mosuo, for example, market their culture to tourists in ways that are somewhat misleading and degrading to their actual values and practices, often disrupting power relationships within the village and in the family.  Outsiders come to the area to capitalize on the unique culture of a minority group in ways that will not trickle down and benefit the local population.  As stated previously, tourism also inevitably results in environmental damage.

CONCLUSION:
Over the course of the nearly four weeks I spent in China, I learned an incredible amount about the many diverse minority groups living in Yunnan and Xinjiang Provinces.  I have a far greater appreciation of their unique cultures and religious practices, but also have a deeper understanding of the challenges such groups face as they struggle to maintain their identity in the face of radical and irreversible environmental, economic, political and social change.