Main Abstracts

Main Abstracts

Why Does Folkloristics Need Transcendental Logic？

HU Xiaohui

Lv Wei’s theoretical research proves that Kant’s transcendental logic not only helps us to logically diagnose and academically criticize the misuse of reason (transboundary use), and then turn our subjective opinions into academic propositions that can be deduced, but also makes us realize that empirical research can only regard a human-being as a natural “object” or objective entity, which is not suitable for human-beings’ freedom. Therefore, folkloristics not only needs transcendental logic to carry out a clear knowledge demarcation, but also “needs a transcendental jump”, that is, only by jumping out of a limited empirical world and entering a rational “kingdom of purpose”, can folkloristics really argue for and maintain the freedom, rights and dignity of ordinary people by way of practical folkloristics, and become a modern discipline and a great one.

folkloritstics; transcendental logic; transcendental experience

Metafolklore: An Organic Dynamic for Disciplinary Development

ZHANG Juwen

Metafolklore is a concept that should be considered an organic dynamic for the discipline of folkloristics. This article extends the definition of metafolklore with reference to the recent Sino-US folkloristic communication, outlines the history of the exchange between China and the West, especially in relation to the missionary and academic turning points, emphasizes ideological awareness of identity to one’s cultural roots, and promotes equality and self-confidence in academic discourse.

Key Words: metafolklore; folkloristic communication; folkloristics; documenting ourselves; human’s inter-studying

The Basic Thought about the Outline of Modern Chinese Folkloristics and Its Influences

LIU Tieliang

The initial brewing of the outline of modern Chinese folkloristics starts from the discussions of such issues as the nature of folkloristics onFolkloreWeeklyin 1928. From translating foreign anthropology writings to independent thought, folklortists at that time formed some deep recognition about the outline of folkloristics. After 40 years of pause, at the beginning of the restoration of folkloristics in 1980s, the writing of outline of folkloristics made achievements on the basis of continuing the tradition.OutlineofFolkloristicsedited by Zhong Jingwen carries the significance of construction and standardization. Its definition of folklore as “l(fā)iving culture” and its classification system of folk culture has influenced many folklorists’ research and the popular recognition of folklore. This kind of influence is positive, but with the passage of time, and the great changes of social life, the existing outline of folklore has lagged behind the process of folklore studies, so the outline of folkloristics needs to timely intake the new thoughts and new experiences formed in folklore research and studies, and makes it advance with the times.

Key Words: modern Chinese folkloristics; outline of folkloristics; Zhong Jingwen; living culture; social development

The Field Intervention of Folklorists and the Reconstruction of Social Reality: Constructing Reality by Fieldwork

Yutaka Suga, translated by XING Guangda

Fieldwork is often considered to be a means of understanding for collecting local knowledge directly. But as a matter of fact, fieldwork is not only just a means of information collection; it also has a collaborative feature of reconstructing reality together with local people. It is this feature that enables us to find the advantage of behavoral approach of fieldwork that is not available in other research methods.

Key Words: fieldwork; reconstruction; collaboration

Redefining Extra-Academic Japanese Folklore: Yutaka Suga’s Advocation and Practice

LU Weiwei

New Extra-Academic Folklore (New Public Folklore), the representative theory of modern Japanese folklorist Yutaka Suga, returns to and redefines the Extra-Academic Japanese Folklore in its beginning period. This theory aims to break the closed scholastic system dominated by Japanese academic folklorists, remove the barriers between professional and non-professional researchers, and seek the collaboration among multiple actors, such as academic folklorists, public sector folklorists, various social organizations and the general public. It requires folklorists to attach importance to participatory daily practices which make them participants rather than onlookers, to obtain legitimacy of cultural representation through practices while remembering the authority of tradition bearers, to get rooted in local areas objectifying culture and lending necessary support to local people, to view the practices and researches of self and others in a reflexive and adaptive manner, and to make it their duty to pursue the public’s well-being instead of practicing for practice’s sake.

Key Words: New Extra-Academic Folklore; New Public Folklore; collaboration; participatory daily practice; public’s well-being

From Housewives to Kitchen Maids: The Changes of Women’s Role in Ancestor Worship Ritual in Ancestral Hall

SHAO Fengli, XIAO Fang

Ancestor worship ritual in ancestral hall is an important ritual for traditional clan to deepen its blood identity and maintain living order. From the startup of the gentry’s worship ritual model ofYiLi(the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonials) in pre-Qin Dynasty to the inheritance and changing practice in Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty toJiaLi(Family Ritual), women’s role in the ancestor worship ritual is marginalized from housewives in a core position to kitchen maids for preparing the sacrifices. The historical changes of women’s sacrificial role indicate that the seasonal holding of ancestor worship ritual in ancestral hall is the maintenance and strengthening of the gender order and the feudal ethics in clan life.

Key Words: women; ancestor worship ritual; the role changes

Representational Patriarchy: Tradition, Female Strategy and Reproduction of Gender Inequity

ZHU Yujing

In recent years, the revival of traditional gender relationship has become a hot topic in the public sphere. I will discuss the gender relations in church N at County L, Zhejiang Province, which reinforced the idea that the female are attached to the male. Under current social circumstances, how does the church justify its legitimacy upon gender discrimination, and how do the female converts, as the subject of practices, understand and assimilate these conservative doctrines of gender relations? This paper hereby proposes the concept ofrepresentationalpatriarchy, to describe the features of the current discursive formation of patriarchal ideology. There are discrepancies, to some extent, between this represented ideology in discourses or images, and the social economic structures, which enables women, on one hand, to fit into this patriarchal system constituted by family or intimate relationship; on the other hand, to allow themselves to maintain their own space for individual development. However, this short-term expedient survival strategy strengthens the operation of representational patriarchy in the long run.

Key Words: gender; tradition; representational patriarchy; strategy

Commodification of Miao Embroidery and Reconfiguration of Gender Roles: A Case Study of Miao Ethnic Group in Shidong Town, Guizhou Province

YE Yinyin

Miao women have been increasingly participating in the commodification of Miao embroidery through producing and selling embroidery items. Traditionally, learning embroidery as a bodily discipline shaped women’s behavior and identity. At present, by means of their unique embroidery skills, Miao women have reconfigured the domestic division of labor, the spatiality of women’s lives, and the gender roles in traditional society. However, more than focusing on the shifts of gender power inside the community, Miao women have forged new subjectivities in the marketing of Miao embroidery through the presentation of their ethnic identity and embroidery skills. In this sense, they have struggled to realize their cultural autonomy and challenged the marginalization and objectification of Miao ethnic group in the market economy.

Key Words: gender roles；Miao embroidery；commodification

Exploring Meanings of Bachelorette Parties in Atlantic Canada

Diane Tye, translated by FANG Yun

The bachelorette party is a well-know part of the North American wedding celebrations. In 1995 bachelorette parties were just taking hold in Atlantic Canada. By analyzing the unusual behaviors of the bride in her liminality and her friends, as well as the sexual games, this research reveals the real significance of the bachelorette parties is “implicit feminist coding”, which challenged the definition of the traditional female roles and the males as the subjects. The research in 2016 indicates that, with the development of the times and industrial technology, today’s bachelorette parties has become part of the pre-wedding celebrations. Although the form and the details have changed, women’s deep requirement the party delivered, as well as the blend of women’s plays, women’s friendship, female sexuality and gender roles continue the parties of 20 years ago, but more complex and diversity. In another 20 years, the bachelorette party’s power as a feminist statement is still evolving.

Key Words: the bachelorette parties; feminist; female sexuality; gender roles

Decline and Rejuvenation: The Development ofHuangDaxianBelief: A Case Study of Its Evolution in Jinhua

CHEN Huawen

HuangDaxianBelief is not only Taoist, but also a kind of folk religion. It originated from folktales, and became a kind of Taoism; it started in Jinhua Mountain in Zhejiang Province, but thrived in Hong Kong and spread over the world. Its development in Mainland China, especially in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, is not only due to social changes, which is the inevitable cause of its rise and fall, but is also closely related to some special cause, which is called contingency in a given time. It is a combination of inevitability and contingency. Behind the significance of a single case, the evolution of JinhuaHuangDaxianBelief reflects the common features ofHuangDaxianbelief. That is what we need to note and pay special attention to.

Key Words:HuangDaxian; belief; trajectory; evolution.

Wu Tingfang and Theosophy

ZHENG Guo, PAN Jun-ling

In the western learning process of modern China, the intellectuals’ belief world was subjected tobaptizings and changes. Wu Tingfang was the early disseminator of modern China’s theosophy. A study of his learning time, his teachers, his propositions and activities, an analysis of the reasons why he believed in theosophy in the context of his times, are helpful to interpret Wu Tingfang and his thoughts from a new perspective. At the same time, it is of great help to learn about the spread of theosophy and the belief world of modern China’s intellectuals.Key Words: Wu Tingfang; theosophy; modern China

The Spread Boundary of Ethnic Identity Legends: A Case Study of the Legend of the King of Eight Tribes

JIN Jing

The King of Eight Tribes, also known as the God of Eight Tribes, is recognized as one of the ancestral gods by Tujia people, who lived on the banks of You River. His prototype can be traced back to the earlier tribal hero. The legend has been perfected for a long time, and limited to the territory of western Hunan where Tujia people live. Long Shan, Bao Jing and Yong Shun are the core regions of the regional legend. The highlighting degree of its inheritance is proportional to the density of the Tujia population. In the core regions of the regional legend, the king’s temples can be found everywhere. The legend of the king not only has nationality, but also has regional sociality. Outside of the region line, people, even those from the same ethnic, cannot make the legend internalized into their historical memory. Because of the need for daily communication and knowledge, people who live in the same area intensified their ethnic identity through the spread of the legend.

Key Words: ethnic identity, historical memory; the legend area, inheritance modes, the spread boundary

Classical Genetics: An Analysis of Localization of Japanese Cowherd and Weaver Girl Legend: A Case Study of the Legend in Osaka Katano

BI Xuefei

China’s Cowherd and Weaver Girl disseminated in Japan with textile, Tanabata and other related cultural information, leaving rich reserves of myths, legends, stories and other types of texts. Among them, the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver in Osaka Katano region is showing a unique style, not only inheriting Chinese classical text, but also subtly transformed by the Japanese in the way of being embedded with Japanese elements. Through the localized baptism, it has become a Japanese version. Therefore, in the process of protecting and inheriting the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver, we should put it in a transnational perspective to understand from the cultural perspective of East Asia. Perhaps it will be conducive to the protection, hereditary and development of this legend in this way.

Key Words: classical heredity; Cowherd and Weaver Girl legend; localization

On the Function of the Images of Kindness and Filial Piety in Chinese New Year Pictures in Qing Dynasty

YUAN Zhoufei

The Qing Dynasty is the peak of the development of Chinese New Year pictures. By the national filial piety policy guidance, the kindness and filial piety images in Chinese New Year paintings took on diverse development. These images have a constant function of popularizing the concept of kindness and filial piety, helping realize the integration between aesthetic appreciation of art and social life education, and promoting the interaction between traditional filial piety ethics and folk life, thus effectively maintaining the cultural identity and value attribution between the people and the country.

Key Words: Chinese New Year pictures in Qing Dynasty; the images of kindness and filial piety; aesthetic appreciation of art; interaction between etiquette and folk custom

Inheritance and Reproduction of Folk Art from the Perspective of Cultural Communication：With the Korean Traditional Percussion Quartet as an Example

ZHAO Yue

Korean traditional percussion quartet as the representative of Korean folk art can be found from the original ritual activities. From the rural entertainment activities to the theater folk culture performances，its spread has experienced a process from practical art to appreciative art. In the context of globalization, cultural communication should not only maintain the main meaning of the culture, but also give the culture more cosmopolitan genes. The new way of communication is conducive to the inheritance of the main sense and the increase of cultural value. The study of the evolution of the Korean traditional percussion quartet is conducive to the promotion of the transmission and reproduction of traditional culture.

Key Words: Korean traditional percussion quartet；folk art；NANTA；cultural transmission