-Reading Zhang Huizhen's "Education and Ethnic Identity" Jihua Luo (Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, China Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 10008 1) Abstract: The discussion of ethnic groups and ethnic identity theory has become one of the most important topics in anthropological research. Zhang Huizhen's Education and Ethnic Identity tells the story of ethnic identity construction of Miao Chinese in Shimenkan, Guizhou. This paper is a reading note about this work, trying to analyze its writing ideas and viewpoints. Keywords: Zhang Huizhen; Education; Ethnic identity; Reading notes; Educational anthropology opened Zhang Huizhen's "Education and Ethnic Identity", a story about the construction of ethnic identity of Miao Chinese in Shimen, Guizhou. First, two hot topics The author chose two hot topics to study: one is the hot research object, namely the flower seedlings in Shimenkan, Guizhou; The other is a hot research topic, that is, ethnic identity. Due to the special historical events and unique cultural background, Shimenkan is called the "Holy Land of Miao Cultural Revival", which has been concerned by scholars in ethnology, anthropology, education, linguistics and other disciplines and has become the "Holy Land" of academic research. The word "Shimenkan" has been entered into the full-text database of China journals, and there have been more than 300 related articles. In recent years, scholars have published a large number of related works, such as Shimenkan before the Narrow Gate edited by Dong Min and Zhu Huiqun, and Christian Culture and Miao Society in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou (Yunnan Education Press, 1992). In 2006), Shen Hong's The Hundred Years' Rise and Fall of Shimenkan Culture: Modern Experience of a Mountain Village in Southwest China (Wanjuan Publishing Company, 2006) and Structure and Subject: An Agitated Cultural Community Shimenkan (Social Science Literature Publishing House, 2007). Scholars walked into this "holy land" with their own humanistic care, and analyzed the social culture of Shimenkan and the Miao Chinese living there through different research horizons. Why did I choose Shimenkan? I'm from Hong Kong. I met Shimenkan in an accidental trip to Guizhou 18 years ago. I was amazed at the great cultural differences between Hong Kong and here, and found that the title of Miao was "extremely subjective and changeable". Therefore, the thinking about ethnic identity comes from this: not to define who is the "real" Miao, but to analyze how the Miao people in Shimenkan improve themselves. Why do they say that? "Nowadays, ethnic identity, ethnic relations and ethnic conflicts are becoming more and more important factors in international affairs and in countries and regions. Therefore, the discussion on the theory of ethnic groups and ethnic identity has become one of the most important topics in anthropological research. The concept of "ethnic group" in English came into being in the middle of the 20th century. In 1950s, the academic circles in Taiwan Province Province began to use the term "ethnic group", and in 1980s, this concept was introduced to the mainland by scholars. There are many theories about ethnic groups. Western scholars have not reached a consensus on "ethnic group", but in recent years, they have formed three representative views: primitivism, modernism and myth-symbol complex [2](P44 2)(P44). For a long time, many scholars often study the description and analysis of a certain ethnic group or nation from the objective characteristics such as physique, language, clothing and religion. When applied to practical research, they also encountered some unexplained phenomena. Nowadays, many scholars accept "modern constructivism" more and think that national identity is artificially and subjectively constructed. Education and ethnic identity are another local case image of constructivism. In the first half of the 20th century, the author discussed how a marginalized ethnic group in Miao Hua "constructed its ethnic identity through knowledge system, education system and written media in the face of western missionaries, national government and local powerful ethnic groups, and gained more political, social and cultural resources and power from it, and explored the complex interactive relationship between the construction of modern nation-state and ethnic identity". 2. The book Education and Ethnic Identity-A Case Study of the Miao Nationality in Shimenkan, Guizhou (1900- 1949) consists of eight chapters, with a total of 220,000 words. The first chapter briefly introduces the writing background, problem orientation and content overview of the study. The second chapter is the theoretical background and research direction. The third chapter starts from Foucault's genealogy research, reflects on the concepts of history, knowledge and power, and establishes the research orientation of Shimenkan case from this research perspective. The fourth chapter explains how the central government defines the southwest frontier, how to exercise its power, and how to construct the alien consciousness, that is, "Miao people", from the perspectives of space, culture and power under the imperial system. The fifth chapter points out how western missionaries intervened in Shimenkan during the transition period from the empire to the Republic of China, and how the reform measures such as the establishment of school mechanism and the shaping of characters promoted the revival of Miao culture. The sixth chapter discusses how the government of the Republic of China actively promoted the purpose and effect of the "policy of assimilation of border cells" through education, which is opposite to the mass education movement promoted by the local Miao people and reflects the main action of ethnic identity construction. The seventh chapter takes three local Miao intellectuals in 1930s as cases to discuss their different interpretations of Miao identity. In the eighth chapter, we discuss the relationship among knowledge, power and ethnic identity again. The book vividly interprets the story of an ethnic group's identity construction from the beginning of the 20th century to 1949. It was called "Miao people" and "Miao Yi" by the central court before the Qing Dynasty, called "Dahuamiao" by western missionaries, called "frontier people" in the Republic of China, and finally officially recognized as "Miao people" after the founding of New China. Third, the application of ethnic boundary theory Why should I write reading notes for the book Education and Ethnic Identity? National identity is an issue that everyone will be involved in. With the difference of time, region and environment, ethnic identity has different forms and intensities. Sometimes we don't think of this problem, but it is ubiquitous and deeply rooted. I have known that my ethnic composition is a minority since I was a child, but in an environment where everyone is the same minority, there is nothing uncomfortable or strange about it. Later, when I came to study abroad, I had more contacts with other ethnic groups, but I deepened my sense of national identity. I began to wonder why. How is it formed? And the case study of Zhang Huizhen gave me a lot of inspiration. This involves the theory of constructing ethnic boundaries from subjective identity. From 65438 to 0969, Frederic Barthes published the book "Ethnic Groups and Borders", which is a representative work of the theory of ethnic boundaries. He explained the national phenomenon from the differences of national structure and the resulting national boundaries. Bart also believes that although people may have crossed the border, the original border still exists, that is to say, the classified ethnic characteristics do not depend on the stability and lack of mobility of the population, nor on mutual contact and information exchange. [2](P63) The mutual contact between ethnic groups sometimes produces a stronger ethnic identity than ever before, whether out of the original ethnic characteristics and emotions or out of the "instrumental" interests. Ethnic fringe, emphasizing national characteristics. Therefore, "the fringe is called the best place to observe and understand ethnic phenomena". Having said that, I have to mention a representative work of China's local ethnic boundary theory research, The Edge of China-Historical Memory and National Identity by Taiwan Province scholar Wang Mingke (Social Science Literature Publishing House, 2006), which focuses on the formation process of the Qiang nationality's national consciousness as the "edge of China" with its unique perspective and research methods, and explains the "reciprocity" of the "edge" and "core" cultural construction. The research perspectives of Zhang Huizhen and Wang Mingke are similar, and they both belong to the study of ethnic edge, including "time edge, geographical edge and identity edge". The former analyzes the long-term marginalized ethnic flower seedlings in the southwest border of China, while the latter explores the construction of the border between China and China and a new interpretation of historical memory. For a country and an ethnic group, the study of ethnic edge has become an increasingly important perspective. In China, "China Frontier School" has become an important school. In terms of research ideas, some scholars think that edge research is "looking at the center from the periphery", that is, studying "edge" is to better understand "center", while others think that "edge" is constructed by "center" and "edge" together. In any case, marginal research can change the perspective that we have long paid attention to the "center" but neglected the "edge", and reveal the interactive relationship between different ethnic groups and nationalities in different periods and the changes it has brought. As we saw in Education and Ethnic Identity, Miao Hua completed the process of ethnic identity construction from "barbarian" to "nation" in half a century, which also reflected the process of how a marginal ethnic group was absorbed into the nation-state of modern China. Fourthly, how is the ethnic identity in education and ethnic identity constructed, and how is the identity of this marginal ethnic group constructed? Facing different powers and forces from China and the West, as well as from inside and outside, how did Miao Hua of Shimenkan "actively" construct his own ethnic identity in the process of construction? In this case, the power of education is clearly reflected. The "education" here is not only school education, but also social education such as church; This education is not only advocated by powerful people or those in power, but also run by intellectuals in Miao Hua. In the book, we see a historical vertical axis about education. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the ruling class set up schools in Miao areas of Guizhou for the purpose of "enlightenment", "appeasement" and "controlling foreign countries with foreign countries". However, due to the oppression of the local Yi chieftain, almost no Miao people enter the school to study "King Way" and Confucian culture, so they only know the local Yi chieftain, but not "China" and "Dynasty". At the beginning of the 20th century, Samuel Pollard (1864- 19 15), a western missionary, entered Shimenkan, the poorest and most backward area in southwest China at that time, and set off a large-scale conversion movement centered on it. Missionaries built schools here, created Miao Wen, compiled textbooks, and reformed social customs, so that Miao people could learn Chinese and western cultures and have the opportunity to re-explore ethnic identity and revive Miao culture. Since then, the first batch of local intellectuals have appeared in Miao Hua, and some later elites have played an extremely important role in the construction of ethnic identity consciousness. After the founding of the Republic of China, the government began to attach importance to the border areas and ethnic groups here, trying to bring all ethnic groups in the ruling area into a unified ideology. Among all kinds of frontier policies, Yang Sen, then chairman of Guizhou Province, promoted the educational policy of assimilating frontier cells, which was particularly prominent. Since its establishment, education has not only a single function of transferring knowledge, but also a certain cultural system. Once the cultural power relationship is established, education is an area that must be reformed. It obeys and becomes a part of society. It is the first effective way to change social relations and control ideology by establishing and controlling an organized education system. In 1930s, while the government of the Republic of China was carrying out the policy of assimilating frontier cells, the Miao intellectuals in Shimenkan were also carrying out a unique literacy education campaign for the common people. This is the first generation of intellectuals in Shimenkan Miao Chinese who actively construct ethnic identity in their own way, "improving ethnic status by mastering knowledge and writing". In the author's description, through the growth and behavior practice of Miao Hua intellectuals, Miao Hua's awareness of ethnic identity has been improved. The movement of literacy education for the common people is one of its manifestations. In order to improve the cultural quality of the Miao people through education and pursue democracy and national equality, Zhu, the first bachelor of education, compiled a thousand words course for the people in the southwest frontier. In view of the "three assimilation policies" of the government of the Republic of China, the intellectuals among the Miao people regarded it as a "genocide policy" and began to discuss how the Miao people should unite against all kinds of bullying, reposition their political status and make more and more voices through various forms. In the last century, the Miao Hua ethnic group in the1940s is no longer a weak ethnic group that has silently accepted the fate of oppression and exploitation for centuries. They constantly strive to break through the forced social status in the past, on the one hand, strive for greater awareness, on the other hand, strive for more equal and reasonable social and economic treatment through actions. In the theory of "artificial construction" of national identity, Anderson defined nation as "imaginary community" and "special cultural artifacts" (Benedict Anderson, 1983). Ernest Gellner, another famous theorist of modernity research, believes that nationalism is not the awakening of national self-consciousness, but the "invention" of a non-existent nation, emphasizing "the coincidence of political units and cultural boundaries" (Ernest Gellner, 1983). Some scholars believe that Anderson is concerned with the cohesion process of a bottom-up "imaginary community", while Gellner is more concerned with a top-down mobilization process. The case in Zhang Huizhen's "Education and Ethnic Identity" shows that the construction of ethnic identity is both a top-down process and a bottom-up process, which is the change of the interaction between strong and weak forces and the result of the joint construction of "center" and "edge". V. Conclusion After reading the last page of the book, there is a feeling of wanting more. The author formed this educational anthropology book six years ago by using historical documents in Chinese and western languages and through solid field investigation, which provided a good reference experience for other ethnic groups' identity construction writing. The book is clear in logic and fluent in writing. The book uses a lot of Chinese and western theories about nationalities and ethnic groups, but it doesn't make people feel obscure. But go deep into it, be able to read easily and think deeply. Walking out of this "root-seeking journey" and looking back, I suddenly felt something was missing. The author has been describing the changes of "other names" in the appellation of flower seedlings, and there is less analysis of "self-names" of ethnic groups, which is one of them. Secondly, in the historical background of ethnic construction in Miao Hua, from the beginning of the local Yi chieftain's rule, to the face of western Christian culture, to the beginning of the construction of national culture in the Republic of China, and finally to the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Miao Hua ethnic group has been subjectively "forced" to choose and construct under this new round of power background, and how to reflect its "initiative". Thirdly, the author chooses several elite members in Miao Hua as cases, which reflects the intellectuals' multiple interpretations of ethnic identity in the face of the changes of the times, while the voices of ordinary people in Miao China are few. This is my humble opinion, not enough.