No.39/2001

Duisburg Working Papers on

East Asian Studies

The Depiction of National Minorities in Chinese Media –

a case study on the Yi minority

Anja D. Senz & Zhu Yi

University of Duisburg / Germany Institute for East Asian Studies e-mail: oawiss@uni-duisburg.de

© by the authors August 2001

Paper online available: http://www.oapol.uni-duisburg-essen.de/d/yipaper.doc

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Title: The Depiction of National Minorities in Chinese Media – a case study on the Yi Minority Author: Anja-Désirée Senz and Zhu Yi Series: Duisburg Working Papers on East Asian Studies, No. 39 Abstract: From the old Chinese songs, we know that “56 Chinese brothers and sisters“ live together in a big family. This expression refers to the number of nationalities living in P.R. China. However, many Han Chinese live far away from the National Minorities and they get to know their brothers and sisters mainly through media – books, newspapers or movies. As the function of media in China extended from politics to entertainment, it seems worthwhile to study the role which media serve in communicating knowledge (images) about National Minorities to the Han Chinese and what kind of images of the Minorities are actually transmitted. This paper tries to analyse the depiction of Yi Minority in Chinese media – in particular Chinese movies – from 1949 to the present. There are different phases of representations. Through a comparison of these phases, it can be analysed whether and in which way the depiction of National Minorities has been changed since 1949. The images of the Yi Minority transported through the media are of particular interest because they are a basis of communication and understanding but they also lead to misrepresentation and cliché.

Keywords: P.R. China, ethnic minorities, Han-Chinese, media, Yi-Minority, cinema, minority movies Procurement: You may download this paper http://www.oapol.uni-duisburg-essen.de/d/yipaper.pdf Paper in German available: http://www.uni-duisburg.de/Institute/OAWISS/neu/downloads/pdf/gruen/paper39.pdf Libraries, and in exceptional cases, individuals also may order hardcopies of the paper free of charge at: Gerhard-Mercator-Universität Duisburg Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften, Geschäftsstelle 47048 Duisburg/ Germany

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Contents

1 The task of media in the P.R. China

2 Minorities in Chinese Media

3 Images of national minorities in media

4 National minorities in Chinese movies

5 Why does the public remember old films and songs?

6 Present tendencies

7 Conclusion

Literature

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The Depiction of National Minorities in Chinese Media –

a case study on the Yi minority

Anja-Désirée Senz, M.A.

Institute of East Asian Studies, Duisburg University, Germany

Zhu Yi, M.A., Trier University

Chinese songs like to use the picture of a big family with “56 brothers and sisters“ for the

description of the relationship among the different nationalities of the multi-ethnic Chinese

society . Of these 56 officially accepted nationalities of the P.R. China the Han Chinese with

1,2 billion people are numerically the biggest group. They are, to use the metaphor again, the

big brother of the remaining 55 nationalities which count around 100 million people and make

up 9 % of the total population. Many people of the Han Chinese majority live far away from

the areas of national minorities who mainly settle in the borderland of China. This is why Han

Chinese people often do not get to know their brothers and sisters personally as the referral to

the metaphor of the family suggests but rather through books, newspapers, movies, television

or school. The Yi, on which this essay is concentrated, number with approx. 6,5 million

people among the bigger groups of national minorities. They settle rather dispersed in the

South Western regions of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou. Because of their rather dispersed

settlement, the culture of the Yi is strongly characterised by heterogeneity and diversity which

distinguishes the Yi-culture clearly from Han-Chinese traditions.1

Following, we study how the Yi-culture is being presented in Chinese media especially in the

Chinese movie-world. Furthermore, in this study we point out some ideas answering

following questions: Which role does Chinese media play for the transmission of images

about minorities to Han-Chinese people, what kind of information is being transported and

finally how do these transported images effect the members of ethnical minorities.

1 See Vermander, 1999, p. 28-39.

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1 The task of media in the P.R. China

Media in P.R. China is not an independent part of political life but is tied up in the

governmental institutional structure. Thus, the communist party tries to send all relevant news

and the expression of opinions through controlled channels. While in the fifties, media was

seen as an important instrument of class struggle, many parts of press-life were closed down

in the political atmosphere of the cultural revolution. Until the seventies, the active remaining

parts of press-life rather served the distribution of political documents and instructions than

the transmission of news. It was not until the beginning of the reform and opening policy in

1978, that the communist party started to concentrate their information policy on the

professionalisation of the distribution of news and at the same time on the reduction of

ideological contents. The main task of the press was now seen in promoting the newly

established reforms. The new emphasis on economical aspects forced the editors to more

innovation and also to strengthen their efforts in order to gain more independence from

governmental financing. Despite of more editorial freedom and the possibility to express

critical opinions, too, Chinese media stayed under the control of the communist party which

saw media as its own megaphone. Media’s major task was still seen in supporting national

stability and unity as well as promoting economical development.

Conclusively, Chinese media should be analysed in the context of its propaganda mission.

Next to guided information, the main purpose of state propaganda is to legitimise the

government, to spread political ideology and to mobilise citizens for concrete political

purposes which are formulated by the communist party and the government at a specific

moment. A further fundamental aim in the use of media can be seen in achieving political

conformity within the population2. As long as the political system of P.R. China was based on

a monolithic one-party government with a high capacity of controlling and regulating it was

quite plausible to concentrate the analysis of media publications on the overpowering opinion-

controlling sender. Considering the rapidly progressing socio-economic change within P.R.

China, which grants the society numerous liberties and which, after all, has altered the media

world in China, a one-sided focus on the governmental-manipulative information policy

2 See Guo, 1990, pp.5.

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without the consideration of its societal reception will no longer be sufficient3. Regarding the

effects of media products there may exist fundamental differences between the intention of

the governmental sender and the reception and interpretation of the transmitted information

by the audience4. In an alternating political-social context, we can assume that these

differences will increase with growing temporal distance between the production and the

consumption of the messages.

Nowadays, Chinese media can no longer just be understood as a mere instrument of political-

ideological purposes but has to be seen as an instrument of entertainment, too. Media has thus

become subjected to the rules of supply and demand. In the view of these developments it

seems sensible to look anew at the role media serves in the context of the mediation of images

about national minorities. Most studies carried through until now concentrate on the analysis

of the contents of Chinese media products which - as the result of the above described

political conditions – can be valued as official governmental documents. Such kind of surveys

delivere a scientific-distant interpretation of the available media products and information and

they show the contents which have been intended to be expressed and transported by the

government. Yet, they neither explain the kind of information which arrived at the audience

nor do they give any hints to how the transmitted information has actually been interpreted

and valued by the audience. Up to now, only few studies are concentrated on the question

how the transmitted images and information are taken in, valued and interpreted by the

recipients – meant are here both the majority of the Han Chinese people as well as the

members of ethnical minorities. Extensive surveys in this field are still missing. Hence, the

following described survey was conducted in order to deliver a first insight on opinions,

meanings and the state of information by Han-Chinese people about minorities respectively

their images raised by media.

The results of this survey should be understood as an early stage of research. The

questionnaire draft being used should be seen as a pre-test for a following more extensive

study. The aim hereby was to examine the formulated questions in terms of comprehensibility

and also to check the willingness of the interviewees to answer the questions. Therefore, this

3 New researches study the loss of governmental ability of regulation in this field in the nineties. See Lynch, 1999. 4 See Pickowitz, 1989, pp. 37.

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survey cannot be regarded as representative though it furnished some interesting tendencies

which are following quoted to illustrate the analysis.

2 Minorities in Chinese Media

Especially in the big agglomerations at the East coast of China the majority of the Han

Chinese does not get to know members of minorities by direct contact. Therefore, it can be

assumed that for the Han-Chinese population living there media is the major instrument for

the transmission of images and information about national minorities. This is why the

following report concentrates exemplary on recipients from this region.

All in all, the questionnaire was answered by 28 persons aged between 18 and 59 years living

in Nanjing City5. Two third of the interviewees hold a degree of higher education institutions.

As students, engineers, teachers, business-men do have a better access to media these kind of

people were regarded as the appropriate persons to approach for a study dealing with the

reception of media. Most of the interviewees could only mention general statements about

national minorities. From personal contact only the Hui have been known. The Hui are a

Muslim minority which has already lived together with the Han-Chinese people in East China

for a long time. Today, the Hui have assimilated to the Han-Chinese culture to a great extend

of daily life. Due to her profession, one interviewee, a travel guide, had already personal

contact to minority people.

85 % of the interviewees remembered to have recently heard something about minorities on

television, mainly in news or journey reports. The others stated not to have paid any attention

to this subject. Only one interviewee answered that she is not interested in travelling to

“minority-regions“ because the journey would be too arduous. However, the majority of the

interviewees were fascinated from the exotic of far away places and were interested in

travelling to provinces with a high proportion of minority peoples. One person stressed freely

that she has already met different ethnic groups through her travelling. As travel destination,

the province Yunnan is the most favourable one but also Xinjiang and Tibet are regarded to

be attractive. This attraction should be seen in connection with the fantasy of the people. The

5 These figures have been drawn from a pre-test, see above paragraph.

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interviewees stated that they would like to get to know ethnic minorities because their

members follow different customs and traditions and also because they are known for their

singing and dancing. In this context, one woman, for example, cited the Yi-minority

explicitly. More than 80% of the interviewees regard media as the most important source of

information about minorities. Three fourth stated school to be rather unimportant.

Interestingly, this also counts for the younger generation at the age of 18 to 30.

3 Images of national minorities in media

The traditional Chinese theory of life views China as the “empire of the middle“ and therefore

the centre of all civilisation. These centre is surrounded by barbarians6 whose cultural level is

said to decrease with increasing distance to the centre. Conclusively, the traditional Chinese

theory of life shows a distinguished hierarchy. Studies on the depiction and the image of

minorities transmitted by the state owned media such as movies, books, newspapers and

propaganda posters over the past decades distinguish in general three additional contents

which are indirectly transported along with the real message. In these indirect messages we

can again find aspects of this hierarchical thinking:7

1) The messages transported usually contain a patriarchal-educational attitude towards

minorities. For example, Han-Chinese are often being portrayed as father. Also in

these contexts, the Han Chinese people are likely to be called “lao da ge” the big

and elderly brother whose job is to educate and guide his younger siblings. This

image is based on the general idea that the Chinese population is organised in the

scheme of a family. In this family the Han take on the task of a patriarch. The

Chinese word for state (“guojia”) intimates such an understanding as it is a

symbioses of the vocable for “country” and “family”. A study on propaganda-

posters of the eighties showed that minorities are often portrayed in form of a big

family8. Often on such presentations minorities are represented by women and

6 See Linck, 1995, pp.257. 7 See Harrell, 1995, pp.3; Heberer, 1997, pp.115; Heberer, 2000. 8 See Landsberger, 1994, pp. 206.

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children which again stresses the perception of the hierarchical decline in the

context of confucian thinking within the Han Chinese majority. In using such a

point of view the spectator is being pushed to conclude that minorities develop with

the instruction and the support of the Han.

2) The second image prevalent in Chinese media assesses the minorities as historical-

backward. Such an understanding can be explained in the way that according to the

Marxist or Stalinist doctrine the different nationalities are divided in different stages

of development and in relation to the socialist Han. In this context the Yi, for

example, were graded as slave-holder-society. Propaganda pictures used for the

presentation of the construction of socialism often show a sharp contrast between

modern technology and the methods of traditional agriculture whereby the latter are

usually being represented by members of minorities. This hierarchical thinking,

which is found in both the traditional Chinese thinking as well as the communist

thinking, is quite problematic as such thinking may deliver a justification to the

oppression of the presumed inferiority. If we interpret this phenomenon as an

ethnocentric over-evaluation of the own group in order to distinguish oneself from

the “others“ it is, however, not an exclusively Chinese phenomenon but according to

ethnological studies it can be found in all societies9.

3) Third, minorities are often portrayed in an exotic-erotic way, wirth people singing,

dancing and wearing colourful clothing. Music, songs and dances are hereby in

general being adopted to Han-Chinese taste. So far they hold a certain aesthetical

value for the own group (meant are here the Han-Chinese people) but - as they

rather reproduce stereotypes about the “others“ - they do not contribute to the

transmission of real knowledge about the respective ethnic group. What is more, this

reproduction of stereotypes counteracts a more detailed understanding of minorities.

Such associations seem to be highly represented by our interviewees: 78 % of our

interviewees believe that ethnic minorities are good dancers and singers10, 68 % see members

9 See Antweiler, 1994, pp. 137. 10 The expression "neng ge shan wu" chosen in our questionaire is widely (but not exclusively) used in China to describe such capabilities of national minorities.

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of minorities as hospital and vivacious, 57 % believe minorities to be hardworking and

honest. About half of all interviewees connect minorities instantly with the image of poverty

and backwardness. These associations, though, are often combined with the former mentioned

positive connoted statements. Only one person – a young English teacher – said that

minorities are lazy and dirty.

All interviewees supported the opinion that minorities are very important to China. Although

minorities are looked at as being poorer and more backward and although Han-Chinese are

seen to have fulfilled a big contribution to their development, only 21 % of the people being

questioned supported the opinion that minorities should adopt Han-Culture and Han language

as standard. Interestingly, 92 % of the interviewees stated that the minorities did not only

conduct a big influence in the history of China but are still of high importance to the

economical and cultural life of China.

The results of our survey indicate that there exist many stereotypes about minorities which

means simplified and generalised assumptions. It has to be emphasised that these stereotypes

do not seem to be limited to certain ethnic groups but are applied undifferentiated to all

Chinese minorities. The word stereotype should hereby be understood as a cognitive concept

which expresses general social beliefs about characteristics and behavioural patterns of

another social group. A prejudice, in comparison, shows additionally a strong affective and in

general negative dimension. It is stable and consistent and it influences the respective

manner11. These negative and action guiding associations do not seem to be widely

distributed.

Today in China, television forms an important part of daily life. As for this, it is not

astonishing that a distinguished majority of our interviewees remarked that most of their latest

news about minorities have been drawn from television. Until the sixties and seventies,

movies have been the most important medium for entertainment as alternatives to spent

leisure time did hardly exist. Following, we look at how national minorities are represented in

the Chinese movie-world.

11 See Zick, 1997, pp. 37.

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4 National minorities in Chinese movies

Since the first movies have been shown in Shanghai in the year 1896 cinema and movies have

been related to exotic meanings. Different to the Peking Opera, which is a definite Chinese

form of art, cinema has since the beginning been valued as a foreign - in the sense of strange -

medium. Because of this, the public always expected in movies the portrayal of exceptional

and foreign pictures both before and after 1949. Before 1949, these expectations were mainly

fulfilled by imported western movies to which only a small number of western oriented

Chinese people in the big coastal cities had access. After 1949, the new government

discovered cinema as a highly suitable medium in order to transmit cultural and political

standardised ideas to the masses12. Therefore, the government promoted the distribution of

cinemas within the whole country. The contents of the movies concentrated on the portrayal

of the successful socialist reconstruction of the country, the fortification of the frontiers and

the establishment of a new form of society. At this time, only few foreign - mainly Soviet -

movies were shown.

In the mid of the fifties, cinema as medium lost its exotic attraction for most of the Chinese.

This is when filmmakers began to turn their interest towards the ethnic minorities which were

commonly regarded as being exotic. The “minority-movie“ as a new cineastic category

emerged13. “Film audiences could travel to 'foreign' lands without crossing the nation's

borders“.14 Minority-movies are movies in which members of minorities are the main actors

and which are produced in minority areas. The reason why such movies did not exist before

1949 is in particular due to the fact that although minorities were regarded as being exotic

they did not have the aura of modernity inherent as the western foreigners did and which was

seen to be appropriate for the new western medium. For filmmakers, the establishment of the

genre of minority-movies opened up a way to choose topics which otherwise might have been

censured. This aspect will again be discussed further down. Clark mentions that since 1949

12 It has to be considered that on this way the high number of illiterates could easily be reached. 13 In the year 1933, the movie "Romance in the Yao-mountains" from Yan Xiaozhong was already produced talking about the primitive lifestyle of the Yao-

minority. Another film was made in 1940 called "storm at the frontiers" from Ying Yunwei talking about the solidary fight of the Han and Mongols against the Japanese invaders. However, only after 1949, at the time when the now officially classified and acknowledged 55 minorities were regarded as an irrevocable component of the VR China, did the minority-movie develop as genre. The representation of the affiliation of national minorities to the Chinese State turned out to be the foreground theme of these films. See Zhang, 1998, pp. 155.

14 See Clark, 1987b, p. 16.

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national minorities have been over represented in cineastic movies if compared to their

percentage on the whole population.15

The communist party and the government regarded these kind of movies as quite suitable for

the transmission of political messages like the national unity of China, the backwardness of

the minority peoples, their enthusiasm for the socialism and the liberation of the oppressed

minorities by the communist army to a vast audience.16 Gladney points out that these films

were meant to educate the audience to distinguish between primitiveness and modernity.17 It

is interesting to notice that the minorities of the Chinese Southwest have generally been

portrayed as being happy and laughing natives18 whereas the movies about the minorities of

the Chinese Northwest have been dominated by class-struggling themes.19 Besides, the filmic

portrayal of the national integration did not distinguish between the different non-Han

Chinese groups. This fact contributed to the self-perception of the Han-majority as being

mono-ethnic20, modern and united. Otherwise, some movies did not only transport ideological

meanings in the sense of socialist realism to the masses but also made an impression on the

public because of their aesthetical and affective contents. We will come back to this point

later.

All in all, it can be stated that this kind of “minority movies“ seems to reveal more about the

sensitivities of the Han-majority than presenting detailed information about the ethnic

minorities. Therefore, we can say that in these films “the ethnic subjects become modes for

addressing controversial and sometimes taboo issues pertaining to the majority”.21

With the beginning of the open door policy at the end of the 1970s, the number of minority

movies declined significantly. This can be explained by the fact that by turning towards

foreign countries the need of exotic depictions from China itself decreased and was eventually

being replaced by other cineastic characteristics. This lead to the point that minority movie as

genre almost disappeared. In the fifties and sixties, however, some minority-movies reached

such a spectacular success throughout the country which today’s movies hardly achieve any

15 See Clark, 1987a, p. 96. 16 See Zhang, 1998, pp. 155. 17 See Gladney, 1995, pp. 164. 18 as for example films like "Ashima" (1964, from Liu Qiong) and "Liu Sanjie – Third Sister Liu" (1960, from Su li). In these films it seems that the ideology

steps back in favour of aesthetic. 19 for example films like "Bingshan de laike – The visitor who came from the Ice-Mountain" (1963, from Zhao Xinshui). See Clark, 1987, p. 95ff. The centre

subject of this film is the heroic liberation of minority peoples from their indigenous ethnic elites collaborating with foreign powers by communist soldiers. 20 The heterogeneity of the Han, which can already be assumed by the big size of that group, stays hereby in the background, see Clark, 1987b; as for the

heterogeneity of the Han see Schmidt-Glintzer, 1997, pp. 13.

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more. This cannot only be explained by the fact that movies at that time were the

competiveless single entertainment medium.

Asked for songs, legends and medial characters with reference to minorities, the answers in

our survey showed a remarkable agreement between the elder and younger interviewees: both

groups knew almost exclusively the same movies and (film-)songs from the 1950s and 1960s.

As important representatives of minorities were seen film characters such as Liu Sanjie or

historic characters like Dschingis Kahn – a person which is still present in movies and on TV.

Only one interviewee named a “minority-movie” from the 1990s and the currently well

known pop singer Wei Wei from the Zhuang minority. Political representatives of national

minorities, however, seem to be less important as only one interviewee named the Dalai Lama

and the Panchan Lama as important representatives of minorities but without specifying

which minorities are concretely represented by them. In general, it can be concluded that

today minorities in media are on one hand less clear perceived and on the other hand the

images transported in the past have been imprinted so deeply that they are still present in

recent public memory.

5 Why does the public remember old films and songs?

Strictly speaking, these products stayed in the service of politics and followed a certain

political intention. Filmmakers at that time were restricted by politics22. So wrote Zhang

Yingjing in his essay about “ethnicity” and “nation” in Chinese movies: “...regarding

increasing restrictions on the filmmakers and a growing politicization during the 1950s and

1960s, we can state that the function of “minority-movies” was less to meet people’s

yearning for the outside world by fictional exotic than to objectify minorities by typisising

and to put them into the frame of a socialist China.”23 It was the task of media to promote the

construction of the new China and to apply the idea of class distinction to the society of ethnic

minorities. The emphasis on the ideological identity between the Han Chinese and the ethnic

minorities underpinned the Han-Chinese claim of leadership. The military securing of the

21 Gladney, 1995, p. 167; Gladney analyses this point for the so-called fifth generation of the filmmakers around Tian Zhuang-zhuang which can actually be seen

as an exception. This is why we don't discuss this aspect here more deeply. 22 It is hereby significant that official census-regulations were first initiated in 1993. This meant that in the decades before, filmmakers were subjected to a high

extend of uncertainty, incalculability and arbitrariness of governmental census. See Zhang, 1998, pp. 108.

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borderland, where the ethnic minorities live, served Han-Chinese interests and expressed the

hierarchy between Han-Chinese and minorities. In such a context, ethnic minorities remain

objects. This is why – according to Zhang Yingjing opinion – members of minorities almost

never appear as subjects in movies at that time.24

In the 1950s and 1960s, authors, who were members of the army, visited minority areas. The

main characters in their plays are mainly “the strangers” as well as members of the army, the

party or the “group for ethnic affairs” (Minzu Gongzuodui). Their main task was to mobilise

the masses (meant are here the minorities), to bring into effect the politics of the party, to fight

together against class enemies and to consolidate the state frontiers.

In 1961, a film about the Yi entitled “Da Ji and her fathers”25 gained big success. Today, this

film is hardly present in the memory of the public. It is a typical contemporary movie which

was not only fabricated with strong ideological patterns but also with the above described

educational-patriarchal ideas. The movie tells the story about the daughter of the Han-Chinese

Ren Jianqing. She was abducted by “Yi-slaveholders” before the liberation. The Yi-slave Ma

He guarded her and gave her the Yi-name Da Ji. During the “great leap forward” in the 1950s,

Ren Jianqing - now a technician - went back to the Liang Shan Mountains in order to support

some irrigation work. Now, the three main characters came into inner conflicts about deciding

with whom Da Ji should live in the future. The happy-end comes in form of the salomonian

decision of the supervisors: Ren shall stay in Liang Shan and educate Da Ji together with Ma

He. The language of this film is strongly characterised by political terms and Chinese

propagandist expressions can be found in Yi folk songs (sic!) as for example “to break the

chain of the slave system”, “our big brother Han” or “because the Chairman Mao reigns in

Beijing everything brightens up in the world”. The movie is based on existing stories about

the “warlike, wild and dangerous Yi” who are seen to have abducted Han-Chinese people who

dared to enter Yi-territory.26 The movie interprets the hierarchical structured society of the Yi

as slaveholder-society, an early state of society according to the communist ideology. Because

this movie touched upon human emotions and ethic questions, too, it started a big debate27 at

that time. The whole story, though, seemed to be constructed and was merely made up in

23 Zhang, 1997, pp. 79. 24 See Zhang, 1997, pp. 44. 25 from Wang Jiayi. 26 See Goullart, 1962. 27 Gong, 1997, p. 29.

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order to explain an ethnic conflict as a class conflict. Joy and sadness of the characters in this

movie only refer to this abstract class theory. As this class concept and its ideological

foundation has nowadays lost much of its significance the understanding of this subject has

declined, the emotions presented in this movie do not find much resonance by today’s

audience and are also no longer present in the memory of this film.28

Otherwise the film “Ashima”29. It was produced on the basis of a legend of the Sani30. This is

why it is not exactly definable at which time this story takes place. This phenomenon allows

magical elements to evolve their mighty impression within the action. Ashima, according to

the story, is a beautiful and skilful girl who is in love with A Hei. She refuses to marry the son

of the rich family Rebu Bala. The brave A Hei rescues Ashima out of the hands of Rebu Bala

with his magic arrows. These can also break through rocks. Yet, on their way home the

opponents manage to steal the magic arrows of A Hei and caused Ashima’s death by

drowning. After her death, Ashima becomes a rock in the stone forest31 and every time her

family and friends call her she answers in form of an echo.

There exist various versions of the legend of Ashima32 with different, sometimes

contradictory motives. In the 1950s, a group of authors and musicians from the province-

capital Kumming went to Gui Shan in order to compile the different stories of Ashima. In

their compilation the intransigent fight against the “bad rich people” was chosen to be the

central motive. This fit the ideological atmosphere at that time.33 Moreover, in the original

legend Ashima and A Hei are siblings but in the movie they were portrayed as lovers. One

reason for this may be the fact that the story of lovers according to Chinese taste is more

suitable for the process of filming as it enrols thrill to one specific point.

In the movie of Ashima, Han-Chinese are not specifically present. Ashima is not freed by the

People’s Liberation Army but by her lover. Unlike the film “Da Ji and her fathers” the film of

Ashima uses the Chinese language in an unpolitical way. The film’s language also shows a

wide range of metaphors and parallels which are on one side typical for folks songs and on the

other side they meet the taste of the Han-Chinese, namely the habit to express feelings in an

indirect and flowery way. Not only in love-scenes but also during the direct confrontation

28 ibid. 29 „Ashima“, 1964, von Liu Qiong. 30 Members of the Yi who mainly live in the province of Yunnan. 31 The name of an area with specific rockformations in the province of Yunnan. 32 See Swain, 1994.

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with her enemies does Ashima sing about the snow, which is the symbol for coldness and

evilness, and the pine-tree. The pine-tree is regarded to be resistant to coldness and is

therefore widely be used as metaphor for the firm character of a human being. All in all, the

movie concentrates on the presentation of the belle which enables the Han audience to

identify themselves easily with the characters of the play. Indeed, in the presentation of the

good poor and the bad rich the motive of class struggle is recognisable but this ideological

element has vanished by the time passing. In today’s memory the aesthetic of the film stays in

the foreground and not the original political intention. Today, the film “Ashima” is assigned

to the classics of Nostalgia and can be purchased in the bookshops of Nanjing and is very

popular.

An article published in the online-magazine Netease viewed retrospectively the mass-culture

of the past 50 years. The author cited two film-songs as especially elaborate and affectionate

products of the fifties and sixties. Interestingly, both were drawn from minority films: First,

he quoted the text line “The flower is as red as pure friendship and love” which is drawn from

the movie “The guest from the ice-mountain”, 1963, and secondly he quoted the following

text drawn from the movie “Ashima”: “The bells of the horse ring, the birds sing, I

accompany Ashima back home far away from the house of Rebu Balas and her mama will not

be sad anymore”34. Apart of the use of exotic names both songs talk about emotions which

steer human feelings all over the world: mother’s love, friendship, love, home. In this context,

it has to be emphasised that minorities if looked at the emotional side have been portrayed

here as equal human beings unlike to traditional presentations which underlined the wildness

of the barbarian peoples. This movement can be valued as positive alteration.35

During the Cultural Revelution no minority films were produced. Exotic elements, though,

could be found in praises addressed to the “big guide”. These songs formed a strong contrast

to the war songs. In general, the melodies of these songs were drawn from minority folk songs

and were mainly interpreted by members of minorities. Such kind of songs were for example:

“On the golden mountain of Beijing” (Tibetan style), “On the prairie rises the sun which will

never set again” (Mongolian style), “Jointly Together” (Yi-style).36 At the beginning of such

33 See Huang et al., 1980. 34 See „50 Jahre Hören und Sehen“, Netease: http://www.163.com, last access: 10.07.1999. 35 See f.ex. Heberer, 1997; Linck, 1995, pp. 257. 36 The Chinese audience regarded the sun and light as obvious symbols for the big guide Mao, the term „jointly together“ refers to the solidity between social

classes.

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songs, it is usually written how these songs should be sung, e.g. with deep feelings, inflamed.

Since the eighties, these kind of songs have experienced a comeback in a new pop version.

Today, when a taxi driver in Nanjing listens to such a music tape and joins in with singing

inflamedly he most probably does not get enthusiastic neither about “the big guide” nor about

a certain minority. On the contrary, it is more likely that he will remember the deep feelings

which he could only experience on rare occasions when he was a child or a teenager. This is

due to the fact that these kind of themes could hardly be articulated in public at that time.

Especially in times when politics dominated day-to-day life Chinese recipients searched for

something that responded to their feelings. Stereotypes which state that minorities are exotic,

erotic and passionate refer explicitly to emotions. This is why such stereotypes facilitate the

presentation of emotions. As pin-pointed conclusion, it can be said that Han Chinese people at

that time needed the minorities for the articulation of their feelings.

At that time, the primary aim of governmental propaganda in the aspect of minority movies

was to discuss class-struggle. The success of “Ashima” relies in particular on the fact that the

film is not based on an invented story but on an ideological independent legend whose

reception could be emancipated from the original political purpose. In contrast, the movie “Da

Ji” lost his persuasive power because its inherent ideological fundament vanished by the time

passing and unlike “Ashima” this film does not possess a timeless and context independent

value of entertainment.

Therefore, it is not astonishing that half of the persons being interviewed knew the movie

“Ashima” and another quarter of the interviewees has already heard about the legend.

At the conference of “minority films of the new China” in 1996, the play-book writer Gong

Pu drew a raft picture about two fundamental streams of Chinese minority-movies: According

to his saying, the contents of the films of the fifties and sixties can be described with the

motive of “go to the mountains – zou jin da shan”. This means that Han-Chinese travel to

remote minority areas in order to further the establishment of the socialistic structure. The

above mentioned movie “Daji and her fathers” can be taken as an example for this kind of

minority film. The minority films which were produced after the Cultural Revolution can be

characterised by the concept of “come from the mountains – zou chu da shan”. The main

characters in this kind of movies are younger members of minorities. They leave their homes

and attend the university or join the army where they eventually become members of the so

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called “elites” often following a career. In general, they are seen to be well meaning to the

people and it is very likely that they become successful businessmen.37 The concept of those

films correlates with the spirit of the age of the whole Chinese society which turned towards

the outer world in the course of the reform after 1978. Since then, Chinese people have been

confronted with so many new and partly shocking influences from foreign countries that the

exotic of national minorities has been loosing its attractive power. Alike the time before 1949,

movies have again become the symbol for Western exotic. This could be seen as one reason

why the second generation of minority films in China hardly reaches any success in others

than the own region. What is more, the audience has become more and more demanding.

From the point of view of the audience minority-films, which are still mainly written and

produced by Han Chinese, often lack on authenticy and persuasive power. The play-book

writer Gung Pu thus regrets that he did not arrive to reconstruct well the Yi-mentality

although he made several visits to Yi-regions during his preparation-work for his movie

“Love at the river Jin Sha” – about a Yi-entrepreneur – which was produced at the end of the

1980s. Moreover, despite Gung Pu’s intention the main character was finally played by a soft

and tender beauty-boy instead of a “handsome son of the big mountains”. As conclusion,

Gung Pu claims that in future times minority-films should mainly be produced with members

of minorities before and behind the camera.38 All in all, this shows an increased sensibility for

this issue and the wish for an authentic presentation of national minorities. Unfortunately,

according to newer research results, first trials to translate this ideas into action tend to

produce new stereotypes.39

As the audience of East China (Nanjing) does not know well the film “Love at the river Jin

Sha” another popular film shall following be analysed as an example for the category “zou

chu da shan – come from the mountains. We have chosen the movie “From a slave to the

General” (1979)40. The film describes the life-story of the general Luo Xiao, a historic person

of the Yi named Luo Jinhui. Referring to his social position he was a Wazi41. His career

started on the battle field in the beginning of the last century and ended with his dead during

the civil war at the end of the 1940s. By then he had become a General of the PLA. Certainly,

37 Gong, 1997, p. 29. 38 See Gong, 1997, p. 33. 39 See Cottle, 2000, p. 20ff 40 Chin.: “Cong nuli dao jiangjun”. 41 by Chinese officially the term for slave.

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such an exceptional life delivers abundant material for a play-book. However, Luo Xiaos life-

story was also interesting to filmmakers because it touches own experiences of the audience

as the film draws up the “common way of the proletarian revolutionaries of the elder

generation”42 who were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution and being socially

rehabilitated by the time of this movie.

Besides, it is difficult – especially for a Han Chinese author – to reconstruct the process of

growing up from a Yi-SLAVE to a Han-Chinese general. Therefore, the long and enduring

process which Luo Xiao had to experience on the way of learning the Han-language and the

new ideologies (from the three folk-principles of the Sun Yat-Sen till the communism) was

skipped in the film with the short remark “10 years later”. All of a sudden, Luo Xiao is a well-

educated man with a room full of books and a new vocabulary. In the movie, Luo Xiao

explains his motivation retrospectively to a Han-Chinese comrade with a rural origin: “I will

show it to the [Han] sons of the rich who studied old books for just some years and now want

to intimidate us.”43 The social class conformity of Yi-slaves and Han-farmers is here

propagated in the same way as in earlier movies. Luo Xiaos ethnical origin was reinterpreted

in an ideologically suitable way and also instrumentalised because the contrast between a

slave and a general has the character of a sensation. In the Chinese political vocabulary the

word “slave” is mainly being used in a symbolic way and in order to illustrate a subjugated

and exploited social position. The audience did understand this film on this level but did not

perceive the ethnical elements in this film.

Lately, in a conversation a Chinese woman made a joke about her husband who arose “from a

slave to a General” by marriage. Being asked where this saying was drawn she could only

remember that she had taken it from a war film but did not remember that in this film ethnical

minorities were present. It is therefore not astonishing that none of the interviewees

mentioned this movie in our survey although the movie was known in Nanjing, too, as the

play-book writer originated from this region. The movie was produced by the Shanghai-film

company and was even assigned with the price of the ministry of culture. Today, an

appreciation of official bureaux does not necessarily guarantee the success and the endurance

42 Liang, 1982, p. 200. 43 Liang, 1982, p. 85.

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of media products any more. Comprehensively, it can be stated that the concept of minority

films on the media market has lately experienced a relative loss of significance.44

6 Present tendencies

The theme of ethnical minorities has not disappeared in media although today other interests

than political propaganda are discussed. The results of our survey indicate that having more

financial possibilities and more leisure time compared to former times the Han-Chinese of the

new urban middle-class show a great interest on travelling. For the government tourism has

become an important economical factor and also the minority-areas are today able to use their

resources touristically. Documentary journey reports on television present minority areas in

form of attractive and cheerful pictures. One young interviewee stated that she got to know

the story of Ashima through the television serial on journey reports “To experience China in a

nomadic way”. Once, they presented the stone-forest in Yunnan where the story of Ashima

took place. CCTV 4 is broadcasting this serial. In minority regions such as Yunnan, it is

recognisable that minorities themselves serve the folkloristic picture of colourful dressed,

singing and dancing people, in order to develop the business of tourism as tourism has

become the most important source of financial income. Today, parts of ethnical groups seem

to adopt this foreign picture overemphasising this specific aspect of their culture as one of

their own. The concentration on the presentation of cheerful national minorities, however, has

the problem inherent that the specific problems of minorities such as living at the Chinese

borderland with a slow and a far behind economical development in comparison with the

booming provinces at the coastline do not get the necessary attention from the public. Existing

ethnical conflicts45 are not considered seriously, too. In the eyes of an observer, these trends

let China look like a peaceful and united multi-ethnical society under the leadership of the

communist party. All in all, it can be stated that media does contribute to the maintenance of

national stability and unity as well as to the advancement of the economical progress referring

to the touristical development in minority regions as intended by the political leadership.

44 While in the year 1960 all in all 10 minority films were produced which made one sixth of the total number of films account minority-films in the 1990s on

average 4 to 5 films per year by an increased film production altogether. See Zhao, 1996, pp. 1. 45 e.g. Xinjiang, Tibet.

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On the musical market, too, did the exotic of ethnical minorities get popular. In the beginning

of the nineties, the CD “The drum of the sister” with Tibetan melodies and mystical and

secretive contents became very popular.46 Today, many music bands try to get inspired by the

music of ethnic minorities. Some musicians even state that listeners will experience “inner

clearance” or the “return to the soul” by listening to this kind of music or they will be able to

forget about the noise of the city or the greed for richness47 - analogous to the products of the

esoteric market of the western industrialised countries. Paradoxically, such remarks form part

of professional marketing strategies and can be regarded as a component of the mass-culture

of city-life.

In 1995, three members of the Yi-minority founded the musical group “Yi ren zhi zao - E-

Maker”. All three of them are named with for Han-Chinese exotic sounding Yi-names. They

also wear exotic looking outfits. Nevertheless, they do speak the Chinese language without

any accent. Therefore, they are able to give interviews on television and also to use the TV for

the promotion of their own songs. The texts of their songs are a mixture of Chinese hits and

rap written in the Yi-language. The term “rap” points here to the western influence and

combines cleverly exotic with modernity. Especially remarkable is a text on one of their tapes

where they criticise Taiwanean pop-music produced in the style of folk songs of ethnical

minorities. According to them, the commercialising of this kind of music does not possess any

originality and deepness. On the contrary, the music of “Yi ren zhi zao – E-Maker” only

follows its own “mystical principles” and expresses “primitive joy and the worship of nature”.

This is why their own music is seen to be of higher quality and therefore a proof for the

dominance of the mainland. The above mentioned sino-centrical overestimation of the middle

in relation to the cultural borderlands may be recognised in these statements but they are also

an expression of self-assurance towards the Taiwanease competition on the music market.

All in all, this kind of music could be characterised as a commercial use of ethnical resources

which once more focuses on the exotic of the Yi’s. At the same time it also expresses critic on

the actual societal problems of Han-Chinese people by referring to the purity and naturalness

of the ethnic minorities. This concept approaches the earlier concept of “going to the

mountains” but today it talks about an idealistic point of view of Han-Chinese people who

46 „Ajie gu“ from the singer Zhu Zheqin. 47 the group Yi ren zhi zao – E Maker.

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idealise the way of life of ethnical minorities. Using ethnical minorities in such a way, Han-

Chinese people try to overcome their estrangement and to find their own approach to nature.

Finally, this corresponds with a new objectivity of non-Han-Chinese groups.

7 Conclusion

It can be concluded that media was and still is important for the mediation of the images of

national minorities within the Chinese society. In former times, especially movies were

important for the transmission of images. Today, other means of media are far more

important. With the growing social freedom in contemporary China, it is now possible to deal

with feelings openly in public which means that there is no need to search for indirect forms

any more. In present China other problems dominate social life such as economical

difficulties and social stress. Again, national minorities offer a way to discuss these kind of

questions. In the course of these developments, the presentation of minorities is thus

experiencing a shift in the focal point of their contents. Nevertheless, by means of their

strangeness minorities form till today a sort of platform for the Han-Chinese to articulate

wishes, longings and ideals as the example of the Yi-Rap shows.

Unlike former times, today’s recipients have access not only to ideological motivated media

products of the government but also to a wide range of commercial products. This means that

nowadays Han Chinese people have significantly more choices in the consumption of media

products and are therefore able to choose the product which meats best their personal taste.

More surveys should be undertaken, though, as to gain more information on the mutual

perception of ethnical groups and also to point out and discuss existing stereotypes and

prejudices, which make a living together more difficult. The intention behind the transmitted

images about minorities have changed since the beginning of the economical reforms and the

herewith proceeding social changes. Ideological contents have now been widely substituted

by economical aspects and non-realistic motives such as the longing of the inhabitants of the

big crowded cities to a stress-free (still) natural environment. To the Han-majority medial

messages do play a major role by the transmission of the images about “the little siblings”.

Yet, media does not really contribute to a real mutual understanding as mainly stereotypes are

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being reproduced. National minorities are till today represented and also perceived

undifferentiated as cheerful, dancing human beings. However, it seems that despite this

undifferentiated presentation the audience does not draw openly an assimilation demand on

ethnic minorities.

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