Marriage changes due to the exodus of women from the South-West ethnic minority

editor: in recent years, women in ethnic minority areas have become an increasingly visible trend and trend towards labour and inter-ethnic marriage, a movement different from traditional marriages, which will bring about a number of sociocultural changes.

on the occasion of the 100th international women's labour day, this newspaper features an observation and reflection article on this issue by yang jie, professor at the institute of ethnology and sociology of the central national university, who has carried out a detailed analysis of this issue in the form of an anthropological survey of the fields in the south-west ethnic region.

the south-western part of the country is a more concentrated region of ethnic minorities and is home to many inhabitants of the world.

in the long history of development, these peoples have developed their own distinct cultures, especially in the area of marriage and family practices.

at the beginning of the mid-1980s, the exodus of ethnic minority women from the south-west triggered social and cultural changes.

traditionally, the movement of women is an orderly process that involves not only the mobile person itself, but also the family, family and community in which she lives, and in which the logic goes far beyond the process of “marriage” and “marriage”.

the outflow of women has had a significant impact on this orderly movement.

in anthropology, the intermarriage circle is an important area of study.

different circles of intermarriage are both an expression of community identity, a means of access to social resources and a vehicle for the transmission of national culture.

in situations where transportation is difficult and communication is less frequent, many ethnic groups form relatively stable intermarriage circles.

for many south-west ethnic minorities, intermarriage circles are characterized by inter-ethnic, intra-village, inter-chamber, etc.

in the context of intermarriages within some ethnic groups, the practice of matrimony (uncle marriage) has been maintained, with the hmong saying, “uncles, reach out and marry”, which is referred to in the history books as “retribution”.

in the south-west, many ethnic groups say “good girls don't marry outside of the house” — like hani women married outside the car family, many of them are flawed in the view of the local population — and in guizhou, the chaejiang clan says “good rice doesn't fit, good girls leave the country”.

three families in the administration village of chauma, chuma township, hongxiang county, guizhou province, have been confined almost exclusively to their own family, while the rate of intermarriage in the blue house is more than 95 per cent in the rural and urban communities of guangxi tian lin county.

the

intermarriage circle is limited to a certain extent, creating a relationship of kinship that binds different communities or villages, providing each other with moral, material and other support, as well as a foundation or expression of identity.

however, since the mid-1980s, with the exodus of ethnic minority women from the south-west, traditional intermarriage circles have been broken and inter-ethnic and long-distance marriages have become increasingly common.

in his home town, the zeng clan in guizhou, which used to practise inter-ethnic and intra-village marriages, there is now not only an increasing incidence of inter-marriage with foreigners, but also a large number of girls are still married far south-east along the coast.

if the village of chajiang alone has more than 70 women married to anhui, guangdong, lakesouth, fujian, sichuan, guangxi, hubei and jiangxi provinces.

villagers have also done so from initial inaccuracies to acquiescence, until they become used to it and even take the initiative.

the increasingly blurred criteria for the choice of a spouse

are the first steps in the marriage process and the choice of a spouse, both in terms of the material production and the successful reproduction of the population and in terms of the orderly development of social relations.

thus, the criteria for the choice of a spouse and the choice of a spouse in many minority societies are one of the important conditions for the proper functioning of the social order of that nation.

“the man looks at the field, the woman looks at the flowers”, “the husband looks at the plough, the wife looks at the textile”, “the man looks at the fields, the woman looks at the flowers”, which in some ways reflects the choice of a couple of south-west minorities.

farming livelihoods, with fields and twigs as an important component, are the basis for the survival and continuation of many south-west nations and an essential element in the construction of their cultural systems, and the standards of spouses are often adapted to this lifestyle.

in the south-western ethnic region, the criteria for the choice of a spouse are considered mostly in terms of family or family and individual.

within the permitted intermarriage circles, attention to families or families is focused on the existence of genetic diseases and the state of the economy.

for personal conditions, more attention is paid to physical appearance, family capacity, health, character, etc.

as for living habits, value orientation, education, etc., less consideration is given to the fact that the gap between the local population and the family is not large.

such conditions, on the one hand, shape the development of the personality and, on the other hand, sustain the transmission of the community culture, which perpetuates its inherent characteristics, namely, the way of livelihood, the practice of rearing, and the criteria for choosing a spouse, which together sustains the traditional culture of the community.

since the mid-1980s, as the state's policy of reform and opening up has deepened, livelihood options have become more diversified, foreign workers, the cultivation of cash crops, the development of ethnic tourism, etc., have been changing long-standing and home-grown ethnic communities, gradually destroying the socio-cultural foundations that have been built over the centuries, and homogenous societies are being immersed in a diversity of values.

in such a situation, the criteria for the selection of a spouse have also become non-existent, and have gradually broken with the needs of traditional societies.

many of the women who leave the country choose to choose their spouse without seeing the chosen man himself, are more unaware of his family background, his economic situation, his village, and can only imagine his character, appearance, health, abilities, etc.

the author met a woman who claimed to have met a shandong man on the street in the mid-1990s when he came to shandong, where he was married to an unknown family and raised children.

it was five years later that she first returned to her mother ' s home, and it was only then that the mother ' s family became aware of her recent situation.

there are also ethnic groups in sichuan, where parents are afraid that their daughters will remain in the country, owing to drug abuse by the local community, and married to outsiders without asking about the specifics of the male family when there are outsiders.

in the investigation, the author asked about some of the women's familiesmany people or neighbours replied that they had neither visited the man's house nor knew where his home was, either in a province or, better yet, in a county or village.

even when some of the other parties are known, they rely on the false statements of the presenters.

some of the women were married out of the country and their families were not even aware of it, but rather after several years.

the choice of a spouse has become simplistic, the criteria of value are void, and the traditional custom and criteria of a couple have gradually disappeared.

in many traditional national societies, marriage is contracted by a whole range of practices, such as the way in which love is spoken, the way in which the marriage is held, the way in which the marriage is held, the relationship between the couple and the social interaction after marriage.

the south-west minority has a very interesting way of talking about love and a rich ethnic identity.

such as the song of the zeng clan, the zhui sentry, the hmong troupe, and the “cong girls” of the south-west border communities of tom, achan, wa and hani.

in general, the way in which young men and women fall in love in the south-west ethnic region is carried out in a collective manner.

when girls and young people reach adulthood, they tend to form a community of activities based on gender, and in addition to the opportunity to find the desired people during festivals and productive activities, they gather in groups to laugh and sing.

the girls also perform hand-made work, such as embroidery, knitting, etc., and, in an atmosphere of ease and harmony, a young woman and a young woman will gradually love and give each other gifts.

once the relationship has been established, the man informs the family and, if the family wishes to do the same, calls for a suitable matchmaker.

it is also interesting to say that the matchmaking process takes place several times, in accordance with custom, when the medium goes to the woman's house, or brings wine, or brings tea, in a variety of guises, about how the young people fit together, how the families, the families climb the door, etc.

if the woman's family is satisfied with the other party, the next step can be eight words, relative, gossip, etc.

the contract of marriage, in turn, means that the family establishes in-laws, which expands the social network and, as a general rule, does not allow either party to repent, otherwise disputes arise.

marriage is one of the most important rituals in a person's life, encompassing both the transformation of the individual's own role and the reorganization of social relations, as well as an important place for cultural transmission, community interaction, the process of which and the national culture that it exemplifies are often entertained by “others”.

following the wedding, a new family was born, a new social network was formed, in which individuals achieved their responsibilities, meanings of life and bonds.

after the wedding, in the south-western ethnic groups such as hming, bui and jail, there is also the “non-favourable family”, i.e., a temporary stay away from the husband and return to his mother's home, where the husband's family receives the family home for a period of time, one year, two years or more, after the holiday.

however, these practices have gradually disappeared as a result of the exodus of women.

no more songs, no more songs, no more songs, no more songs at the weddingsfar from memory.

similarly, the hani ethnic group in the village of luyang village in the red river district of yunnan province, from 2000 to 2005, more than 20 women were married, mainly to anhui, shandong and jiangsu provinces.

these marriages are not conducted in accordance with hani customs, do not swoop, do not drink, do not recognize relatives, and traditional practices are gradually disappearing.

because of the many ways in which many girls migrate, or come directly to the house after working outside the home, or to be told and told by a broker, to marry off in the absence of a man, or to follow their so-called acquaintances directly to the place of departure, the process of their marriage is simple and straightforward, there is no cumbersome process and rituals, there is no close network of kinship, there is no sense of shame or romance, and there is a consequent loss of the traditions of interdependence and even folklore, such as textiles, flower-picking, singing and dancing, and musical instruments.

the exodus of ethnic women is a series of issues

(p) individuals who grow up under certain cultural shades are both carriers and heirs of culture.

when such individuals together form a group, culture is also at the root of its survival and nurturing.

if these individuals leave their original environment and migrate in a non-group manner, the original cultural background will no longer become their capital, and may or may not be a burden, and she will therefore gradually shift some of the inherent cultural elements away from what is needed to survive in the new environment and thus acquire the social capital to survive.

at the same time, her departure would also take away the culture inherited from her predecessors.

thus, when a well-established intermarriage circle is broken, it is also the break-up of the family, social groups and traditional social networks associated with it, which will bring about a chain reaction that will shake the foundations of a certain social structure.

the problem associated with the exodus of ethnic minority women

can be described as a series of actions, both related to the level of socio-economic development and gender imbalance in the inflow and, more importantly, to the relative lag in economic development and structural stress in the outbounds, as well as to changes in state policy and improvements in transport conditions.

at the same time, socio-cultural changes in the places of emigration, marriage congestion and social insecurity, as well as the social and cultural adaptation and protection of the rights and interests of women in the places of emigration, are among the problems that must be addressed。