Emerging Modernity in a Periodic Marketplace of Southwest China

本文受到William Skinner半世紀前在中國漢族地區所做定期集市研究的啟發，考察從1980年代以來引進的新興農村定期集市，如何引起中國四川涼山地區一個諾蘇（彝族）社區的變遷。本文採用兩個分析觀點：第一個是從諾蘇的文化與歷史特殊性為切入點，以便瞭解當地人與市場制度的互動產生的影響；第二則是透過定期市場上呈現出的日常生活面貌，來瞭解諾蘇人在後社會主義轉型中的生活方式改變。諾蘇人和大部分後社會主義社會最大的不同之處在於，他們當前所經歷的資本主義現代性，在其社會發展過程中是史無前例的。1980年代以前，無論是在前國家的部落自主時期或社會主義集體公社制度時期，涼山核心地區的諾蘇人絕少接觸到貨幣交易與市場制度。在中國當前的市場改開放革政策之下，諾蘇人則是透過一個古老的、在漢區農村存在已久的制度，來體驗資本主義的現代性。有趣的是，諾蘇人並非只是被動地捲入市場機制之中。他們在很短的時間之內，利用這前所未有的經濟制度及其在時間與空間上的特性，巧妙地將之與其原有的社會需求相結合。此外，經由此定期集市，他們也逐漸建構出在資本主義現代性影響下的後傳統自我認同。

This paper examines the effects of a periodic market in the post-socialist transition of china’s Nuosu (Yi) minority in Liangshan, Sichuan Province, in light of G. William Skinner’s (1964-5) insights on the peasant market system and its significance in social change. The two analytic perspectives I use are, first, how have the Nuosu’s cultural and historical particularities shaped their adjustment to the market system, and second, how have the Nuosu fared in their post-socialist transition as seen in their activities in the marketplace. Unlike other post-socialist societies, the Nuosu’s manner of entry into capitalist modernity is historically unprecedented. They had scant experience with either the use of money or the market system before the 1980s. In the current reform era, they have ironically stepped into capitalist modernity via a throwback institution, the periodic market, which was long a fixture in Han Chinese rural communities. The Nuosu, however, have not just passively assimilated to the market system, they have adapted the periodic market to meet their own social needs. Moreover, they are formulating a post-traditional identity expressly in terms of an ever-expanding capitalist modernity.