英文摘要 |
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. |